Alexei Markov

Painter, teacher. Born in Novgorod to Taras Markov, a watchmaker and graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1802). Studied under Alexei Yegorov, Vasily Shebuyev and Andrei Ivanov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1813–24). Awarded two silver medals, a minor gold medal and the title of fourteenth-class artist (1824). Remained at the Academy and won a major gold medal and a foreign fellowship (1830). Travelled to Germany (1831–35), where he copied Raphael’s Sistine Madonna in Dresden and visited Munich. Moved to Rome (1835–41), where he copied Raphael’s frescoes in the Vatican. Academician (1836). Returned to St Petersburg (1841) and worked at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1842–72). Second-class professor and board member (1842), first-class professor (1852), professor emeritus (1865). Painted plafonds for St Isaac’s Cathedral in St Petersburg and the Church of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Expelled from the Academy and forced to give up his official studio and apartment (1872). Died in St Petersburg and buried at the Smolensk Cemetery (1878).