18th-century Russian history and art for inspiration.Pushkarev, Sergei. "The Emergence of Modern Russia, 1801-1917", p. 327. New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1963. Eugene Lanceray was younger than the masters of Mir iskusstva and initially acted as their student. His creative method and aesthetic views evolved under the influence and guidance of Benois, although, by some aspects of his talent, Lanceray may have exceeded his teacher. His first significant works in the field of easel painting and graphics were created in the late 1890 - early 1900s. The main creative interests of the artist were turned at that time to the "historical", mainly architectural landscape. Lanceray's most celebrated mural painting is located at the ceiling of Moscow Kazansky railway station (1933-1934). Besides its place and its scale, the distinctive feature of this work is that it was made using tempera paint, so beloved by the artist. But he worked with various media, and the area of his activity included not only mural art but also fine art, graphics, illustration and theatrical scenery. For the first time, Lanceray took to the work in the theater in early 1900s, paying tribute to the passion for theater painting, which was characteristic of almost all the representatives of the older generation of the Mir iskusstva group. Life after the revolution Lanceray was the only prominent member of Mir iskusstva to remain in Russia after the Revolution of 1917. Being a representative of traditional painting (not avant-garde movement) and the bourgeoisie, he was not in great demand with the new Soviet government for a long time. Even his sister found the revolutionary milieu alien to her art and, in 1924, she fled to Paris. Lanceray himself hated the new Soviet regime that he had to exist in after 1917. It referred to his own understanding of the historical way of Russia and the massive oppressions towards his relatives and close friends (some of them immigrated and some of them were killed). In February 1932 he left a note in his diaries: ‘There is incredible impoverishment. Of course, this is the government’s goal to bring everyone and everything to poverty, since it is easier to manage the poor and the hungry’. Lanceray left Saint Petersburg in 1917, and spent three years living in Dagestan, where he became infatuated with Oriental themes. His interest increased during journeys made in the early 1920s to Japan and Ankara, Turkey.