Henryk Hipolitovich Siemiradzki studied at the Natural Sciences Department of Kharkov University and then at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. There, his teachers were the painter and academician Bogdan Pavlovich Willewalde and the historical and religious artist Carl Bogdanovich Wenig.

In 1870, Henryk Siemiradzki received a grand gold medal and the title of class artist for his work, “Alexander the Great Demonstrating His Trust in his Physician Philip”. Between 1871 and 1878, he travelled to Germany and Italy at the expense of the Academy of Arts.

In 1873, Henryk Siemiradzki was awarded the title of academician for his paintings “Phryne” and “The Sinner”. For his composition “The Sinner” from the museum collection, he was also awarded the Medal “For Art” at the Vienna World’s Fair.

Four years later, Henryk Siemiradzki became a professor of painting for his work “Candlesticks of Christianity (Nero’s Torches)”. The following year, at the Exposition Universelle in Paris, he was awarded the Grand Prix and the National Order of the Legion of Honor.

Henryk Siemiradzki was a member of the Berlin and Rome Academies of Arts. In 1893, he became a full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

The artist lived in Italy for a long time and had a studio in the center of Rome. Supposedly, it was there that he completed his work on “The Sinner”.

The painting was commissioned by the President of the Academy of Arts, Prince Vladimir Alexandrovich. The plot was based on the eponymous poem by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy.

The artist stayed true to the original text of the poem and highlighted two people in a large crowd. The first character is “… the fallen woman is beautiful; / Looking at her, it is unlikely / That men and elders can resist / Her dangerous charms…” The second character is Jesus Christ, “With a calm look, / Another One approaches the temple. / He rests His sad gaze / On the impertinent woman…”

The artist paid a lot of attention to the architectural and landscape background as well as other details: clothes, jewelry, and precious everyday items. In this painting, Henryk Siemiradzki, for the first time in Russian painting history, combined a large-scale historical scene with attempts at introducing plein-air painting. This means that the work was painted outdoors, from nature.

Despite the exhibition’s success and awards, the painting was criticized by contemporaries and considered an example of “salon painting”.

The painter and draftsman Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy wrote about the painting,