Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev was the first Russian painter who achieved notable success in the genre of town landscape. In 1766-1773 he studied landscape painting in the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Then he spent three years in Venice studying scene-painting. After his return to Russia he was compelled to work as a decorator in the Theater School, although his ambition was to paint landscapes. Only after he became popular copying the works of the famous Italian and French landscapists Canaletto, Bellotto, Robert and Vernet, was he allowed to gratify his desires.
