Like all other staterooms in wealthy households, drawing rooms were always beautifully decorated. Among other pieces of decoration, interiors of merchant houses were commonly adorned with wall-mounted mirrors, photographs – for example, pictures of the owners or their relatives, – and paintings of various genres. These included landscapes, depictions of mythological and religious scenes, and portraits.

The merchant’s drawing room has two portraits. They depict the Utkin couple, who were significant historical figures in Tomsk. Tomsk artist Georgy Belkin painted them from a family photo.

The portrait of a man depicts Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor of botany at Tomsk University, and member of multiple expeditions to explore Siberia Leonid Antonovich Utkin.

Utkin was born in the city of Kushva of the Sverdlovsk Region in 1884. He graduated from Tomsk University, became a member of the Tomsk Society of Siberian Studies, and took part in various expeditions led by famous contemporary scientists. He traveled to the Tyumen Region, the Caucasus and Transcaucasia, the Urals, Altai, Central Russia, as well as many other parts of the country. Leonid Utkin devoted his entire life to the study of medicinal plants, and mainly went on expeditions to collect information about folk medicine.

From 1914 to 1918, the scientist headed the department of medicinal plants in the botanical garden of Tiflis (present day Tbilisi, Georgia). In 1915, Utkin published a research paper in Tomsk. The work was titled “Lake Gorchiny” and discussed a previously unknown lake with healing waters. Concurrently, the researcher studied vegetation and collected medicinal plants of different regions, conducting 16 expeditions in just over two years. These expeditions were funded by Tomsk University and the Botanical Museum. The result of such an extensive work were the books “Medicinal Plants of Siberian Peoples” and “Botanical and Geographical Overview of Prichulymye Lands.” However, Leonid Utkin’s most significant work is considered to be ‘The Bibliography on Medicinal Plants, ’ which was co-authored by Professor Adele Hammerman and bibliographer Vladimir Nevsky.

On his later expeditions, Leonid Utkin was accompanied by his wife, Antonina Voronina-Utkina. She made drawings for his books on medicinal plants and reproduced his handwritten texts on a typewriter.