Anton Losenko was born to the family of a
Russian negotiant Pavel Yakovlevich Losev in
Hlukhiv, in the region of
Chernihovshchyna (now in
Sumy Oblast,
Ukraine). He became an orphan and at the age of seven was sent to a
Court Choir in
Saint Petersburg. In 1753, as he had lost his voice but had shown talent for painting, he was sent for apprenticeship to the artist
Ivan Argunov. After five and a half years of apprenticeship, he was admitted to the
Imperial Academy of Arts in 1759. Among the paintings he created there was the
Portrait of Ivan Shuvalov (1760) and the
Portrait of Alexander Sumarokov (1760). In 1760, the Academy sent him to
Paris to study art under the French neoclassical painter
Jean II Restout. There he painted a large painting based on the
New Testament story of the
miraculous catch of fish. In 1766-1769 Losenko worked in
Rome, studying Italian art, especially the paintings of
Raphael. There he created his two paintings of
Kain and
Abel. In 1769, Losenko returned to Saint-Petersburg. He received an offer to present a historical painting as a way of receiving
Academician status in the
Imperial Academy of Arts. From an episode of
Kievan Rus' history, he painted his
classical canvas of
Vladimir I of Kiev and Rogneda of Polotsk. This painting not only brought him the title of Academician but also a
professorship position at the Imperial Academy (initially, in 1770, an adjunct-professor, but from 1772 a full professor and director of the Academy). While in this position Losenko wrote a text book called "Short Explanation of the Human Proportions" that served a few generations of painters in the Russian Empire. He worked as the Director of the Academy until his death in 1773. == Recognition and impact ==