LEVITSKY Sergei Lvovich

1819 (Moscow) — June 1898 (St-Петербург)

the Photographer

the Illegitimate son of the grandee of Catherine's time, Senator Л. А. Яковлева; a cousin of the writer А. И. Герцена. He graduated from the law faculty of Moscow University. Was in the public service. In 1844 he retired.

In 1843 he took up photography; during his stay in the Caucasus in the composition of the government Commission to study the condition of mineral water completed the first daguerreotype photos. In 1845 at the Sorbonne attended a course of chemistry Ж. Дюма consulted with the optician Ш. Шевалье met Ж. Л. Дагером. In Rome in the autumn of the same year he participated in the creation of a daguerreotype portrait Н. В. Гоголя and compositions at which the writer is depicted surrounded by Russian artists.

In 1849 opened in St. Petersburg on Nevsky Prospekt "Daguerreotype institution Sergey Levitsky", in 1851 the school was called "light Painting Levitsky" and followed orders in the technique of talbotype and wet collodion. In the same year was awarded a gold medal at the exhibition in Paris.

Since the end of 1859 until the summer of 1865 he worked in France, first at the head of the Paris branch of the photographic firm of American У. Томсона with 1861 — in his own Studio. In 1864 the portraits of Napoleon III and members of his family, taken in Fontainebleau, was awarded the title "Photographer of the French Imperial court" and became a member of the French photographic society.

In 1865 returned to St. Petersburg, where he opened a new Studio. In 1877 he was awarded the title of court photographer Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna. In those same years, were recruited to work in the workshop of his son Leo, renaming the company into "Levitsky and son". Had photo workshops on Moika embankment (1860-е), Nevsky Prospekt (1890-е), Kazanskaya street (1898).

Created an extensive gallery of portraits of writers, scientists and public figures: Н. А. Некрасова, И. С. Тургенева, А. Н. Островского, Л. Н. Толстого, И. А. Гончарова, В. А. Соллогуба, Ф. И. Тютчева, П. А. Вяземского, А. И. Струговщикова, В. П. Боткина, И. И. Панаева, П. В. Анненкова, Д. В. Григоровича, А. И. Герцена, Д. И. Менделеева the Decembrist С. Г. Волконского; completed group portrait of members of the editorial Board of the journal "Contemporary", photographic portraits of four generations of Romanov dynasty. The work of Levitsky served as originals for many lithographed portraits of the second half of the nineteenth century.

was the initiator of creation and Chairman of the V (photographic) Department of the Imperial technical society, where he worked with Д. И. Менделеевым and other scientists. Made a significant contribution to the development of techniques of photography: the camera was designed with a retractable bellows (1847), cast iron tripods, led by retouching the negative, entered the drawing room and species backgrounds (1860), a movable floor in the hall, where photographing (1867), was filming voltaic arc (1857), from the late 1870-х — with the electric light.

the Author of the memoirs: "From the recollections of an old photographer", "From a daguerreotype".

Works are in major Museum collections, including the State Historical Museum.