ELEVEN BY COUNT FEODOR TOLSTOY,'1817-1830'; ONE BY IVAN ANFIMOVICH SHILOV '1816'

Details

Twelve plaster bas reliefs
Eleven by Count Feodor Tolstoy,'1817-1830'; one by Ivan Anfimovich Shilov '1816'
Octagonal,the centre of each with a classical medallion, inscribed across the base with the title in Russian:
Battle of Borodino 1812, Three-Day Battle of Krasnoye 1812, Napoleon's Retreat over the Neman 1812, Alexander's first step outside Russia 1813, Liberation of Berlin 1813, Triple Alliance 1813, Battle on the Katzbach Heights 1813, Battle of Kulm 1813, Battle of Leipzig 1813, Crossing the Rhein 1813, Battle of Arsis-sur-Aube 1814
one inscribed in Russian I will not lay down the sword until I am taken from this earth
inscribed in Cyrillic or Latin with the artist and date in lower border of each medallion, in brown velvet surrounds
each 7 5/8 in. (19.2 cm.) wide (12)

Special notice

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Lot Essay

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 1820's, he was mentioned by Pushkin in Eugene Onegin. However, his greatest talent was in wax modeling 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 vicotry 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 a great success abroad and resulted in Tolstoy being made a member of almost all European academies of fine arts. He was appointed vice-president of the St. Petersburg Academy in 1828.
Ivan Anfimovich Shilov lived from 1788-1827.

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