Petr Petrovich Sokolov
Sokolov, Petr Petrovich
Born 1821 in St. Petersburg; died there Oct. 2 (14), 1899. Russian painter and graphic artist. Son of P. F. Sokolov.
Sokolov attended the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1840 to 1843. He worked mainly in St. Petersburg and Moscow, although he traveled extensively throughout Russia. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, he was a war correspondent.
Sokolov’s watercolors include hunting scenes and depictions of peasant life. They are distinguished by a robust technique and by a down-to-earth treatment of figures. His cycles of illustrations, for example, the watercolors to I. S. Turgenev’s A Sportsman’s Sketches (1867–95) and to N. V. Gogol’s Dead Souls (1880–90), provide meaningful interpretations of the text.