6 Sep 1834 (St. Petersburg) - July 13, 1876 (town of Ariccia near Rome)
The son of the Petersburg burghers, he studied at the Academy of Arts under the guidance of Professor of A. T. Markov, and in 1858 received the second silver medal for drawing from life, and in the following year, the same medal for the painting "Artist's Studio", which had success at the exhibition; in 1860 he was given the first silver medal for the painting "Three men, from the fable". For the second gold medal, he wrote of the work: "Everywhere in the village" and "bride and groom", but got the only medal in 1862 for his painting: "Courtship official to his daughter tailor" — the best of his works. From competition for the first gold medal he, along with other competitors refused and walked out of the Academy with the title of the class artist, involved in the formation of "Artistic Cooperative" and worked according to the orders received by this Association. These are executed an image in the Lutheran Church in Kronstadt, in the town of Ostrogozhsk, in the town of Oskol, in the city of Ekaterinodar, in the land of the don Cossacks, in the Engineering Academy, in the Kursk province., in the Caucasus, etc., and also portraits, mostly copy — Emperor Nicholas I, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Maria Feodorovna Princess Royal, Colonel engineer Shenyavsky, the Minister of education, count D. A. Tolstoy, and work for count Panin. Independently from artisanal works, in addition to the original lithographs in "Russian Art Album 1861": "Three men, from Krylov's fable" and "Not that very drunk, and infinitely hilarious", executed before exiting the Academy, he etched two etchings: "half-length portrait of the doorman at the premises of the farm, on Nevsky Prospekt" and "the Boy drawing on the wall". In 1867, for the painting "Farmer in trouble" and "Charges the Church" recognized as an academician; then wrote another work: "Two bystanders", "Study dogs" and "Peasant solitary man". In addition, he has engaged in drawing lessons. In 1873 he began to develop tuberculosis. To improve your health, however, and to learn painting, he went to Italy. There they played "Roman rural scene", "Musician", "Curious about the artist", "the old Man, offering diamonds to a young girl", "Boy pulls out a grape", "Inside the kitchen", "generous nature" and other scenes from the life and nature of Italy. But the Italian climate could not stop the fatal progress of the disease, and the 13th of July, 1876, N. Petrov died. (Collection of materials for the history of the Empire. Academy Of Fine Arts. T. III, St. Petersburg, 1866)
