Bobi on the veranda

Ostroumova-Lebedeva studied at the Stieglitz School of Technical Drawing before entering the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1892 where she was taught by Il'ia Repin. She remains best-known for her woodcuts and engravings, particularly those depicting St. Petersburg, but was also an accomplished watercolor artist. This technique she honed under the tutelage of Léon Bakst during the late 1900s.
Bobi, the artist's pied French Bulldog, was a popular subject for Ostroumova-Lebedeva; for further studies see A. Benua & Sergei Ernst, Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Moscow, p. 62 and V. Suslov, Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Leningrad, 1967, p. 130.