Fyodor Rokotov

Fyodor Rokotov was born in Vorotsovo (now a part of the Obruchevsky District of Moscow) into a family of peasant serfs, belonging to the Repnins.

After buying back his freedom at the end of the 1750s he became established as a fashionable painter.

In 1765, Rokotov was elected an Academician, but he did not work as a professor in the Academy long, because it interfered with his painting.

Rokotov avoided painting formal portraits with much adornment and decoration.

Instead he was one of the first Russian painters advancing a psychological portrait with attention to optical and atmospheric effects.