Alexei Alexeiewitsch Harlamoff was born in Saratov, Russia in 1849. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg where in 1868 he was awarded a gold medal and travel scholarship. At this time, the academy taught and promoted the neo-classical techniques and topics. Harlamoff's earliest works were therefore mainly of religious and military subjects. However, it was at a time when the Russian art movement was undergoing great changes and with the advent of Romanticism a new emphasis was placed on portraits of individuals. Moreover, as art began to spread beyond court circles, Russian artists took a renewed interest in the world surrounding them instead of admiring distant European countries. This...