Lev Zhemchuzhnikov

Engraver, painter, draughtsman, teacher. Brother of the poets Alexei Zhemchuzhnikov (1821–1908), Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov (1826–1896) and Vladimir Zhemchuzhnikov (1830–1884), cousin of the writer Count Alexei Tolstoy (1817–1875). Born to senator Mikhail Zhemchuzhnikov (1788–1865) and his wife Olga Perovskaya (1798–1833) in the village of Pavlovka in Oryol Province (1828). Studied at the Alexander Military Academy in Tsarskoe Selo (1835–38), First Military Academy in St Petersburg (1838–45), Page School (1845–48) and under Alexei Markov, Karl Brullov and Alexei Yegorov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1849–52). Moved to Kovalevka in Poltava Province, where he studied Ukrainian folklore (1852–56). Visited Sebastopole during the Crimean War (1855). Lived and worked in Paris (1856–60), where he attended the studio of Auguste-Barthélemy Glaize and travelled with his brother Vladimir to Vienna, Trieste, Venice, Ancona, Corfu, Athens, Smyrna, Alexandria, Cyprus, Beirut, Syria, Palestine, Constantinople and Pest. Returned to St Petersburg (1860), where he met Taras Shevchenko and created the Picturesque Ukraine series of etchings (1861–62). Moved to Penza Province (1862), where his printing press was temporarily arrested by the local governor, who feared that it would be used to print anti-government propaganda. Opened his own etching workshop (1860s). Returned to St Petersburg (1869) and moved to Moscow (1870), where he was elected secretary of the Moscow-Ryazan Railway Board (1870–84). Member of the Society of Russian Watercolourists and the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, secretary of the Moscow Art Society (1875–91). Died and buried in Tsarskoe Selo (1912). Wrote My Memories of the Past, published posthumously in Leningrad (1926–27).