Grigory Chernetsov

Painter, draughtsman, lithographer, teacher. Son of the icon-painter Grigory Chernetsov, elder brother of Nikanor Chernetsov and Polycarp Chernetsov (1822–1842). Taught drawing by his elder brother Yevgraf Chernetsov and spotted by Pavel Svinin, who sent him to St Petersburg (1819) and secured him a grant from the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1822). Studied under Stepan Galaktionov, Alexander Warnek and Maxim Vorobyov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1819–27). Awarded minor silver medals (1822, 1823), major silver medal (1826) and a minor gold medal and the title of fourteenth-class artist (1826). Fellow of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in Finland (1823, 1825), Kostroma Province (1826) and Reval (1827). Court painter to Tsar Nicholas I (1829). Academician (1831). Commissioned by Tsar Nicholas I to paint Parade on Tsaritsa Meadow (1832–37), celebrating the end of the Russo-Polish War (1830–31) and including 223 portraits of such famous writers and artists as Alexander Pushkin, Ivan Krylov, Nikolai Gnedich, Vasily Zhukovsky, Karl Brullov, Alexander Brullov, Fidelio Bruni, Ivan Martos and Count Fyodor Tolstoy. Travelled down the River Volga with Nikanor Chernetsov, Polycarp Chernetsov and Anton Ivanov-Goluboi (1838), sketching views of all the towns from Rybinsk to Astrakhan and later drawing a seven-part panorama (700 x 2½ metres) of both banks (1838–51). Visited Italy (1840–42) and Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Turkey and Greece with Nikanor Chernetsov (1842–43). Returned to St Petersburg (1844) and published the album Palestine: Views Drawn from Life by the Academicians N. and G. Chernetsov in 1842–43 (1845). Visited Italy, Smyrna, Ephesus and Constantinople with Nikanor Chernetsov and Anton Ivanov (1846–49). Returned to St Petersburg (1849), where he co-wrote Travel Notes on the East (1840s) and illustrated Notes on a Journey along the Volga (1838–62). Died in poverty in St Petersburg (1865).