Head of Child (Portrait of the Son Konstantin) 1890

Konstantin Makovsky painted this portrait of his son Konstantin, capturing a tender moment of childhood. Makovsky was a leading Russian painter known for his idealized and often romanticized depictions of Russian life, and here we see that tendency applied to his own child. Looking at this portrait, it is hard not to think about the politics of representation, particularly in the context of 19th-century Russia, where the aristocracy held significant cultural and social power. This painting, in its delicate rendering, certainly reflects that privilege. But more than that, I see a father's gaze, full of affection. What does it mean to see your child, to capture their image for posterity? It speaks to both the universal desire to hold onto fleeting moments and the particular ways in which class and status inflect even the most intimate of portraits.