Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitzky or Levitsky (Russian: Дмитрий Григорьевич Левицкий; Ukrainian: Дмитро Григорович Левицький; 24 May [O.S.

He was born to Grigory Kirillovich Levitsky [uk; ru], a priest, who was also an amateur painter and engraver and served as his first art teacher.

In 1758, he moved to Saint Petersburg to become a pupil of the Russian artist Aleksey Antropov, who had been in Kiev to create decorative paintings at the Cathedral of St Andrew.

In 1772–1776 Levitzky worked on a series of portraits of the pupils of the privileged women's establishment, the Smolny Institute for Young Ladies, in St. Petersburg.

[citation needed] Though Levitzky had many commissions, they were, in most cases, poorly paid, and the painter died in poverty in 1822.