> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://theparnassian.com/en/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The Sleeping Princess and the “Dove Book” in the Last Painting of the “Poem of Seven Fairy Tales” Cycle
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/poetichnuiu-i-originalnuiu-spiashchuiu-tsarevnu-zakonchennuiu-vasnetsovym-za-god-do-smerti-v-1926-schitaiut-odnoi-iz-luchshikh-ego-kartin/
- Published: 2023-06-27T18:37:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-02T19:01:22.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Moscow, Museums

The poetic and original "Sleeping Princess", completed by Vasnetsov a year before his death, in 1926, is considered one of his finest paintings.

The princess has fallen asleep together with the entire sovereign's court; even the bear that was to have danced at her wedding is asleep. An enchanted slumber has enveloped them all. A little girl sleeps behind an open volume of the "Dove Book", a mysterious ancient book that unveils the riddles of the creation of the world.

On the open page one can read the beginning of the first verse:

*"The bright world began from the Holy Spirit,* 
*From the Holy Spirit, from Christ Himself,* 
*From Christ Himself, the Heavenly Tsar.* 
*The red sun from the face of God,* 
*The young bright moon from the breast of God,* 
*The frequent stars from the robes of God,* 
*The bright dawns from the eyes of God,* 
*From Christ Himself, the Heavenly Tsar."*

*Literal translation*

The painting became the last of the pictorial cycle "Poem of Seven Tales", which also included "The Unsmiling Princess", "The Frog Princess", "Baba Yaga", "Koschei the Deathless", "Sivka-Burka" and "The Flying Carpet". The canvas is very large: 4.5 by 2.14 metres. The painting is kept in the Vasnetsov House Museum in Moscow.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_9208@27-06-2023_21-37-00.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_9209@27-06-2023_21-37-00.jpg)

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_9210@27-06-2023_21-37-00.jpg)