Bogdan Saltanov, a Persian-born Armenian painter

Bogdan Saltanov was a Persian-born Armenian painter at the court of Alexis I of Russia and his successors. Saltanov headed the painting workshop of the Kremlin Armoury from 1686.

Saltanov’s legacy includes Orthodox icons for church and secular use, illuminated manuscripts, and secular persuna portraits including the portraits of Stepan Razin and Feodor III of Russia as a young man

In 1660 Zakar Sagradov, an Armenian trader from New Julfa, serving as an envoy of the Shah of Persia, delivered Shah’s gifts to Tsar Alexis. The package included, among other items, an engraved copper board depicting the Last Supper.

The board aroused the interest of the tsar who instructed Sagradov to return to Persia and hire the engraver into the tsar’s service.

Muscovite artists were only experimenting with engravings on metal, and the tsar needed a professional to set up the new craft.

The copper board was, most likely, a Western European product, however, Sagradov responded that he can hire at least an apprentice of the author.

Six years later Saltanov, “the apprentice”, arrived in Moscow with his brother, joined the staff of the Armoury, and received a high salary. He was treated as a foreign noble, an honor rarely issued without reason.

The artist converted to Russian Orthodoxy eight years later: conversion was equivalent to an oath of loyalty to the Romanovs and earned him the honors of a Russian noble, but also prevented the artist from ever leaving Russia. His brother, Stepan Saltanov, also became a Russian noble, a treasurer of the Armoury, and a founder of the Saltanov family.

Komashko

Taken from: Mano Chil

An icon depicting The Cross of Kiy, a replica of the True Cross with holy relics commissioned by Nikon, Orthodox patriarch of Moscow, in 1656. On the left are the images of Saint Emperor Constantine the Great, Tsar Alexey Mikhaylovich, and Patriarch Nikon. To the right: Saint Empress Helena and Tsarina Maria Ilyinichna.

A portrait of Feodor III of Russia, commissioned by Sophia Alekseyevna in 1685, has been attributed either to Saltanov or to Ivan Bezmin by wikipedia.org