Anna Chertkova

Anna Konstantinovna Chertkova (maiden name Diterikhs, September 17 [29], 1859, Kiev, Russian Empire - October 11, 1927, Moscow, USSR) was a children's writer, social activist, folklore collector, memoirist, and a model of Russian group of painters known as The Itinerants (Peredvizhniki). Her literary pseudonyms are "A. Ch." and "A. Ch-va". Anna Diterikhs was born into a family of professional military officers, married Vladimir Chertkov, an important publisher and public figure in the Russian government's opposition, was a close friend of Leo Tolstoy, and was known to her contemporaries as an active propagandist of Tolstoyan movement and vegetarianism. She worked actively in the publishing company "Posrednik" and in the popular magazines of her time "Svobodnoye slovo" and "Listki svobodnogo slova". Anna Chertkova wrote small literary works (one of them was republished 12 times in 24 years), memoirs about Leo Tolstoy and literary articles. She published several editions of religious hymns and songs of Russian sectarians. Anna Chertkova was portrayed by Nikolai Yaroshenko in the famous paintings "The Student Girl" (1883) and "In a Warm Land" (1890). Chertkova is also depicted on Mikhail Nesterov's programmatic canvas "In Russia. The Soul of the People" (1916), next to her husband and Leo Tolstoy.