Dmitry Levitzky
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Dmitry Levitzky | |
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Дмитрий Левицкий | |
![]() Self-portrait, c. 1783 | |
Born | May 1735 |
Died | 4 April 1822 | (aged 86)
Education | Member Academy of Arts (1770) |
Alma mater | Imperial Academy of Arts (1769) |
Style | Classicism |
Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitzky or Levitsky (Russian: Дмитрий Григорьевич Левицкий; Ukrainian: Дмитро Григорович Левицький; 24 May [O.S. 13 May] 1735 – 16 April [O.S. 4 April] 1822) was a Russian[1] portrait painter and academician.
Biography
He was born to Grigory Kirillovich Levitsky , a priest, who was also an amateur painter and engraver and served as his first art teacher. In 1758, he moved to Saint Petersburg to become a pupil of the Russian artist Aleksey Antropov, who had been in Kiev to create decorative paintings at the Cathedral of St Andrew. He also studied with Giuseppe Valeriani. In 1764, he established himself as a free-lance artist.
In 1770, Levitzky became famous after the exhibition of six of his portraits in the Imperial Academy of Arts; notably for a portrait of the architect Alexander Kokorinov. As a result, he was named an Academician and appointed Professor of the portrait painting class at the Academy. He remained in this position until 1788, when he resigned, citing an eye disease, although it may have been for political reasons.[citation needed] In 1807, he was invited back to the Academy by Tsar Alexander I. One of his best known students was Vladimir Borovikovsky.
In 1772–1776 Levitzky worked on a series of portraits of the pupils of the privileged women's establishment, the Smolny Institute for Young Ladies, in St. Petersburg. They were commissioned by Catherine II. The girls are depicted performing dances, music, and plays. His portrait of Denis Diderot is said to be the only one the philosopher liked.[citation needed]
Though Levitzky had many commissions, they were, in most cases, poorly paid, and the painter died in poverty in 1822.[citation needed]
Works
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Count Artemiy Vorontsov (late 1780s)
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Architect Alexander Kokorinov, Director and First Rector of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1769)
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Prokofiy Demidov (1773)
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E. N. Khruschova and Princess E. N. Khovanskaya (1773)
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Ekaterina Nelidova (1773)
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Alexander Lanskoy, Aide-de-camp to the Empress (1782)
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Catherine II as Legislator in the Temple of the Goddess of Justice (1783)
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Portrait of General Iosif Igelström (1790)
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Nikolay Novikov (1797)
References
- ^ "Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky". Encyclopedia Britannica.
Further reading
- Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky @ the Encyclopedia Krugosvet
- Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky @ the Short Biographical Encyclopedia
- Sarabianov, Andrei D. "Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky". Encyclopædia Britannica.
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/4a/Commons-logo.svg/30px-Commons-logo.svg.png)
- Members of the Imperial Academy of Arts
- Imperial Academy of Arts alumni
- 1735 births
- 1822 deaths
- 18th-century painters from the Russian Empire
- Russian male painters
- 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire
- Russian people of Ukrainian descent
- Russian portrait painters
- Ukrainian male painters
- Artists from Kyiv
- Kyiv-Mohyla Academy alumni
- 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire