“Unknown” is the most famous painting by Russian artist Ivan Kramskoy, a master of 19th-century genre painting. It is often wrongly called “The Stranger”, but even those who do not know the name of the painting shudder when they see it. This portrait of a slightly arrogant young woman would bring bad luck. Moreover, the curse is so strong that luck is repelled not only by the original, but also by the reproduction.
There is still no information about what kind of woman posed for the artist’s portrait. And did this actually exist or did it appear to Kramskoy as an obsession?
The artist did everything to surround the portrait, created in 1883, with a thick veil of secrecy.
We see a young woman whose appearance has something oriental. The location of the action can be reliably determined: “Unknown” poses sitting in an open carriage on Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg, near the Anichkov Bridge. Her whole outfit is in the latest fashion of the 80s of the 19th century. Clothing and accessories are very expensive.
