Nevrev, Nikolai Vasilevich

Born in 1930 in Moscow; died May 3 (16), 1904, at the estate of Lyskovshchina, in present-day Vitebsk Oblast. Russian painter.

From 1851 to 1856, Nevrev attended the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. He taught at the school from 1887 to 1890. Nevrev joined the peredvizhniki (the “wanderers”—a progressive art movement) in 1881. During the 1860’s, Nevrev produced his best genre paintings, which are noted for their incisive and convincing social commentary and their narrative quality. Among these works are The Bargain (1886), The Ward (1867), and The Archdeacon Wishing Long Life to a Merchant at His Name Day Celebration. (All three works are in the Tret’iakov Gallery, Moscow.) Beginning in the 1870’s, Nevrev produced primarily historical paintings (Princess P. G. Iusupova Before Taking the Veil (1886, Tret’iakov Gallery). The artist also painted portraits.