Stepan Shchukin

Self-portrait (1785)

Stepan Semyonovich Shchukin (Russian: Степан Семёнович Щукин; 1754, Moscow – 10 October 1828, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian portrait and watercolor painter. Some sources give his year of birth as 1762.

Biography

He was the son of an army sergeant and was apparently abandoned by his family.[1] His first art lessons were taken with Dmitry Levitzky at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1782, he was sent abroad for "self-improvement",[2] changed his name from Semyonov to Shchukin.[1][clarification needed] and spent some time at the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture, where he studied with Alexandre Roslin and Joseph-Benoît Suvée.[1]

In 1786, he returned from Paris and, two years later, was appointed a teacher of portraiture at the Academy.[1] He was promoted to Academician Candidate for his portrait of the Academy's Director Yury Felten then, the following year, was named a full Academician for his portrait of Tsar Paul I.[2]

In 1803, he was appointed a Counselor and, a few months thereafter, became Secretary of the Academic Conference. Shortly before his death, he received the title of Senior Advisor. Among his best-known students were Alexander Varnek and Vasily Tropinin.[2]

Selected portraits

References

  1. ^ a b c d RusArtNet: Biography
  2. ^ a b c "Щукин, Степан Семенович". Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary: In 86 Volumes (82 Volumes and 4 Additional Volumes) (in Russian). St. Petersburg: F. A. Brockhaus. 1890–1907.

Further reading

  • Tselishcheva, Luiza N. (1979). Степан Семенович Щукин, 1762–1828 (in Russian). Moscow: Iskusstvo. OCLC 6557026.

Media related to Stepan Shchukin at Wikimedia Commons