The Resurrection. Mural Study

Vrubel made this study in 1889 in connection with St Volodymyr’s Cathedral in Kyiv. His figurative mural proposals were not accepted, although ornamental designs were used. The sheet preserves an independent treatment of Christ’s Resurrection, showing a church commission as both artistic opportunity and a project governed by a shared programme.

Christ stands centrally, his pale figure distinct among dark strokes. His vertical aligns with the broad space above. Vrubel gives the religious event force through bodily placement and surrounding light. Even without final colour, the drawing clearly identifies the figure intended to organise the mural.

The angel on the right is lower and turned towards the central event, connecting it with the composition’s lower region. Pose and placement distinguish the figures within shared space. Such clarity mattered for a wall painting viewed from a distance and from below.

The reclining soldiers at lower left differ sharply from the upright central figure. Their weight anchors the lower edge and makes Christ’s rising presence more pronounced. Bodily states become narrative resources, using the physically legible relationship between horizontal and vertical to structure a complex religious subject.

A broad rounded area above is built from light and dense hatching. It sets the image’s boundary and gathers the lower groups together. The study reveals lines that could later become colour at architectural scale. It preserves a stage when the basic construction of the image was still being tested.

Pale folds lead down from the central figure, beside unevenly developed areas of body and background. The working surface reveals priorities: relationships between figures and large masses are established before local finish. Individual details could follow once the broader spatial action was resolved.

Adrian Prakhov, directing the artistic work, considered Vrubel’s proposals incompatible with the decoration’s overall concept. Nesterov later praised their independence. The sheet records two different judgements: suitability for a specific commission and artistic power. In a museum, a rejected project can exist apart from the wall for which it was conceived.