Mikhail Nesterov

Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov () (, Ufa – 18 October 1942, Moscow) was a Russian painter. He was a very important painter for religious symbolism in Russian art. He studied under Pavel Tchistyakov at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Later, he felt attracted to the group of artists known as the Peredvizhniki. His canvas "The Vision of the Youth Bartholomew" (1890–91) is often considered to mark the inauguration of the Russian Symbolist movement. This painting shows the conversion of Sergii Radonezhsky. From 1890 to 1910, Nesterov lived in Kiev and St Petersburg, working on frescoes in St. Vladimir's Cathedral and the Church on Spilt Blood, respectively. After 1910, he spent the rest of his life in Moscow, working in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. As a devout Orthodox Christian, he did not accept the Bolshevik Revolution but remained in Russia until his death, painting the portraits of Ivan Ilyin, Ivan Pavlov, Otto Schmidt, and Vera Mukhina, among others.