Tolstoy's Friendship with Paolo Trubetskoy and His Sculpted Portraits of the Writer

"Lev Nikolaevich is being modelled all the time by Trubetskoy, and the bust is very good: majestic, characteristic and true" - Sofya Andreyevna Tolstaya, diary entry of 16 - 23 April 1898.

The friendly relations between Tolstoy and Trubetskoy are, in general, well known. Lev Nikolayevich liked the artist's simple and spontaneous character, while the latter, without embarrassment, admitted that he could not get through Tolstoy's texts. Tolstoy sat for Trubetskoy for long stretches and rode out with him on horseback around Yasnaya Polyana. And the sculptural portraits of Lev Tolstoy created by Trubetskoy are marked by a particular penetration and inner strength.

The small half-length bust with folded hands by Paolo Trubetskoy, for which Tolstoy sat at the house in Khamovniki in 1898–1900 (the sittings are captured in several photographs), was considered by Sofya Andreyevna better than any other at conveying Tolstoy's true appearance.

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Tolstoy's Friendship with Paolo Trubetskoy and His Sculpted Portraits of the Writer

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