The first of the people “on the brightness of the Christian understanding remarkable” for Nesterov, as for many at that time, was Tolstoy. The artist chose the Yasnaya Polyana pond, spruces planted on its bank by Tolstoy, and the village as a background.
This is not a manor, but it is the rustic nature of the landscape that emphasizes the beginning of the Tolstoyan worldview.
Related Paintings 
Retrato de L. N. Tolstoy – Mikhail Nesterov 
Portrait de L. N. Tolstoy – Mikhail Nesterov 
Portrait of Leo Tolstoy by Ivan Kramskoy 
Three Elders by Mikhail Nesterov 
Portrait of artists P. D. and A. D. Korinykh by Mikhail Nesterov 
Old Testament Trinity by Mikhail Nesterov 
Two frets by Mikhail Nesterov 
In Russia. The Soul of the People by Mikhail Nesterov
Retrato de L. N. Tolstoy – Mikhail Nesterov Portrait de L. N. Tolstoy – Mikhail Nesterov Portrait of Leo Tolstoy by Ivan Kramskoy Three Elders by Mikhail Nesterov Portrait of artists P. D. and A. D. Korinykh by Mikhail Nesterov Old Testament Trinity by Mikhail Nesterov Two frets by Mikhail Nesterov In Russia. The Soul of the People by Mikhail Nesterov