Alexei Stepanov

His mother died not long after his birth, and his father followed in 1863, so he was taken to a special branch of the Moscow Orphanage (for children from military families),[1] located on an estate formerly owned by Count Alexey Razumovsky.

After completing his public school education, Stepanov entered the Konstantin Surveying Institute [ru] and graduated as an official surveyor in 1879.

From 1880 to 1883, he audited classes given by Illarion Pryanishnikov and Evgraf Sorokin at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

[2] While there, he made the acquaintance of Leonid Sabaneyev, who edited the magazine Природа и Охота (Nature and Hunting),[1] for which Stepanov provided over a hundred drawings from 1883 to 1895.

In 1894, he accompanied the art collector Nikolai Medyntsev (1841-1904) and his family on a trip to Europe, visiting Germany, Northern Italy and France, where he was influenced by the Impressionists.