MARK ANTOKOLSKY (1842-1902)

Mark Antokolsky (1843-1902), whose works represented the highest achievements in Russian realism, was regarded as the most important Russian sculptor of the second half of the nineteenth century. He studied sculpture at the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg under N.S. Pimenov and mixed with many of the leading figures in Russian art, such as Repin, Kramskoi, Vasnetsov, Shishkin and Stasov.

The idea of Mephistopheles occurred to Antokolsky as early as 1874, when he was at work on Christ before the Judgment of the People. In a letter to the critic V.V. Stasov, dated 9 July 1874, Antokolsky mused, 'The idea of creating Christ is an idea in half. I would like to create another character, no less strong, but in complete opposition to Christ - it is Mephistopheles.' Antokolsky had found his antithesis to Christ and, upon completion of Mephistopheles, he intended to exhibit the two works together. In the intervening years, however, Antokolsky reconsidered his idea for the work as he drew new inspiration from a literary prototype, Goethe's Faust. The artist was drawn to Goethe's Mephistopheles as the embodiment of the spirit of denial and doubt, the spirit of criticism and skepticism. In 1876, as a study for a full-scale work, Antokolsky produced a bust of Mephistopheles modelled atop an open book lying face down. The work's overt symbolism of ignorance and dark forces flouting knowledge did not satisfy the artist. Antokolsky felt he had bound himself too closely to the literary image, that he had given no space to his artistic imagination.

The artist sought to embody a more complex and more modern understanding of Mephistopheles. His Mephistopheles would be modelled not after Goethe's Faust, but after a thoroughly modern reality. In a letter to E.G. Mamontov in May 1883, Antokolsky wrote:

My Mephistopheles is the product of all ages, especially our age. My Mephistopheles is mystery, plague, decay, which is carried in the air; it infects and kills people. Mephistopheles is evil, fathomless evil, evil without mercy. He is helpless in his spirit, but his jealousy, his self-love is strong. He is irritated by everything: joy, laughter, young kisses. He wants everything around him to be gloomy, dead, empty and lifeless as he is himself. This is how I imagine Mephistopheles. I may say that I created such a Mephistopheles, that this is my fantasy alone.

In 1882, Antokolsky set to work on clay studies of the full-scale Mephistopheles and continued to perfect the sculpture throughout 1883. The finished work, realised in marble and cast in bronze, is a profound psychological interpretation. The figure is modelled nude, sitting atop a jagged rock, his right leg bent and raised to his chest, his left leg hanging in front of him. His long, bony hands are stretched over his right knee, his chin is resting atop them. At the same time, the taut, hunched figure, with its prominent bones and sinews, its clenched jaw and doleful yet sarcastic expression, convey inner tension. And the long, narrow face and prominent forehead, the sharply defined nose, the thin lips forming a contemptuous smile, the piercing eyes, all reflect the sharpness and causticity of his mind.

Upon completion of Mephistopheles in 1883, Antokolsky had hoped to exhibit the work in the Peredvizhniki exhibition in St Petersburg. However, that proved impracticable, and it was not until 1886, through the assistance and determination of Stasov, that Mephistopheles was first exhibited in the Imperial Hermitage. The work was hailed by critics for its depth and seriousness and favourable comparisons were drawn between the work of Antokolsky and Repin. Mephistopheles was later exhibited in Germany and Austria, where it was just as well received. In 1898, Antokolsky received the Gold Medal for Mephistopheles in Vienna.

The present bronze was cast by the Thiébaut Frères foundry, which was active in Paris from 1878 to 1901. The number of bronze casts of Mephistopheles is unknown. However, another model of nearly identical dimensions, also cast by Thiébaut Frères, is in the State Russian Museum (Inv. No. CK-1339). Further models in bronze and marble are in the State Russian Museum (see G. Presnov, L. Fadeeva, et al., Gosudarstvennyi Russkii Muzei, Skul'ptura XVIII-nachalo XX Veka, Leningrad, 1988, pp. 24-25), and a plaster model is in the State Historical Museum of Religion, St Petersburg (Inv. No. A-252-III). Smaller versions of Mephistopheles, both in marble and in bronze, were also produced and examples can be found in the State Hermitage, the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum.