Nikolai von Schilder

Painter, graphic artist. Born in Kharkiv (1828) in the family of a retired Baltic German cornet called Otto Gustav von Schilder (1789–1848) and his wife Wilhelmine Charlotte Friederike von Schmidt (1796–1860). Studied under Bogdan Gottfried Willewalde at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1850–61). Awarded a minor silver medal (1853), major silver medal (1857) and a minor gold medal (1859). Painted battle scenes from the Crimean War (1854–55) and genre scenes under the influence of Pavel Fedotov (from 1856). Academician of genre and battle painting (1861). Painted icons for a rural church in Yaroslavl Province (1862–63) and portraits of Tsar Alexander III and Empress Maria Fyodorovna (1880s–early 1890s) and Tsar Nicholas II (1896). Died in Tsarskoe Selo (1898). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1853).