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Rokotov, Fyodor (Stepanovich)
(b nr Moscow, 1735–6; d Moscow, 24 Dec 1808). Russian painter. He was one of the foremost Russian portrait painters of the later 18th century. Over 150 paintings by him are known, but only a few are signed; a further 100 or so are attributed to him. There is very little information about his life. He was born, probably a serf, on the estate of Prince Pyotr Repnin in the Moscow district, and, as a young man, he went to Moscow, where he came to the attention of Ivan Shuvalov, the curator of the university. In the mid-1750s he moved to St Petersburg, where it is possible that he was taught either by Pietro Antonio Rotari in the Shuvalov household or by Ivan Argunov. Rokotov’s own style is evident in his first surviving work, a portrait of a Young Man in Guards Uniform (1757; Moscow, Tret’yakov Gal.), thought by some to represent the engraver Yevgraf Chemesov (1737–65). Although the brushwork is not very assured, the picture is imbued with the sense of poetry that was to characterize Rokotov’s subsequent work. In 1760, at Shuvalov’s instigation, Rokotov was admitted to the recently founded Academy of Arts, where he both studied and taught. In 1762 he was appointed an associate and in 1765 an Academician. During his first years in St Petersburg he perfected his individual style, achieved a mastery of colour and became established as a portrait painter. He had his own studio with numerous pupils and painted many works for the court. His touching portrait of the Grand Duke Paul Petrovich as a Boy (1761; St Petersburg, Rus. Mus.) is one of the most charming of Russian 18th-century portraits. The compositional structure and the softness and delicacy of technique are reminiscent of the Rococo style in portraiture and show clearly the influence of Rotari.
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