In 1910, Boris Kustodiev was invited to sculpt a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II for the centenary of the Imperial Alexander Lyceum. The lyceum had been founded in August 1810 by Tsar Alexander I for th...

This exotic and suggestive painting, with its fantastic ornamental design, is a typical example of the oeuvre of Nikolai Kalmakov in the late 1900s and early 1910s. Oriental mythology was a common th...

Boris Kustodiev toured Italy in the company of Dmitry Stelletsky from 29 May to early August 1907. They visited Venice, Florence and Rome, admiring the works of the Venetian school and such Renaissan...

This charcoal and pastel portrait was Valentin Serov ’s second attempt to create a portrait of Princess Olga Orlova. In 1911, he painted a large oil portrait on canvas, depicting the stylish aristocr...

Valentin Serov followed the traditions of Russian ceremonial portraiture, as exemplified by Dmitry Levitsky in the eighteenth century and Karl Brullov in the nineteenth century. But the artist’s psyc...