Portrait of Vera Repina

Russian artist Valentin Serov painted this portrait of Vera Repina in 1881, when he was only about sixteen years old. The work demonstrates the young artist's early talent in the Realist tradition. Serov had studied under Ilya Repin in both Paris and Moscow.

The portrait predates Serov's masterworks "The Girl with Peaches" (1887) and "The Girl Covered by the Sun" (1888). In those later paintings, Serov concentrated on spontaneous perception of his subjects and nature. He would become generally considered the primary portraitist of his generation in Russia. This early work shows his developing skill while under Repin's influential guidance.