Oil painting -> List of Painters -> Alexandre Benois

Early days: Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois was one of the geatest artists who  was born into the artistic Benois family.He was one of the founding members of Mir iskusstva. Mir iskusstva  was a  prominent Russian magazine,which influenced Russians who helped revolutionize European art during the first decade of the 20th century.His father Nicholas Benois as well as his brother Leon Benois were popular Russian architects.

Career:

As he didn’t have plans to  enter into the field of art,he  graduated in Law from St. Petersburg University.However,couple of years later,his watercolor paintings depicting  Last Promenades of Louis XIV  were exhibited by  Pavel Tretyakov.These paintings were brought to the attention of  Sergei Diaghilev and Leon Bakst.Eventually the magazine Mir iskusstva was together founded by them.

Alexandre Benois was successfully able to run the gallery of  Old Masters in the Hermitage Museum.He was also successful in printing his Illustrations to Pushkin's Bronze Horseman.In the year 1901, Benois was honored with the post of scenic director of the Mariinsky Theatre. From then onwards, he dedicated most of his time for stage design.His creativity was revealed  when he designed the sets and  costumes for  several Ballets such as Les Sylphides, Giselle and Petrushka.One of his popular paintings include Soldiers of Catherine II.