Alexey Voloskov

His great uncle, Terentiy Voloskov (1729-1806), was the inventor of an early astronomical clock that showed phases of the moon and calculated dates for the church calendar, among other things.

[1] A childhood illness (probably polio) left him unable to walk without the aid of crutches.

[2] In 1837, he began auditing classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts; notably, the landscape painting workshops of Maxim Vorobyov.

Later, he lived in Ukraine, where he executed commissions for the philanthropist, Grigory Galagan [ru] and other members of the local nobility.

Not quite able to support his family by painting, he served as a notary and was the agent for a Moscow insurance company.