Gay Nikolai is the biggest representative of the Russian realistic school of the second part of the 19th century.

Gay was born in Voronezh and spent all his childhood in Ukraine. He graduated from gymnasia in Kyiv, then in 1847 – 1848 he studied at Then he studied physics and mathematics at Kyiv University and in 1850s in Saint Petersburg University. Then he enrolled in the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated successfully in 1857. In 1858-1869 he lived and worked in Italy.

In 1878 the artist created his series of commission portraits of the landlords of Tchernigov Governorate. Portrait of A. Danilchin is one of this series.