Ivan Kramskoi

Ivan Kramskoi came from a poor family in Ostrogozhsk and studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, where in 1863 he led the "Revolt of the Fourteen", graduates who refused the set subject and walked out. He co-founded the Peredvizhniki and became its chief spokesman, arguing that art had a public and moral duty. He is best known for Christ in the Desert, the enigmatic Unknown Woman, and portraits of Tolstoy and other leading Russians.