Balmen, Yakiv de

Balmen, Yakiv de [Bal'men, Jakiv de], b 10 August 1813 in Lynovytsia, Pyriatyn county, Poltava gubernia, d 26 July 1845 in Caucasia. Amateur artist and friend of Taras Shevchenko. Educated at the Nizhyn Lyceum, in 1844 he transcribed Shevchenko's Kobzar, using the Latin alphabet, intending to publish it for West Slavic readers; with M. Bashilov he illustrated the manuscript (there were more than 80 illustrations). De Balmen died in a clash with Circassians in the Caucasus; Shevchenko dedicated the poem Kavkaz (The Caucasus) to him. De Balmen produced the album Hoholivs'kyi chas (Gogol's Time, published posthumously in 1909) and a diary of his travels in the Crimea, including 300 drawings in the text (1842).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]