Orlovsky Aleksandr Osipovich

Orlovsky was a Russian painter, draughtsman and printmaker of Polish birth. He trained at the Warsaw studio of Jan Piotr Norblin de la Gourdaine and received support from Princess Isabella Czartoryska. He also studied under the Polish court painter Marcello Bacciarelli, the engraver Bartolomeo Follin and the Polish miniaturist Wincenty Fryderyck Lesseur (1745–1813). In 1799 Orlovsky served Prince Józef Poniatowski (1763–1813) as a caricaturist, and he subsequently travelled in Lithuania. In 1801 he produced a series of engravings showing the release of Tadeusz Kosciuszko. These drew Orlovsky to the attention of Tsar Alexander I (1777–1825), and in 1802 he went to St Petersburg. In Russia Orlovsky was invited by Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich (1779–1831) to execute drawings of uniforms and military parades (engravings of these were published in 1808). In 1809 Orlovsky was awarded the title of Academician of Battle Painting of the St Petersburg Academy of Art for his picture Cossack Bivouac. Orlovsky was also one of the first Russian artists to take up lithography. Orlovsky is represented in the following collections: State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg; Tret’yakov Gallery, Moscow; History Museum, Moscow, amongst others.