Andrei Belloli studied art at the Accademia di San Luca. During the Revolutions of 1848, he left Italy. In 1850, he settled in Saint Petersburg and initially worked as a decorative painter for churches and palaces; creating everything from small door decorations to plafonds. Later he began to do portraits; mostly of women and children, in oils and colored pencils.

He participated regularly in exhibitions and, in 1861, was named an "Academician" for portrait painting by the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1869, he organized an exhibition and sale, with the proceeds to benefit poor students and the widows and orphans of artists.

In 1870, for his fiftieth birthday, he was awarded the Order of St. Stanislaus. That same year, he donat...