Grigory Soroka

Painter, draughtsman. Serf of the landowner Nikolai Milyukov. Worked as a gardener at Nikolai Milyukov’s estate of Ostrovki and taught himself to draw. Studied under Alexei Venetsianov, who lived in the nearby village of Safonkovo (1842–47). Painted landscapes and portraits for Nikolai Milyukov and icons under the guidance of Alexei Venetsianov (1840s). Fell in love with his landowner’s daughter Lydia, but was forcibly married to a serf woman called Alexandra Nesterova (1851), while Lydia was married to a police captain called Safonov (1852) and later took poison. Sentenced to flogging for petitioning Tsar Alexander II for his emancipation and committed suicide by hanging (1864).