Nikolay Andreyevich Koshelev (Russian: Никола́й Андре́евич Ко́шелев) (1840 – 1918) was a Russian painter, illustrator and muralist. He specialized in portraits and genre scenes, as well as icon painting.
Biography
He was born to a peasant family, composed of serfs.[1] He spent most of his childhood in the city of Arzamas, where he frequented the studios of Alexander Stupin, but lacked the means to take lessons. In 1851, he was apprenticed to a decorative painter named Davydov in Nizhni-Novgorod, but this was not a success, so he was remanded into the service of a local landowner, where he taught himself how to paint.
In 1856, impressed by his progress, his patroness took him to the art school in Kazan where he received lessons from an expatriate Italian artist named Botelli. This was followed by independent work on an iconostasis and a monastery wall. This became the basis for his acceptance at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1860.
The main dome
He did not, however, become a full-time student until 1863, when he began to study history painting under Alexey Tarasovich Markov and Fyodor Bruni. That same year, his financial situation improved greatly when he was able to sell several paintings. In 1864, he was awarded a gold medal for his depiction of Hermes lulling Argus to sleep. He also began working with a collective of his fellow students and participated in icon painting projects.[2] The following year, he was named an "Artist First Class".
When the collective broke up, he joined Ivan Kramskoi at the Artel of Artists; a group which later formed the basis for the Peredvizhniki. Later that year, he participated in one of the Artel's major exhibitions in Nizhni-Novgorod. He also began doing illustrations. Shortly after he, Kramskoi, Markov and Bogdan Wenig went to Moscow to paint the main dome at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour.[3] The result was a great success and Koshelev received separate commissions to paint the small domes.[4] He worked from drawings made by Pyotr Basin, whose eyesight had become too poor for him to do the work himself. As a reward for his continuing efforts, he was named an "Academician" in 1873 and a Professor in 1878.
In 1903, he travelled to Crimea and, from 1911 to 1912, participated in the first meetings of the All-Russian Congress of Artists. Little is known of him after that time. Due to his close association with religious art, it may be assumed that he retired to private life when the revolutionary movements began.
^Полубояров М. С. (2009-01-13). "Никольский район". Суслоны. Авторский портал Михаила Полубоярова. Archived from the original on 2011-11-18. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
^Данченко Е. А., Красилин М. М. (1994). Материалы к словарю иконописцев XVII–XX веков (по данным обследований церковных и других коллекций 1973–1993 гг.). М. p. 20.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)70. Кошелев Николай Андреевич Online
