Ivan Alekseyevich Miklyutin was born in 1789 in the village of Skomorokhovo near Rybinsk, and was a serf belonging to Countess Anna Alekseyevna Orlova-Chesmenskaya.

In 1802, Miklyutin and his family were emancipated from serfdom. Three years later, he moved with his brother Vasily to St. Petersburg, where he worked and lived. While in St. Petersburg, he frequently visited Rybinsk to help his father in building a house and running a grain business.

Miklyutin relocated to Rybinsk in 1814 and several years later became a third-guild merchant. Together with his father, Aleksey Stepanovich, they continued to engage in grain trading. Miklyutin managed to expand his family’s estate on Yegoryevskaya Street, as well as establish a flour shop at the Large Bread Gostiny Dvor (market).

The Miklyutins became not just wealthy merchants, but also respected members of society in Rybinsk. Ivan Miklyutin served as a police officer and was elected deputy trade supervisor three times. His crowning achievement was the construction of the Transfiguration Cathedral, which he helped organize. In 1837, he became a member of a committee tasked with building the church. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it completed, as he and two of his sons, Pyotr and Alexander, died from cholera in the spring of 1848. His work was continued by his third son, Andrey Ivanovich, who completed the project.

Some details of this story are referenced in this portrait. Ivan Miklyutin is depicted wearing a dark blue jacket. This type of garment was commonly worn by peasants and urban dwellers as casual attire. In this instance, the clothing emphasizes Ivan Miklyutin’s connection to both rural and urban settings. In his left hand, there are objects that hint at his occupation as a builder, such as a blueprint for a building, a compass, and a pencil. The left side of the canvas shows the domes of a completed Transfiguration Cathedral. It is adorned with small windows and has small tholobate, with traditional onion-shaped domes on top. It appears that participation in the construction of this church became the defining aspect of Miklyutin’s life.