Nikolai Bodarevsky

Painter, graphic artist, decorator. Elder brother of artist Ekaterina Bodarevskaya (1852–1939), distant relative of Wassily Kandinsky. Descended from an old family of Moldavian rulers called Cegodar-Bodarescu. Born in the family of a titular councillor called Kornily Bodarevsky in Odessa (1850). Studied at the Odessa School of Drawing (1860s) and under Pyotr Shamshin, Timoleon Carl von Neff and Vasily Petrovich Vereschagin at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1869–75). Awarded two minor silver medals (1871), two major silver medals (1871), two minor gold medals (1873) and the title of class artist (1875). Member of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (from 1884). Painted fourteen portraits of famous composers for the Grand Concert Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire (1889–1901). Designed sixteen mosaics for the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood in St Petersburg (1895–1907). Drew portraits of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna (1907) and Grigory Rasputin (1913). Academician (1908). Died in Odessa and buried at the Old (First) Christian Cemetery (1921). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1880). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1880–1918), Imperial Academy of Arts (1881), Fellowship of South Russian Artists (1900–07, 1909–12, 1915–19), Play and Passion in Russian Fine Art at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (1999) and a one-man show in St Petersburg (1913).