Levitzsky, Dmitry (1735-1822) - 1773 D.G. Khrushchova and Princess Ekaterina Khovanskaya (Russian Museum)
Levitzsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in a family of clergyman and engraver Grigory Levitzky. His father was his first art teacher. Later be became a pupil of Aleksey Antropov. In 1770, he became famous as a portrait painter after the exhibition of six of his portraits in the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. For the portrait of Alexander Kokorinov (1769) he was elected an academician and appointed the Professor of the portrait painting class at the Academy of Arts. In 1772-1776 Levitzky worked on a series of portraits of the pupils of the privileged women establishment Smolny Institute for Young Ladies in St. Petersburg commissioned by Catherine II. The girls are depicted performing dances, music, plays.Though Levitzky had many commissions, they were, in most cases, poorly paid, and the painter died in poverty in 1822.
Levitzky is, without doubt, the leading Russian painter of the latter half of the 18th Century, as well as the first Russian painter to paint at the level of contemporary Western European masters. Levitzky specialized in portraiture, which was in great demand in Russian high society at the time, as it sought to emulate its counterparts in the rest of Europe. He is the most universal of his contemporaries, both in terms of subjects -- ranging from the serf Nikifor Sezemov to the Empress Catherine II, the Great -- and in terms of composition. His works are characterized by a unique style that set him apart from other Russian painters of the period. The manner in which he imbued his portraits with finely expressed emotions is, in some ways, far ahead of his time. Levitzky is sometimes known in the West as "the Russian Gainsborough."
Levitzsky, Dmitry (1735-1822) - 1773 D.G. Khrushchova and Princess Ekaterina Khovanskaya (Russian Museum)
Levitzsky was born in Kiev, Ukraine, in a family of clergyman and engraver Grigory Levitzky. His father was his first art teacher. Later be became a pupil of Aleksey Antropov. In 1770, he became famous as a portrait painter after the exhibition of six of his portraits in the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. For the portrait of Alexander Kokorinov (1769) he was elected an academician and appointed the Professor of the portrait painting class at the Academy of Arts. In 1772-1776 Levitzky worked on a series of portraits of the pupils of the privileged women establishment Smolny Institute for Young Ladies in St. Petersburg commissioned by Catherine II. The girls are depicted performing dances, music, plays.Though Levitzky had many commissions, they were, in most cases, poorly paid, and the painter died in poverty in 1822.
Levitzky is, without doubt, the leading Russian painter of the latter half of the 18th Century, as well as the first Russian painter to paint at the level of contemporary Western European masters. Levitzky specialized in portraiture, which was in great demand in Russian high society at the time, as it sought to emulate its counterparts in the rest of Europe. He is the most universal of his contemporaries, both in terms of subjects -- ranging from the serf Nikifor Sezemov to the Empress Catherine II, the Great -- and in terms of composition. His works are characterized by a unique style that set him apart from other Russian painters of the period. The manner in which he imbued his portraits with finely expressed emotions is, in some ways, far ahead of his time. Levitzky is sometimes known in the West as "the Russian Gainsborough."