Nikolai Kuznetsov is one of the leading masters of the Russian realism of the second half of the 19th century. Member of the Academy and head of the battle-painting master class in St.Petersburg Academy of Fine Art he often exhibited with the Peredevizhniki. Good eye and subtle sense of humor helped Kuznetsov in his artistic career and resulted in a large number of high quality works.

Kuznetsov gained the reputation of a versatile master, but portrait genre attracted him the most. The artist painted a whole number of remarkable works – portraits of Mechnikov, Vasnetsov (Russian State Tretyakov Gallery, 1891), Tchaikovsky (Russian State Tretyakov Gallery, 1893), Repin and others. Nikolai Kuznetsov is also known as the author of the whole gallery of delicate female images, which undoubtedly includes the present “Female Portrait” executed in 1894. According to the Kuznetsov’s relatives, the sitter is the artist’s wife and judging by the chosen technique with its vivid and free brushstrokes, the work was done in one session.