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Ivan Firsov is also mentioned as the first
Russian genre-painter but his life and his art is beclouded by mystery. The
well painted picture "In the Studio of a young Painter," ascribed to
him, which shows the artist painting a portrait of a young girl in the presence
of her mother, was signed by the professor of the Academy, Losenko. It has
never been established who signed Losenko's name, the professor himself or
somebody else. Until the middle of the 19th century very few people were
interested in this kind of painting, and even the Academy did not bother to
establish the identity of the artists. There were several gifted painters in
the country, particularly among the peasants, who continued to paint individual
or group portraits, often merely imitations of icons, and their names were
never given.
Here we see this now famous painting "Youthful artist".
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