The Preacher

In the 1860s and early 1870s, Makovsky often appealed to the everyday genre, although most of his canvases from this period, in contrast with the paintings of his brethren, do not, perhaps, have such obvious accusatory intonation. Often Makovsky wrote and portraits, and already in “The Catholic Preacher” (1870) the priorities of the artist were clearly manifested. He is not fascinated by the creation of a “critical document”; he is more interested in a complex painterly task: to convey the expression of the character using a bold perspective and light pouring from different sources. If there is some deliberateness in the “Catholic preacher,” still this thing is certainly an attractive and masterfully written thing.