Stepan Shchukin

Stepan Semyonovich Shchukin (Russian: Степан Семёнович Щукин; 1754, Moscow - 10 October 1828, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian portrait and watercolor painter. Some sources give his year of birth as 1762.

He was the son of an army sergeant and was apparently abandoned by his family.[1] His first art lessons were taken with Dmitry Levitzky at the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1782, he was sent abroad for "self-improvement", changed his name from Semyonov to Shchukin. [clarification needed] and spent some time at the Académie de Peinture et de Sculpture, where he studied with Alexandre Roslin and Joseph-Benoît Suvée.

In 1786, he returned from Paris and, two years later, was appointed a teacher of portraiture at the Academy. He was promoted to Academician Candidate for his portrait of the Academy's Director Yury Felten then, the following year, was named a full Academician for his portrait of Tsar Paul I.

In 1803, he was appointed a Counselor and, a few months thereafter, became Secretary of the Academic Conference. Shortly before his death, he received the title of Senior Advisor. Among his best-known students were Alexander Varnek and Vasily Tropinin.