854
and photography as well. During this period, due to the
likeness between the two, photography was constantly
compared to painting and therefore often said to copy it.
It was from this that Levitsky developed his style to use
the compositional laws of painting by employing soft
light thus creating soft images. While creating artistic
portraits, Levitsky successfully experimented with the
pose of the model, thereby re-establishing the rules of
the conventional studio portrait. Instead of employing the
use of tasteless painted backgrounds and accessories, he
spent more attention on the personality of the model.
In February of 1856 Levitsky made several personal,
as well as group portraits of famous Russian writers
such as L. Tolstoi, I. Turgjenjev, N. Ostrovsky, and oth-
ers. He compiled these photographs, which effectively
established the most impressive and comprehensive pho-
tographic gallery of Russian literary men, to the extent
that in 1857, the limited edition of these photographs
quickly sold out. Years later, these portraits were often
and still are used to accompany the biographies of the
writers. Levitsky’s contemporaries have said that he cap-
tured the refl ection of each of the writer’s individuality
and created cognizable psychological images. He also
made a portrait of the Emperor Nikolai I, which became
the best canonical portraits of the tzar.
In 1858 the photographer returned to Paris where he
helped an American daguerreotypist, W. Thomson, with
his work and later opened a studio of his own. In spite of
the severe competition with the Parisian photographers,
Levitsky enjoyed great popularity and success. A couple
of highly successful works placed Levitsky among the
leading portrait photographers of France. His portrait of
Hertsen of 1861 was bootlegged in Russia and became
a classical work of the world photographic portrait. In
1864 Levitsky made several portraits of the Emperor of
France Napoleon III and his family and was thus hon-
ored with the title of “the emperor’s photographer,”and
was subsequently admitted into the Paris photographic
society. Through his constantly successful innovations
with photography, Levitsky became a well-known
photographer, not only in Russia but also abroad and
in 1865, Levitsky made a photo portrait of the Russian
empress, the wife of Alexander II, and her elder son in
Nice. The empress liked the photographs so much that
she suggested that Levitsky return to St. Petersburg,
which he later did.
Levitsky opened a studio with his son Lev in St.
Petersburg and from 1866, and quite a long time after,
he was the only photographer to take pictures of the
emperor and his family. His photographs served as an
archetype for painted portraits, sculptures, monuments
and busts. In 1890 a special photo-studio with the
“Emperor’s Entry” was built where advanced technolo-
gies were used to take pictures of large groups of people
in various lightings.
In 1866, Levitsky became a member of Russian Em-
peror Technical Society (RETS) and in 1878 was one
of the founders of its photography department, making
it RETS’ fi fth department. Levitsky was in constant
demand, both in Russian and abroad, and was often
given presents from royalty and persons of distinction.
Due to his skill and experience, he was the expert at the
Russian exhibitions and three international exhibitions.
In 1873 he was an exponent of the fi rst department of
photography at the Londoner international exhibition.
In 1889 he took part in an anniversary exhibition in St.
Petersburg hors concours, impressing the visitors at the
entry to the exhibition with a large half-length of the
Emperor Alexander III made by himself.
In 1847 and 1856 he conducted experiments with
taking pictures in arc light and in 1879 he demonstrated
20 successful portraits made in electric light, the fi rst
of its kind in Russia. This was extremely important to
Russian photography since St. Petersburg’s weather
was usually poor and not conducive to taking pictures
without using some type of light. Levitsky displayed
several portraits made in electric light at an 1883 elec-
tro-technical exhibition in Vena.
The last few years of his life Levitsky was severely
ill and died in St. Petersburg in 1898. At a conversazi-
one dedicated to the 74th anniversary of photography,
the great connoisseur of photography, professor V.
Sreznevsky, described Levitsky as “the farther of Rus-
sian photography, who began by creating daguerreotype
works in St. Petersburg and who then raised portrait
photography to the highest level of technical and artistic
perfection.” He was often known as the patriarch of the
Russian photography. After his death the photo-studio
was run by his son Lev until 1913.
Alexei LoginovBiography
Sergey Lvovich Levitsky was born in Moscow in 1819.
He graduated from the School of Law at Moscow
State University in 1839 and became an offi cial in the
Ministry of Home Affairs in St. Petersburg. His fi rst
photographs were made in 1843 during his stay in the
Caucasus. In 1844 he retired and left for Europe. He
studied photography in Paris and in 1849 returned to
St. Petersburg. From 1849 to 1858 he worked at his
photo-studio and made a series of portraits of Russian
writers. He worked on improving the technique of
photography. In 1858 he moved to Paris and opened a
studio. While in Europe, he made a photograph of the
emperor Napoleon III and his family and became “the
emperor’s photographer.” In 1865 Levitsky returned
to St. Petersburg and worked there together with his
son Lev. Through his ingenuity and experimentation
with technique, Levitsky became one of the leading