Short answers, pulled from the story.
Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitzky was a Ukrainian-born Russian portrait painter and academician, born in Kiev in May 1735. He became famous after exhibiting six portraits at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1770, most notably a portrait of the architect Alexander Kokorinov. He was subsequently appointed professor of the portrait painting class at the Academy.
Levitzky's first teacher was his father, a priest who was also an amateur painter and engraver. He later studied under Aleksey Antropov in Saint Petersburg and also trained with Giuseppe Valeriani.
Between 1772 and 1776, Levitzky painted a series of portraits of pupils at the Smolny Institute for Young Ladies in Saint Petersburg, commissioned by Catherine II. The portraits depict the students performing dances, music, and plays.
Levitzky was appointed professor of the portrait painting class at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1770, following the exhibition of six of his portraits there. He held the position until 1788 and returned to the Academy in 1807.
Dmitry Levitzky died on the 16th of April 1822 in Saint Petersburg.
Levitzky's eyesight began to deteriorate at the end of the 1790s, and he rarely painted as a result of this condition.