Émile Villiers de l’Isle Adam

Painter, graphic artist, teacher. Born in the family of Samuel (Stepan) Villiers de l’Isle Adam (1843). Graduated from the Nicholas Cavalry Academy in St Petersburg (first half of 1860s). Took up painting and taught at the Odessa School of Drawing (second half of 1860s). Awarded the titles of third-class artist (1871) and second-class artist (1872). Retired from the Russian army with the rank of colonel (1880s). Founding member of the Society of Russian Watercolourists (1880). Taught at the School of Drawing of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in St Petersburg (1880–83). Travelled across Italy, Switzerland and Turkey (first half of 1880s) and studied Byzantine archaeology in Constantinople (1884). Taught at the Odessa School of Drawing (1886–89). Travelled across Kherson Province (1888), compiling an album of watercolours, which was presented by the local nobility to Tsar Alexander III when he visited New Prague near Elisavetgrad (1888). Died at the age of forty-six in Odessa (1889). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1872). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1872), Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1880–81), Society of Russian Watercolourists (1882, 1883, 1885, 1890, 1907) and one-man shows in Odessa (1887) and St Petersburg (1887).