Soshenko Ivan Maksymovych (June 2, 1807, Boguslav, Kyiv Province – July 30, 1876, Korsun, Kyiv Province) – Ukrainian artist and teacher. In 1820–1828 he mastered the basics of painting under the direction of the artist Stepan Prevlotsky, and in 1923 he began to paint icons and paintings commissioned by the churches of Mliev and Matusov, as well as the Lebedyn Monastery.
From 1834 to 1838 he studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (hereinafter – the Academy). After graduation he received a certificate certifying the title of free extracurricular artist. He taught drawing at the Nizhyn County School, drawing and calligraphy at the Nemyriv and Second Kyiv Gymnasiums.
In 1836, while studying at the Academy, Ivan Soshenko met Taras Shevchenko, who lived in his apartment for some time. Ivan Maksymovych was one of the first to pay attention to Taras Shevchenko’s artistic talent and introduced him to Vasyl Hryhorovych, a professor and conference secretary, and Oleksiy Venetsianov, an artist and academician of the Academy, which contributed to the poet’s redemption from serfdom.
Ivan Soshenko met with Taras Shevchenko in Nizhyn in 1846 and in Kyiv in 1859, corresponded with him. In May 1861 he accompanied Taras Shevchenko’s home to Kaniv.
In 1876, Ivan Soshenko, traveling from Cherkasy to Boguslav, caught a cold on the way, due to illness he was forced to stay in Korsun in the prince’s hospital. The sick artist was cared for by Bartholomew Shevchenko’s daughter Anna. However, doctors were unable to save Ivan Maksymovych. Bartholomew Shevchenko organized Ivan Soshenko’s funeral at his own expense and installed a granite tombstone on his grave.
As an artist, Ivan Soshenko worked in various genres. To earn money, he commissioned churches and copied works by other artists. Famous works written by the artist in the 1850s: “Portrait of a Woman”, “Fishermen”, “Sale of hay on the Dnieper”.The works of Ivan Soshenko of the second half of the 19th century (paper, watercolor, gouache, tempera) are preserved in the Korsun-Shevchenkivskiy State Historical and Cultural Preserve: “Temple of Vesta. Ancient Italian Temple in Rome “,” Forum of Julia in Ancient Rome “,” Port in Kuma. Italy”.All three works were purchased in 1958 from Halyna Boychenko, a resident of Korsun-Shevchenkivskiy. In 2007–2008, the works were restored at the Center for Scientific Restoration and Expertise of the National Kyiv-Pechersk Historical and Cultural Preserve by the restorer of the highest category of the paper group, Hanna Horyshnyak, and senior researcher Olga Kolomiets.