The last portrait of Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov, which was made during the poet’s lifetime, is housed in the Karabikha estate. It was created in 1877 by the artist Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoy.

Kramskoy was a Russian painter, master of genre, historical and portrait painting, and art critic. In 1870, he became one of the founders and ideologists of the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions”.

The last lifetime portrait of Nekrasov was commissioned by the philanthropist and merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. The work was supposed to join the collection of his art gallery in Moscow.

In early 1877, it became obvious that Nekrasov was terminally ill. At that time Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov suggested that Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoy should paint a portrait of the poet.

Nikolay Alexeyevich was suffering from severe neuralgic pains, it was difficult for him to walk, lie down and sit for the portrait. Kramskoy informed Tretyakov in one of his letters,

The work dragged on for almost two months. The artist had time to paint only the poet’s face and costume from life. He completed the hands later in the workshop based on sketches and photographs by William Andreyevich Carrick.

Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov liked the portrait very much, and he asked the artist to make two copies: for his wife Zinaida Nikolayevna and his sister Anna Alexeyevna. The works were painted by Mikhail Lazarevich Scherbatov, a pupil of Kramskoy.

Today the original of the last lifetime portrait of Nekrasov is on display in the Tretyakov Gallery, one of the copies is in Saint Petersburg in Nekrasov’s Museum-Apartment, and the second one was handed over by the poet’s sister Anna Alexeyevna Butkevich to the Russian National Library.

The copy that ended up in Karabikha was made either by another order of the poet or at the request of his brother Fyodor Alexeyevich Nekrasov. The museum version of the work bears the artist’s signature: “IKramskoy 77“.