In the 1820s Venetsianov moved into the field of genre painting, depicting the life and labours of Russian peasants. By the artist's own admission he "went off to [his] village and there devoted attention to nature and, following that new route, painted The Threshing-Floor" (1823).
A considerable number of Venetsianov's works from this period are devoted to peasant children: A Peasant Boy Putting on Bast Shoes, Children in the Field, Two Boys with a Kite, The Little Shepherd Sleeping. These paintings are evidence of the artist's deep and enduring interest in the theme of childhood. Venetsianov depicted his young personages in a natural setting, displaying an amazing ability to find a general lyrical tone for the work as a whole.