Olga's Gallery

            Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov was born into the family of a merchant on May 1862 in the city of Ufa in the Urals, Russia. In 1874, his parents brought him to Moscow to study in a technical college, where he caught the attention of K. Trutovsky, an artist and inspector of the Moscow School of Art. This was an important meeting, the turning point in his life. In 1876 on the recommendation of K. Trutovsky he entered the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture; he studied in the classes of Perov, Savrasov and Pryanishnikov. In 1881, he entered St. Petersburg Academy of Art, studio of professor Pavel Tchistyakov (1881-84), actively participated in the Itinerants’ Society of Traveling Exhibitions (the society organized the traveling exhibitions through all Russia).
            First he tried himself in the genres of historic and everyday scenes, but later, in the 1890s, he became interested in religious themes. In technique his religious pictures are much influenced by style modern. In the 1890s-1900s, he fulfilled paintings in the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev, mosaics in the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ in St. Petersburg (1894-96), paintings in the Church of Alexander Nevsky in Abastuman, Georgia  (1899-1904), frescoes in Marfo-Mariinsky Cloister in Moscow (1907-11). His other works of the period are also connected with religion: Hermit (1889), Vision to Youth Bartholomew (1889-1890), Youth of Saint Sergey Radonezhsky (1892-1897), Tzarevich Dmitry (1899), Philosophers (Portrait of Pavel Florenskiy and Sergey Bulgakov) (1917), Archbishop (Portrait of Antoniy Volynskiy) (1917) and many others.
            In 1885, he married Maria Ivanovna Martynovskaya. Unfortunately, she died next year after giving birth to their daughter, Olga. “The death of Masha made me an artist”, Nesterov wrote later. His paintings, which according to his own judgment had lacked feelings, now obtained them. From now on he depicted moods, not events. One of his most lyrical works is Portrait of Olga Nesterova, known as Woman in a Riding Habit (1906), which personifies a typical Russian girl from an upper-middle class family.
             In the ‘Soviet’ period of his creative work Nesterov paints portraits, mostly of his colleagues, Portrait of Ivan Shadr (1934), Portrait of Vera Mukhina (1940) etc. There are several interesting portraits of outstanding people of his time: Portrait of Sergey Yudin (1935), Portrait of Ivan Pavlov (1935), etc.

Nesterova, Maria Ivanovna, née Martynovskaya, (1862-1886) the first wife of the artist, she died after the birth of their daughter Olga Mikhailovna Nesterova (1886-1973), who became Shreter after marriage.

Vasnetsov Brothers, the Russian artists:
Victor Mikhailovich  (1848-1926) his works on themes from Russian history and folklore are widely known. Together with Nesterov he worked on the painting of Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev.
Apollinary Mikhailovich (1856-1933) artist and archeologist, in his paintings tried to restore the views of old Moscow and other Russian cities.

Tzarevich Dmitry, the youngest son of the Tsar Ivan the Terrible, died in Uglich in 1591 under unknown circumstances, which gave the reason to believe that he was killed by an assassin sent by Boris Godunov, who, thanks to many intrigues and much blood, managed to take over the throne, though not for long.

Yashvil, Natalia Grigoryevna (1862- 1939) princess, close friend of the Nesterovs, landlady of the estate Knyagino, where the Nesterovs spent several summers. She was an amateur artist herself and took private lessons from Pavel Tchistyakov.

Nesterova, Ekaterina Petrovna (1879 –1955), née Vasilyeva, the second wife of the artist, they had the children: Natalia (1903 - ?); Anastasia (1904-1905), and Alexei (1907-1942).

Nesterova, Vera Mikhailovna (1899- ?) daughter of the artist and Julia Nikolaevna Urusman (1877-1962). After marriage she became Nesterova-Titova.

Aksakov, Sergei Timofeevich (1791-1859) Russian author, in his works showed a passionate sympathy with nature, lyrically described the places of his childhood, the Urals.

Archbishop Antoniy Volynskiy (1864–1936) before taking monastic vows, Alexey Khrapovitskiy.

Bulgakov, Sergei Nikolayevich (1871-1944) economist, philosopher, theologian, since 1918, a clergyman. In 1923 he immigrated from Russia, since 1925 – professor and dean of the Russian Theologian Institute in Paris; he was one of the leaders of the Russian Students Christian Movement.
Florensky, Pavel Alexandrovich (1882-1943) theologian, philosopher, mathematician, physicist, engineer, author of many theoretical works in the subjects. In 1933, was arrested by communists and then shot.

Thinker is a portrait of Ilyin, Ivan Alexandrovich (1882-1954) idealistic philosopher, lawyer, professor of the Moscow University, author of more than 30 books and hundreds of articles. He actively opposed the Bolsheviks, and was arrested many times. In 1922, he was exiled from Russia; worked in the Russian Scientific Institute in Berlin since 1923, in 1934 was fired by the Nazis; after 1938, lived in Switzerland.

Korin, Pavel Dmitryevich (1892-1967) Russian artist, close friend of Nesterov. They got acquainted in 1911, when young Korin, an icon painter at the time, started to help Nesterov with paintings in the Cathedral of Marfo-Mariinsky Cloister. His brother, Alexander Dmitryevich Korin, was also an artist, restorer of paintings, close friend of Nesterov.

Tutcheva, Sofia Ivanovna (1870- 1957) granddaughter of the Russian poet Feodor Ivanovich Tutchev.

Pavlov, Ivan Petrovich (1849-1939)  Russian scientist, physiologist, born into the family of a village priest. He studied medicine in St. Petersburg, conducted research work in Germany. On his return to St. Petersburg became professor (1890) and then director of the Institute of Experimental Medicine (1913). Author of the theory of ‘conditioned’ or acquired reflexes. Nobel prize winner in 1904 for physiology and medicine .

Shadr, Ivan Dmitryevich (1887-1941) Russian sculptor. Author of the monument to Maxim Gorky in Moscow and sculptor portraits of Soviet public figures.

Severtsov, Alexey Nikolayevich (1886-1936) biologist, academician; conducted research in comparative anatomy and embryology of vertebrates; author of theoretical works on evolution of animals. He was fond of art, of painting in particular. In 1902-1911, worked in the University of Kiev, where he got acquainted with Nesterov.

Tal, Elizaveta Ivanovna (1904-1964) school friend of Natalia Nesterova, teacher of English in Moscow University.

Rasumova, Elena Pavlovna (1887-1971) doctor and close friend of the Nesterovs.

Yudin, Sergey Sergeevich (1891-1954) outstanding surgeon, academician (1944), author of theoretical and practical works on surgery and anesthesiology, twice laureate of the State Prize (Russia). In 1948, was arrested by the communists and released only in 1953.

Shmidt, Otto Yulyevich (1891-1956) Russian academician, mathematician, astronomer, geophysicist, researcher of Arctic.

Kruglikova, Elizaveta Sergeevna (1865-1941) Russian graphic artist, mostly worked in etching.

Muchina, Vera Ignatyevna (1889-1953) Russian sculptor. She is depicted at the moment of her work on the project to the memorial to Arctic researchers, she is making Boreas - the God of the North Wind.

Shusev, Alexey Victorovich (1873-1949) Russian architect. He projected the Cathedral of Marfo-Mariinsky cloister, the paintings in which were fulfilled by Nesterov. Author of the projects of Kazansky Railway Station (1914-26) in Moscow, Mausoleum of Lenin (1924-30), Hotel “Moscow” (1932-38), plan for general reconstruction of Moscow (1918-25).

Bibliography:
Mikhail Nesterov by A. Rusakova. Aurora. Leningrad. 1990.