Nikolai Jaroshenko painted this picture in the Caucasus, where he had settled in the late 1880s in an attempt to restore his shattered health. The canvas is unlike his earlier works, which addressed social problems and were noted for their social and political poignancy.
The poetic image of the pale and mournful woman and her lonely melancholy on the terrace of a house surrounded by the blossoming beauty of southern nature differ greatly from Jaroshenko’s Girl Student (1883, Russ. Mus.). The latter image is fearless, independent and determined, and went on to become one of the symbols of Nikolai Jaroshenko’s art. Incidentally, it is the same model that is depicted in both pictures.

Jaroshenko Nikolai

Jaroshenko, Nikolai Alexandrovich
1846, Poltava -1898, Kislovodsk
Painter, draughtsman, portraitist, genre artist. Studied at the Poltava Military Academy (18505), under Ivan Kramskoi at the School of Drawing, Society for the Encouragement of Artists (from 1864) and at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1868-74). Studied military engineering at the Michael Aca¬demy of Artillery in St Petersburg (1870). Member of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1876), headed the society after Ivan Kramskoi''''s death (1887). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1875), Retired with the rank of major general (1892). Lived in St Petersburg. Moved to Kislovodsk (late 1880s)