The Lesson is reproduced in Andrei Bliok’s 2006 monograph published to coincide with the 250^th anniversary of the Russian Academy of Arts, where the artist has been teaching since the late 1970s. It was clearly crucial for Bliok to include an illustration of this painting in the publication, even if only in black and white (fig.1). The painting has been in Japan since 1979, as attested by a handwritten note signed by the artist which accompanies the lot (fig.2).