Fyodor Gordeyev

Monument to Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn by Gordeyev (1788)

Born in Saint Petersburg, he attended the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in the city[1][2] and then went on a study trip to Western Europe thanks to the bursary.[3][2] This took him to Paris, where he studied in the studio of Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne[1], then Rome, where he was influenced by classical art.[3]

After returning to Russia, he was commissioned to teach sculpture at the Academy in 1769[1] Around the same time he produced the noted bas-relief Mercury Entrusting Bacchus to the Nymphs (1776). In 1802 he was made rector of the Academy.[3] Art critics came to see Gordeyev as one of the best Russian neo-classical sculptors,[2] although his early work such as Tomb of N. M. Golicyn (1780) still included influences from the Baroque[2][3]. His final works also showed traces of Baroque influence.[3]

His most important works include Prometheus (1769), Monument to A. M. Golitsyn in Alexander Nevsky Lavra in Saint Petersburg (1788), the bas-reliefs of the Ostankino Palace in Moscow (1798), and the bas-reliefs on the tympanum of the Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg (1804).[3][1][2] He also produced portraits and history paintings.[1] He died in St Petersburg.