Ivan Nikolayevich Kramskoi (1837–1887) was one of the most important Russian painters of the 19th century and a leading figure of the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) movement. He was born in Ostrogozhsk, Russia, and studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. Opposing the rigid academic traditions of his time, he played a key role in promoting an art that reflected real life and contemporary social issues.
Kramskoi became especially renowned for his masterful psychological portraits, depicting some of the most prominent figures of Russian literature, science, and culture, including Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky. He died in Saint Petersburg in 1887, leaving behind a body of work that remains a landmark of Russian Realist painting