Hunters at Rest

Perov enjoyed hunting himself. In Hunters at Rest of 1871, he depicts a familiar pastime and the conversation following it. The museum connects such subjects with his turn, around the decade’s beginning, from acute social dramas toward nature, fishing and personal enthusiasms.

On the left, the storyteller spreads his hands. His fingers splay, his eyes widen and his body faces his companions. The gesture almost makes speech visible. The story’s content is unwritten, but the intensity of his performance invites us to imagine exaggeration.

The middle hunter smiles and scratches his head. His tilted face brings him closer to the viewer, as though admitting us to his assessment of the story. The grin can be read as scepticism. Different reactions supply the ordinary encounter with its comedy.

The younger man on the right sits upright, looking intently at the storyteller. His pale face and reddish jacket distinguish him from his companions’ darker clothes. Smoking items remain in his hands; an interrupted minor action suggests how completely the conversation has absorbed him.

Game and guns lie in the foreground. Perov differentiates fur, feathers and metal, giving the rest stop a concrete material setting. These objects establish the men’s occupation without verifying whatever extraordinary adventures their enthusiastic companion may be describing.

A simple meal lies between the figures. Pale cloth and small vessels create a centre around which the hunters gather. Bags, clothing and food connect their expressions with the shared pause, while a low horizon keeps their faces clearly visible against the sky.

Dostoevsky admired the painting after seeing it at the Vienna exhibition in 1873. Its expressive figures invite discussion almost like characters in fiction. Naming the models is unnecessary to its pictorial intrigue, which depends on three clearly differentiated ways of telling and listening.