Yermolai Kamezhenkov (Kamyazhenkov, Komyazhenkov)

Painter, draughtsman, teacher. Born in the town of Tver in the family of a stableman of Archbishop Arsenius III of Tver called Dementy Kamezhenkov (1757). Baptised in Tver (1760). Studied painting under Dmitry Kryzhov in Tver (1772–77) and under Gavriil Kozlov in St Petersburg (1777–80). Copied paintings in the Hermitage for Catherine the Great (early 1780s). Emancipated from serfdom (1786). Nominated to the Imperial Academy of Arts (1787). Conscripted into the Russian army (1791–93). Academician of portraiture (1794). Married Tatyana Panina (1794), who gave birth to a daughter called Alexandra (1795) and died shortly afterwards (1796). Listed as an army captain in the documents of the Imperial Academy of Arts and elevated to the rank of the nobility (1795). Painted commissions for Archbishop Arsenius III of Tver (late 1790s). Lived in Moscow (1798–1801), Kashin in Tver Province (1801–15) and Zabelino in Tver Province (1815–18). Died in the village of Zabelino in Tver Province (1818). Contributed to exhibitions, including Twosome at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2002–03).