Fedotov was an officer of the Imperial Guards of Saint Petersburg. Like many of his colleagues at the time, he was interested in arts. He played the flute and attended evening school where he learned painting. Fedotov decided to focus on painting and left the army in 1844. At first, he used pencil and watercolor but switched to oil painting starting in 1846.
Fedotov enjoyed a brief period of public success at Saint Petersburg exhibitions in 1849 and 1850, when – in the wake of the revolutions of 1848 – his close ties to the Petrashevsky Circle made him a target of government persecution.
Fedotov was only 37 years old when he died in a mental clinic.
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Image:Pawel Andrejewitsch Fedotow 001.jpg|''Difficult Bride'', 1847
Image:Pawel Andrejewitsch Fedotow 002.jpg|''Young widow'', 1851
</gallery>
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* Brief biographyBiography courtesy of the brilliant Wikipedia!
