Gustave Theodor Pauly (1817 – 1867), a Russian ethnographer of the 19th century, a member of the Russian Geographical Society, although a German by birth, was known as Fyodor Khristianovich. His work Les peuples de la Russie is a series of ethnographic essays. They describe different aspects of life of various social classes. The people described in the book are representatives of the Indo-European, Caucasian, Ural-Altai peoples, inhabitants of Siberia and Russian America. In cooperation with Pauly, famous scientists and artists worked on the book to furnish it with chromolithographs, many of them being colourful everyday scenes drawn from life.

Lion Feuchtwanger (1884 – 1958) believed he could write the book in a year and a half, but eventually it took him seven years to finish the work. The novel, first published in 1951, narrates the life of the Spanish painter Francisco Goya from 1793 till 1806. The book introduces the reader to the historical and political events of the time: the plot unfolds in Spain of the 18th century, during the reign of King Carlos the 4th. The Inquisition is still keeping the enlightened Spanish intelligentsia in fear. Against the backdrop of raging passions, an alarming romantic story unfolds between the court painter Goya and Duchess Alba, who belongs to one of the oldest noble families in Spain. Apart from that, he finds himself entangled in intrigues at the court, and against his will is drawn into the political games of power. Although the novel is an independent work, the author did not consider the topic exhausted and shortly before his death, he returned to the idea of the second part on the life of Goya in France from 1814 till 1828, but this idea was not destined to be implemented.