The peculiar and versatile talent of Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, the biography of this remarkable figure of late classicism are worthy of attention of modern art lovers. They know much less about him than, for example, about Repin, Shishkin or Vrubel. We offer information about this amazing person, revealing interesting moments of his life and work.
Wind of inspiration
Count Fedor Petrovich Tolstoy belonged to the nobility class; as a baby, he was recorded in the Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. The father of the future artist led the military department to provide the army with uniforms, products, cash allowances. The boyâs parents were eager to see his son among the officers and prophesied a military future for him. However, little Count Tolstoy received his first education at the Polotsk Jesuit College, where languages, theology were studied, and there was a faculty of free arts. Perhaps Muse touched a diligent and inquisitive boy there, instilling in his children's heart a devoted love of art.
Professional choice
Soon, the little count was taken from Belarus home to St. Petersburg and sent to the Marine Corps. As a cadet, Fedor Tolstoy ventured to attend the Academy of Arts as a volunteer. The dream of becoming a professional artist was strengthened so much that Fedor Petrovich Tolstoy decided to forever abandon military service. Despite the dissatisfaction of relatives and the opinion of others, he resigned, devoting himself entirely to art. These were years of deprivation, but for a moment the twenty-year-old student of the Art Academy did not regret his decision. He assiduously mastered the skill of the sculptor, and, under the guidance of his friend Orest Kiprensky, made sketches of plaster models.
The breath of Hellas
Favorite era of the artist - Antiquity. He enthusiastically copied ancient Greek and Roman statues, reinforcing plastic authenticity with a thorough study of the history, traditions, and manners of people of earlier times. Two years after the start of training, Tolstoy's drawings and bas-reliefs arouse universal interest, and Sovereign Alexander the First allows the artist to work in the Winter Palace. In 1809, after he presented to the audience a bas-relief of the triumphal entry of Alexander the Great into Babylon, Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy was elected an honorary member of the Academy of Arts. Then he created his first medal dedicated to the educational activities of Chatsky. A year later, the emperor appointed Tolstoy to the post of medalist at the Mint.
The first in the medal case
Love for details, lightness and accuracy of the hand allowed the master to create commemorative signs of unsurpassed quality. It was the artistâs staunch belief that the medal should be knocked out so that everyone can understand why it was made. The Petersburg Academy of Arts for many years awarded the best students with Tolstoy medals.
Fedor Petrovich Tolstoy made 20 expressive medallions in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812, created a dozen medallions devoted to the events of the Turkish-Persian war of 1826-29. The author allegorically interpreted historical facts, why the products acquired a deep meaning and great artistic value. Having achieved excellence in medal art, Tolstoy wrote a work on the secrets of the creator, for those who want to become a medalist-artist, and not a craftsman. The medallions of Count Fyodor Tolstoy are well known abroad, and the masters elected many European art academies as their members.
No matter what the artist Fedor Petrovich Tolstoy is engaged in, his creative impulse, patriotism and aesthetic feeling have always moved his heart and hand, and by no means a desire to please the interests of those in power and dignitaries. He avoids the realistic reproduction of the traits of statesmen, and uses symbols and allegories in commemorative images.
The gift of the sculptor
Not all the works of F.P. Tolstoy came to modern admirers of his talent. However, the ones we can enjoy in museums today are truly magnificent. In the Tver Picture Gallery, convex embossed works of pink wax âBathing Childrenâ and âBoy Under the Veilâ are exhibited. The authorâs passion for the exquisite grace of Greek culture is reflected in them. Such is his âDarling,â exhibited at the Hermitage. Grace of outlines, softness and expressiveness of lines make you remember the figure of a girl for a long time.
Profile portraits of yellow, white and pink wax, placed on a black board or glass, demonstrate the gift of an artist who knows a lot about the psychological component of the portrait genre. In the State Russian Museum you can see sculptures created by F.P. Tolstoy. This is the âHead of Christâ made in marble with a bow down and a downcast gaze full of wise love and dignity. Or a terracotta bust of the sleep god Morpheus, whose tightly closed eyes invite the viewer into the sweet world of slumber. The sculptor's talent did not go unnoticed by the Council of the Academy of Arts, who appointed Fedor Tolstoy as professor of a prestigious educational institution.
Miracle brush Tolstoy
The gift of the draftsman is a special page in Tolstoyâs creative life. Many drawings depicting the artistâs family are closely related to the biography of Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy. The photo of the painting âFamily Portraitâ, where the master portrayed himself, the first wife Anna Fedorovna and his daughters Maria and Elizabeth, is presented below. The ensemble of the group located at the table gives vividness and volume to the picture against the background of the enfilade of rooms that goes into the distance, where the everyday life of the house boils.
Attention to realistic details was reflected in other paintings by Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy. The picturesque work âIn the Roomsâ, in which the beloved perspective of the open door world is repeated, gives an idea of ââthe artist as a master of composition and light. The appearance of elegant antique statues echoes with delicate female silhouettes in the back of the rooms, the brilliance of mirrors - with the light pouring from the windows.
F.P. Tolstoy tried himself in the genre of landscape. Sketches of Naples, the views of Bergen and the village of Pargolovsky near St. Petersburg are harmonious and refined. No wonder Pushkin mentioned Tolstoy's âmiraculous brushâ in the great novel âEugene Oneginâ, describing the albums of lovely young ladies.
From the plain still lifes of Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy not to take his eyes off. Here is the painting âBouquet of Flowers, Butterfly and Birdâ piercing with fresh charm, and here is reliably detailed with the interweaving of burgundy, yellow and blue spots in the green thick âRaspberry Branch, Butterfly and Antâ. You can look endlessly at peerless beads of red and white currant or amber-matte hailstones of juicy grapes.
Human Dignity Fighter
It is difficult to tell briefly about the biography of the artist Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, as it was multifaceted. For example, one of the important aspects of the masterâs life was his political activity based on a progressive civic position. He was a participant in the most advanced movements of his time, realizing that a transformation of obsolete social order was necessary. Fedor Petrovich Tolstoy was in the Masonic lodge, participated in the creation of Lancaster schools designed to spread literacy among the people, at the age of 35 he joined the secret Decembrist Union of Welfare, becoming one of the leaders there.
Personal life of the artist
Fedor Tolstoy was married twice. His life journey ended with his daughters from his first and second marriages. Two boys born in union with Anastasia Agafonovna Ivanova died in infancy. Life twice gave Tolstoy a harmonious marital relationship. With the first wife, who died from an apoplexy shock, the artist was united by a touching love of art, with the second - a unity of beliefs. Together they sought liberation and sheltered Taras Shevchenko, a fighter for the independence of Little Russia.
In gratitude
In the years of his life, the same figures are fancifully combined: he was born in 1783, died in 1873. Fedor Tolstoy lived for 90 saturated years. This is one of those people who give a chance to everything new, boldly abandoning conservatism when time challenges people.