Stepan Galaktionov

Born 1779 in St. Petersburg; died there June 20 (July 2), 1854. A Russian graphic artist.

Galaktionov studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Art (1785-1800) under M. M. Ivanov and Sem. F. Shchedrin and later taught there from 1817 to 1854, becoming a professor in 1831. He worked mainly with drypoint in combination with etching, and in the early 1820’s he became one of the first in Russia to master the technique of lithography. Outstanding among Galaktionov’s many works are views of St. Petersburg and its environs, in which the striving to represent nature and architecture with accuracy is combined with a careful development of the subtlest nuances and delicate tones (The View of Marli and the Zolotaia Mountain from the Parnas Side in Peterhof, an engraving on copper based on his own drawing, done at the beginning of the 1800’s; 12 views of St. Petersburg, lithographs based on his own drawings, 1821-24). Galaktionov created vignettes for St. Petersburg almanacs and journals and illustrations of the works of A. S. Pushkin, I. A. Krylov, and other Russian writers, done in drypoint and based on his own and others’ drawings. He also painted.