Mikhail Bocharov

Theatrical designer, painter, draughtsman, teacher. Born in the family of Ilya Bocharov in Moscow (1831). Studied under Carl Wilhelm von Rabus at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1848–56). Awarded a minor gold medal and the title of second-class artist (1857) and a major gold medal, title of first-class artist and a foreign fellowship (1858). Worked in the Crimea (1858). Visited France, Germany and Switzerland, lived in Rome (1859–62). Academician (1863). Worked for theatres in St Petersburg (1864–95). Designed the sets for productions of Modest Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov, Mikhail Glinka’s Ruslan and Lyudmila and Peter Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty at the Mariinsky Theatre. Studied theatrical design in Germany, Austria and France (1883). Taught theatrical design at the School of Drawing of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1879–86). Died in the resort of Strelna on the Gulf of Finland near St Petersburg (1895). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (from 1852) and the International Exhibition of Music and Theatre in Vienna (1892).