The armchair consists of a wooden frame, seat, and back, upholstered with black leather. The back is front-hooped, with carvings at the top and bottom and scrolls in the middle. The lateral supports of the back have rectangular sections; they are rounded and broadened at the bottom. As they join the seat, they make a rosette of large carved scrolls; at the top, they taper off and end in another scroll.

Alexander Stupin was born to the Borisovs, a noble family in Arzamas, on February 13, 1776. As a boy, he was given to a foster mother, Anisya Stupina, a local citizen, who adopted him some time later. Stupin was literate, which enabled him to work as a salesboy in his foster mother’s shop. But he was fascinated by painting long before he grew up. At 11, he began to learn from icon painters in a studio. 

In 1797, Alexander Stupin opened his own art studio and began to take on apprentices, which enabled him to agree to large orders. His works were popular, and his clients paid what was then big money for them. Soon, Stupin had a house built for him and moved in with his family and apprentices. 

In 1800, he left for St Petersburg intending to become a professional artist, and entered the Imperial Academy of Arts. After two years of studies under the Russian painters Ivan Akimov and Alexei Yegorov, Stupin completed his training and got a 1st Grade Painter degree. Then he came back to Arzamas to open a drawing school. Shortly after, the school set up the city’s first museum consisting of a picture gallery and an antiquity gallery. 

 
Stupin’s school of painting in Arzamas existed for only 60 years, but it played a huge role in developing Russian national culture and education. Nowadays, works by Stupin School masters decorate museums of St Petersburg, Moscow, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, and Arzamas.