Alexander Savinov is one of those numerous artists of the early 20th century loved by contemporaries but forgotten by their successors. He was called ‘the pacified Vrubel’ and recognized as a brilliant virtuoso and academician of a new formation who never yielded to the temptation of the stencil: ‘as if from another school, even from another country’.

The painter’s developing talent reached its height in the 1900s to 1910s — an epoch of refinement, elegance, grace and Symbolist decadence. Savinov grew up in Saratov and was a close associate of artists in the circle of Victor Borisov-Musatov. During his travels across Europe he was influenced by Italian Renaissance painting and admired the ancient Pompeian frescoes, but he was also familiar with current modernist trends. Following the example of the old masters, Savinov mixed his own paints and carefully studied each image or mise en scène in a variety of sketches and studies. His monumental panel paintings are extremely decorative and marked by a love of exquisite detail, whether this is ornamental backgrounds, whimsical foliage tracery, or smooth, viscous lines in the style of Art Nouveau.