This book tells about the works and days of the wonderful Russian artist Alexander Ivanov. His life is not rich in bright events. But it is full of great inner drama. For many years Ivanov lived outside his homeland, in Italy, but he was always with his soul with his native land. A passionate seeker of truth, a painter-thinker, a psychologist who reveals in his works the depths of a person's mental life, he was a welcome friend of the advanced Russian people - Herzen, Ogarev, Chernyshevsky. Chernyshevsky called him "one of the best people who only decorate the earth." For many years, the artist worked on his huge canvas "The Appearance of the Messiah to the People" - he canceled some images, created others. He was distinguished by a rare exactingness to himself and a sharp adherence to principles in matters of art. In constant searches, successes and failures, unexpected finds and equally unexpected misses - his whole life.