Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov was born on May 31 (19 old style), 1862 in Ufa into a religious merchant family. Until the age of twelve, Nesterov studied at the Ufa gymnasium. In 1874, the future artist moved to Moscow, in 1874-1876 he studied at the real school of K.P. Voskresensky. In 1876-1880 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Among the teachers of the school were the famous Itinerants Pavel Sorokin, Illarion Pryanishnikov and Vasily Perov. Since 1879, Mikhail Nesterov began to take part in student exhibitions held at the school. His early works, such as Snowballing, Waiting for the Train, The Victim of Friends, House Arrest, The Connoisseur, and Exam in a Country School, were written in the tradition of Russian itinerant movement. In 1881, Nesterov, in search of his own artistic style, moved to St. Petersburg, where he entered the Academy of Arts. The academy did not meet the artist′s hopes, and in 1883 he returned to Moscow. Having entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture again, Mikhail Nesterov got into the class of Vladimir Makovsky. In the last years of his studies at the school, Nesterov turned to the topic of the past of Russia. Among the works of that time "Reception of Ambassadors", "Death of False Dmitry", "Gathering for a burnt church in Moscow", "Shutov′s caftan. Boyarin Druzhina Andreevich Morozov in front of Ivan the Terrible". In 1885 Nesterov received the title of a free artist for the painting "The Calling of MF Romanov to the Kingdom". In 1889, Nesterov offered his painting "The Hermit" at the 17th traveling exhibition in St. Petersburg. Even before the opening, Pavel Tretyakov drew attention to the canvas and acquired it for his gallery. The painting became one of the first works by Nesterov, which declared the artist′s special style. The theme of leaving the worldly bustle in the world of Russian saints and, first of all, Sergei Radonezhsky, has become one of the key in his work. With the money received from Tretyakov, Nesterov went to Europe. He visited Vienna, Venice, Padua, Florence, Rome, Paris, Dresden. Returning to his homeland, the artist settled in the village of Komyakino near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. There he began work on the first canvas in a cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh - "The Vision to the youth Bartholomew." The work was presented at the XVIII Traveling Exhibition in 1890. The painting was purchased for his collection by Pavel Tretyakov. Until the end of his life, Nesterov considered "The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew" his best picture. In 1890, Mikhail Nesterov was invited to take part in the painting of the Vladimir Cathedral in Kiev, together with Viktor Vasnetsov. The artist accepted the invitation and in 1893-1894 created the altarpiece "Nativity of Christ". In 1894-1896 he worked on the mosaics of the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood in St. Petersburg. In 1901, Mikhail Nesterov visited the Solovetsky Islands, where he got acquainted with the life of the Russian North and northern monasteries. Under the impression of the trip, the artist painted the paintings "Silence", "Fox", "Quiet Life", "Solovetskaya Abode", "Dreamers", "Solovki". In 1901-1905, Nesterov worked on the painting "Holy Russia". The artist tried to translate the theme of the appearance of Christ to the people onto Russian soil and show the appearance of Christ to the Russian people. In 1907, Nesterov agreed to the proposal of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and undertook to paint the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin at the Martha-Mariinsky monastery in Moscow. He worked on the painting for four years together with the architect Alexei Shchusev. In 1909-1914, in the work of Mikhail Nesterov, the theme of a quiet human life, the joy of being undisturbed, sounded. It is to this topic that the works "Evening Bell", "Shemnik", "Quiet Waters", "The Old Man" are devoted. In 1917, the artist painted the picture "Philosophers" - a double portrait of Pavel Florensky and Sergei Bulgakov. After the 1917 revolution, Mikhail Nesterov did not immediately abandon the theme of "Holy Russia", he painted such pictures as "Prayer", "Mother Eupraxia", "At the Monastery Wall". In the early 1920s, the artist turned closely to portrait painting. In 1923, Nesterov painted one of his best canvases - "Girl by the Pond", where he portrayed his daughter Natalia. Nesterov wrote a lot to his family and friends - his wife and children, artists Pavel and Alexander Korin and Viktor Vasnetsov. In each model, the artist sought and accentuated only the most important, defining features, creating bright, expressive characters. Two self-portraits of Nesterov belong to 1928 - "Self-portrait in black" and "Self-portrait in white blouse". In 1935, the artist painted portraits of the publisher Vladimir Chertkov, surgeon Sergei Yudin, and physiologist Ivan Pavlov. For the portrait of Academician Pavlov, the painter received the Stalin Prize. In 1940, Nesterov painted an unusually dynamic, deep portrait of the sculptor Vera Mukhina, who sculpted the flying figure of Borey. The last work of the artist was the landscape "Autumn in the Village". In the last years of his life, Nesterov enthusiastically worked on his memoirs, which were published in a separate book at the beginning of 1942 under the title "Bygone Days". The book was a great success. The artist died in Moscow on October 18, 1942 and was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
The author of a peculiar religious and moral path in Russian Modernism. Spiritualized images of holy beauty and ancient legends against the background of subtle lyrical landscapes of the Motherland remain the cultural code of the saving world for the Russian people.