Born in the village of Pavlo-Kurakino in the Penza province, Gavriil Kondratenko studied under Karl Huhn (1831-1877) and Mikhail Clodt (1832-1902) at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. After his graduation in 1882 he frequently traveled to Crimea and the Caucasus, becoming well-known for his ability to convey the ferocious sunshine and natural abundance of the south.

Kondratenko regularly exhibited his works with the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts and the Moscow Society of Art Lovers. He also participated in the All-Russia Industrial and Art exhibition of 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod and the Exposition Universelle of 1900 in Paris.

A great admirer of his fellow countryman Mikhail Lermontov (1814-1841), who celebrated the Caucasus in his poems, Kondratenko also provided illustrations for an edition of the writer's collected works. In A winter morning, Kondratenko explores his motherland in an entirely different state, capturing the essence of the Russian winter, known for its bitter cold and bright frosty days, masterfully. Invented and introduced to Russia in the mid-19th century, rose dore paint became a favorite of Kondratenko’s.