portrait with rabbit

thanks wikiart.org (PD)

Valentin Serov (1865-1911) was one of the great Russian portraitists of his day.  Yet I had never seen his name till I discovered this pencil Portrait of K. A. Obninskaya with Bunny (1904).  Turns out he studied under Ilya Repin, and in Moscow and Paris.  The freshness of his approach to his subjects is considered to be the starting point of Russian Impressionism.  You can see this much more vividly when you see a number of his works in color (this page isn't great, but it will help).  I simply enjoyed the solidity and velvety finish of the rabbit, and how carefully she holds him.