[4] The area, and the Bernasconi family in particular, had produced numerous artists and architects, active across Europe, in England, Spain, Italy and Germany, as well as several distant cousins who had also come to work in Russia.
[5] Bernasconi trained in Italy and came to the Russian capital Saint Petersburg in 1820, where he was engaged to redorate the interiors of the Winter Palace after damages caused in a fire.
In 1825, having impressed Emperor Alexander I, he was made decorative painter to the Imperial court, and granted the sum of 3,000 rubles.
The accession of Nicholas I saw marked reduction in expenditure, and Bernasconi was reduced to near poverty and compelled to seek official recognition from the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts in order to earn a living as a drawing teacher.
On presenting his portfolio to the Academy, with the support of his associate Stasov, he was made professor of interior decoration and painting in 1833, with an annual salary of 1,500 rubles.