Kuzmin

A young man is shown half-length, turned slightly to one side, holding a round-bellied stringed instrument by its long fretted neck while his other hand rests near the soundhole. He wears a lilac-grey jacket over a green waistcoat with an orange cravat knotted at the collar, and looks down in quiet concentration. Behind him a garden of yellow foliage and loosely brushed greenery fills the frame, with faint decorative shapes suggesting a patterned backdrop.

Broad, visible strokes build the figure in mauve, olive, and ochre, while the instrument's honey-brown wood is picked out with touches of teal. Light falls unevenly across the face and jacket, breaking the surface into patches of warm and cool color rather than smooth modeling. The loose, patterned handling of the background and the vivid color choices give the portrait an animated, painterly energy.