Alexander Agin

From 1827, he studied at the Pskov Men's Gymnasium [ru], then, from 1834 to 1839, at the Imperial Academy of Arts, under the tutelage of Karl Bryullov and Taras Shevchenko.

As early as 1844, his work was praised by Vasily Grigorovich [ru], an influential member of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

From 1844 to 1845, he illustrated the Old Testament and, in 1849, designed reliefs for the monument to Ivan Krylov in Saint Petersburg; sculpted by Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg.

In 1853, due to issues involving censorship, he moved to Kiev, where he taught drawing at the Vladimir Cadet Corps [ru] school and created props for the Berger Theater (a forerunner to the National Opera of Ukraine).

He is, perhaps, best-known for the 104 drawings he created for Dead Souls by Nikolai Gogol; which were turned into woodcuts by his collaborator, Evstafy Bernardsky [ru].