Maxim Vorobyov

Painter, draughtsman, engraver. Father of Sokrat Vorobyov. Born in Pskov (1787) to an army corporal who was transferred to St Petersburg to work as a caretaker at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1798). Studied architecture under Jean-François Thomas de Thomon and landscape painting under Fyodor Alexeyev and Mikhail Ivanov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1798–1809). Awarded second silver medals (1806, 1807), first silver medal (1808), first gold medal and first-class certificate (1809). Travelled across central Russia with Fyodor Alexeyev, painting views of towns (1810–12). Accompanied the Russian army to Germany and France, where he painted European cityscapes and landscapes (1813–14). Returned to Russia and married Cleopatra Loginova (1814). Academician (1814). Taught at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1815–55), heading the perspective and landscape classes (from 1826). Associate professor (1815), professor (1823), professor emeritus (1843). Painted views of Moscow for the Imperial Academy of Arts (1817) and landscapes for the imperial court during the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29). Travelled across the Middle East with Dmitry Dashkov’s diplomatic mission, drawing views of Constantinople, Rhodes, Smyrna, Jaffa, Jerusalem and the Dead Sea (1820–21). Painted romantic cityscapes of St Petersburg (1820s–30s). Suffered from chronic depression and alcoholism after the sudden death of his wife (1840). Visited Italy and painted views of Rome, Naples and Sicily (1844–46). Died in St Petersburg and buried alongside his wife at the Smolensk Cemetery (1855), reinterred at the St Alexander Nevsky Monastery (1936).