Born near Vologda in the Yaroslav district of Russia, Nicholas Haritonoff became a portraitist and landscape painter in a style that combined Impressionism and Realism.

At the age of fourteen, he decided to become an artist, which was against his family's wishes, so he entered the Valaam monastery where he studied art for two years. During that time, he painted primarily religious subjects. In 1901, he enrolled for eight years at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts, and his teacher was the renowned Ilya Repin, primarily known for his unique blend of draftsmanship, painterly style, and realist subject matter.

In 1912, having been painting religious and historical genre scenes as well as portraits and landscapes, he married ...