He was born on a large farm in the south of Ukraine. His father was a retired military man who had received a title of nobility, was a member of the Kherson governing committee, supervised the local former local government authority school and was an honorary magistrate.
He later attended several other schools. At that time, many of the students there held revolutionary opinions and he attended speeches lamenting the plight of small farmers.
At the age of seven, he was already making copies of the Dutch engravings that decorated his home. In 1860, he became one of the first students at a new private boy"s academy in Yelisavetgrad. In 1868, he entered the Petrovskaya Agricultural Academy in Moscow.
He became caught up in the complicated events involving the nihilist Sergey Nechayev, but escaped serious punishment.
He was, however, expelled and sent home to be supervised by his father and the police. In 1871, he was allowed to enroll at Odessa University, where he took classes in drawing and watercolors in addition to his regular course of study.
These classes would be his only formal art instruction. They were a success so, after a brief period of employment at the "State Bank of Odessa", he travelled to Italy, then settled in Paris and found a position working with Eugène Carrière.
He exhibited regularly at the Salon and several of his paintings were purchased by Pavel Tretyakov.
Later, he would sign a lucrative contract with Georges Petit.
They continued to travel throughout Western Europe and Russia and, in 1895, he became an honorary member of the Peredvizhniki.
