Yakovlev Nikolai is a landscape painter, author of thematic paintings, and member of the USSR Union of Artists.

He was born in Leningrad and studied at the art school of the Leningrad Academy of Arts. Yakovlev N. participated in the Great Patriotic War and was awarded the Order of the Red Star and medals. For health reasons, he was forced to move to Kazakhstan. In 1948 he graduated from the Alma-Ata Art School. Since the 1950th the artist lived and worked in Semipalatinsk, and participated in city, regional, and republican exhibitions.

The landscapes and sketches of Priirtyshye represent the fullest and widest creativity of the artist. He also made a series of works dedicated to the old city of Semipalatinsk. One of them is the piece entitled From the Series “Old Semipalatinsk”, which is now in the museum’s collection.