The Tkachyov brothers finished their portrait of Vladimir Gamolin in 1990. The portrait’s subject was the founder of the Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev’s Estate Museum in Ovstug.

The artists recounted that in the middle of the 1970’s, they became frequent visitors to Bryansk Oblast.

Vladimir Gamolin was born near Ovstug, in a village called Klinok, in 1930. He studied in the Leningrad State Pedagogical Institute, before working in Sakhalin and serving in the army. He worked as teacher in the school in Yalovka. He arrived in Ovstug in 1955 to teach Russian language and literature. Within two years, the young teacher founded a small museum dedicated to Fyodor Tyutchev.

Nina Debolskaya, an employee of the Ovstug Estate Museum, said that it is a special sign that Vladimir Gamolin eventually came to the Tyutchev estate. She said that as a child, in the middle of the 1940’s famine, he left for Moscow with his father. During the trip, his father bought a small anthology of Tyutchev’s poems. From that moment, the boy fell under the poet’s charm for life.

Gamolin dedicated his life’s work to preserve the heritage of his favorite author’s family. As part of this, he took an active role in the restoration of the poet’s ancestral estate. After Fyodor Tyutchev’s death, the estate fell into disrepair. The main house was dismantled and the Parish Council building was built using the old bricks. During the occupation, the German forces destroyed the parkland and bombed the local church. On Vladimir Gamolin’s initiative, the manor house was rebuilt on the site of the ruins, the guest wing was restored and the water mills and windmills were reopened. Architects used drawings, watercolors and photographs to recreate the old buildings.

The Tkachyov brothers said the following about Gamolin: “Our friendship with him was everything you could wish for. During our stays in Bryansk Oblast, Vladimir Danilovich would take us under his wing, aiding us in our work. He would often find us a great spot to work, and sometimes he would find interesting subjects for our work. “May of 1945” was, you could say, born in Gamolin’s garden.’ He brought together students to model for our painting “The Romantics”. We often went to Vshchizh with him, where we drew many studies on the steep banks, “.