1897-1900. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Read Note.
In 1897-1900, Somov worked on a beautiful portrait of his childhood friend, and a peer in the Academy of Arts, the artist Yelizaveta (Elisabeth) Martynova. She was often sick and he left abroad several times, and the work on the portrait took so long time. The portrait became known as “Lady in Blue”. Martynova’s colleague-painters remembered her as highly emotional, proud and easily wounded. She was sure that one day she would be a great artist. Unfortunately, she got ill with tuberculosis and died early