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Painter, draughtsman, teacher. Born in the family of Alexei Vasilyev in St Petersburg (1783). Studied landscape painting under Fyodor Alexeyev at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1788–1803). Awarded a minor gold medal (1802) and a first-class certificate (1803). Accompanied Count Yury Golovkin’s unsuccessful embassy to China (1805–06). Lived and worked in Siberia (1806–07). Academician (1807). Served as a company commander in the People’s Militia during the Patriotic War (1812–14). Taught drawing at the school of the Court Quartermaster’s Office (1814–19). Worked at the Imperial Academy of Arts as a landscape-painting adviser (from 1815), quartermaster (from 1816) and inspector (1818–24). Painted views in Tsarskoe Selo (1830) and contributed a view of Heidelberg Castle to Notes Kept During the Journey of Empress Elizabeth Alexeyevna across Germany in 1813–15, published in St Petersburg (1833). Died in St Petersburg (1838). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1800s). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (from 1800s) and The Four Seasons: Landscapes in Russia (19th–20th Centuries) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2006–07).