Ivan Vishnyakov

Ivan Yakovlevich Vishnyakov (Russian: Ива́н Я́ковлевич Вишняко́в; 1699, in Moscow – 1761, in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian portrait painter and muralist in the Rococo style.

[1] He was briefly apprenticed to be a varnisher, then was sent to the "Канцелярия от строений" (Chancellory of Buildings) in 1727, where he studied under Louis Caravaque, a French portrait painter living in Russia, and Andrey Matveyev.

[1] He qualified as a master painter in 1739 and became head of the Chancellory after Matveyev's early death.

He also did portraits and icons, restored paintings and appraised the works of foreign artists.

His portraits were among the first to depart from the flat, static style favored at the Imperial Court.