Hryhorovych, Vasyl

Hryhorovych, Vasyl [Hryhorovyč, Vasyl’], b 1786 in Pyriatyn, Kyiv vicegerency, d 15 March 1865 in Saint Petersburg. Art scholar. A graduate of the Kyivan Mohyla Academy (1803), he taught esthetics and served as conference secretary at the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg (1829–59). He befriended and supported Ukrainian art students in Saint Petersburg. It was with his permission that Taras Shevchenko attended drawing classes of the Society for the Promotion of the Arts, and he took part in purchasing Shevchenko's freedom. To commemorate the day of his liberation, Shevchenko dedicated the poem ‘Haidamaky’ to Hryhorovych.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 2 (1989). The bibliography has been updated.]