Пантелеймон Куліш у шапці

Panteleimon Kulish (1819–1897) was a key figure in the Ukrainian cultural revival. He authored the first Ukrainian historical novel, The Black Council (1857), and worked as a publisher and editor (including the journal Osnova), as well as an ethnographer and historian. He developed the phonetic Ukrainian orthography known as “Kulishivka,” translated Shakespeare and worked on a translation of the Bible, helping to establish standards for the literary Ukrainian language. He moved in the circle of Taras Shevchenko, was married to the writer Hanna Barvinok (Oleksandra Bilozerska), and was connected to the intellectual milieu of the Cyril and Methodius Brotherhood. He hailed from the then Chernihiv Governorate (now Sumy Oblast).