A portrait of Russian writer Evgeny Chirikov (1864-1932) at his desk in 1904, painted by Ivan Kulikov (1875–1941). At this time, Chirikov was rather inclined to sympathise with the revolutionary sentiments growing in the Russian Empire, and his stories dwell on social unrest and the Government’s bewilderment. As time went on, however, his feelings began to change. The revolution of 1917 left him disillusioned with the socialist movement and he left his native land, settling in Prague.