Background

Yuri Nikitich Bartenev was born on February 16, 1792, in the village of Zolotovo, Galicia district, Kostroma province (now Kostroma Oblast', Russian Federation).

Education

Yuri Nikitich studied at a private boarding school, then at the Kostroma Gymnasium (1802-1805), the Moscow Noble Boarding School (1805-1807), then in the 2nd Saint Petersburg cadet corps after which he entered military service.

Career

Member of the Battle of Borodino; later served in Riga (1812-1816) and in the 2nd Cadet Corps in Saint Petersburg (from 1816). In 1818 Yuri Nikitich retired with the rank of staff captain. In 1819, at the request of Labzin, Yuri Nikitich became the head of the gymnasium and district schools in Kostroma (1819-1833), where he enthusiastically studied philosophical and mystical literature.

Yuri Nikitich got acquainted with P.A. Vyazemsky, who was visiting his Kostroma estates, and through him, while in Petersburg, with V.A. Zhukovsky and A.S. Pushkin, who wrote the verse "Madonna" in Bartenev’s album in 1830.

In 1833 because of multiple denunciations (1827-1829) he resigned. In 1836 Yuri Nikitich became an official of special assignments in the Postal Department under the Prince Alexandr Golitsyn. In 1844, he retired with the rank of state councilor, settled in Moscow.

Interests

• philosophy, mysticism

References

• Russian writers. 1800-1917. Biographical Dictionary. Volume 1
  1989