The artwork titled “Maulbek” by Nicholas Roerich, created in 1937, is a tempera painting on canvas, measuring 81.5 by 122.4 centimeters. This piece belongs to the Symbolism art movement and depicts a landscape. It is currently housed in the Novosibirsk State Museum of Fine Arts in Novosibirsk, Russia.
The artwork portrays a grand, rocky mountain with several fortress-like structures nestled among its crags. The mountain dominates the composition, bathed in a mixture of warm and cool hues, indicative of a setting or rising sun casting its light across the scene. The detailed rock formations are painted in rich, earthy tones contrasted with shadows in cooler shades of blue and purple. Below the mountain, a winding body of water reflects the sky, creating an interplay of light and shadow that enhances the mystical quality of the landscape. The distant mountains in the background recede into cooler tones, further emphasizing the depth and grandeur of the primary mountain structure. The use of tempera as a medium imparts a smooth yet vibrant quality to the scene, characteristic of Roerich’s symbolic style.