This painting belongs to the urban genre and was something of an exception for Vasily Maximov, who was better known for his loving depictions of peasant life.
The outstanding features of this work are the exceptionally tender images of the heroine and her surroundings, which are painted in the tradition of Pavel Fedotov. The artist depicts his wife, Lydia Izmailova, in the first year of their marriage. The Imperial Academy of Arts awarded Vasily Maximov the title of class artist (first class) and the rank of tenth class for this picture.

Maximov Vasily

Maximov, Vasily Maximovich
1844, Lopino (St Petersburg Province) å 1911, St Petersburg
Painter,portraitist,genreartist.Workedaticon-paint¬ing studios of Vasily Peshekhonov and K. A. Yary¬gin in St Petersburg (1855–1863). Studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1862–1866), graduated with a title of third-class artist. Member of an Artel of Artists created by Pyotr Krestonostsev by the example of Ivan Kramskoi Artel (1864–1865). Aca¬demician (from 1870). Member of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (from 1871). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (from 1878), World Exhibition in Paris (1878), All-Russian Exhibition in Moscow (1882).