Yakov
Ivanovich Argunov

The painter of the portrait; "designated in academics". He had served in Moscow under the Emperors Alexander and Nicholas I. (Kondakov)

Not as well known as his father and brothers, Yakov Ivanovich Argunov yet received from the Academy the title of "appointed" in academics. It was recognized quite some merit in painting and excellence. Main teacher younger brother James was his father — I. P. Argunov, a serf of count NP.P. Sheremetev. In 1816, the brothers in accordance with the will of the count was freed from serfdom. Since that time, Yi Argunov works as a teacher of drawing, in particular, in the 1 St Moscow gymnasium and paints portraits for a number of publications. Even in 1812 he prepared for the historical work the acts of famous generals and Ministers who served in the reign of Peter I the portraits of the king and his closest associates, F. Y. Lefort, F. N. Apraksin, A. D. Menshikov and others. With increasing skill and fame Yi Argunov as it emerges from the shadow of his older brother, the painter N. And. Argunova. He receives orders from the Russian people, wrote a portrait of Alexander I.

The work of Y. I. Argunov, of course, was a major event in Russian portraiture of the first decades of the nineteenth century. Contemporaries were such largest Russian portraitists as O. Kiprensky, V. Tropinin and. Apparently, therefore, it is symbolic of the fading interest in the work of J. Argunova. Lost in time and the facts of the last years of the artist's life, although his works continue to serve ordinary domestic painting.