COLON Fedor Petrovich

February 10, 1783 (St. Petersburg) - April 13, 1873 (St. Petersburg)

sculptor, medalist, painter, set designer.

born in the family of Count Tolstoy, PA, in 1780 served as managing Krigskomissariatom (institution which was engaged in supplying the army). In 1792-1796 he studied at the Jesuit college of Polotsk, and since 1798 - in the Sea Cadet Corps. In 1802, released with the rank of midshipman, in 1804 he retired.

In those same years he started to attend the medal class IAH in Petersburg, where he mastered the technique of wax bas-relief. In 1804-1809 as volnoprihodyaschego student engaged in the sculpture class at the IAH IP Prokofiev. Since 1806 was the Hermitage. In 1809, presented to the Board of IAH four wax bas-relief, for which he was elected an honorary member of the Academy. In 1810 he entered the service at the Mint in St. Petersburg, where he worked until 1828.

In 1810's - mid-1830 completed an extensive series of medallions, the Patriotic War of 1812 and the hostilities of 1813-1814, as well as a series of illustrations for the poem JF Bogdanovich's "Darling". In 1820 he became a member of the Society for the Promotion of Artists. In 1825-1828 he taught at the medal class of IAH, in 1828 was appointed vice-president of the Academy. In 1836-1839 he worked on a cycle of twelve medallions on the wars with Persia and Turkey, 1826-1829.

Engaged set design, performed sketches of costumes and scenery for the ballet "Aeolian Harp" (1838), "Echo" (1842).

In 1842, he was awarded the title of professor of medal art. In 1841 was commissioned to create sculptures and bas-reliefs for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, began to implement it in 1846 and completed in 1851 (not preserved). In 1849 made for this work a professor of sculpture. In 1852 appointed head of the institution in mosaic IAH, in 1859 - Friend of the President of the Academy. Honorary member of the Berlin (from 1822), Austria (since 1836), Florence (1846) Academy of Fine Arts.

Fyodor Tolstoy - an outstanding representative of Russian academic art in the first half of the XIX century, most vividly manifested themselves in the field of sculpture, graphics, medal art. The favorite material Tolstoy was a fine sculptor of wax of different colors - soft and supple, he is the best contribute to the precise form of sculpting, the transfer of thin facial features and details of the images allows us to achieve a delicate light-shadow modelirovok. In the wax master, as a rule, produces a model which could then be transferred to other materials.

artist seldom turned to a round sculpture (his work in this area are rare), preferring it to relief. One of the most significant works of Tolstoy is a series of medallions, the Patriotic War of 1812, which reflects the idea of Empire: all the episodes of the campaign are presented in the form of allegorical figures of ancient warriors. The cycle is common, recurrence fabricated in different materials - plaster, electroforming, bronze, iron.

extremely diverse techniques of the master in the schedule. Illustrations for "Darling", created under the influence of "Pompeian style, distinguished by the beauty and expressiveness of linear solutions. Quite different in character so-called "Dummy" who loved to decorate the home and ladies' albums. In them, virtuoso performance, combined the features of romanticism and sentimentality. In order to achieve an illusory impression reliability, Tolstoy personally engaged in the manufacture of paints. The artist has repeatedly varied motives of their "obmanok", a favorite motif was the beetle sitting on a flower, flies, butterflies, or a drop of water, tracing paper, covering the engraving, and so on.

Tolstoy's works are in many museum and private collections, including the State Russian Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery, Pushkin Museum im. Pushkin.