Lev Lagorio was born in 1827 in Feodosia, the homeland of famous marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky. It is believed that Lagorio became his first student. As in the case of Aivazovsky, the talent of the young artist was the first to be noticed by Mayor Alexander Kaznacheev. He also contributed to the fact that Lev Lagorio entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1842. At the Academy, Lagorio studied under landscape painter Maxim Vorobyov, mentor Ivan Aivazovsky and other famous Russian painters.

Together with the gold medal of the first degree, the young artist received the right to a pension trip abroad to study art and develop his skills in art. So the Academy encouraged brilliant graduates. Lev Lagorio went to Italy, the homeland of his father, the Neapolitan vice-consul. There the artist spent eight years and returned to Russia only in 1860.

Lagorio masterfully painted mountain views and valleys of the Crimea and the Caucasus. He visited the Caucasus twice: once on the instructions of the Academy of Arts he studied the local nature, and the second time he traveled in the retinue of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich. For this trip, the artist was awarded the Order of St. Anne of the, 3rd class. However, the main theme of that work of Lev Lagorio was always the sea and contemporaries called him a calm singer.