Levitsky S.L. (1819-1898), photographer

Categories / Art/Fine Arts/Personalia
LEVITSKY Sergey Lvovich (1819-98, St. Petersburg) is one of the founders of photography in Russia. In 1840s he studied the basics of photography in Paris. In 1849, he opened his daguerreotype studio Levitsky's Photography in Nevsky Prospect (in Imzen's House at the place of the present-day House of Books) and soon became widely known as a portrait photographer. He created series of portraits of Russian writers and public figures (Nikolay Nekrasov, Ivan Turgenev, Ivan Goncharov, Vladimir Sollogub, Fedor Tyutchev, Peter Vyazemsky, Alexander Strugovshchikov, Vasily Botkin, Ivan Panaev, Pavel Annenkov, Dmitry Grigorovich, Alexander Herzen and Sergey Volkonsky) and four generations of the Romanov dynasty (in 1877, he was awarded title photographer of their Royal Majesty). Levitsky developed a camera of his own design with bellows and was the first to use optical retouching and electric lighting of objects. His works received multiple awards in international exhibitions. He lived and worked in Moika River Embankment, 30 (1860s), Nevsky Prospect, 28 (1890s), Kazanskaya Street, 3 (1898, the house is not preserved). He wrote memoirs Reminiscences of an Old Photographer (1892) and How I Became Photographer (1896). He is buried at the Smolenskoye Cemetery.

References: Русская фотография: Середина XIX - нач. XX в.: [Альбом]. СПб., 1996; Бархатова Е. В. Терновый венец фотографии // Мир дизайна. 1997. № 1/2. С. 30-33.

A. V. Krusanov. Annenkov Pavel Vasilievich
Botkin Vasily Petrovich
Goncharov Ivan Alexandrovich
Grigorovich Dmitry Vasilievich
Herzen Alexander Ivanovich
Nekrasov Nikolay Alexeevich
Panaev Ivan Ivanovich
Sollogub Vladimir Alexandrovich
Strugovshchikov Alexander Nikolaevich, Count
Turgenev Ivan Sergeevich
Tyutchev Fedor Ivanovich
Volkonsky Sergey Grigorievich, Duke
Vyazemsky Alexander Alexeevich, Duke
Vyazemsky Peter Andreevich, Duke
Vyazemsky Peter Andreevich, Duke
Kazanskaya Street/Saint Petersburg, city, house 3
Moika River Embankment/Saint Petersburg, city, house 30
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 28
Русская фотография: Середина XIX - нач. XX в.: [Альбом]. СПб., 1996
Бархатова Е. В. Терновый венец фотографии // Мир дизайна, 1997