Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov

Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov
Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov
Михаил Матвеевич Иванов
	Yakov Vasilyev [ru], Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov, 1818, oil on canvas, Academy of Arts Museum, Saint Petersburg
Born	1748; St. Petersburg
Died	1823 (aged 74–75); St. Petersburg
Nationality	Russian
Alma mater	Imperial Academy of Arts
Known for	Watercolour painting

Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov (Russian: Михаи́л Матве́евич Ива́нов; 1748, St. Petersburg – 28 (16) August 1823, St. Petersburg) was a Russian painter, watercolorist, and Academician.

Biography

His father was a soldier in the Semyonovsky Regiment. In 1762, he and his brother, Arkhip [ru] were admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts. He initially took practical courses on painting with varnishes then, in 1764, became a student of Ivan Groot [ru], who instructed him in painting birds, animals and flowers. He was awarded a silver medal in 1769, followed by a gold medal in 1770, for his landscape with staffage, depicting an olive tree with military paraphernalia, soldiers and shepherds. This also earned him a study trip to Western Europe.

In Paris he studied with Jean-Baptiste Le Prince, with whom he copied landscapes by the Old Masters. He was especially drawn to Dutch and Flemish artists.^[1]

In 1773, he and Arkhip went to Rome, where he painted landscapes en plein aire and copied more of the Old Masters, many of which he sent back to the Academy. By the time he returned to Russia, in 1779, he had travelled through Spain and Switzerland. Upon his return, the Academy recognized him as a candidate for the title of "Academician".

In 1780, he was assigned to accompany Prince Grigory Potemkin and, per the Prince's instructions, paint all places and events that were in any way "remarkable".^[2] He made numerous drawings and watercolors throughout Crimea and the Caucasus, as well as battle scenes, depicting the Siege of Ochakov (1788) and the Siege of Izmail (1790). It was during this time, in 1785, that he was finally named an Academician. His last work on this assignment was a depiction of Potemkin's death in Bessarabia (1791), which was engraved by Gavriil Skorodumov and widely distributed.

After that, he returned to St. Petersburg and served as curator at the Hermitage Museum. In 1792, he married Skorodumov's widow, Maria Ivanovna. From 1800, he taught classes in battle painting at the Academy. From 1804, he also taught landscape painting.

Some of the works

View of three churches against the backdrop of Mount Ararat in Armenia
Staryi Krym (Landscape with Armenian church)
Ruins of a school (portal of the madrasah of Khan Ozbek)
View of Inkerman Fortress in Crimea
Panorama of the fortress of Feodosia (Kaffa)

References

^ "Russian Landscape and Battle Painter, Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov" from Русская живопись @ the Internet Archive
^ N. P. Sobko, Словарь русских художников с древнейших времен до наших дней (Dictionary of Russian artists from ancient times to the present day), 1895, pg.381

Sources

"ИВАНОВ МИХАИЛ МАТВЕЕВИЧ • Great Russian Encyclopedia – Electronic version". old.bigenc.ru. 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2023.

External links

Biography and works @ Artsait
"Travel albums of Mikhail Matveyevich Ivanov in the collection of the Russian Museum", by Olga Kaparulina @ Nasledie

[1] "Russian Landscape and Battle Painter, Mikhail Matveevich Ivanov" from Русская живопись @ the Internet Archive

[2] N. P. Sobko, Словарь русских художников с древнейших времен до наших дней (Dictionary of Russian artists from ancient times to the present day), 1895, pg.381

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