Portrait of F.I. Chaliapin playing as Boris Godunov

Mediums: canvas, tempera, glue, gouache, pastel, chalk, gold, silver foil.
Location: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (Russia).

This is the most exclusive of the several costumed portraits of the genius of the stage. We can see the singer on a two-meter canvas majestically standing in front of a heavy curtain. It is known that Chaliapin posed for the artist in makeup immediately after the performance at the Mariinsky Theater directed by V.E. Meyerhold. Golovin used a number of materials to convey his royal coronation robes, made, by the way, also according to his sketches. He masterfully depicted the brilliance of jewels and the flickering of golden heavy brocade with the help of a collage. According to Neradovsky, Count D. Tolstoy, a friend of a museum manager, ordered Golovin to create such a portrait of Chaliapin for the Russian Museum. A separate work was a sketch for the portrait, made in black and purple tones on an orange background, which depicts only the head of Chaliapin in makeup.