 He was born while his father (a serf) was a student of Alexander Stupin at the Arzamas School of Painting, Russia's first provincial art school.When he had completed his basic education at the district school in Saransk, he studied with his father and Stupin, soon becoming an assistant on several church painting projects.On the basis of sketches and drawings he sent to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1842, he obtained the privilege of being a "Free Artist".