Apollinary Vasnetsov

Apollinary Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (Russian: Аполлина́рий Миха́йлович Васнецо́в; 6 August [O.S. 25 July] 1856 – 23 January 1933) was a Russian painter and graphic artist. He specialised in scenes from the medieval history of Moscow. Vasnetsov did not receive a formal artistic education. He had studied under his older brother, Viktor, also a famous painter. From 1883, he along with his brother lived and worked in Abramtsevo where he fell under the influence of Vasily Polenov. In 1898–1899, he travelled across Europe. In addition to epic landscapes of Russian nature, Apollinary Vasnetsov created his own genre of historical landscape reconstruction on the basis of historical and archaeological data. His paintings present a visual picture of medieval Moscow. He was a member of the Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions (Peredvizhniki) from 1899, and an academician from 1900. He became one of the founders and supervisors of the Union of Russian Artists.