Portrait of the Artist Pavel Tchistyakov

Valentin Serov rendered this portrait of his teacher Pavel Chistyakov, the man who shaped his artistic development. In 1880, the fifteen-year-old Serov joined the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and began studying in Chistyakov's workshop, even though he was technically too young for admission.

Chistyakov (1832–1919) was a legendary teacher who had trained an entire generation of great Russian painters, including Ilya Repin, Vasily Surikov, Vasily Polenov, and Mikhail Vrubel. His pedagogical system emphasized careful study of nature and learning from past masters. These principles remained key to Serov's artistic methods throughout his career.

The academic style didn't come naturally to young Serov, who had grown accustomed to Repin's freer brushwork. But Chistyakov immediately recognized his new student's talent. He sometimes made Serov draw squares and triangles to prove students were incapable, yet years later Serov wrote to his mentor: "I remember you as the teacher and consider you the only (in Russia) true teacher of the eternal sacrosanct rules of forms."

The State Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg holds this tribute from student to teacher. Serov spent hours at the Hermitage copying Rembrandt, Velázquez, and Veronese on Chistyakov's advice, developing into the primary portraitist of his generation.