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 
Two frets by Mikhail Nesterov 
Portrait of L. N. Tolstoy by Ilya Repin 
In Russia. The Soul of the People by Mikhail Nesterov 
Three Elders by Mikhail Nesterov 
L. N. Tolstoy on vacation in the forest by Ilya Repin