Alexey Venetsianov

File:Slavyansky-Venetsianov Cabinet.jpg]]

Alexey Venetsianov was born into a merchant family, of Greek descent, in Moscow.{{Cite book |last=King |first=Averil |url=https://books.google.nl/books?id=wvEyAQAAIAAJ |title=Isaak Levitan: Lyrical Landscape |date=2006 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-0-85667-629-1 |pages=30 |language=en |quote=...a Russian of Greek descent, Aleksei Venetsianov (1780-1847).}} He entered the civil service in the early 19th century and moved to St. Petersburg, where he began to study art. He first practiced with pictures of the Hermitage and with portraits of friends. He later became acquainted with Vladimir Borovikovsky and lived in his house as an apprentice. He tried to work as a freelance portraitist, but received few commissions. In 1811 the Board of the Academy of Arts awarded him the title of Academician for his two works - Self-Portrait and Portrait of K. I. Golovachevsky and the Younger Pupils of the Academy.

In 1819, devoting himself purely to art, Venetsianov left the service, bought the village of Safonkovo, and settled there. During this time he painted scenes from nature that he observed around him. These works were of prime importance in his career. He painted portraits of peasants, and scenes illustrating rural life. He was the first to depict peasant life in Russian art. His works achieved great success at the exhibition of 1824, where he received critical praise.

Venetsianov wished to become a professor in the Academy of Arts, but the academicians did not grant him their approval, mainly because he lacked academic training. During the years prior to 1820 he began to attract young people from poor backgrounds, and even serfs such as Grigory Soroka, to teach them painting. By the middle of the 1820s he had a group of followers, and established his own school of painting. Tsar Nicholas I, who liked to promote ‘national trends’, expressed his approval for the artist and appointed him a court painter. This title gave him the financial support necessary for running the school, where tuition was practically free.

Venetsianov died in an accident in 1847 when his horses bolted and his carriage fell down a steep slope.

File:Aleksey Venetsianov (Russian, 1780 - 1847) - Portrait of a peasant girl.jpg|Portrait of a peasant girl
(1st half of 19th century)

File:Venetsianov Reapers.jpg|The Reapers

File:Venetsianov Threashing Floor.jpg|On a threshing floor (1821—1823)

File:Venetsianov Peasant Girl with Cornflowers.jpg|A Peasant Girl with Cornflowers (1820s)

File:Aleksey_Venetsianov_-_На_пашне._Весна_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg|In the Ploughed Field: Spring (1820s)

File:Venetsianov Reaping, Summer.jpg|Summer, Reaping (1820s)

File:Venetsianov Zakharka.jpg|Zakharka (1825)

File:Venetsianov tartan shawl.jpg|Girl in a checkered shawl

File:Venetsianov Girl In Shaul.jpg|Girl in a shawl

File:Venetsianov GirlwithaCalf.jpg|Girl with a calf

File:Fortunetelling by A.Venetsianov (1842, Russian museum).jpg|Fortune-telling (1842)

File:Alexey Venetsianov 01.jpeg|Farmer's child with milk

File:Alexey Venetsianov 03.jpg|Nurse with baby

• List of Russian artists

;Students

• Evgraf Krendovsky
• Kapiton Zelentsov

{{Reflist}}

• {{Cite web |last=Stepanova |first=S. S. |date=4 October 2023 |title=Венецианов Алексей Гаврилович |url=https://bigenc.ru/c/venetsianov-aleksei-gavrilovich-479402 |access-date=28 April 2024 |website=Great Russian Encyclopedia}}

{{commons category|Alexey Venetsianov}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20101013115843/http://www.artsstudio.com/reproductions/new_venetsianov.htm Venetsianov Biography]

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Category:19th-century painters from the Russian Empire

Category:Male painters from the Russian Empire

Category:People from the Russian Empire of Greek descent

Category:Painters from Moscow

Category:1780 births

Category:1847 deaths

Category:Court painters

Category:19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire

Category:Russian people of Greek descent