Roman Carnival: the Feast of the “Moccoletti”, 1859
Orlov, a portraitist and generalist painter was in Italy since 1841 and worked in Rome, Naples, Palermo.
In 1849 he refuses Zar Nicholas I’s invitation to return to his homeland. He was a member of the Società di Amatori e Cultori di Belle Arti in Rome and participated at the Societys exhibions. At the exhibition of 1856 he exposed a set of portraits.
Still influenced by the romantic atmospheres of his mentor Brjulov, he invents a completely original painting style, as shown in this painting (G. Goldovskij, E. Petrova and C. Poppi, Russian Painting in the Romantic Era (exhibition catalogue, Bologna, Galleria Comunale d’Arte Moderna, 3rd March – 29th April 1990), Bologna, 1990, ad vocem).