Chizhov was born the son of a peasant mason on November 10, 1838, in the village of Pudov in the Podolsky District of Moscow Oblast.

Chizhov, working from the drawings and sketches of his mentor, produced for the cathedral the huge high relief sculpture ""Christ's Descent into Hell".

Chizhov was soon invited by Mikhail Mikeshin to participate in the project to create "Millennium of Russia", a large monument erected in Novgorod in 1863.

Chizhov moved to St. Petersburg, where in 1863 he enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied under Peter Klodt and Nikolai Pimenov.

He then traveled in Europe, visiting several cities in Germany, Austria, and Italy before settling in Rome, where he spent six years in continuous work.