Jan Rustem (1762 – 1835),

• Was a painter of Armenian ethnicity.
• He was born in Constantinople.
• As a young orphan boy was sponsored by Adam Kazimierz Czartoryski, who invited him to the Commonwealth around 1774.
• Czartoryski paid for his studies in Warsaw, where among his tutors were Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine and Marcello Bacciarelli.
• Between 1788 and 1790, he moved to Germany, where he became a freemason.
• Two years later he returned to the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth and lived for some time in Warsaw, later moving to Vilnius.

• Following the partitions of the Commonwealth, Rustem started working for Vilnius University, as an assistant to Franciszek Smuglewicz. 

• In 1811, he became a professor of sketching and in 1819 became a professor of painting.

• Rustem retired in 1826, but continued to give lectures until his death, which occurred near Dūkštas, Lithuania.

• Among his successful students were Taras Shevchenko, Józef Oleszkiewicz, Kanuty Rusiecki, and Michał Kulesza.

• Next