Day 2) After Arkhipov. Beggars
Abram Arkhipov is not super well-known I think, but is a fantastic painter. He painted many pictures of peasant life, and a lot of plein air. He didn't tend towards theatrical action in his posing (unlike Repin, for example) electing to depict people's natural disposition. More about him: https://artchive.ru/abramarkhipov .
Day 3) After Kolesnikov
Stepan Kolesnikov is another relatively unknown artist outside Russia, but apparently he was the last Czar's favorite. With good reason, too. His works look like butter to me, in the best possible way, and he painted snow especially beautifully. He worked with a pretty subdued value ranged, and is a great reference for how much can be expressed without going the overly contrast-y route. Such control is something to aspire to. More on here: http://www.artnet.com/artists/stepan-feodorovich-kolesnikov/
Day 4) After Vereshchagin. In Jerusalem
This one, after the great Orientalist, Vasily Vereshchagin. If you're familiar with Rodolf Ernst, Carl Haag, or Jean-Léon Gérôme you know the genre. Actually, Verershchagin studied under Gérôme in Paris, so the influence is probably not imaginary. Looking at his work, you can't help but think that he had the whole concept art thing figured out a few hundred years before it was cool. But his work was also often offensive to the militaristicly-minded European powers of the day (I'm including the Russian Empire here) as he often depicted the brutality of war, rather than it's romanticized glory, and his exhibitions were occasionally banned in different countries. But he was nominated for the first Nobel Peace Prize, so there's that! A great write-up on him here: https://musings-on-art.org/vereshchagin-vasily-vereshchagin
Day 5) After Levitan
There are a number of famous Russian landscape painters, the likes of Shishkin (known for his forest scenes and the famous bears painting that was all over chocolate bars in the USSR), Aivazovsky (who was second to none when it came to maritime paintings), and of course the great landscape artist Isaak Levitan. He is credited with creating what is called "mood landscape"; I'm not entirely sure what that means, but I suppose it refers to the fact that his work is often loose and a bit melancholy. The melancholy could be explained by an early life spent in poverty and overall poor health, but what can explain that talent and skill? See more here: https://musings-on-art.org/isaac-levitan
Day 6) After Kotov
Day 7) After Repin
What a fun week! These were done digitally of course, but really makes you want to pick up a pencil or some actual paints. Well, I guess thats for the following week. Cheers!