Mikhail Stepanovich Znamensky (russian: Михаи́л Степа́нович Зна́менский, 26 May 1833, Kurgan,

Imperial Russia The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

—15 March 1892, Tobolsk, Imperial Russia) was a

Russian writer Russian literature refers to the literature of Russia and its émigrés and to Russian-language literature. The roots of Russian literature can be traced to the Middle Ages, when epics and chronicles in Old East Slavic were composed. By the Ag ...

, memoirist,

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

, caricaturist, archeologist and ethnographer. Znamensky, who knew many of the Decembrists personally through his father, protoiereus Stepan Znamensky (who was canonized by Russian Orthodox Church in 1984, as Stefan Omsky), is credited with having authored the first ever Russian novel on the Decemberists, ''The Vanished Men'' (Исчезнувшие люди, 1872). Part two, ''Tobolsk of the Forties'' (Тобольск сороковых годов, 1884), was serialized by the newspaper ''Vostochnoye obozreniye'' (Восточное обозрение, The Eastern Review). Part three, ''The Fifties in Tobolsk'' (Пятидесятые годы в Тобольске) remained unfinished. Znamensky left numerous drawings and paintings which include the portraits of the Decembrists he had known, as well as the illustrations to the works by Pyotr Yershov, Ivan Goncharov and Kondraty Ryleyev, among many others. '' Iskra'' published more than 300 of his caricatures, most of them depicting the life of Siberian provinces. Znamensky left important memoirs on Pyotr Yershov, Matvey Muravyov-Apostol,

Ivan Pushchin Ivan Ivanovich Pushchin (Russian:Иван Иванович Пущин; 15 May 1798, Moscow — 15 April 1859, Bronnitsky Uyezd) was a Russian civil servant and Decembrist. In school, he became a close friend of the writer, Alexander Pushkin, due to ...

, Vasily Tisengausen and Ivan Yakushkin, and authored several ethnographical works, mostly on Tobolsk and its surroundings. Two streets, one in Tobolsk, another in Khanty-Mansiysk, bear his name.Platonova, I.F. M.S. Znamensky, the Tobolsk Enlightener // Платонова И. Ф. Тобольский просветитель М. С. Знаменский. Русские старожилы: Материалы Третьего Сибирского симпозиума «Культурное наследие народов Западной Сибири». – Тобольск, 2000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Znamensky, Mikhail 1833 births 1892 deaths People from Kurgan, Kurgan Oblast People from Kurgansky Uyezd Russian ethnographers 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire