Klodt Mikhail Konstantinovich

Klodt (von Jurgensburg) Mikhail Konstantinovich. The artist, the nephew of Pyotr Karlovich Klodt, was a gifted landscape painter. Born in St. Petersburg on December 30, 1832 (January 11, 1833) in the family of the engraver K.K. Klodt. He studied at the Academy of Arts under M.N. Vorobyov (1851-1858). Received medals: in 1853 - 2 silver; in 1855 - 1 silver; in 1857 - 2 gold medals for the program “View on the island of Valaam”; in 1858 - 1 gold for “View in Livonia”; in the same year he received the title of class artist 1st degree and was sent abroad as a pensioner. As a “pensioner” of the Academy, he visited Switzerland and France (1858-1861); traveled a lot around Russia. In 1861 he received the title of academician for the paintings “Night in Normandy” and “View of the Aa River in Livonia.” In 1864 he was awarded the title of professor for the painting “View of the Tula Province.” He became one of the founding members of the “Association of Itinerants” (1870). Adhering to the style of the romantic landscape - with its basic category of “sublime”, which finds optimal embodiment in idealized nature - he consistently enhanced the natural authenticity and national flavor of the compositions. Among his typical works are Oak Grove (1863), The Great Road in Autumn (1863) and Forest Distance at Noon (1876; all three works in the Tretyakov Gallery) - the latter anticipates similar images of I.I. Shishkin with its epic mood. The most famous painting is On the Plowed Land (1872, Tretyakov Gallery) - with a peasant woman in a plowed field - a canvas that, along with the Rooks of A.K. Savrasov, has become one of the popular pictorial symbols of Russia. He also worked as a teacher, directing the landscape class at the Academy of Arts in 1871-1886.