Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel is usually regarded amongst the Russian painters of the Symbolist* movement. In reality, he deliberately stood aloof from contemporary art trends, so that the origin of his unusual manner should be sought in Late Byzantine* and Early Renaissance* painting.

Vrubel was born in Omsk,Russia, into a military lawyer's family. His father was of Polish ancestry, while his mother who was Danish died when he was three years old. And though Mikhail graduated from the Faculty of Law at St Petersburg University in 1880, his father had recognized his talent for art and had made sure to provide, through numerous tutors, what proved to be a sporadic education in the subject. The next year he entered the Imperial Academy...