Виктор Михайлович Васнецов (1848 26)

Viktor Vasnetsov: A collection of 143 paintings (HD) Description: Best known as a painter of historical and mythological scenes, Viktor Vasnetsov was born 15 May 1848 in Lopiyal, in Viatka Province. Originally intending to follow his father and grandfather into the priesthood, Vasnetsov attended seminary at age ten. While studying in Ryabovo, he helped a local icon painter with his trade and aided exiled Polish artist Andriolli to make frescoes for the Aleksandr Nevsky Cathedral. Upon graduating, however, he decided to pursue his own course. He auctioned two of his own paintings to fund a move to St. Petersburg, where in 1867 he began to attend the Imperial Academy of the Arts. In 1870, Vasnetsov befriended Ivan Kramskoy and became a part of his association of Realist artists, the Peredvizhniki (the Itinerants). Despite Vasnetsovs later fame for historical and mythological scenes, his works of the 1870s celebrated the common business of life. In 1876, at the recommendation of hi