Portrait of a beautiful young woman in Spanish (?) costume was created in Paris in the 1940s by Russian painter-emigrant Sergey Petrovich Ivanov (in French: Serge Ivanoff, 25 December 1893 Moscow — February 8, 1983 Paris). He was born in a merchant family, interested in art from an early age. Studied in the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture (1900-1917) and Academy of Medicine studied anathomy. After moving parents in St. Petersburg in 1917 he began studying painting at the Imperial Academy of arts. In 1920, his wife and two children moved to Paris, and two years later, on graduating, Sergey Ivanov followed them.

Being a talented portraitist, he fulfilled the portraits of many famous people, including Pope Pius XI, Serge Lifar, Yvette Chauviré, Honegger, Edwige Fëjer, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich Romanov, Alexandre Benois, Zinaida Serebryakova, Vyacheslav Ivanov, Valerie Fields, Jacques Veil, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jefferson Kèfri. Also he made illustration for famous Paris magazine " Illustrtion" (1930-1950). In this years he travelled to Brasil, Argentina.

In 1950 Ivanov moved to the United States. For more than 10 years he traveled on the American continent, executing numerous orders. In the second half of the 1960-ies he returned to France, where he became a member of the Independent Salon. In 1966 , the French Minister of culture André Malraux awarded him the gold medal. His works are in museums of France, Vatican, USA.

Portraits and nude paintings by Ivanov arrive high results (till by 60 000 Euro) by international auctions in Russia, France, England and USA .

Literature: in Russian: "Russian Artists of 18th - 20th centuries" by V.D.Solovjev, Moscow, 2005; in French: Benezit "Dictionary of artist, sculptors and decorators",Grund , 1999; in on-line: wikipedia in Russian and French.

Inscription: signed lower left.

Technique: oil on canvas. Original period frame.

Measurements: unframed w 19 1/2" x h 27 3/4" (49,5 x 70,5 cm), framed w 24 2/3" x h 32 7/8 " (62,5 x 83,5 cm)

Condition: in very good condition