Valentin Alexandrovich Serov

Evgeny Semionovich Levitin (1930-1998), art historian and curator at the Pushkin Replica Handbags Museum in Moscow

The present work is a study for the figure of Europe in Serov’s The Rape of Europe. Several variations of this composition exist, with the two most famous versions now in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery.

While working on his last masterpiece, Serov produced a large number of sketches and studies in pencil and sanguine, many of which are now in the collection of the Tretyakov as well as other museums in Russia. These studies offer a fascinating insight into Serov’s working methods. While early versions show a more realistic treatment of the face and body, later drawings are more laconic, expressive and decorative. The present study can be placed among the latter. Here we no longer see a real woman, but the mythological figure which appears in the final versions.