A.A. Ivanov did not like the genre of portrait per se and turned to it rarely if ever. Vittoria Marini was the landlady of the flat which the artist rented in Rome with his brother Sergei. The artistic language of the portrait is strict, almost severe. Ivanov cuts off all things vain, fleeting, the “signs of a volatile soul”. He himself believed that an “inspiration brought down to mathematical forms” matched well the modern age. Ivanov seeks to work out a certain “formula” of the human face in its primary elements not subjected to changes. The figure is solid; the clear-cut face does not have any characteristic, individual features. There is a contrast between black and red, Romantics’ beloved combination, but the background is not utterly black. It is rather greenish, muffling the colour tension. The figure seems to be a classic statue; it is not so much a specific person as their ideal prototype. The philosopher F. Schelling, whose ideas fascinated Ivanov, wrote that “the supreme beauty ... residing originally only in God ... can be depicted only in plastic arts”.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow