Surikov (born 1848), was the foremost Russian painter of large-scale historical subjects. His major pieces are among the best-known paintings in Russia. From 1858 until 1861, he studied at the Krasnoyarsk District school, and then worked as a clerk in a public institution, while in his free time he drew and painted. In 1870, he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts where he studied until 1873. Surikov was awarded with silver medals for some of the works he created while studying. In 1874 he was decorated with a minor gold medal for “Charitable Samaritan” and the next year received a first-class art degree for his “The Apostle Paul explains the tenets of faith in the presence of King Agrippa, his sister Berenice, and the proconsul Festus”. In 1877, Surikov settled in Moscow, where he contributed some imposing frescoes to the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. In 1881 he joined the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions and participated regularly in this movement. His major pieces are “Morning of the Streltsy’s Execution", "Menshikov in Berezov”, “Boyarynya Morozova” (all three are on display at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow), “The Taking of a Snow Fortress”, “Conquest of Siberia by Yermak” and the “March of Suvorov through the Alps” (displayed at the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg).