[1] In 1824, while with his brother at the Monastery of St. Nicholas in Terebeni in Tver, he met the painter Alexey Venetsianov, who invited him to study at his art school in the nearby village of Safonkovo.

[2] After completing his studies there, he received Venetsianov's recommendation to audit classes at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and was granted permission to work at the Hermitage.

[3] During this time, he made lithographs of Venetsianov's works on behalf of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

Two years later, she ran away with all of his money, which caused an emotional breakdown that left him mentally disturbed and subject to hypochondria.

Although he was eventually awarded a small pension by the Academy, he found it necessary to go live with his brother in Kashin and died there shortly after, apparently from tuberculosis.