Vladimir Borovikovsky Biography

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky was a prominent Russian portraitist. His art may be regarded as the last phase in the XVIII century traditions of Russian portraiture. He was born in a small Ukrainian town, Mirgorod, into the family of Ukrainian Cossacks. His father, Luka Borovik, and his two brothers were icon-painters. Borovikovsky also started as an icon-painter for local churches. In 1787 he drew two pictures for the house in which Empress Catherine II the Great was staying during her visit to Ukraine. His work was noted and he was sent to St. Petersburg to become one of the court painters.

Borovikovsky was too old to enter the Academy of Arts and he became a pupil of the Austrian painter I.-B. Lampi, who was working at the Russian court at the time. Also he was supported and greatly advised by Russian artist Dmitry Levitzky. In 1795 he was appointed an Academician. He became a very popular portrait-painter and created about 500 portraits during his lifetime. The most notable are Portrait of Catherine II, Empress of Russia(1794), Portrait of E. N. Arsenyeva (1796), Portrait of M. I. Lopukhina (1797), Portrait of F. A. Borovsky (1799), Portrait of Paul I, Emperor of Russia (1800), Portrait of Prince A. B. Kurakin (1801-1802), Portrait of Princess A. G. Gagarina and Princess V. G. Gagarina (1802).

• 
  Portrait Of Catherine Ii, Empress Of Russia.
  

  1794. Oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia. Read Note.