Consular tower in Sudak 1903

Konstantin Bogaevsky painted "Consular tower in Sudak" with oil paints, I’m guessing sometime in the early 20th century. The muted colours give the work a sense of age, like a faded memory. Looking closely, you can almost feel the grit of the crumbling stone beneath your feet, can't you? Bogaevsky builds up the surface with thick, tactile strokes, especially in the tower and the craggy foreground. See how the brushstrokes follow the contours of the land, creating a sense of depth and texture? The paint is applied opaquely. It’s almost as if he sculpted the landscape. The tiny figure sitting on the cliff edge adds a human element to the scene, but they are so small that you could miss them. This piece reminds me a little of some of Courbet's landscapes, in terms of the use of physical, tangible paint. But Bogaevsky brings his own unique sensibility to the scene, capturing the stark beauty of this Crimean landscape. It's a painting that invites us to contemplate the passage of time and the enduring power of nature.