Nikolai Sverchkov

Who was Nikolai Sverchkov?

Nikolai Yegorovich Sverchkov was a Russian painter and engraver. The first exhibition of his work was in 1844. Sverchkov's Return from the bear hunt, exhibited in 1863, was bought by Napoleon III. For this and two other paintings Sverchkov was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor. In 1864, after returning to Petersburg from abroad, Sverchkov painted Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich Attends a Military Parade in 1664, for Alexander II.

Sverchkov's first professional position was in the economics department of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. In 1839, he submitted his first paintings to academy exhibitions. Two years later, Sverchkov resigned his ministry position. An animal painter, Sverchkov started working in this genre while employed at the Khrenovskiy and Chesmenskiy state stud farms. In 1844 Sverchkov produced several lithographs and by the end of the 1840s had painted three portraits. In 1852, Sverchkov was awarded the title of academician of "the folk genre". The 1850s were marked by his friendship with Nikolai Nekrasov, in whose Yaroslavl manor of Karabikha Sverchkov spent much of his time.