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(b St Petersburg, 7 [19] Jan. 1865; d Moscow, 22 Nov. [5 Dec.] 1911). Russian painter and graphic artist, son of the composer Alexander Serov. He studied privately under Repin from an early age and then in 1880–5 at the Academy in St Petersburg, where he became a friend of Vrubel. His work includes landscapes, genre pictures, and historical scenes, as well as book illustrations, but he is best known as a portraitist. In this field he was the greatest Russian painter of his time and a match for any artist in the world. Like his contemporary Sargent, he was a cosmopolitan figure, used to moving in high society, and he brought to his work something of the same quality of aristocratic authority and poise associated with the American's portraits.

Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)


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