The watercolor portrait of Pavel Zamyatnin, Major-General and Military Governor of Yeniseysk Governorate, is one of the early works by the artist Vasily Surikov, based on a photograph that survived in the Krasnoyarsk Museum of Local Lore. A copy of the watercolor is displayed in the exhibition “Yeniseysk Governorate of the 19th — early 20th century”.

Pavel Nikolayevich Zamyatnin was born in 1805 into a noble family. He received a good education at the Lyceum Noble Boarding School in Tsarskoye Selo and then went into military service. Zamyatnin followed a long career path from a cornet to Moscow police officer, State Counselor and employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

On December 6, 1861 Pavel Zamyatnin was appointed governor of Yeniseysk and promoted to the rank of Major-General. He paid great attention to the development of education: 77 public schools were opened in the region during his term of office. Zamyatnin initiated and prepared the establishment of a men’s gymnasium and a women’s school in Krasnoyarsk, which were opened under his successor.

Thanks to the governor’s petition, Vasily Surikov, a talented Krasnoyarsk resident, was enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. The story of their acquaintance is amazing: once a fire broke out in the city, and Pavel Zamyatnin vigorously participated in extinguishing it — he interfered in commanding the fire department and got into comic situations. The young Surikov, who served in the administration as a scribe, made a quick sketch of the governor. The drawing quickly became popular among the artist’s coworkers, who recognized their superior in the funny figure. When the caricature fell into the hands of the governor himself, everyone felt sorry for Vasily Surikov in advance. However, Pavel Zamyatnin was not offended by the joke, but, on the contrary, praised the young man’s talent and took care that he received a scholarship to study at the Academy of Arts from the Krasnoyarsk goldsmith Pyotr Kuznetsov.

For his services rendered to the city Pavel Zamyatnin was awarded the title of the first honorary citizen of Krasnoyarsk. Upon retiring from the post of governor, he was a member of the reserve troops until the end of his life. Pavel Zamyatnin died on March 3, 1879, and was buried in the cemetery of the Novodevichy Monastery in Moscow.