Vladimir Borovikovsky
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (August 4 1757 – April 18 1825) was a Russian artist of Ukrainian Cossack origin. He served at the court of Catherine the Great and dominated portraiture in Russia at the turn of the 19th century.
Also recorded as Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky · Vladimir Lukitsch Borovikovskij · Vladimir Lukich Borovikov · Vladimir Lukitch Borovikovski
Vladimir Borovikovsky

Ivan Bugaevsky-Blagodarny · Public domain
- Name
- Vladimir Borovikovsky
- Birth Name
- Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky
- Born
- August 4 1757
- Birthplace
- Mirgorod, Cossack Hetmanate, Russian Empire
- Died
- April 18 1825 (aged 67)
- Place of death
- St.
- Known for
- Painting
- Education
- Member
- Movement
- Orientalist
- Nationality
- Russian Empire
- Occupation
- painter · iconographer
- Movements
- Orientalism
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Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (August 4 1757 – April 18 1825) was a Russian artist of Ukrainian Cossack origin. He served at the court of Catherine the Great and dominated portraiture in Russia at the turn of the 19th century.
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wikidata · Q262098 · wikipedia · Vladimir Borovikovsky
In this article
Biography
Biography
Vladimir Borovikovsky studied at Imperial Academy of Arts. Training under Dmitry Levitzky is recorded. The recorded working language is Russian. The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait. Places of work recorded in the authority are Saint Petersburg and Ukraine. Works named in the authority record are Ekaterina Arsenieva, Portrait of Prince A.B.Kurakin, Catherine II during a walk in the Tsarskosyelsky Park and A. Work by Vladimir Borovikovsky is recorded in the collections of Tretyakov Gallery, Russian Museum, Hermitage Museum, National Museum in Warsaw and National Gallery of Armenia. Distinctions recorded are Order of St.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Vladimir Borovikovsky • Birth Name — Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky • Born — August 4 1757 • Birthplace — Mirgorod, Cossack Hetmanate, Russian Empire • Died — April 18 1825 (aged 67) • Place of death — St. Petersburg, Russian Empire • Known for — Painting • Education — Member • Movement — Orientalist
Biography
Biography
Vladimir Borovikovsky was born in Mirgorod, Cossack Hetmanate, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) on July 24, 1757 into a family of Ukrainian Cossack origin. His father, Luka Borovik, was an icon-painter. According to the family tradition, all four of Borovik's sons served as Cossacks in Mirgorod regiment, but Vladimir retired early at the rank of poruchik and devoted his life to art — mostly icon painting for local churches. • Illustration — Virgin Mary Borovikovsky lived in Mirgorod until 1788, where he painted icons and portraits in the Cossack Baroque tradition. His friend Vasily Kapnist was preparing an accommodation for Empress Catherine II in Kremenchuk during her travel to newly conquered Crimea. Kapnist asked Borovikovsky to paint two allegoric paintings (Peter I of Russia and Catherine II as peasants sowing seeds and Catherine II as a Minerva) for her rooms. The paintings so pleased the Empress that she requested that the painter move to Saint Petersburg. After September 1788 Borovikovsky lived in Saint Petersburg where he changed his surname from the Cossack Borovik to the more aristocratic-sounding Borovikovsky. For his first ten years in Saint Petersburg, he lived in the house of the poet, architect, musician and art theorist, Prince Nikolay Lvov, whose ideas strongly influenced Borovikovsky's art. At the age of 30 years, he was too old to attend St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, so he took private lessons from Dmitry Levitzky and later from Austrian painter Johann Baptist Lampi. In 1795 he was appointed an academician. He became a popular portrait painter and created about 500 portraits during his lifetime, 400 of which survived to the 21st century. He had his own studio, and often relied on assistants to paint the less important parts of a portrait. His sitters included members of the imperial family, courtiers, generals, many aristocrats, and figures from the Russian artistic and literary worlds. Most of his portraits are intimate in style. • Illustration — The Annunciation The most notable are: • Portrait of Catherine II, Empress of Russia (1794) • Portrait of E. N. Arsenyeva (1796) • Portrait of M. I. Lopukhina (1797) • Portrait of F. A. Borovsky (1799) • Portrait of Paul I, Emperor of Russia (1800) • Portrait of Prince A. B. Kurakin (1801–1802) • Portrait of Princess A. G. Gagarina and Princess V. G. Gagarina (1802). • Portrait of Serbian Prince Karadjordje 1816 Borovikovsky never taught in the Imperial Academy of Art but pupils lived in his home. Among them were Alexey Venetsianov and Bugaevsky-Blagodarny (who painted the only survived portrait of Vladimir Borovikovsky). After 1819 Borovikovsky became a Freemason, member of a lodge Dying Sphinx. At that time he mostly painted icons, including Iconostasis of the Smolensky Cemetery church and some icons for Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. On April 6, 1825 he died suddenly of a heart attack and was interred in the Lazarevskoe Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint Petersburg.
Characteristics of the works
Characteristics of the works
• Illustration — The Archangel Gabriel In the late 1790s, Borovikovsky gains fame as a famous portrait painter. He painted with his left hand. His work is dominated by chamber portraits. In female images, Borovikovsky embodies the ideal of beauty of his era. The artist subtly conveys the inner world of the people he portrays. In a chamber, sentimental portrait with limited emotional expression, the master can convey the diversity of innermost feelings and experiences of the models portrayed. For the canvas "Catherine II for a walk in the Tsarskoselsky park (1794), submitted to the Academy of Arts, Borovikovsky was appointed an academician. In the 1810s Borovikovsky attracted a strong, energetic personality, he focuses on the citizenship, nobility, dignity of the portrayed. The appearance of his models becomes more restrained, the landscape background is replaced by a depiction of the interior. В. Borovikovsky painted several ceremonial portraits. Borovikovsky's ceremonial portraits show the brush's mastery of texture: the softness of velvet, the brilliance of gilded and satin vestments, and the sparkle of precious stones. The work of Borovikovsky is a fusion of classicist and sentimental styles. In his later years, Borovikovsky returned to religious painting, including several icons for the ongoing construction of the Kazan Cathedral and the iconostasis of the Church of Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg. He gave painting lessons to the then aspiring artist Alexey Venetsianov.
Portraits
Portraits
• Illustration — Catherine II in Tsarskoe Selo (1794) • Illustration — Portrait of Dmitry Levitzky (1796) • Illustration — Portrait of Morteza Qoli Khan Qajar (1796) • Illustration — Portrait of Maria Lopukhina (1797) • Illustration — Portrait of F. A. Borovsky (1799) • Illustration — Portrait of Paul I, Emperor of Russia (1800) • Illustration — Portrait of Alexander Kurakin (1801-1802) • Illustration — Portrait of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1800s) • Illustration — Portrait of Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin (1811) • Illustration — Portrait of A. G. and A. A. Lobanov-Rostovsky (1814) • Illustration — Karađorđe Serbian Prince (1816) • Illustration — Portrait of Ye. A. Arkharova (1820) • Illustration — Portrait of Ioannis Varvakis
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky, Vladimir Lukitsch Borovikovskij, Vladimir Lukich Borovikov, Vladimir Lukitch Borovikovski and Vladimir Lukič Borovikovskij. His recorded language was Russian. He was the child of Luka Borovik.
Identity
Identity
Vladimir Borovikovsky is recorded as having received Order of St. Vladimir, 4th class and Order of St. Portrait of E.P. The identifiers under which Vladimir Borovikovsky may be traced in institutional catalogues.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1757
Vladimir Borovikovsky born at Myrhorod.
1825
Vladimir Borovikovsky died at Saint Petersburg.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Myrhorod.
Birth place
Saint Petersburg.
Death place
Religious paintings
• Illustration — The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene • Illustration — Our Lady of Sorrows • Illustration — Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins (1825) • Illustration — Christ the Saviour (1815) • Illustration — Jesus Christ with the Golgotha cross • Illustration — God the Father contemplating dead Christ • Illustration — Christmas, depicting the nativity
Literature
*
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q262098: Vladimir BorovikovskyWikimedia Foundation
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Further particulars
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Further particulars
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Work and production. Works recorded as notable number 4: Ekaterina Arsenieva, Portrait of Prince A.B.Kurakin, Catherine II during a walk in the Tsarskosyelsky Park and A. His recorded genre is portrait. Borovikovsky received Order of St.
Recognition and collections
Vladimir, 4th class and Order of St
Work by Vladimir Borovikovsky is
Tretyakov Gallery, Russian Museum, Hermitage Museum and National Museum in Warsaw
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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