Bogdan Wenig
Johann Gottlieb Wenig, russified as Bogdan Bogdanovich Wenig was a Baltic German painter in the Academical style, active in Saint Petersburg during Tsar Alexander II's reign. The younger brother to fellow painter Carl Wenig, he was a second-rate master most remembered among the fourteen protestants led by Ivan Kramskoi into leaving the Imperial Academy of Arts and establishing the Artel of Artists in 1863.
Biography
His father, Gottlieb, was a music teacher and organist at St. Nicholas Church in Reval. His mother Agathe, an amateur artist, was the aunt of Peter Carl Fabergé. In 1848, he and his family moved to Saint Petersburg, where his father had found employment with the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres. In 1851, he joined his brother Carl at the Imperial Academy of Arts, studying historical painting with Fyodor Bruni.He was especially noted for his draftsmanship; receiving three small silver medals, two large silver medals, a small gold medal and, finally, a large gold medal for his sketch depicting the Kiss of Judas.
In 1863, he was one of the artists involved in the "Revolt of the Fourteen"; refusing to participate in the 100th anniversary competition for a large gold medal. From then, he was a member of the Artel of Artists, led by Ivan Kramskoi.
He formally graduated from the academy in 1864 with the title of "Artist 2nd Class". In 1865, together with Kramskoi and Nikolay Koshelev, he worked on painting the main dome at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. This work aside, he mostly had his recognition as portrait painter. The cause of his early death was apparently not recorded.