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This portrait of a girl is a typical example of Russian Realism by one of the genre's leading exponents, Konstantin Makovsky. The founder of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Makovsky came from an artistic family. At his family's apartment on the banks of the Moscow River across from the Kremlin, major names in the art world gathered (composer Mikhail Glinka, writer Nikolai Gogol). He studied at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow and later at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. In the 1860s and 1870s he was a member of progressive art groups Artel and Peredvizhniki (The Wanderers). He later diverged from their ideology somewhat and focused his interest on historical painting, genres and portraits from the higher echelons of society. Interest in Makovsky's portraits and historical paintings represented a major step in his career. At the International Exhibition in Paris in 1889 he received the Large Gold Medal and from that point on he became one of Russia's most poplar and best paid artists. This painting comes from the collection of General Fusek.