Maria Yakunchikova was a Russian artist of the Silver Age.
The girl was born on January 19, 1870 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Her parents – Vasily Yakunchikov, entrepreneur and philanthropist, and his wife Zinaida, were there on vacation. Even as a child Maria was fascinated by drawing and father invited artist N. Martynov to teach her. In 1882, her sister Natalia married artist Vasily Polenov and his sister Elena Dmitrievna became Maria’s best friend.
In 1885, Yakunchikova entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and soon she became a member of Polenov evenings of drawing. The landscape became her favorite genre.
In 1888, doctors recommended Yakunchikova to change the climate because of tuberculosis. Maria left the school and went to Europe.
You know, in the fall of 1889 Maria entered the Paris Academy, where she studied for four years.
In 1896, Yakunchikova married Leon Weber-Bauler, who studied at Sorbonne. Leon had a Russian passport, but most of his life he spent abroad and became a French citizen. Their son Stepan was born in 1898.
More »

Stepan Pimenov was a sculptor of Russian classicism, who together with V. Demut-Malinovsky designed the buildings and structures by K. Rossi and A. Voronikhin. The Chariot of Glory on the arch of the General Staff is among his best works.
Stepan was born in St. Petersburg in 1784. His father Stepan Afanasievich held the rank of provincial secretary. When the boy was 11 years old the parents sent him to the Academy of Arts. He studied there from 1795 to 1803 and repeatedly received medals for his successful works.
In the fall of 1803, the sculptor was awarded the Grand Gold Medal for the work The Killing of Two Varangian Christians Who Refused to Bow Down Before Perun.
The difficult international situation did not allow Pimenov to go abroad as a pensioner, although, having received the Grand Gold Medal he had the right. To tell the truth, Pimenov never went abroad afterwards. All his life he lived in Russia.
By 1807 Pimenov had made a bronze statue of Prince Vladimir. The prince of Kiev, who stood at the beginning of the Russian state, is shown as strong-willed, full of militant courage leader of his people. In one hand he holds a wooden cross, and in the other – a sword. His face is severe. In the same year the young sculptor who successfully coped with the work was ordered to make statue of Alexander Nevsky.
More »

Andrei Rublev was the most famous and revered master of the Moscow school of icon painting, book and monumental painting of the XV century. He was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. His art is the pride of the Russian people.
The icon painter was supposedly born in 1360 on the territory of the Moscow principality (other sources state that he was born in Veliky Novgorod). As a youth he became a monk and spent many years in the Trinity-Saint Sergii Monastery.
His creativity was formed on the basis of the artistic traditions of the Moscow principality. The first mention in the annals appeared only in 1405 – Theophanes the Greek, Prokhor elder-monk and Andrei Rublev painted the Annunciation Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin. For the second time Andrei was mentioned in 1408, when he together with Daniil Cherny painted the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir. Art critics suggest that already in his youth Rublev had experience of Slavic art icon painting. Today thousands of people from all over the world come to Vladimir to visit the Assumption Cathedral and see the unforgettable frescoes created in 1408.
More »

Marianna Verevkina (also known as Marianne von Werefkin) was a Russian painter, representative of the Expressionist movement.
The girl was born on September 29 (September 10), 1860 in Tula. The future painter was born into a family of warlord and statesman Vladimir Verevkin and iconographer and portrait painter Elizaveta Daragan (July 5, 1834 – March 18, 1885). In 1862 Marianna together with her parents left Tula and moved to Vitebsk, where her father was appointed military governor.
From 1868 to 1878 the family lived in Vilno, because the head of the family was appointed the head of the Vilna Military District. In 1872, Marianna entered the Mariinsky school.
Pryanishnikov gave her private lessons in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. After her mother’s death in 1885, Marianna and her father moved to St. Petersburg. There she met Ilya Repin and he gave her drawing lessons.
In 1889 the artist traveled to the Caucasus. Two years later, Marianna met Alexei Jawlensky, who was also a pupil of Repin.
More »

Ivan Fyodorov was the man who invented the art of printing in Russia. He and Pyotr Mstislavets printed the first dated Cyrillic book Apostle in 1564. Book printing was supported by Ivan the Terrible and the Orthodox Church. The reason given for the support was that book printing would avoid the endless mistakes made by ignorant scribes in copying manuscripts. Fyodorov was a prominent man of the world. Book printing in those years required artistic taste, knowledge of contemporary technology, and the talent of invention. The first printed books were true masterpieces of design.
Ivan was born in 1510 in the Grand Duchy of Moscow. According to E.L. Nemirovsky, Ivan studied at the Cracow University in 1529-1532 – in the “promotional book” there was a record that in 1532 “Johannes Theodori Moscus” was awarded a bachelor’s degree.
Fyodorov’s first printed book was Apostle. He worked on it from April 19, 1563 to March 1, 1564. It was not for nothing that the publisher’s full-fledged debut work was a religious book. The church of those years was significantly different from the current churches. Then the priority was education of the people, and all the textbooks were somehow connected with the scriptures.
More »

Alexei Venetsianov was a Russian painter, master of genre scenes of peasant life, teacher, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. By the way, he was the founder of the so-called Venetsianov School.
You know, great-grandfather of the artist, his wife and their son left Greece for Russia in 1730-1740.
The boy was born on February 18, 1780 in Moscow. The father of the artist was a merchant: he sold berries, tulip bulbs, and he always hoped that his son would follow in his footsteps. But Alexei Gavrilovich from his youth was fond of drawing. There is an opinion that the first teacher of the young artist was Pakhomych. The first paintings were portraits of the family and friends.
After the boarding house, Venetsianov served in the Drafting Office.
In 1802, the young artist went to Petersburg, however, the Petersburg public left his work unattended, and he returned to Moscow. Later, in 1807, Alexei came to St. Petersburg again and entered the office of the post director. The artist became the pupil of Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich.
More »

Pavel Fedotov was a Russian painter and graphic artist, one of the leading representatives of Russian Romanticism, the founder of critical realism in Russian painting.
Pavel was born on July 4, 1815 in Moscow into the family of Andrey Fedotov, who served in the army during the reign of Catherine. 11-year-old boy entered the First Moscow Cadet Corps. His favorite subjects were mathematics and chemistry, but he also liked to draw.
In January 1834, Fedotov was sent to serve in the Life Guards Finnish Regiment in St. Petersburg, where he served for 10 years. After 3-4 years of service in the regiment, the young officer began attending evening drawing lessons at the Academy of Arts. There he diligently studied the forms of the human body. In his spare time, he practiced at home, drawing watercolor and pencil portraits of his colleagues, scenes of regimental life and caricatures.
In the summer of 1837, the Grand Duke, who had returned to St. Petersburg from a trip abroad, visited Krasnoselsky camp, where the guards met the prince with a noisy ovation. The picturesque meeting made a great impression on Fedotov, and in just 3 months the artist painted a watercolor painting Meeting of the Grand Duke. The picture was shown to the Grand Duke, who presented the artist with a diamond ring.
More »