Kozlovsky Mikhail Ivanovich is one of the largest sculptors of Russian classicism, whose work is imbued with high ideas of enlightenment, vivid emotionality and sublime humanism. According to art criticism of the beginning of the XIX century, in each of his works “a lot of imagination, feelings, an original look and the author’s masterful hand are revealed”.
Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky is a sculptor, of all Russian artists, who lived, perhaps, the shortest, but also the most brilliant life. Of particular interest to the creator were the characters of ancient myths and Russian history. It was in them that he found ideals that were important not only for his contemporaries, but also for posterity.
Kozlovsky Mikhail Ivanovich: biography
The future famous sculptor was born in 1753, in the family of a trumpeter of the galley fleet, on one of the outskirts of St. Petersburg. Here he spent his childhood.
At the age of eleven (1764), Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky forever broke up with his parents' house and, on the basis of a submitted petition, replenished the number of pupils of the Petersburg Academy of Arts. At this time in European art - sculpture, architecture, painting - classicism matured and gradually developed. The prominent sculptor Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky became the brightest representative of this trend in Russian art.
Brief biography of the sculptor:
- 1773: graduated from the Academy with a large gold medal;
- 1774-1778: lives in Rome as an academic boarder;
- 1780: Marseille Academy of Arts confers on him the title of academician;
- 1784-1785: for the executed marble statue of Catherine II in the image of the ancient goddess of wisdom, Minerva received widespread fame and recognition by contemporaries (the work embodied enlightening ideas about the ideal monarch - a wise legislator and defender of the Fatherland);
- at the beginning of 1788 he was again sent abroad (to Paris) to study;
- 1790: Mikhail Kozlovsky returns to his homeland, creates a cycle of idyllic sculptures;
- in 1796 he created an extensive series of sculptural sketches on the theme of the Trojan War, this entire period was marked by a search for monumentality, a new feature that became one of the components of the artist's further creative work;
- in the period from 1799 to 1801 he worked on a monument to the commander A.V. Suvorov, who glorified the Russian army with a recent victory in Italian campaigns;
- in 1802, Kozlovsky Mikhail Ivanovich in the prime of life and talent suddenly dies.
Initially, he was buried in the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery. In 1931, the burial was transferred to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, to the Lazarevsky Cemetery
Kozlovsky Mikhail Ivanovich: sculptures
The artist's works - statuary plastic, reliefs, monumental sculpture and tombstones - are imbued with deep emotionality and sublime humanism.
In the style of his works, the influence of the aesthetics of French sculpture of the 14th century is noticeable. The most famous of them are: the monument to A. V. Suvorov in Petrograd, the statues “Samson tearing apart the mouth of a lion” (now adorned by one of the Peterhof fountains), “Sitting Girl” (Winter Palace) and “Hymen”, created on the occasion of the wedding of Konstantin Pavlovich (also located now in the Winter Palace), a man’s figure made to study human anatomy.
His bas-reliefs are also famous: “The Return of Regulus to Carthage”, “Camille, Delivering Rome from the Gauls” (located in Petrograd, in the Marble Palace), “Beating of Babies”, “Polycrates”, “Cupid”, “Mercury and Nymph”, “ Apollo ”(contained in the museum of Alexander III).
Early
In the initial period of creativity, the main theme of the sculptor's works is the theme of civic valor, courage, self-sacrifice and fortitude.
Kozlovsky Mikhail Ivanovich makes the heroes of his reliefs outstanding characters from the history of Ancient Rome, who sacrifice themselves in the name of the Fatherland and the common good of the people. Such are his works “Farewell of Regulus to the citizens of Rome” (1780) and “Camille rid Rome of the Gauls” (1781).
The elevation and conciseness of the image, the clarity of the composition, the thoughtfulness and clarity of the lines and forms are the features that distinguish the work on which Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky worked at the initial stage of his work. The sculptures are perfectly combined with the architecture of the building, built in the style of early classicism.
Harmony of sculpture and architecture
The collaboration of two types of art — sculpture and architecture — is especially harmonious in plaster reliefs created for the Concert Hall in Catherine Park (Tsarskoye Selo). The author of the pavilion, made in the style of mature classicism, is J. Quarenghi (1783-1788). Reliefs share a common theme - music. Orpheus tames wild animals by playing the lyre; Apollo, while playing music, sweetens the ear of Ceres; muses demonstrate the attributes of art - these are the plots to which Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky paid attention. The master’s works (early reliefs) are distinguished by their rhythmic structure, balanced composition, smooth contours and majestic solemnity of images. All these features contribute to the creation of a unique musical atmosphere in the pavilion.
Statue of Catherine II
A large statue of Empress Catherine II in the image of the ancient goddess of wisdom Minerva (Ancient Rome) was created by the sculptor in the period from 1784 to 1785. The empress is shrouded in an antique cloak and crowned with a helmet (attributes of a goddess). She points with one hand to the trophies lying at her feet, which symbolize her victories. In another, the empress holds a scroll with laws published by her "for the welfare of subjects". Thus embodies his idea of ​​the ideal monarch - the wise legislator and defender of the Fatherland - Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky, whose sculptures bear the stamp of his admiration for the ideas of the enlighteners.
"The Vigil of Alexander the Great"
The marble statue, made in the 1780s, has a complex semantic allegory. The image of the glorious hero of Antiquity also served as the basis for the sculptor to embody educational ideals - to foster the pursuit of knowledge and firmness of will.
The plastic solution and the composition of the statue radiate the spirit of calm grandeur and noble simplicity. The figure is distinguished by rigor and proportionality, smooth flow of shapes and contours.
The body of the young man is as if in a drowsy numbness, his muscles are as if "dulled down" with the finest matte marble cover, his head rests on his arm resting on his knee. But the underlying delusion of this calm ...
Outline
In the many surviving drawings, which for the most part are preparatory sketches for future sculptures, their connection with the main direction of the master is traced - in the circle of topics and plots (mythology, Bible, Gospel), in the means of artistic embodiment of ideas.
But a number of Kozlovsky’s drawings can be considered as independent, finished works of graphics. Among them stand out “The Death of Hippolytus” and “Theseus Leaves Ariadne” created in 1792. Critics note the drama and emotional intensity that these works “breathe”.
Polycrate
The period from 1788 to 1790, the sculptor again spends in Paris, where he went to gain new knowledge and experience. As a result of the tremendous stream of impressions caused by the events of the revolution that was taking place before his eyes, new inspiration was born, new themes and subjects appeared.
Revolutionary Paris prompted the sculptor to engage in a plot from the history of Ancient Greece about the death of Polycrates, a Samos tyrant. The legend of Polycrates served as a basis for the sculptor to create a kind of allegorical response to contemporary events. The work reflected the desire of the artist to enrich the figurative language of art. Make it even more expressive. In his sculpture "Polycrates" the viewer is conveyed by a passionate thirst for freedom, suffering and a feeling of painful doom of the hero.
The embodiment of purity
In 1792, one of the most remarkable works was completed - the beautiful statue "Sleeping Cupid" (marble). In it, the author created an amazing idyllic and harmonious image.
Its analogue in mood is the image created in a small statue of Psyche (marble, 1801), embodying spiritual purity, nostalgia for an unclouded, happy childhood.
"Samson tearing the jaws of a lion"
In the spring of 1800, the best Russian masters were attracted to the renovation of the Great Peterhof Cascade. The work was carried out for six years.
The central place in the plan was taken by the group created by Kozlovsky - “Samson tearing apart the mouth of a lion”. In the creation of the sculpture, the author used an allegory that arose back in Peter's times, in which the biblical Samson was identified with St. Sampson, who in the 18th century was considered the patron saint of Russia. In 1709, on the day of the celebration of his memory (June 27), a glorious victory of the Russians over the Swedes was won in the famous Battle of Poltava. In the art of Peter the Great, Samson was the personification of victorious Russia, and the lion (the central image of the coat of arms of Sweden) personified the defeated Swedish king.
The grandiose sculpture depicts the energetic but restrained movement of Samson's powerful body. Turning in space in a spiral, bending the body so that titanically tense muscles are clearly visible, sharply moving his leg back and bowing his head, the hero tears the lion's mouth apart with both hands.
Researchers rightly note the proximity of sculpture to the art of Michelangelo. But the ideological-figurative content of the group, the deep patriotic feeling that Mikhail Kozlovsky embodied in his work (the photo of the sculpture is evidence of this), for the attentive viewer is an echo of completely different - original Russian, telling much to the heart admired by Russian history - traditions.
Themes of Russian history
Topics of domestic history are the most exciting direction in the work of the sculptor. In the second half of the 1790s he created the statues "Prince Jacob Dolgoruky, tearing the royal decree" and "Hercules on a horse." The most complete desire to create an image of high courage and spiritual nobility was realized by the sculptor in his monument to the commander A.V. Suvorov (Petersburg, 1799-1801).
Intravital Triumphal Monument
A symbolic image, allegorically glorifying Russia and its great commander, was the way Mikhail Kozlovsky conceived a monument to Suvorov.
Work began during the life of the hero. At the age of seventy, the Generalissimo forced the whole world to applaud the heroic passage of the Russian army through the Alps, unprecedented in history. In 63 battles the Russians did not have a single defeat, 619 banners of the enemy were captured by the victors. Famous Italian campaigns crowned the Russian army and the military talent of Alexander Suvorov with unfading glory.
The task of the sculptor Kozlovsky was to create an intravital triumphal monument. The order determined the theme: not the deeds of the long heroic life of the great commander, not the originality of his spiritual appearance, but only his exploits in the Italian campaign should have been reflected in the statue.
Portrait in the language of allegory
And the sculptor again turned to the language of allegory. A light, slender figure on a round pedestal is a young courageous warrior in armor, full of strength and rapid forward movement. This is the image of the Roman god of war Mars. The gesture of the right hand holding a drawn sword reveals extraordinary determination. Vigorously thrown behind the cloak. A beautiful courageous face, a proudly thrown-up head, unshakable confidence and an all-conquering will, skillfully conveyed in the figure - such is the idealized image of the god of war created by the sculptor.
With his shield, the warrior covers the altar installed behind him, on which are the Sardinian and Neapolitan crowns, as well as the papal tiara. The symbolic meaning of this image is as follows: Russian weapons under the leadership of Suvorov defended the interests of the three represented states in the Italian campaign.
On the side faces of the altar are female figures symbolizing the best of human virtues: hope, faith and love.
On the front side of the pedestal there is an image of crossed laurel and palm branches - a symbol of the community of geniuses of war and peace.
The hero’s shield is based on trophies of war - cores, guns, banners. The fence around the monument is a chain of exploding bombs.
Allegorical meaning should be sought in all the details of the statue. And the inscription on the pedestal: "Prince of Italy, Count Suvorov Rymniksky" talks about who the monument is intended for.
High inner truth
In the work of Kozlovsky, only a remotely noticeable portrait resemblance of the allegorical idealized image he created with his beloved national hero.
In the elongated proportions of the face, deep-set eyes, large nose and a characteristic cut of the senile, slightly sunken mouth of the bronze god of war, contemporaries recognized the features of the great commander.
The similarity is blurry and quite distant; external portrait accuracy was clearly not a priority of the creator of the sculpture. Having sacrificed portrait authenticity, he transferred the unshakable will and all-conquering energy of Suvorov. In the language of allegory, Kozlovsky, through likening to the god of war, idealized and heroized the image of the great Russian commander for centuries. And this is the high inner truth of his work.