Although painted in the genre of a group portrait, the picture incarnates collective rather than concrete images. The very subjects represent textbook Romantic characters enigmatic, strong, harbouring some hidden threat, ridden by violent passions and an ungovernable temperament capable of decisive and impulsive acts. The painting was painted while the artist was in Italy.

Scotti Mikhail

SCOTTI, Mikhail Ivanovich
1814, St Petersburg - 1861, Paris
Painter, draughtsman, watercolourpainter. Portraitist, master of history painting and compositions on religious themes. The son of an Italian decora¬tive artist who moved to Russia. After his father s death, adopted by Professor Alexei Egorov. Audit¬ed classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts, grad¬uated in 1835 and made an artist (14th class). Travelled with the Kutaisov family to Italy in 1839, remained there until 1844, mainly studying the representation of scenes from local life and local national types. In these same years also journeyed to Constantinople in order to execute an iconos¬tasis for the Russian Embassy Chapel. Academi¬cian of history painting (1845). Lecturer and class inspector at Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1849 1856). Professor of his¬tory painting (1855) for icons painted for the chapel of the Jäger Life Guards Regiment. Also ex¬ecuted icons for a whole series of churches and cathedrals, as well as painting murals for several palaces in St Petersburg.