Konstantin Makovsky was born into the family of Egor Ivanovich Makovsky (1800-86), a well-known lover and connoisseur of arts, one of the founders of the Moscow School for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

At the age of 12 under the influence of his father Konstantin entered this school (1851-58), where he studied under M. Scotty, V. Tropinin and S. Zaryanko. In 1858-62 he studied in the Petersburg Academy of Arts. Konstantin Makovsky became the founder member of the Association of Association of Itinerants (famous realistic art school of the 19th century) till 1883.

The artist was strongly influenced by salon painting, and from the mid 1870s shifted to academism. He painted portraits, conversation pieces, colourful genre and historical scenes, as well as scenes from folk life.

In Russian painting of the second half of the 19th Konstantin Makovsky is the one who can be pointed at as a type of a compromise artist, a true and conclusive successor of Karl Bryullov’s academism.

Makovsky died in St. Petersburg in 1915 and was laid to rest at Nikolsky Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.