The Major's Marriage Proposal by Pavel Fedotov

Fedotov has always been keen on drawing. He drew everywhere - at the marketplaces, in government departments and in the streets. With every drawing he commented onlife. The drawings resemble quick, light scetches, convey objects and figures with remarkable precision. From the very start Fedotov was fond of genre painting. And the picture that made him famous was The Major's Marriage Proposal, which developed the theme of Fedotov's poem about a major who decided to put himself in a more surer financial footing by marrying a rich merchant daughter. The object of his criticism was the morality of different classes, people who turned a marriage into a profitable deal. "It was an other tragedy looking out from behind a jolly, amusing scene", wrote Stasov.
Fedotov used a new creative method which allowed him to attain the level of socially significant art.