Portrait and historical painter, the son of the chief officer, came in 1798 pupils of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and afterwards was student of D. Levitsky . In 1808 he received a small gold medal for the painting: "the Sculptor in his Studio", and was released from the Academy with the title of artist XIV class, In 1811, for the portrait painted of himself (located in the Moscow public Museum) he was appointed to the Academy, and in 1812, with the portrait Levitsky (in the conference hall of the Academy), awarded the degree of academician. In 1814 determined by the drawing teacher at the Academy. For some time he taught drawing at the mining cadet corps. In 1839, written on a given Academy program picture: "the appearance of the resurrected Christ to Mary Magdalene" (in the Museum of the Academy), elevated to the rank of Professor. Yakovlev was skilled in portrait painting than in the historical. Portraits of his works resemble the works of Levitsky, but inferior to them in strength and harmony of colors, the softness and richness of the brush and generally the taste of performance.
