Customers gave a special preferment to the images of pretty, modest girls holding a lit sliver or a candle in their hands. A similar technique is not new in art. He was approached by many Western European artists of the 17th century, close to the circle of Caravaggio and his followers. V. A. Tropinin, who had a definite influence on Zabolotsky’s work, was also attached to artificial lighting, introducing the whimsical play of chiaroscuro into the work. Image of the hidden source of light gave artist the opportunity to convey the fragility and immateriality of space. Particularly often, Zabolotsky turned to this technique in the 1830s, during the heyday of his talent, creating a number of romantic female images (“The Girl Who Fell Asleep with a Candle”, 1835; “The Cook with Candles”, “Fortune-Telling on Cards”, 1830s). 

Among these works is a later “Young Girl with a Cigarette”. Here, the secret, mysteriously flickering light of a burning match, hidden in the palm of the heroine, as if for a moment pulled her face and figure from the dense darkness of the background. It gives an intimate, “home” portrait a very special charm and the echo of a certain intrigue that invariably attracts the attention of the viewer. The girl definitely poses, radiating all the freshness and naive charm of a youth rushing into adult social life, and the artist frankly admires the laid-back grace of her natural pose and graceful gestures. A cigarette in her hand brings a piquant shade of charming playfulness to the girl’s image, and the lack of interest in the model’s inner world is compensated by her warmth and sympathy, skill and thoroughness in reproducing her appearance.