Student of Valentin Serov and Ilya Repin. Born into a peasant family in the village of Putyatino Sapozhok district of the Ryazan province.
Graduated from the Moscow school of painting, sculpture and architecture, then St. Petersburg Academy of arts (1904-1910). Shortly thereafter, from 1910 to 1920, 3. Shmelev was headed by the Mstera icon-painting workshop. For good preparation of students annually received the thanks of his Majesty established the Committee for the patronage of Orthodox iconography, which was headed by Grand Duke K. Romanov.
After closing the Studio in 1920 returned to their homeland, in the town of Sapozhok, and headed the art Studio, organized in 1918 by the brothers I. S. and V. S. Stenshinskaya.
From his Studio went into a large artistic life famous artists-restorers of the Tretyakov gallery E. V. Kudryavtsev and M. F. Ivanov-Churanov, senior sculptor-restorer P. I. Perov known artist A.V. Ivanov, artist A. I. Filatov, and many others.
After the closure of the Studio in 1930, has remained in the Boot and taught in high school. For them was organized by the art Museum, which exhibited the paintings of V. A. Tropinin, I. N. Kramskoy, A. N. Benoit, Roubaix, Belara, Murillo, Mignard, Ratmanov, Schrader, Kuntz, N. N. Bera, sverchkova, etc.
Zakhar Stepanovich was the artist-genre painter. In his paintings reflected the lives of ordinary people. His painting "Rest" is in the permanent exhibition of the Ryazan art Museum, "self-Portrait" "Portrait of mother", "Collection of arrears", "Balcony", "Front entry" - in Sapozhok Museum of local lore, "Hunting for wolves" in Sapozhkovskiy high school No. 1," Gypsy" in a private collection. He was buried 3. Shmelev in Sapozhkovskiy cemetery.
