Page:Benois - The Russian School of Painting (1916).djvu/111

 At any rate, Makovsky's pictures will remain a monument of the tendencies of a definite period of Russian culture, and, as such, they will retain a great, though not purely artistic interest. Quite apart stand several of his genre pictures with subjects taken from Russian reality. These are the monuments of his temporary adherence to the camp of the "Wanderers." To them belong "The Show-booths at the Palace Square," a vivid and touching illustration of the old Russian carnival which is now a thing of the past.

Semiradsky (1843–1902) is, in comparison with Makovsky, a greater master. In some respects this artist could even pass for an innovator. The splendour of his colours, a correct rendering of sun effects, a beautiful, picturesque technique in places,—all this was a real revelation for the generation of Russian artists of the sixties and seventies. Unfortunately, in vitality of talent Semiradsky was inferior to Makovsky. His compositions on antique themes are little more than excellent landscapes and "still-life's," among which, to meet the demands of historical painting, are placed, for no apparent reason whatever, lifeless and dull figures. Only in those pictures where these figures, in comparison with the landscape and the accessories, play a subsidiary part, does Semiradsky retain a certain charm. On the other hand, in his vast and intricate