In his most celebrated painting, Kustodiev masterfully blends the imagery of the national-romantic movement with the geometric perfection of neoclassical forms. According to the artist's daughter, the work was heavily inspired by Russian popular prints (lubok), shop signs, folk crafts and toys, traditional embroidery, and historical costumes. The folk ideal attains a unique monumental quality here; the merchant's wife is depicted as a sort of goddess, embodying popular notions of happiness, abundance, and prosperity. Embracing the female nude—a genre relatively rare in the history of Russian art—the artist shows the languid woman emerging from beneath a heavy satin quilt like Aphrodite from a pearlescent shell. Every detail serves as a metaphor for the traditional canon of female beauty: wheat-colored hair, cherry-red lips, rosy cheeks, and smooth, porcelain skin. In this masterpiece, Kustodiev brilliantly reconciles the naive gaze of a folk artisan with the sophisticated aestheticism of the Russian Silver Age.