Konstantin Afanasiev

Engraver, painter, draughtsman, illustrator. Born in St Petersburg in the family of a master of the St Petersburg Mint called Yakov Afanasiev (1793). Educated at the Imperial Academy of Arts after the death of his father (1801), studying engraving under Ignaz Sebastian Klauber (from 1810) and Nikolai Utkin (1817–18). Awarded two minor silver medals (1810, 1812), two major silver medals (1814, 1815), a first-class certificate (1815) and a minor gold medal and the title of artist (1818). Lived and worked in Pavlovsk (1818–25), where he painted watercolour views for Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna. Returned to St Petersburg (1825), where he engraved works for the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, publishers and private individuals. Created the first steel engraving in Russia and engraved a total of 446 portraits, views and vignettes, including portraits of Paul I, Nicholas I and Alexander II (1835). Illustrated the works of Honoré de Balzac, Ippolit Bogdanovich and Ivan Krylov. Academician (1838). Died in St Petersburg (1857).