In Christ in the Desert, how is the Reception discussed?
The painting received a wide feedback and appeared at the Peredvizhniks' second  exposition of 1873. Pavel Tretyakov wrote: "I liked Kramskoi's Saviour very much... that's why I was harrying up to purchase him, but many people did not appreciate him much and the others did not at all. In my opinion this is the best painting in our school recently; maybe I am mistaken". Critic Vladimir Stasov noted that a "sorrowful note sensibly resounds in the general physiological array of the work". Vsevolod Garshin outlined the "expression of immense moral force, hatred against evil and complete resoluteness to fight it". According to Ivan Goncharov, who wrote "Christ in the Desert. A Painting of Mr. Kramskoi" (original Russian title: "Христос в пустыне». Картина г. Крамского"), "the entire figure seems to have diminished a bit from its natural size, contracted, not from starvation, thirst and bad weather, but from internal, inhuman insight to his thought and will during the struggle of forces of spirit and flesh". He also emphasized that "there is nothing festive, heroic, victorious — the future fate of the world and of all livings is concealed in that miserable, small being, in pauper appearance, under the rags, in humble simplicity, inseparable with true majesty and force". The Russian art researcher Georgy Wagner wrote the article "On the Interpretation of I. N. Kramskoi's Painting "Christ in the Desert" (Russian: "Об истолковании картины И.Н. Крамского "Христос в пустыне").
Vsevolod Garshin Ivan Goncharov Pavel Tretyakov Peredvizhniks Vladimir Stasov