Vasily Vasilyevich Vereschagin

Painter, draughtsman, traveller, writer, sailor, soldier. Born in the family of a rich landowner in the town of Cherepovets in Novgorod Province (1842). Grew up on the family estate of Pertovka near Cherepovets (1842–50). Studied at the Alexander Cadet Corps in Tsarskoe Selo (1850–52), Naval Academy in St Petersburg (1853–60), School of Drawing of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (1858–60), under Alexei Markov and Otto Friedrich von Möller at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1860–63) and under Jean-Léon Gérôme at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1864–67), where he was also instructed by Alexandre Bida (1865–67). Travelled to the Caucasus (1863–64, 1865) and volunteered for service in the Russian army in Central Asia (1867), fighting against the Emirate of Bukhara and winning the St George Cross at the siege of Samarkand (1868). Painted the Turkestan series depicting events from the war, which earned him wide recognition, but the condemnation of the military authorities for their stark realism (1869). Returned to Central Asia (1869–70) and visited Siberia (1870). Moved to Munich (1871), where he married Elisabeth Marie Fischer (1871), whom he later divorced to marry the pianist Lydia Andreyevskaya (1890). Worked in Munich on an album of pictures painted from life in Turkestan (1871–73). Refused the title of professor of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1874). Visited British India and Tibet (1874–76). Lived and worked in Paris (1876–77), where he painted the world’s third largest picture The State Procession of the Prince of Wales into Jaipur in 1876 (274 x 196 inches). Joined the Russian army during the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78), taking part in the Battle of Shipka Pass (1877) and the Siege of Plevna (1877) and narrowly escaping death crossing the River Danube near Ruse (1878). Returned to Paris (1878) and painted the Balkan series (1878–80), which was condemned by Tsar Alexander II as the work of a “dirty scum or madman” for showing the negative side of war. Visited Bombay, Agra and Darjeeling (1882–83) and aroused controversy by depicting the brutal execution of sepoys in Suppression of the Indian Revolt by the English (1884). Travelled across Syria and Palestine (1884), inspiring an unconventional set of realistic paintings on Gospel subjects, which were banned in Russia and attacked by a religious fanatic in Vienna (1885). Visited Yaroslavl, Rostov, Kostroma and Makarievo (1888) and the United States (1888–91). Settled in Moscow (1891), where he painted the 1812 series (1887–1901). Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize (1901). Visited the Philippines (1901), United States (1902), Cuba (1902) and Japan (1903). Returned to the Far East following the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War (1904) and drowned when Admiral Stepan Makarov’s flagship Petropavlovsk hit a mine and sank near the Russian naval base of Port Arthur (1904). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1866). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Paris Salon (1866), Imperial Academy of Arts (1867, 1873), Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1874, 1875), Moscow Society of Lovers of the Arts (1881), Pan-Russian Exhibition in Moscow (1882), Second Annual International Exhibition in London (1872), Weltausstellung in Vienna (1873) and one-man shows in St Petersburg (1869, 1874, 1880, 1883, 1895, 1958), London (1873, 1879, 1881, 1888, 1898), Moscow (1874, 1883, 1895, 1898, 1904, 1935, 1989, 1992), Paris (1879–80, 1881, 1896, 1900), Vienna (1881, 1885, 1897), Hamburg (1882), Düsseldorf (1882), Brussels (1882), Dresden (1882, 1896), Berlin (1882, 1886, 1896), Budapest (1882, 1886, 1897), Frankfurt-on-Main (1886), Breslau (1886), Königsberg (1886), Prague (1886, 1897), Leipzig (1886, 1898), Liverpool (1888), Amsterdam (1888), Stockholm (1888), Copenhagen (1888, 1898), New York (1888, 1902), Chicago (1889, 1902), Philadelphia (1890), Boston (1890), St Louis (1891, 1902), Kharkiv (1895), Odessa (1895, 1901), Kiev (1895, 1941, 1955), Riga (1899), Helsinki (1899), Warsaw (1899), Christiania (1900), Vilna (1901), Dorpat (1901), Reval (1901), Washington (1902) and Nikolaev (1962, 1964, 1992).