Julius von Klever

Painter, teacher. Born to German parents in Dorpat (now Tartu) in Estonia (1850). Studied under Constantin von Kügelgen in Dorpat (1866–67) and under Sokrat Vorobyov and Baron Mikhail Konstantinovich Clodt von Jürgensburg at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1867–70, expelled). Founding member of the Society of Exhibitions of Works of Art (1874). Academician (1878), professor (1881). Organised the Russian sections at the Exposition Universelle in Antwerp (1885) and the Jubiläums-Ausstellung der Königlichen Akademie der Künste in Berlin (1886, gold medal). Painted romantic landscapes in Estonia and the Gulf of Finland (1875–1900) and taught at the School of Drawing of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (1902). Suffered a mental breakdown after being drawn into a scandal involving gambling and embezzlement at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1890s). Forced to abandon painting and went to Germany to rest (1908–15). Returned to Petrograd, where he taught at the Imperial Academy of Arts and the Vera Mukhina School of Art and Industry (1915–24). Died in Leningrad and buried at the Smolensk Cemetery (1924). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1869). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Academy of Arts (from 1869), Society of Exhibitions of Works of Art (1874–85), St Petersburg Society of Artists (1890s–1910s), Fellowship of Artists (1900s–10s), Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1920s) and one-man shows in St Petersburg (1874, 1876, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886).