What's going on in this painting by Vasily Maximov?

Everything was going well for Vasily Maximov, an auditor student at the Imperial Academy of Arts. He completed his studies in just three years, receiving small silver and gold medals for his paintings. But, in 1866, the 22-year-old artist opted out of the competition for the ‘Grand Gold Medal’ and returned to his native village near St. Petersburg. He wanted to explore his homeland "and the poor Russian village, which no one here really knows".

Hailing from a peasant family himself, he dedicated his work to exploring rural life and the sorrows and joys of the common people. Artist Ilya Repin said that Maximov's works contained "the simplest, eternal Russian truth".

In 1876, he painted ‘Division of the Family Property’. The scene centers on two brothers and their wives dividing their property following their father's death. At that time, the tradition of the extended family, where the older generation, their children and grandchildren, along with their respective families, lived on the same farm, was fading. Some moved to the city, while others wanted to set up their own independent homes. Furthermore, after the abolition of serfdom, peasants still did not have the right to own land, but they were free to dispose of what stood on the land – their homes and all their belongings. Such matters were resolved either among themselves or by engaging the village elder and someone else whose opinions were respected. This is precisely the scene the artist depicted.

Both brothers are dressed in their finest clothes; evidently, so that their outfits would not become a subject of the division of property. Piled up on the floor are horse harnesses, tanned hides, rolls of fabric and part of a loom. Apparently, the older brother’s wife has already managed to claim most of the property for herself; during the argument, she is clutching the pieces of canvas to her chest. In those days, women earned a living by weaving – everything they made belonged to them, as did the money they earned from selling it. It seems the brothers had managed to divide much of the property, but their wives could not see eye to eye and are now arguing over who gets what.

The village elder, seated at a table beneath the icons, watches the family squabble; his status is indicated by the badge on his sheepskin coat. Several fellow villagers, who were summoned to serve as witnesses, are also present during the division of the property.

That same year, Maximov presented the painting at the fifth exhibition of the ‘Peredvizhniki’ in St. Petersburg. Two years later, it was exhibited, along with ‘A Sorcerer Comes to a Peasant Wedding’, at the ‘World's Fair’ in Paris. The artist later received the title of Academician for these paintings.