Portrait of N.D. Zaionchkovskaia. 1876.

Canvas, oil. 64х54,2.

Made by request from P. M. Tretiakov

Zaionchkovskaia Nadezhda Dmitrievna (1825-1889), née Khvoshchinskaia, writer (pseudonym V. Krestovskii).

At the request of P.M. Tretiakov, I.N. Kramskoi traveled to Ryazan, where the writer lived, to paint her portrait. However, at Zaionchkovskaya’s request the portrait had to stay with her in Ryazan “for an indefinite period of time” (Kramskoi: Letters, vol. 1, p.322). Tretiakov made repeated attempts to retrieve the portrait commissioned by him, but it was only after the writer’s death in 1889 that S.M. Tretiakov, following his brother’s instructions, found the portrait “in a village in Ryazan province” and obtained permission from N.D. Zaionchkovskaia’s sister to return the portrait to the patron (Kramskoi: Letters, vol. 2, p. 468).

Description from Gosudarstvennai͡a Tretʹi͡akovskai͡a Galerei͡a. Katalog Sobranii͡a. Tom 4. Zhivopisʹ Vtoroĭ Poloviny XIX Veka. Moskva: Izdatelʹstvo “Krasnai͡a ploshchadʹ,” 2001.