Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (Russian: Васи́лий Дми́триевич Поле́нов; 1 June 1844 – 18 July 1927) was a Russian landscape painter associated with the Peredvizhniki movement of realist artists. His contemporaries would call him the “Knight of Beauty” as he embodied both European and Russian traditions of painting. His vision of life was summarized as following: “Art should promote happiness and joy”. As a painter and a humanist, he would truly believe in the civilizing mission of Art, Culture and Education. Early life and family heritage As a native of St. Petersburg, Polenov grew up in a wealthy, intellectual and artistic family. During his teenage years, in 1860s, Russia was energized by great minds promoting virtues of democracy, progress, education, and they would stand against oppression. The painter's father, Dmitriy Vasilevich Polenov (1806–1872), was a well known archaeologist and bibliographer. As a representative of the Academy of Sciences and then as the secretary of the Russian embassy of Athens, he spent 3 years in Greece. There he would meet important personalities at the time linked to the world of Art and Science: the painter Karl Briullov, the architect Roman Kuzmin (some years after, he would help design and build the Polenov family house at Imotchensy). At his return to Russia, according to the advice he received during his life abroad, Dmitri Polenov started to do archaeological digs in ancient Russian sites. For many years he devoted his knowledge and work to the Secretary of the Russian Archeological Society. In 1860, he travelled with his sons. This long horseback journey led them to Novgorod, Rostov, Yaroslav, Suzdal, Vladimir, Tver. Vasily Polenov was encouraged by his father to draw sketches of any interesting ancient subject he would witness. His mother, Maria Alekseevna (1816–1895), was a painter and a portraitist; she received her lessons from the academician Moldavski, a partner of Karl Briullov. She also wrote a book in 1852 about the life of a family spending the summertime in a dacha. Summer in Tsarkoye Selo was then re-edited with illustrations made by Vassili Polenov and his younger sister, Elena, also an artist. From both parents and grandparents Vasily and his siblings would receive general knowledge about physics, history, geography and also the biographies of famous painters and musicians, and this tradition was stated in his mother's book in order to reach other children. His maternal grandmother was also really important during the painter's childhood.