Milford chronicle., 1889-12-13
MARC ANTocoLsn.
The Romantic Story of the Greatest Of
Russian seulpto-q.

Ine EOinnntic story OF the Greatest Ol
Russian seuiPto-s.
The sculptor who seems 10 us the most per
sonal, the most interesting, and the most Rus
sian in temperament is Marc Antocolski. Hi:
record stands as follows: Born at wilma in
1913; pupil Of the St. Petersburg academy.
second and first medal in 1854 and 1863; sca-
demician IN 1871, and subsequently professor.
His parents we're orthodox Jews and his
youth appears to have been one Of poverty.
and often Of misery.
Antocolslli's first work, produced in 1864.
wns an alto-rilievo in wood representing a
lean jew tailor in cap and caftan, sitting
cross legged in the window of his little shop,
and trying TO thread his needle against the
light, his eyes lips, and all the muscles Of his
face absorbed in the business. For this piece
of realism he obtained a second class silver
medal, and followed it up in 1865 by a second
alto-rilievo in wood and ivory Of a country
miser counting his money, which obtained a
first class medal Then followed period Of
misery and apparently hopeless sfNiggling,
during which Antocolski conceivelfland ex-
ecuted his grand statue Of Ivan the Terrible
Ivan, the heroic incarnation Of the might
and barbarity Of old Russia, is represented
by Antocolski in the later years of his life
clad in a monks garb, with the Bible on his
knees, and at his side the legendary steel
pointed staff with which he tested the man
hood Of his nobles beat out the brains of his
enemies and killed his son. Ivan is absorbed
in thought meditating between despair and
the hope of grace between the consolation OF
the Scriptures and the memory Of his innu-
merable crimes. When AntocOlsld conceived
his Ivan lie was starving on IS "A month. He
was too poor to hire a studio, and it was only
with great difficulty that he obtained permis
sion to work during the vacations in one of
the class rooms of the academy, whence he
was finally banished to a lumber room under
the roof
AT last, when he had finished his statue, the
professors of the academy refused to climb
upstairs to see it, and in despair Antocoski
summoned up courage 70 call upon Prince
Gargarin, president of the academy, who
came and saw the statue, and returned the
following day with the Grand Duchess Maria
Pavlovna, who in her turn brought the empe-
ror himself The imperial visit put sn end
to Antocolski's sufferings. All ST. Peters
burg trooped up tue stairs which the tsar had
not disdained TO tread. Antocolsli was made !
an academician and sent to Rome with pen
sion, while his statue was bought for the Her |
mitage museum, where it now stands exe-
cuted in marble
In 1872 Antocolsld produced a colossal /
stasue Of Peter the Great marching against /
his enemies; in 1874, Christ before the people |
tied to past; in 1879, a monument of the |
Princess Oboenska, now in the church yard .
of Monte Te.Gario at Rome; in 1876, the death
of Socrates. now in the Hermitage; and then
successively among his chief works may be
noted bass relief, the last sight Of Christ on
the cross QST0; the head of John the Bap-
tist, bronze and marble uS7S; the statue of
Spinoza lSS2D; Mephistopheles, in some re-
spects the finest of his works now in the
Hermitage; the high relief Of Jaroslay the
Wise, the author Of the first Russian codex,
equestrian statues of JarOslav the Wise and
of Ivan III; a seated statue of Christ,
Come unto me all ye that are heavy laden;n
n monument to the memory of the late En-
peror Alexander; a Christian martyr, Ophe-
liza and quantities Of minor works and busts.
Antocolskls work in all its varied manifes-
tations has certain common characteristics,
which are those Of the sculptor and of the
TO which he belongs. His work is
above all things literary; it is full of sorrow
fulness and reproach; he is by preference the
sculptor Of martyrs, or if not of martyrs Of
heroes.
Antocolski is not partisan Of the theory
Of art for arts sake; he is rather preacher
who endeavOrs TO embody moral ideas in
marble, to set forth the conflict of the soul,
IS in his Ivan the Terrible; the sublimitv of
as in his Christian martyr; the
majesty of Divine commiseration, as in his
Jhrist.-Theodore Child in Harpers Maga-
line