Ай, ай, Мішель, у тебе вже сиве волосся

Pavlo Andriiovych Fedotov was a Russian painter and graphic artist, academician of painting, one of the founders of realism in Russian painting. Born on June 22 (July 4), 1815 in Moscow. He attended evening drawing classes at the Academy of Arts. The artist's vocation was genre painting. He painted the works "Fresh Cavalier", "Discerning Bride", "Matchmaking of the Major", "Widow". In 1848, the Council of the Academy recognized the artist as an academician. During the short period of his work, the artist painted a huge number of paintings. His pencil sketches depicting everyday scenes from the lives of ordinary people are also preserved. One of such sketches was kept in the funds of the Mariupol Museum of Local Lore. The artist's delicate nature experienced strong stress, which affected his health. In 1852, he showed signs of a mental disorder. Six months later, Academician of Painting Pavel Fedotov died in hospital. The artist was buried at the Smolensk Cemetery in St. Petersburg.