Artist. One of the most influential Russian painters of the 18th Century, best remembered for the sincerity and directness of his portraits. He was also an accomplished icon painter, miniaturist, and metal worker. Antropov was born in St. Petersburg, to the family of a military carpenter. When he was 15, he started his art schooling and in the next seven years was instructed by some of the best known Russian and foreign painters of the time. In 1739 he became an apprentice in the Chancellery of Buildings. During the 1740s he received a number of commissions to decorate palaces in St. Petersburg, including Winter Palace,  and he also worked in Moscow. In 1752 Antropov was sent to help in the restoration of the church of St. Andrew the First-Called in Kiev. In four years, without helpers, he completed the icons for the iconostasis and the murals. During his stay in Kiev, the artist became a mentor of Dimitrii Levitsky, who is often considered the greatest Russian painter of the 1700s. After his return to St. Petersburg, Antropov painted a number of successful portraits of aristocracy. In 1789, wishing to establish a private school of painting and a public college, he donated his house to the Office of Public Charity. He was active as a teacher of painting and an artist until his death in 1795. (bio by: julia&keld)