Girl with violets

Mikhailov Grigory Karpovich - Russian painter of historical and everyday life. Born into a serf family in 1814 in the vicinity of Mozhaisk, Moscow province. He received his freedom, at the age of twenty he met Alexei Gavrilovich Venitsianov. Under his leadership, he began to write genre scenes and interiors, attended classes of the Imperial Academy of Arts as a free student.
In 1836 Mikhailov entered the Academy of Arts, studied in the class of historical painting with Karl Bryullov until 1842. In 1842, Mikhailov was awarded a large gold medal for academic programmatic work on the plot of the Greek myth "Laocoon with children fighting snakes" (sketch - in the Tretyakov Gallery); received a certificate for the title of class artist of the first degree and the right to retirement travel abroad.
One of the artist's best paintings - "A Girl Putting a Candle in Front of an Image" is in the State Tretyakov Gallery. Mikhailov also painted portraits. In 1855 Mikhailov was awarded the title of Academician of Historical Painting for his work abroad. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, he taught at the Imperial Academy of Arts.