Grigory Myasoedov portrayed the famous landscape painter and “singer of the forest” at the printing press, thereby emphasizing his significant role in the development of etching. Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin is standing with his first print in his hands, an image of a forest landscape shines through the paper. Moreover, this print was a success, you can tell it by the smiling eyes of the artist. The painting is almost two meters high, the portrait is full-length. Ivan Shishkin, so tall and powerful in real life, seems to be a real epic hero-giant on it. 

The legacy of the Shishkin as an engraver is enormous. According to the level of mastery in the art of etching, there was no one like Shishkin among the masters of Russian art of the 19th century. Famous researcher of Shishkin’s legacy G.P. Pavlova points out that he created 112 etchings and 47 lithographs in total, improved and introduced in Russia a method of engraving, called convex etching or auto-zincography, which allows printing reproductions simultaneously with text. His name is associated with the revival of the author’s print in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Until that time, Russian engraving artists, as a rule, copied Western European designs or their own paintings. I.I. Shishkin at first also saw in etching and lithography means for creating better and cheaper reproductions of his works, but soon realized that these techniques opened up new possibilities for expression, and turned to the author’s print. 

Another characteristic feature of the Shishkin as an engraver was that he not only created the composition, repeatedly reworked the boards and printed test prints, but, unlike many predecessors, he printed the main circulation of his engravings and lithographs with his own hands.