A soloist of railway magnate Savva Mamontov’s Russian Private Opera in Moscow, Tatyana Lyubatovich (1859–1932) was famed for her performances of the roles of Carmen, Dalila and Lel the Shepherd. She is depicted on the edge of two environments — an interior and a landscape.
This motif of dialogue between the world of inhabited dwellings and the world of nature outside the window evokes sensations of a natural human existence. Konstantin Korovin’s large canvas is
painted like a fresh study, vivacious and spontaneous. The adroit use of the artistic resources — fragmentation, asymmetric composition, energetic and rugged painting, refined pearl-pink and green tones — immortalise a moment in the life of this leading opera singer, who made an active contribution to Russian cultural life in the 1880s and 1890s.

Korovin Konstantin

Korovin, Konstantin Alexeyevich (1861, Moscow - 1939, Paris)
Painter, theatrical designer, teacher. Studied under Vasily Perov, Alexei Savrasov and Vasily Polenov at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1875-1886) and at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1882). Academician of painting (1905). Member of the Abramtsevo Сircle (from 1885). Member of the World of Art (1900) and founding member of the Union of Russian Artists (1903). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1878). Contributed to the periodical exhibitions of the Moscow Society of Lovers of the Arts (1888-1897) and the exhibitions of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1889-1899), Moscow Fellowship of Artists (1894-1902), Exhibition of Russian and Finnish Artists (1898), World of Art (1899-1906, 1921, 1922), 36 Artists (1901, 1902), Union of Russian Artists (1903-1923), World Exhibitions in Chicago (1893) and Paris (1900, two gold medals) and the International Exhibitions in Munich (1898), Vienna (1902), Venice (1907) and Rome (1911). Designed for theatres in Moscow and St Petersburg (from 1885). Taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1901-1918), State Free Art Studios (1918-1919) and the Stroganov School (1900s-1910s). Emigrated (1922).