Chapter 136 — Anna Karenina

Among Mihailov's canvases the visitors discover a small picture of boys fishing that Vronsky and Anna adore instantly. It is fresh, alive, and free of the heavy debate surrounding Christ before Pilate. Vronsky feels he must buy it, moved by genuine delight rather than theory.

Golenishtchev's cleverness fades beside simple response to mastery. Mihailov, encouraged by this different reception, returns to work on Christ before Pilate, including the difficult foreshortened leg that had stalled him. Patronage follows admiration, not lecture.

The chapter reverses the previous studio dynamic. What amateurs feel honestly matters more than what intellectuals prove. Mihailov's renewed energy shows how recognition of the right work unlocks labor on the harder one.

The boys fishing picture moves Vronsky to genuine purchase; Golenishtchev's cleverness fades beside honest response. Mihailov returns to the stalled foreshortened leg on Christ before Pilate because the right recognition unlocked harder labor.

Simple delight at boys fishing outweighs Golenishtchev's theory; patronage follows admiration, and the difficult leg on Christ before Pilate moves again. The chapter closes on that beat with no easy moral, only the next consequence waiting in the following pages.

Patronage begins as genuine awe at the Christ sketch; Golenishtchev's theories shrink beside boys on the beach and the painter's need to finish the leg without flattery.