When you sail along the Grand Canal, all the palaces of Venice merge into a single luxurious picture. The first impression is so overwhelming that it is hard to single out anything specific, even if you planned to pay attention to buildings associated with Russian names. However, later, while browsing through photos and videos, you suddenly notice these palaces.

For example, at an exhibition, you can see a painting with a recognizable view of Venice, as if you are meeting an old friend. At Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev's exhibition, there was a Venetian landscape. Although Kustodiev is known for his depictions of vibrant festivities and rural life, he often traveled around Europe and visited Venice several times. His painting depicts two palaces at the lower part of the Grand Canal.

The gouache was painted in the early period of his creativity, but even then, his talent was evident. The water in the painting has a surprisingly delicate emerald shade, reminiscent of the color of a young frog. The columns in the foreground create a frame for the landscape and highlight the two palaces. The red-brick Palazzo Barbaro-Volkov is adjacent to the notoriously famous Palazzo Dario. Perhaps Kustodiev noticed them because a Russian artist lived in the former, or maybe he even visited there.

Palazzo Volkov is named after the Russian watercolorist and botanist Alexander Nikolaevich Volkov-Muromtsev (1844-1928), who lived in this palace from 1883 until the end of his life. The building is also known as Palazzo Barbaro, after the Venetian family that owned it for a long time.

Volkov-Muromtsev began painting on his own at the age of 35, creating watercolor genre scenes, interiors of cathedrals, and landscapes of cities such as Constantinople, Cairo, Luxor, and Italian cities. His artist friends assured him that he would never be able to make a living, but he was fortunate.

In 1880, he sent several watercolors under the pseudonym "A.N. Russov" to the Society of Fine Arts in London, where they were sold at unexpectedly high prices. Soon he acquired a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice, in the Dorsoduro area, between the Academy Bridge and the church of Santa Maria della Salute.

For 20 years, the Society held annual exhibitions of his watercolors. In Russia, the artist's works were hardly exhibited, but he had admirers among domestic collectors. One of his watercolors, "The Bought" (1892), was acquired by P.N. Tretyakov. Unfortunately, most of his works are kept in foreign private collections.

The most famous guest of this palace was Eleonora Duse, whom the artist met in the 90s. Volkov-Muromtsev organized her tour in Russia from March to June 1891. Upon returning to Italy, Duse decided to move to Venice, but she was not satisfied with the apartment in the Palazzo Contarini-Fasan. Volkov-Muromtsev offered her an apartment with a separate entrance in his palace. The actress lived there for three years, and this is always mentioned in descriptions of the building. However, it is often forgotten to mention that at that time the palazzo belonged to Volkov. In 1893, Volkov-Muromtsev created a portrait of Duse from a photograph, which is now kept in the Chini Foundation in Venice.

The news of the revolution in Russia and the destruction of his ancestral estate reached the artist while he was in Italy. He spent the last years of his life in Venice and was buried in the Orthodox section of the cemetery on the island of San Michele, next to the grave of Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev.

Many of his watercolors depict not the most famous bridges of Venice, such as Rialto, Academy, and the Bridge of Sighs, but small bridges in narrow side canals.