A preliminary sketch for the painting Politicians (1863–64; Graphite pencil on paper; 16.7 × 21.5 cm; State Treryakov Gallery). According to Vladimir Petrov, author of a monograph on Perov, the scene of “politicians” sitting at a table in discussion was done with D. Uliki’s (1784–1841) painting Rural Politicians (1806) in mind. The fate of the painting was long unknown. The list of the artist’s work compiled in 1899 by N. N. Sobko mentioned only a drawing in graphite pencil showing the composition of the planned painting (N. Sobko, Dictionary of Russian Artists [St. Petersburg, 1899], vol. 3, p. 161, ill. 21; drawing at Sate Treryakov Gallery). Sobko included it in a group of Paris sketches done, in the words of Perov himself, “from memory.” In the anniversary publication from the Tretyakov Gallery of V. G. Perov. Documents, Letters and Stories, a Catalogue ofWorks (Moscow, 1934), the list of the artist’s works compiled by O. Liaskovskaia also only includes the drawing (p. 329, No. 30). An article by the painter A. Kiselev in the journal Artist (1894, No. 33, p. 20) came to light later. It included a reproduction of the painting under the title At the Roundtable. Two almost identical versions of the painting are now known: one, done in oil on cardboard, is in the collection of M. and A. Bekkerman; the other was auctioned at Christie’s in London (Nov. 27, 2007, No. 213). The latter is also done in oil but on a board, and it is signed and dated 1866.Which version was reproduced in Artist is difficult to determine in view of the quality of the reproduction, but it is notable that it shows neither a signature nor a date. The artist’s method of working on the central composition of his Paris period (Inside a Fair Booth During a Show) in which he did pencil sketches and sketches in oil on cardboard or pieces of canvas glued to cardboard before turning to the final canvas gives us reason to suppose that the version in the M. and A. Bekkerman collection was made after the drawing at the Tretyakov Gallery and was the finished sketch for the painting auctioned in London. The painting itself was executed by the artist after his return to Russia on one of the boards that he purchased before leaving Paris. In one of his letters, he specifically recalled his desire “to try to paint on board, like Meissonier” (Perov. Documents, letters, p. 90).