Alexei Grekov

Engraver, draughtsman, illustrator, teacher. Born in the family of a Greek skipper in Russian service called Angileos de Dilos (c. 1726). Studied drawing under Johann Elias Grimmel and engraving under Christian Albrecht Wortmann and Ivan Sokolov at the Imperial Academy of Sciences (from 1735) and perspective and architecture under Giuseppe Valeriani (from 1750). Worked as a curator and draughtsman at the Chamber of Curiosities (from 1730s) and as an apprentice of Georg Friedrich Schmidt (from 1757) and Antoine-Christophor Radigues (from 1766). Investigated as part of the corruption case launched against Johann Daniel Schumacher (1742–43). Contributed to the coronation album of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1743–44) and illustrated François Fénelon’s Les Aventures de Télémaque (1747). Engraved views of the Hermitage Pavilion in Tsarskoe Selo (1753) and Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in St Petersburg (1753) and portraits of Oliver Cromwell (1759), King Teimuraz II of Kakheti (1761), Elizabeth Petrovna (1761), future Paul I (1761, 1763) and Countess Anna Vorontsova (1769). Co-headed the palace of engraving of the Imperial Academy of Sciences with Yefim Vinogradov (from early 1760s). Suffered from failing eyesight (from 1765) and dismissed without a pension (1770). Died in St Petersburg (1770s).