Portrait of professor emeritus of the Imperial Military Academy, infantry general and member of State Council Nikolai Nikolayevich Obruchev. Study for the picture Formal Session of the State Council. 1903

This study of Nikolai Nikolayevich Obruchev was painted by Ilya Repin using oil paints and canvas. The loose brushwork, capturing a fleeting moment, aligns with the Impressionist movement in its emphasis on gesture and immediate visual impression. Yet, the subject matter is far from the everyday scenes favored by Impressionists. Obruchev, a high-ranking military official, is depicted with a focus on his ornate uniform. The gold detailing, rendered with thick impasto, speaks to the opulence and power of the Russian elite. It's worth noting that producing the oil paint itself would have involved a complex network of labor, from pigment extraction to oil refining. The canvas too, required skilled weaving. Repin's choice of materials and his expressive application are thus inseparable from the social context he was depicting. The ‘craft’ of painting, in this case, becomes a tool for both documenting and critiquing the structures of power in Tsarist Russia. It reminds us that even the most seemingly straightforward portrait is layered with material and social meaning.