Alexandra Yegorovna Makovskaya was a Russian landscape painter, sister of the famous artists Konstantin, Vladimir, and Nikolay Makovsky.
“Those paintings by Alexandra Yegorovna, which I remember, are full of charm and emotion, her sunsets are poignant, and she is such a true artist in everything, a true master of conversing with Russian nature. <…> Her paintings are so lovely and thoughtful, so small, and so Russian,” recalled the artist’s niece, Yelena Konstantinovna Makovskaya.
Paintings by Alexandra Makovskaya are a typical example of Russian landscape art of the second half of the 19th century. According to the art critic and historian Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov, “Alexandra Makovskaya was one of those people who are talented at and successful in what they are doing, creating beautiful landscapes.”
The art of Alexandra Makovskaya is little known and almost unstudied, although the fact that she actively participated in exhibitions for more than 30 years indicates that she has quite an extensive artistic legacy.
Alexandra Makovskaya was born in Moscow in 1837. Being the eldest child of Yegor Ivanovich Makovsky, a Moscow art lover and one of the founders of the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, she grew up in a creative environment. Although Yegor Makovsky promoted the artistic education of his children, Alexandra Makovskaya took up painting when she was already an adult, in the early 1860s. She did not receive a formal art education and studied art with the help of her brothers Vladimir and Konstantin.
After 1866, Alexandra Makovskaya participated in exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts, the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions, the Society of Russian Watercolorists, and the “Mir iskusstva” (World of Art) association.
Alexandra Makovskaya completed her painting “An Apiary” in 1886.
