Kramskoy was born in 1837 in the family of a clerk. At the age of 15, the future artist became an assistant of an icon painter, and in 1853, he got involved in retouching photographs. In 1856, he left the Voronezh governorate for St. Petersburg, where he got a job as a retoucher in the photography studio of Ivan Alexandrovsky.

 
In 1857, Kramskoy entered the Imperial Academy of Arts and became a student of the history painter, Professor Alexei Markov. But after the “Revolt of Fourteen” in 1863 and the expulsion from the Academy of Arts, Kramskoy and other like-minded painters founded the St. Petersburg Artel of Artists, and in 1870 — the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

 
Over time, the Association developed into a widespread and influential artistic movement. For the first time in the history of Russian art, the life of the common people became the subject of artistic attention. The main works at the exhibitions of the Wanderers were paintings of everyday scenes and portraits of contemporaries from different social strata.

 
Portraits occupied an important place in Kramskoy’s work. Among his models were not only representatives of the high society and outstanding personalities of Russian culture, but also local folk types. According to critics, he created ‘a real, multifaceted portrait of Russia of that time’.

 
The pictures in which Kramskoy depicted his loved ones were especially warm. One of these works — a portrait of his son Seryozha, painted in 1883 — is on display at the museum.

 
The boy is depicted in full length at the very edge of the canvas. Kramskoy portrayed his face most carefully — his childish features are soft and rounded, his serious and attentive gaze is directed at the viewer.

 
Although the image seems static, the portrait evokes a feeling of spontaneity, as if the son did not pose for Kramskoy, but was rather taken by surprise. Seryozha is dressed in a ceremonial military uniform with tassel epaulettes: Kramskoy deliberately made the boy look like a monarch.