On May 20, 1831, Nikolai Gogol met Alexander Pushkin at a function held by the literary critic Pyotr Pletnyov. In the summer of that year, Pushkin and his wife resided in Tsarskoye Selo, while Gogol lived nearby, in Pavlovsk. This geographical proximity made it possible for the two writers to meet and build a personal relationship. From that time on, Gogol began sending all his works to be reviewed by the poet. Pushkin was fond of Gogol’s collection “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”. He mentioned in his diaries that he could not stop laughing, reading the “Evenings”. While working on the play “The Government Inspector”, Gogol regularly communicated with Pushkin about his progress, sometimes expressing a desire to abandon the play. Pushkin persistently urged him to continue working.

The premiere of “The Government Inspector” was on April 19, 1836, at the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Pushkin was unable to attend, and as an apology he presented Gogol with this drawing. The history of the image is documented on the reverse, on its cardboard backing. The inscription was left by one of its previous owners, Alexander Alekseyevich Vasilchikov, a historian, art critic, and director of the Hermitage from 1879 to 1888. It reads as follows,

In the drawing, the Mayor is depicted in full-length, sideways to the viewer. He stands on a checkerboard floor. The Mayor is bulky, his head is tilted forward, he is frowning, and his lips are tightly compressed. In his lowered hand, in a white glove, he holds a bicorn with a plume.