Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov - Russian painter, master of genre scenes from peasant life, teacher, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, founder of the so-called Venetian school.
Born February 18, 1780, in Moscow. In the family of the merchant Gavril Yurievich, the mother is Anna Lukinichna. The Venetianov family came from Greece, where they were called Farmaki-Proko. The artist′s great-grandfather, Fyodor Proko, with his wife Angela and son Georgy came to Russia in 1730-1740. There they received the nickname Veneziano, which later became the Venetsianov family name. The family of A.G. Venetsianov was engaged in trade, seedlings and paintings. In the owl time A.G. Venetsianov served as a land surveyor at the forestry department.
Alexey studied painting first independently, then under V.L. Borovikovsky. In his youth he painted lyrical portraits of his mother (1802), A. I. Bibikov (1805), M. A. Fonvizin (1812). Received the title of Academician of the IAH (1811) for "Portrait of K. I. Golovachevsky." During the Patriotic War of 1812, together with Ivan Terebenev, he created cartoons of the French and Gallomania nobles. He also worked on genre scenes from noble and bourgeois life. He was a member of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. In 1819 he left the service and settled with his family: his wife Martha Afanasyevna and two daughters, Alexandra and Felitsata, - in the village of Safonkovo, Tver province, devoting his efforts to the development of the "peasant" genre. He also organized his own art school, which trained over 70 people. V.A. Zhukovsky took an active part in their fate. The works of his students Venetsianov exhibited together with his own at academic exhibitions. Venetsianov received the title of court painter in 1830. He was buried at the rural cemetery of the village of Dubrovskoe (now Venetsianovo) in the Udomel district of the Tver region. Venetsianov died in an accident during a trip on the road to Tver on December 4 (16), 1847 in the village of Poddubye, Tver province. However, A.G. Venetsianov was most famous for his images of peasants. "The Reapers", "The Sleeping Shepherd", "Zakharka" have been attracting the viewer′s attention with their freshness and sincerity for almost two centuries. The portrait gallery of his contemporaries belongs to Venetsianov′s brush: the artist painted N.V. Gogol (1834), V.P. Kochubey (1830s), N.M. Karamzin (1828). For the title of academician, Venetsianov was asked to paint a portrait of the inspector of the Educational School of the Academy K. I. Golovachevsky. A.G. Venetsianov portrayed him surrounded by three boys, who symbolized the union of the "three noble arts": painting, sculpture and architecture. The portrait also personified the unity of the old Academy (K. Golovachevsky, being a fellow student of AI Losenko, was considered the patriarch of the Academy) with the new one. In the 1830s, Venetsianov turned to a narrative genre dedicated to peasant life. These include the works: "Seeing off the Recruit" late 1830s, and "Return of the Soldier". Venetsianov′s brushes also belonged to icons for the cathedral of all educational institutions of the Smolny Cathedral, for the church of the Obukhovskaya city hospital. In the last year of his life, the artist worked on icons for the church of the boarding school of noble youth in Tver. He also worked in pastels on paper and parchment. Artist, engaged in lithography. A.G. Venetsianov is the author of theoretical articles and notes: "The Secret of Lipman′s Pictures", "Something about Perspective", "On the system of teaching in drawing classes."