Makhaev was one of the most renowned engravers in Russia during the 18th Century, whose views of St. Petersburg published in 1753 were reprinted until the end of the century. This collection of town views includes Tver', Astrakhan, Kazan' and Ekaterinburg in European Russia as well as the Siberian towns Tobol'sk, Tomsk, Ilimsk and Eniseisk; see D.A. Rovinskii, Detailed Dictionary of Russian Engravers, (St. Petersburg, 1895), p.439