Kapiton Zelentsov

Kapiton Zelentsov painted Russian interiors: quiet rooms with polished floors, sunlight through tall windows, furniture and paintings on the walls, sometimes with a figure reading or working. His pictures are calm and precise, with careful perspective.

He studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg from 1809 and was influenced by Alexey Venetsianov, who encouraged painting everyday life from nature. He worked for years as a government official while painting, and in 1833 the Academy made him an academician of perspective painting. He also made caricatures, illustrated books and produced a series of etchings of St Petersburg traders. His work is in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Look at the soft daylight across the rooms and the small domestic details that make his interiors feel lived in.