Prince Grigory Gagarin was
born in 1810 in St. Petersburg in the family of Russian diplomat Prince
G. I. Gagarin. He did not have a formal art education, but in 1816-1832
he lived in Italy with his family, as his father was the ambassador to
Italy, and there he met Karl Brulloff,
who became his teacher. In 1832-1839 Gagarin was in diplomatic service,
in 1841-1864 - in military service. In the 1840s, he was in the South of
Russia where Russia was fighting a war against the Caucasian tribes. His
impressions of the war resulted in many paintings, such as Battle
of Akhatle between Russians and Circassians on May 8, 1841 (1841-1842),
Trick
Ridings of Curds and Tatars in front of the Fortress Sardar-Abbat in Armenia
(1840s), Kakhetia. Karaagach. The Headquarters
of Nizhegorodsky Dragoon Regiment (1841) and others. Gagarin
was a very successful books illustrator, he also worked as an architect.
Bibliography:
G. Gagarin. by A. Savinoff. Moscow. 1950. (in Russian)
Russian Water-colour in the Collection of Hermitage, Leningrad.
Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1975. (in Russian)
Paintings of the 18th-early 20th centuries from the Reserves of
the Russian Museum. by K. Mikhailova and G. Smirnov. Leningrad. 1982.
(in Russian)