1844, St Petersburg - 1927, Bekhovo (Tula Province)

Painter, draughtsman, landscape painter, author of works on biblical subjects. Took lessons from Pavel Chistyakov (1859-61) and studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1863-67). Graduated from the legal faculty of the St Petersburg University (1871). Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Germany, Italy, France and Britain (1872-76). Academician (1876), professor of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1892). Member of the Abramtsevo circle (from 1873). Helped to found Sawa Mamontov''''s Russian Private Opera in Moscow (1884). Contributed to many exhibitions. Taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1882-94). People''''s Artist of Russia (1926). Opened a museum at the Borok estate (now the Vasily Polenov Estate Museum).