Sergey Lvovich Levitsky was a Russian court photographer. He owned the “Levitsky Light-Painting” daguerreotype photo studio. In late 1844 — early 1845, he arrived with his wife in Rome. At that time, the city was the center of cultural life of the vast Russian diaspora. Levitsky met Russian artists who lived in Rome, including Alexander Ivanov, Fyodor Moller, and sculptor Nikolai Ramazanov.

Nikolai Gogol was also close to this circle of painters. At a meeting, Levitsky persuaded the writer to make a daguerreotype with a group of Russian artists. Thus, one of the most significant works of Russian photography was created in Rome — the daguerreotype “N. V. Gogol with Russian Artists in Rome”. Initially, the picture was taken on a one-quarter daguerreotype plate, and at that time it was rather difficult to make a copy from this plate. The artists and Gogol posed on the outdoor terrace in Perrault’s studio.

Levitsky described the shooting process as follows,

The picture was the photographer’s first daguerreotype. Levitsky himself is also present in the photo. He joined the group at the last moment, asking someone to open and close the lens. Alexander Ivanov came up with the idea of making this picture; he also made sketches with the poses and costume details. The second to the right of Gogol is the artist Fyodor Moller, in a huge gray hat, wrapped in an almaviva — a wide, sleeveless Spanish man’s cloak covering almost the entire body. It was called an almaviva after the hero of the comedy “The Barber of Seville”. To the left of Gogol is the sculptor Nikolai Ramazanov, leaning on a cane and wearing a light hat without a frock coat. Sergey Lvovich Levitsky himself is in the center, his head propped on his fist. Mariucci, a famous model at that time, sits next to him.

The photo came to the museum from the archive of the historian of Russian art Mikhail Botkin.