Alexei Tyranov

Painter, draughtsman, lithographer. Born in the family of Vasily Tyranov in the town of Bezhetsk in Tver Province (1808). Attended district school in Bezhetsk and grammar school for one year in Tver (1810s). Forced by poverty to return to Bezhetsk, where he painted icons with his brother Mikhail (early 1820s). Met Alexei Venetsianov while working at the St Nicholas Tereben Monastery in Tver Province (1824). Moved to St Petersburg (1824), where he lithographed Alexei Venetsianov’s works for the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1825–26) and studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1824–30). Awarded a minor gold medal (1827), major gold medal (1830) and the title of non-class artist (1832). Trained under Karl Brullov after his return to St Petersburg (1836). Painted portraits of poet Pyotr Pletnyov (1836), poet Alexei Koltsov (1836–39), writer Ivan Lazhechnikov (1837), Anna von Dubelt (1839) and Hovhannes Aivazovsky (1841). Nominated to the Imperial Academy of Arts (1836), academician (1839). Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Italy (1839–42). Fell in love with one of his Italian models and brought her back to St Petersburg (1842), where he suffered a mental breakdown after she ran away with all his money (1844). Moved to Bezhetsk to recuperate (1846–49). Returned to St Petersburg (1849), but could no longer work and lived in dire poverty (1850s). Died of consumption in the house of his brother Mikhail in the town of Kashin in Tver Province (1859). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1827). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of the Arts (from 1827), The Four Seasons: Landscapes in Russia (19th–20th Centuries) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2006–07) and a posthumous one-man show at Tver Regional Picture Gallery in Tver (2012).