Painter. He was an early 19th-century Russian artist who was famous for his portraits. He was a leading oil-on-canvas portraitist in the Age of Romanticism and is considered the father of Russian portrait drawing, mainly in charcoal. One of his most familiar pieces is probably his 1827 portrait of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, which prompted the remark from the poet, "the mirror flatters me". Born in the village of Koporye near Saint Petersburg, he was an illegitimate son of an estate owner Alexey Dyakonov and a servant. His surname, which he acquired as a young man, was derived from Kypris, one of the Greek names for the goddess of love. He was raised in the family of Adam Shvalber, a serf who married his mother. Although he was born a serf, he was released from the serfdom shortly after his birth. When he was six years old, he was sent to a boarding school at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg to study until he was age 21. His education was funded by his biological father. He lived at the Academy for three more years after graduation as a pensioner to fulfill requirements necessary to be awarded the Major Gold Medal. Receiving the first prize for his 1805 work "Prince Dmitri Donskoi after the Battle of Kulikovo" enabled the young artist to travel abroad to study art in Europe. A year before his graduation, in 1804, he painted the portrait of "Adam Shvalber", his foster father, which is considered a great achievement. In the 21st century, both of these paintings as well as several of his self-portraits are displayed at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. His self-portraits fully reveal his hard-earned sense of self-worth with the earlier ones having his face partially hidden meekly, while some twenty years later, his self-portrait has him staring with self-confidence directly at his audience. He had planned to go to Italy after graduation, but with French Emperor Napoleon I's invasion of Russia in 1812, his trip was delayed. In March of 1812 he was awarded the title of academician of portrait painting. After that, he lived throughout Russia until 1816 before beginning his journey to Italy. In mid-May 1816, having received the title of Adviser to the Academy of Arts, he received the monetary funds for the trip. Some of his most famous Italian paintings was his 1817 "The Young Gardener" and in 1819, the "Girl wearing the Poppy Wreath." He stayed in Italy seven years returning July of 1823. While in Italy, he met a ten-year-old girl named Anne Maria Falcucci, whose mother was his model and had been murdered. He became the girl's ward for a short time. On leaving Italy to return to Russia, he sent her to a Roman Catholic convent, funding her board. While in Russia, he painted the 1827 portrait of Pushkin, which was one of many portraits of Pushkin done by various artist. He became gravely disappointed when he and other Russian artists were not chosen by Alexander I to paint the portraits for the gallery at the Museum of the Patriotic War of 1812, instead the commission to paint over 300 portrait went to English artist George Dawe. With him planning his retirement, his second journey to Italy was in 1828. Among his portraits that were acquired to be taken to Italy with him was the one of Pushkin. In 1830 his "Adam Shvalber" was displayed at an art exhibition in Naples with critics comparing his work to Rubens, Van Dyck, or Rembrandt. One of his last portraits was the 1833 portrait of Danish sculptor, Bertel Thorvaldsen as an elderly white-haired man. All his portraits can be described as having rich-colored paint tones, especially shades of reds, combined with brown and an ocher color. After converting from the Russian Orthodox Church to the Roman Catholic in ordered to wed, he died of pneumonia three months after his marriage to the 17-year-old beautiful Anne Maria. His daughter, Constance, was born a few months later. His heir sold the inheritance of a number of paintings to the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Today, his portraits of Russian military and royalty, as well as ones labeled "Unknown," are being sold at auction for thousands of dollars. A collection of reproductions of his paintings was published as "219 Color Paintings of Orest Kiprensky - Russian Portrait Painter" by Jacek Michalak.