In 1819, after the destruction of the bandit aul of the Chechens Dadi-yurt, Russian soldiers discovered a small boy crying by his mother's body. This was reported to General Alexei Ermolov, who ordered that the orphan be kept with the army. The boy was named Pyotr, and he was baptized by a soldier named Zakhar, whose name later became the artist's surname. Later, Ermolov's brother, Pyotr, took the boy in for upbringing and was the first to notice his creative abilities. "He draws everything he sees. Apparently, he will become an artist, and a good one," Pyotr Nikolayevich wrote to his mother. Ermolov sent the boy to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, from where Zaharov-Chechen's career began.

At first, he created paintings on military themes, striving to accurately convey not only the distinctive features of people but also the details of their uniforms. Today, his works have become a valuable resource for military reenactors. He gained particular fame for his portrait of Alexei Ermolov. It is hard to say what feelings Zaharov-Chechen had towards the man who ordered the destruction of his aul, but the portrait turned out magnificent, albeit stern. Over time, Zaharov-Chechen moved away from military themes and switched to "civilian" subjects.

Pyotr especially loved to paint portraits that possessed a special allure. He depicted celebrities such as Doctor Inozemtsev and historian Granovsky. The latter portrait was commissioned by Herzen. There is a version that Zaharov-Chechen met Mikhail Lermontov, who, inspired by his fate, intended to write "Mtsyri." The first lines of the work begin with a Russian general transporting a Chechen boy to Tiflis. Unfortunately, Zaharov-Chechen died at the age of 30, in the prime of his life, from tuberculosis. Shortly before that, his wife passed away, which was the final blow for him.