On February 24, a souvenir sheet dedicated to the 250th Birth Anniversary of Alexander Stupin, a painter and an art tutor, was put into postal circulation

Alexander Stupin (1776–1861) was a Russian painter and art teacher, the founder and the Head of the first in the Russian Empire provincial art school. He was an Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Alexander Stupin was born on February 13 (24) of 1776 in the city of Arzamas, Nizhny Novgorod Province. In September of 1797, he opened a workshop there and began accepting disciples, which enabled him to take on significant painting commissions. His works were successful and brought him a good income. In early 1800, he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg as an extern where he studied under I. Akimov’s guidance. Having graduated in 1802 with the title of first-degree artist, he returned to Arzamas and established a drawing school there - the first and, for a long time, the only one private institution of its kind in Russia. Since the tuition fees were trifling, the main source of funding for the school was commissions for painting churches and iconostases. In 1822, A. Stupin was involved in decorating the Savior Cathedral under construction on the territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Fair.

In 1834, A. Stupin was awarded the Order of St. Anne, third grade, “for outstanding services in establishing an art school in Arzamas in 1802 at his own expense”; and in 1845, he was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir, fourth grade, “for promotion of painting in his homeland and for the 40-year existence of his school.”

The postage stamp provides a fragment of the painting View of the City of Arzamas by A. Stupin (1826, State Russian Museum); the margins of the souvenir sheet feature a fragment of N. Alekseev's painting Portrait of the Paintert and Founder of the School of Painting in Arzamas, Alexander Vasilyevich Stupin, with His Students (1838, State Russian Museum).

In addition to the issue of the souvenir sheet, JSC Marka produced First Day Covers and special cancels for Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod, as well as an illustrated cover with the souvenir sheet, a double-plot label and a First Day Cover with a cancel for Nizhny Novgorod inside.


Design Artist: A. Yegiazaryan.
Face value: 250 rubles.
Souvenir sheet size: 114×65 mm; stamp size in the souvenir sheet: 42×30 mm.
Quantity: 15 thousand souvenir sheets.

« back