A luminous winter landscape at sunset, the snow-covered path and unfrozen stream catching the last apricot and rose light of a low sun, an avenue of slender birches receding towards distant cottages among the evergreens. A rustic timber footbridge crosses the water, while footprints lead the eye into the composition and the bare trunks glow warm against the cold lilac shadows of the snow. The mirror-still water reflects the golden sky in a passage of real beauty. Born in Russia and trained in the tradition of the Itinerants, Guermacheff was among the most accomplished painters of the Russian winter landscape. Obliged to leave his homeland after the Revolution, he settled in Paris, where he spent the last decade of his life. Painted there on a French canvas during these émigré years, the present picture depicts a Russian winter recalled from memory — suffused with the nostalgic longing for his homeland that distinguishes his finest late work. With its harmonious interplay of warm light and cool snow, it is a characteristic and particularly beautiful example of his art, dating from circa 1922–1930.