This gouache drawing by the graphic artist Vladimir Petrovich Panov depicts Baroness Strahl in Prince Zvezdich’s room. This is the episode from the fifth subscene of the third scene in the second act of Mikhail Lermontov’s play “Masquerade”, which happens immediately after Arbenin leaves the sleeping prince and the baroness.

The latter implores Arbenin:

After Arbenin is gone, Prince Zvezdich wakes up and leaves his room to greet the visitor. Baroness Strahl’s figure is depicted in the interior of the room facing the right edge of the picture. She is wearing a dark long terracotta dress, a cape, and a red poke bonnet with ribbons — a women’s headdress that combines the features of a cap and a hat. The veil is thrown off her face, indicating the third subscene of the third scene in the second act. Arbenin says,

Baroness Strahl’s hands in dark gloves are raised to the sky; the arms are bent at the elbows. The tense figure is near the bottom edge of the sheet. The room shows a round wooden table with porcelain dishes (partly shown) and the back of a high chair. The walls with a light bold-striped wallpaper show an oil portrait painting of a man, which is cut off by the top edge of the sheet.

The composition in this work is rather unusual: Vladimir Panov placed the figure of the baroness at the intersection of the upper right and lower left corners. The heroine’s pose, the fragment of the interior — all these compositional details convey a sense of tension and anticipation of a difficult conversation.

The graphic artist Vladimir Panov treated classical Russian works with the utmost respect. He was a Merited Artist of the Russian Federation and worked as a professor at the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov. The skilled illustrator passed away in 2007