Boys 

Nikolay Bogdanov-Belsky painted this image of 'Boys', sometime between the late 19th and early 20th century. This painter was a product of Russia's art academies, which had long been divided between those advocating for Western styles and those who championed a distinctively Russian form of art. Bogdanov-Belsky would have seen himself as part of the latter group. Note the barefoot peasant boys in a humble landscape, this emphasis on the common folk was typical of Russian art in this period. After the reforms of Alexander II, artists began to turn towards the peasantry as a source of national identity. But look closer, this isn't a critical or radical picture. The boys are clean, healthy, and arranged in a way that is meant to be pleasing to the eye. Bogdanov-Belsky offers a sympathetic, but ultimately idealized, image of Russian rural life. To understand more, look into the history of art academies in Russia, as well as social and economic reforms of the late 19th century.