Dmitry Kardovsky was a Russian graphic artist, painter, and illustrator, one of the foremost masters of the academic school at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries and a prominent figure in the artistic life of the Silver Age. He came from a noble family and studied at the Vladimir Gymnasium, then at the Law Faculty of Moscow University, while simultaneously attending the Fine Arts Classes of architect Anatoly Gunst. He received his professional art education at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Pavel Chistyakov and Ilya Repin, as well as at Anton Azhbe’s school in Munich, one of the leading European centers of painting at that time. Kardovsky gained renown as a master of book illustration and easel graphics, creating cycles based on works by Chekhov, Gogol, Griboyedov, Tolstoy, and other Russian classics. Theatre work also played a significant role in his career. In 1898, he designed the scenery for a German production of Leo Tolstoy’s play “The Power of Darkness”. Later he created scenery designs for productions in Pereslavl-Zalessky and at the Maly Theatre in Moscow, including “The Forest” (1921), “Fortune's Fool” (1924–1925), “The Government Inspector” (1922), among others. He taught at the Higher Art School of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, later at VKhUTEMAS–VKhUTEIN in Moscow, and also ran his own studio school. He was one of the founders of the New Society of Artists in St. Petersburg and a close pupil and assistant of Ilya Repin. The collection of the Bakhrushin Theatre Museum holds Dmitry Kardovsky’s scenery sketches and costume designs for various productions.