Vasily Demut-Malinovsky

Vasily Demut-Malinovsky
Vasily Demut-Malinovsky
Василий Иванович Демут-Малиновский
Born	March 2, 1778; Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Died	July 16, 1846 (aged 68); Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire
Education	Member Academy of Arts (1807)
Alma mater	Imperial Academy of Arts (1800)
Known for	Sculpture
Awards

Vasily Ivanovich Demut-Malinovsky (Russian: Василий Иванович Демут-Малиновский; 2 March 1778 – 16 July 1846) was a Russian sculptor whose works represent the quintessence of the Empire style.

Biography[edit]

He entered the Imperial Academy of Arts at the age of six and studied under Mikhail Kozlovsky for fifteen years. Upon the death of his teacher, he won a competition to design his tomb and departed for Rome to study with Canova. Success came to him with two colossal statues for the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg.^[1]

In the aftermath of the Russian victory over Napoleon, Demut-Malinovsky executed a number of patriotic pieces, including a tomb and a large statue of Barclay de Tolly in Estonia. Later Alexander I assigned to him the task of preparing bas-reliefs symbolizing the Neva and the Volga for the Alexander Column on Palace Square.

Demut-Malinovsky also designed statuary and decorations for other St Petersburg churches, palaces, and public monuments, especially those designed by Carlo Rossi: the General Staff Building, the Bourse, the Admiralty, the Mining Institute, the Egyptian Gate, the Narva Gate, and the Mikhailovsky Palace.