Show all images on one page	#005505 Title: Ivan and the Grey Wolf Artist: Golubenkova Yuliya Size: 9.5x12.5x2.5 Size (inches): 3.75x5x1 Price : $475 SOLD!

This intersting box was painted by talented Fedoskino artist Yuliya Golubeonkova.
The composition is an interpretation of a canvas-on-oil painting called "Ivan Tsarevich Riding the Grey Wolf", painted in 1889 by Viktor Vasnetsov. It is currently hanging in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
Son of a village clergyman, Victor Vasnetsov prepared himself for the same career, but the passionate love for art brought the 19-year-old student of ecclesiastical seminary to St. Petersburg's Academy of Arts. He started as a scene painter, then worked on historical genre Battle of Slavs and Scythians (1881), After Prince Igor's Battle with the Polovtsy (1880). He borrowed the subjects from ancient history. He found another source of subjects in Russian mythology - legends, ballads, fairy-tales. Vasnetsov was born and grew up in a northern Russian village and almost to the age of 20 lived in an environment where the 'folklore outlook' was still alive; his very soul was steeped in the poetry of Russian epic literature. He wasn't only the first artist to use subjects from folklore, but also the first to borrow methods and techniques from national folk art. Thus he became the founder of new style in Russian painting. His painting influenced greatly the development of modernism and symbolism in Russian painting and poetry.
The subject of the composition is based on the popular Russian Fairytale "Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf". The tale tells about the adventures of the prince Ivan and his companion the Grey Wolf, a magician. Tsarevich saved the Wolf's cubs and the Wolf helped him in several quests: to get golden apples, to get a horse with a golden mane, and to get a beautiful princess.
In the painting "Ivan Tsarevich Riding the Grey Wolf" Vasnetsov tried to show the viewer beauty and sublime of folk fantasy and to convey the people's conception of beauty and happiness. Here he used symbolical language of folk fantasy: the huge trunks of trees resemble fantastic giants and the weak rays of dawn struggle through twisted twigs. The marsh covered with water-lilies harbors a danger. The atmosphere of anxiety and grief surrounds the characters. In the foreground there are white blossoms of the apple-tree, which is the symbol of all-conquering love and the sign of happy end of this story.
Many kinds of brushstrokes and techniques have been used here to create the necessary effect to bring this composition to life. The amount of attention to all the elements of the scene is incredible. The faces are especially detailed and reproduce the expressions of the original beautifully. The painting fills the entire surface of the lid, maintaining focus on the composition.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the box while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The sides of the box are decorated with two gold parallel lines. The lid is hinged from the left of the composition, and the box rests flat. The box is signed with the artist's name.