Evgraf Semenovich Sorokin, a Russian artist and teacher, a master of historical, religious and genre painting, has passed away. He was the elder brother of the artists Pavel, Vasily and Raphael Sorokin.

He was born in the settlement of Bolshie Soli in the Kostroma province (now Nekrasovskoye in the Yaroslavl region).

Evgraf Sorokin received his initial skills in art while working alongside the Yaroslavl icon painter I. F. Telegin, who was painting a church in the settlement. Evgraf himself began painting the walls of churches in Bolshie Soli, then in Yaroslavl, gaining fame among customers. Sorokin received special sympathy from one priest, whose church he was painting. On the advice of this priest, Sorokin painted the picture “Peter the Great, during the mass in the cathedral, notices A. Matveyev painting his portrait and foresees a gifted artist in him” for the arrival of Emperor Nicholas I in Yaroslavl. This picture was presented to the Emperor, who ordered Sorokin to be assigned to the Imperial Academy of Arts.

In 1841, by the Highest order, Sorokin was dismissed from the bourgeois class and placed in the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied painting under the close supervision of Professor A. T. Markov.

Already in the following year, 1842, Sorokin received praise from the Academy Council for historical and portrait painting; in 1843 and 1845 – small silver medals for a drawing from life and for the sketch “The Murder of Archdeacon Stefan”; in the same year 1845 – a large silver medal for the painting “The Beheading of John the Baptist” and in 1847 – a small gold medal for the painting “Daniel with the Lions”; in 1849 Sorokin was awarded a large gold medal for the painting “Jan Usmoszwiec Stops the Bull, During the Possession of Russia by Grand Duke Vladimir” written according to the program and then sent abroad for four years at the state expense to complete his artistic education. Inspecting and studying along the way everything remarkable, “as far as art is concerned”, Sorokin visited Germany, Belgium, France, Spain, Syria and Egypt. In Spain, he made a copy of Ribeira’s painting “Saint Paul”.

In 1859, Sorokin returned to Russia and took the position of a teacher of painting at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he served until his death. In 1861, for the painting “Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” painted during a trip abroad, Sorokin was recognized as an academician. A significant number of all of Sorokin’s paintings are images of various kinds.

He painted six images in the iconostasis and wall images of the evangelists Mark and John, the Last Supper, the Savior in glory and the Sermon on the Mount in the Parisian Church of Alexander Nevsky (in 1860-1861) [3], figures of Saints Lawrence and Stephen for the northern and southern doors and some images in the iconostasis of the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Savior; he also completed and partially corrected some of F. A. Bruni’s works on the walls of this same church, unfinished due to the latter’s death. For his work in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Sorokin was elevated to the rank of professor in 1878. In the early days of his artistic career, Sorokin also worked on genre painting: he painted several scenes from Italian and Spanish life, for example: “Spanish Gypsies” and “A Date” and “A Beggar Girl in Spain”.

He died on February 29, 1892. He was buried in Moscow at the Pokrovsky Monastery Cemetery.