Inspired by Watteau and Fragonard, he preferred to work with watercolors and gouache. For three years he worked upon his masterpiece, Lady in Blue, painted in the manner of 18th-century portraitists. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konstantin_Somov) In the famous picture, Portrait of a Lady in Blue (1900, TRETYAKOV GALLERY, MOSCOW)—of the artist Ye. Martynova, who died at an early age—Somov achieved great psychological depth. The young woman stands, deep in thought, with a book in her hand, against a decorative landscape. Her gentle, deli­cately featured face, fragile shoulders and graceful hands are painted with careful, smooth brush-strokes. Ye. Martynova’s appearance has the charm of youth and intellect; her captivat­ing womanliness is intermingled with oversen­sitivity and inner tiredness. (http://www.rusartist.org/konstantin-andreyevich-somov-1869-1939/#.WVlhUIU41WY)