AFTER COUNT FEODOR TOLSTOY, 19TH CENTURY

Count Feodor Petrovich Tolstoy (1783-1873) was born in St Petersburg where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts from 1802. As one of the most fashionable artists in Russia during the 1820s, he was mentioned by Pushkin in Eugene Onegin. However, his greatest talent was in wax modelling and from 1810 he was appointed medal designer to the St Petersburg Mint. The medal production was a lengthy process involving intricate drawings, wax mouldings and copper from which plaster models were made. Inspired by the Russian victory at the battle of Leipzig Count Tolstoy created his first series of twenty medallions depicting classical scenes devoted to the Napoleonic wars of 1812-1814 including the major events of the military campaign of 1812. These achieved great success abroad and resulted in Tolstoy being made a member of many European academies of fine arts. He was appointed vice-president of the St Petersburg Academy in 1828.