Mikhail Ivanovich Belsky

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Mikhail Ivanovich Belsky (Russian: Михаил Иванович Бельский; 1753, St. Petersburg - 29 May 1794, St. Petersburg) was a Russian painter.

Biography[]

Portrait of the composer
Dmitry Bortniansky (1788)

His father, Ivan Ivanovich Belsky, was a history painter and Academician at the Imperial Academy of Arts.[1] In 1770, the Academy awarded him a silver medal for his outstanding classwork. His primary instructors there were Anton Losenko and Dmitry Levitzky.[2]

In 1773, together with the engraver, Gavriil Skorodumov, he was awarded a travel grant to study abroad, in London. They received 300 Rubles per year, and letters of recommendation.[2] When they arrived, they were placed under the patronage of Count  [ru], the Russian Envoy. Classes at the Royal Academy of Arts were open to them, they were able to copy the Old Masters, attend lectures and travel throughout the provinces.[2]

In 1776, they were scheduled to continue their travels, but Skorodumov chose to remain in London. Belsky went to Paris and became a student of Jean-Baptiste Greuze in 1780, at his father's expense.[2]

Very little is known of his life beyond that point, except that he returned to Russia and worked as a portrait painter in St. Petersburg. Few of his paintings have been identified with any certainty and most are believed to be in the possession of their subject's families.

References[]

  1. ^ Profile of М. I. Belsky @ the Russian Academy of Sciences.
  2. ^ a b c d Biography from the Русский биографический словарь @ Russian WikiSource

Further reading[]

  • Biography @ the Русская антикварная галерея
  • Pyotr Petrov, Сборник материалов для истории Императорской Академии художеств (Collection of materials for the history of the Imperial Academy of Arts), Vol.1, Рипол Классик (reprint) ISBN 978-5-458-00809-9
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