Moscow in the photographs of renowned Czech artist Alphonse Mucha.

Alphonse Mucha visited Russia for the first and only time in 1913 to gather material for his future painting dedicated to the abolition of serfdom.

Initially, the trip to Russia was not planned. However, American billionaire Charles Crane, who financed the creation of the series "Slav Epic," convinced the artist to include a canvas on the theme of Russian history.

Alphonse Mucha heeded the sponsor's wish and traveled to Russia, especially since the trip was likely funded by the American investor.

The only trip of the famous Czech artist to Russia during the year of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty has not been thoroughly studied, so only fragmentary information about it has survived.

It is known that Mucha spent about a month in Russia. He visited Moscow and St. Petersburg, where he met with officials who still remembered the abolition of serfdom in 1861.

He also visited the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and the Tretyakov Gallery, where he saw the painting "The Morning of the Streltsy Execution." It is believed that the work of Vasily Surikov impressed him so much that he almost literally reproduced its composition in his own canvas.

It is also known that Alphonse Mucha visited his longtime friend, artist Leonid Pasternak, with whom he studied in Munich. Pasternak's eldest son, Boris, had just graduated from Moscow University and was preparing to publish his first collection of poems.

The numerous photographs taken by the artist of the poor in Red Square were later used in the work on the canvas "The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia." Mucha completed the painting in 1914, but due to World War I, it was only shown to the public in 1919 after the proclamation of Czechoslovakia's independence.

Photographs from the collection of the Getty Museum, the largest art museum on the West Coast of the USA.