Stepan Shchukin

Born 1758 in St. Petersburg; died there Oct. 10 (22), 1828. Russian portrait painter.

Shchukin studied with D. G. Levitskii at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1776 to 1782. He studied in Paris with J. B. Suvée from 1782 to 1786. Beginning in 1788, Shchukin taught at the academy in St. Petersburg (academician from 1797), where his students included A. G. Varnek and V. A. Tropinin.

Shchukin’s portraits combine idealized elements of formal portraiture with realistic characterization. At times they anticipate the traits of romanticism in Russian painting of the early 19th century; examples are Shchukin’s portraits of Paul 1 (1797) and a self-portrait (mid-1790’s) at the Russian Museum in Leningrad. Shchukin also painted miniatures.