He also started an entomological collection that would later be donated to the University of Moscow, and wrote a short book called Angling for Fish (1877).

He did not take his first art lessons until 1880,[1] when he developed the desire to become a painter after seeing an exhibition of landscape paintings staged by the Peredvizhniki.

An old acquaintance introduced him to Alexander Kiselyov,[2] who at that time was working at a private girls' school and tutoring.

That Christmas, he worked together with Victor Vasnetsov, designing and creating decorations for a performance at the home of Savva Mamontov.

During this period (which also included a stint as organizer of the Russian exhibition at the Exposition Universelle (1900) and election to the Imperial Academy in 1906) he had virtually given up painting.

In addition to his work with the Tretyakov Gallery, he was a notable collector in his own right; beginning in the 1890s after he married into the wealthy Botkin [ru] family of tea merchants and acquired a large house as a dowry.

He accumulated over 300 paintings (including Medieval icons) and 500 drawings; mostly by Russian artists, but Degas, Manet, Renoir and Matisse were also represented.