Mikhail Tikhanov

Mikhail Tikhonovich Tikhanov (Михаил Тихонович Тиханов; 1789–1862) was a Russian artist who accompanied Captain Vasily Golovnin's circumnavigation aboard the frigate Kamchatka.

Born a serf in 1789, Tikhanov showed artistic talent at the age of seventeen and was sent by his master Prince Nikolay Alexeevich Golitsyn to the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.

Freed in 1815, he worked at the Academy before being recommended by Alexey Olenin for the post of an expeditionary artist for Captain Vasily Golovnin and the expedition of the Kamchatka around the world.

He specialized in human portraits and painted figures including Hawaiian notables King Kamehameha I and High Chief Boki, as well as Russian colonial governor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov.

[1][2] Hawaiian scholar David W. Forbes stated his works done in Hawaii were "among the most mysterious, haunting portrayals of Pacific Islanders ever created".