The Great Taking of the Veil (Nesterov)

{{Short description|Painting by Mikhail Nesterov}}

{{Infobox artwork

| image_file=Mikhail Nesterov 002.jpg

| image_size=300px

| title=The Great Taking of the Veil

| artist=Mikhail Nesterov

| year=1897–98

| medium=Oil on canvas

| height_metric=178

| width_metric=195

| metric_unit=cm

| imperial_unit=in

| museum=Russian Museum

| city=Saint Petersburg

}}

The Great Taking of the Veil is an oil-on-canvas painting executed in 1897–98 by the Russian Symbolist painter Mikhail Nesterov. It is now in the collection of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg.

The canvas depicts a solemn procession of nuns accompanying a novice to the taking of the veil in the Volga countryside, after which she would renounce her worldly life for a life of religious devotion in a nunnery.{{cite web|url=https://rusmuseumvrm.ru/data/collections/painting/19_20/zh_4335/index.php?lang=en|title=The Great Taking of the Veil|publisher=The Virtual Russian Museum|accessdate= 12 August 2020}}

In the artist's words: "The theme is sad, but the reviving nature, the Russian north, quiet and delicate ... makes the picture touching, at least for those who have a tender feeling". It ensured Nesterov's election in 1898 to the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts.