Portrait of Stjepan Nikolsky, uncle of the artist 1901

Boris Kustodiev captured his uncle Stjepan Nikolsky with oil on canvas, portraying not just a man, but a tableau of intellect and tradition. The elder's beard, a symbol of wisdom reminiscent of ancient philosophers, flows like a river of time itself. The books and papers, arranged with careful disorder, speak of a life dedicated to scholarship, echoing images of saints surrounded by their texts. The hat, held gently, is not merely an accessory, but a symbol of the bourgeois identity, a motif repeated across centuries. The simple hat evokes the head coverings in Rembrandt’s portraits of burghers. This symbol of social class evolves—from signs of distinction to symbols of conformity, revealing the cyclical nature of cultural symbols, resurfacing, evolving, and taking on new meanings in different contexts. These images engage us on a subconscious level, tapping into collective memories and emotional states.