3 May] 1834, Kudryakovo, Kazan Governorate, Russia - 13 May 1902, Nice, France) was a Russian painter[1] and an older brother of Pavel Jacobi (1842–1913), a notable revolutionary and ethnographer.

[2][3] Valery Jacobi was born to a family of an estate owner and started his education in the Kazan University, but broke off studying to enlist in the Russian Army[1] (Siberian Volunteer Corps[4]) during the Crimean War.

[1] In 1856-1861 he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts, receiving a small gold medal for his painting "Serene Holiday of a Beggar" (1860).

[2] He lived mostly in Saint Petersburg creating historical paintings like "Jesters at the Court of Anna Ioanovna" (1872), "Ice Palace" (1878), etc.

[4] After a major reorganization of the Academy in 1891, he was dismissed and began dividing his time between Saint Petersburg, Algeria and France.