vasily sazonov was born in 1789 in gomel, in the family of serfs of count rumyantsev, and at the ageunds for this, noticing the boy’s abilities. after 5 years of study , vasily sazonov received two silver medals for academic work, tsar ioan vasilyevich gives the water brought to him to a simple warrior. in 1812, for the painting "menin" he called on nizhny novgorod residents to donate to save the fatherland, the artist received a gold medal, and a year later another for the canvas in fidelity to god and the tsar of russian citizens who were shot at... soon after this, sozonov was awarded the rank of artist. count rumyantsev gave him his freedom and paid for his further studies in rome. returning to st. petersburg, sazonov painted two iconic paintings: a portrait of count astermann tolstoy on the battlefield and the historical painting of dmitry donskoy on the kulikovo field. at the same time, he painted iconostasis in the church of the tauride palace in the transfiguration cathedral, for which in 1830 he received the title of academician. sazonov was also involved in painting the st.