DOI Heft:
No. 54 (September, 1897)
DOI Artikel:Keyzer, Frances: Marc Antocolsky
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18389#0243
Marc A n toco I sky
perty of his descendants. And in following the
causes that marked his reign as a period of atro-
cities and bloodshed committed at his dictation,
the artist has chosen to imagine the Emperor seek-
ing an excuse for his cruelties in the faults of his
surroundings, and selected the well-known episode
of Vassili Chibonoff s interview with Ivan, for his
subject. The story, as related by Russian historians,
is that after the defeat of the Muscovite army,
one of the most distinguished Russian officers,
Kourbski, fearing Ivan's wrath, emigrated to
Lithuania. Thence he sent a missive to the
Czar acquainting him with his decision to join the
Poles, and reproaching him with his cruelties and
ingratitude, to him who had shed his blood in
fighting the Tartars. This event, or rather this
treachery, did not serve to calm the terrible Ivan,
and it is said that more executions and horrors
were perpetrated after he received these tidings,
than at any period of the fifty years during which
he exercised uncontrolled power. The sculptor
has depicted the Emperor listening to Vassili, the
messenger, whose right foot he has pinned to the
ground with his sharp-pointed stick.
Antocolsky owes his early popularity to the Grand
Duchess Marie, who induced Turgeniew, and,
later, the Emperor Alexander, to visit his studio.
Soon all that was great in the land of the Russians
followed in their footsteps. The Ivan group made a
deep impression upon the Emperor, who purchased
the work, which, as I have already mentioned, is
considered Antocolsky's masterpiece, and had it
placed in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. He also
bestowed upon the sculptor the title of Academician,
a great mark of favour when we consider the
position of the Jews in Russia during the late
Emperor's lifetime.
It is only in 1875 that we nr>d him m Paris,
working and living among the people for whom he
professes such warm sympathies. Before his
migration to France he spent many years in Italy,
where some of his finest work was inspired : his
Christ, his Spinoza and his Socrates. Still, it is
easily conceived that a mind like Antocolsky's
DEATH OF SOCRATES BY MARC ANTOCOLSKY
21 7
perty of his descendants. And in following the
causes that marked his reign as a period of atro-
cities and bloodshed committed at his dictation,
the artist has chosen to imagine the Emperor seek-
ing an excuse for his cruelties in the faults of his
surroundings, and selected the well-known episode
of Vassili Chibonoff s interview with Ivan, for his
subject. The story, as related by Russian historians,
is that after the defeat of the Muscovite army,
one of the most distinguished Russian officers,
Kourbski, fearing Ivan's wrath, emigrated to
Lithuania. Thence he sent a missive to the
Czar acquainting him with his decision to join the
Poles, and reproaching him with his cruelties and
ingratitude, to him who had shed his blood in
fighting the Tartars. This event, or rather this
treachery, did not serve to calm the terrible Ivan,
and it is said that more executions and horrors
were perpetrated after he received these tidings,
than at any period of the fifty years during which
he exercised uncontrolled power. The sculptor
has depicted the Emperor listening to Vassili, the
messenger, whose right foot he has pinned to the
ground with his sharp-pointed stick.
Antocolsky owes his early popularity to the Grand
Duchess Marie, who induced Turgeniew, and,
later, the Emperor Alexander, to visit his studio.
Soon all that was great in the land of the Russians
followed in their footsteps. The Ivan group made a
deep impression upon the Emperor, who purchased
the work, which, as I have already mentioned, is
considered Antocolsky's masterpiece, and had it
placed in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. He also
bestowed upon the sculptor the title of Academician,
a great mark of favour when we consider the
position of the Jews in Russia during the late
Emperor's lifetime.
It is only in 1875 that we nr>d him m Paris,
working and living among the people for whom he
professes such warm sympathies. Before his
migration to France he spent many years in Italy,
where some of his finest work was inspired : his
Christ, his Spinoza and his Socrates. Still, it is
easily conceived that a mind like Antocolsky's
DEATH OF SOCRATES BY MARC ANTOCOLSKY
21 7