Portrait of A. M. Vereshchagina (Hügel)

Lermontov’s cousin and close friend Alexandra Mikhailovna Vereshchagina lived in the neighborhood, and often came to visit him. She fervently encouraged his poetry writing, music, and painting. Alexandra Vereshchagina, recalling the evenings in Moscow, asked Lermontov in a letter: “Do you play still the overture from La muette de Portici and do you sing the duet from Semiramide?” Lermontov dedicated his poem “The Angel of Death” to Vereshchagina.