Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (1862-1942) was a Russian painter in Czarist days with strong religious beliefs who remained after the Revolution. Yet was able to live out his days while not conforming to the Soviet artistic system. Apparently he managed to survive via portrait painting.

His Wikipedia entry is here, and more information from Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery is here.

Gallery

[Image]Vision of the Young Bartholomew - 1890
It seems this painting helped launch Nesterov's career.

[Image]Taking the Veil - 1897-98
Another of his many paintings with a religious theme.

[Image]Entombment of Alexander Nevsky - 1900
An historical theme here.

[Image]Portrait of Alexei Maksimovich Gorky - c.1901

[Image]Portrait of Lev Tolstoy - 1907

[Image]Portrait of Yekaterina Petrovna Nesterova - his second wife - 1905

[Image]Olga Nesterova in Riding Habit - his oldest daughter - 1906

[Image]Femme nue
Sold in 2007 at Christies Paris auction for about $14,000 (link here). Dimensions are 45,6 x 47,5 cm. (17 7/8 x 18¾ in.). The link to Christies does not mention that this is a copy of a painting by Tyrolian artist Leo Putz.

[Image]Sommertraeume - by Leo Putz - 1907
The dimensions of "Summer Dreams" are 119.5 x 110 cm -- much larger than Nesterov's copy. I can conform this, because I viewed the Putz painting several years ago when it was in Seattle. I wrote about Putz here.