Illarion Pryanishnikov

Painter, draughtsman, engraver, illustrator, teacher. Born in the family of a poor merchant in the village of Timoshevo in Kaluga Province (1840). Studied under Sergei Zaryanko and Yevgraf Sorokin at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture (1852–53, 1856–66). Awarded a minor silver medal (1864), major silver medal (1865) and the titles of third-class artist (1865) and first-class artist (1870). Painted works of Critical Realism (late 1860s–1870s) and genre and hunting scenes (1880s). Worked on a series of paintings depicting episodes from the Napoleonic War (1868–74) and the Siege of Sebastopole in the Crimean War (1871–72). Founding member of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1870). Illustrated Nikolai Gogol’s Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka (1874) and decorated the Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (1875–77). Taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1873–94). Full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1893). Lived in Alupka in the Crimea following an attack of tuberculosis (1891–92). Died in Moscow and buried at the St Alexius Convent (1894). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1859). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1864, 1865, 1870, 1873, 1884, 1887), Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1871–93) and the Pan-Russian Exhibition in Moscow (1882).