The oeuvre of the Russian painter Mikhail Shemyakin (1875–1944) represents the imprint of Impressionism on the Russian environment. Since his wife was Czech, he regularly visited the Czech lands before the First World War, befriending local artists and repeatedly exhibiting as a guest of the Mánes Association of Fine Artists. Shemyakin shared strong ties to musical life with Markéta Friedlová, whom he featured in the presented work, and that resulted in his numerous portraits of prominent musicians. It is because he was married to the daughter of Jan Hřímalý, the head of the violin department of the Russian Academy of Music in Moscow, who had arrived there as an assistant to another globally renowned Czech violinist, Ferdinand Laub. Markéta Friedlová, in turn, married Jiří Karel Herold, the violist of the Czech Quartet since 1906, shortly after the origination of the portrait. The Quartet was the first Czech professional chamber ensemble that frequently visited Russia, where the future spouses met for the first time. During one of its Russian tours, Shemyakin painted the Czech Quartet – just a year after executing the portrait on display.