Adrian Victorovich Prakhov (russian: Адриан Викторович Прахов; 16 March

1846 Events January–March * January 5 – The United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the Oregon Country with the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom. * January 13 – The Milan–Venice railway' ...

Mstislavl Mstislaw or Mstislavl ( be, Мсціслаў, [], russian: Мстиславль [msʲtʲɪˈslavlʲ], pl, Mścisław, lt, Mstislavlis) is a town in the Mogilev Region, Eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Mstsislaw District ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

14 May Events Pre-1600 *1027 – Robert II of France names his son Henry I as junior King of the Franks. * 1097 – The Siege of Nicaea begins during the First Crusade. *1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and force ...

1916 Events Below, the events of the First World War have the "WWI" prefix. January * January 1 – The British Royal Army Medical Corps carries out the first successful blood transfusion, using blood that had been stored and cooled. * ...

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crimea ...

) was a

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

, archaeologist and art historian.

Biography

In 1863, he entered

Saint Petersburg University Saint Petersburg State University (SPBU; russian: Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет) is a public research university in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in 1724 by a decree of Peter the G ...

, where he studied history and

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

. After graduating in 1867, he was sent abroad for further studies, in preparation for employment with the Department of Art History. In Munich, he attended the lectures of several scientists, including

Heinrich Brunn Heinrich Brunn, since 1882 Ritter von Brunn (23 January 1822, Wörlitz – 23 July 1894, Josephstal near Schliersee, Upper Bavaria) was a German archaeologist. He was known for taking a scientific approach in his investigations of classical Greek ...

, and studied the examples of

Ancient Greek art Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic d ...

in the collection of the

Glyptothek The Glyptothek () is a museum in Munich, Germany, which was commissioned by the Bavarian King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Ludwig I to house his collection of Ancient Greek art, Greek and Roman art, Roman sculptures (hence γλυπτο- ''glypto-'' "sculp ...

. This was followed by similar studies in Paris, London, Berlin, Vienna and Italy, where he became a member of the

German Archaeological Institute The German Archaeological Institute (german: Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, ''DAI'') is a research institute in the field of archaeology (and other related fields). The DAI is a "federal agency" under the Federal Foreign Office of Germany ...

of Rome.Biographical notes
by E.P. Potekhina @ Биографика СПбГУ/ Upon returning in 1873, he was awarded a master's degree for his thesis, "On the restoration of the eastern group of pediments at the temple to

Aegina Aegina (; el, Αίγινα, ''Aígina'' ; grc, Αἴγῑνα) is one of the Saronic Islands of Greece in the Saronic Gulf, from Athens. Tradition derives the name from Aegina (mythology), Aegina, the mother of the hero Aeacus, who was born ...

in Athens". Shortly after, he was chosen to be a lecturer. From 1875 to 1878, he edited an illustrated magazine called ' (The Bee) and, from the same year to 1887, he taught the history and theory of fine art at the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...

. He received his doctoral degree in 1879 for his dissertation, "The Architecture of Ancient Egypt". After that, he turned to Ancient Russian art of the early Christian period, researching and sketching the mosaics and murals at Saint Sophia's Cathedral and St. Cyril's Monastery in Kyiv. From 1881 to 1882 he traveled throughout Greece, Turkey, and the Middle East. In 1886, he studied the Assumption Cathedral and several other structures in

Volodymyr-Volynskyi Volodymyr ( uk, Володи́мир, from 1944 to 2021 Volodymyr-Volynskyi ( uk, Володи́мир-Воли́нський)) is a small city located in Volyn Oblast, in north-western Ukraine. It is the administrative centre of the Volodymyr R ...

. The following year, he copied the unique frescoes at St. Michael's Monastery. The originals were lost in 1934, when the Soviet government demolished the monastery. That same year (1887), Prakhov moved from the University of Saint Petersburg to the

University of Kyiv Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...

, where he taught until 1897. While there, he was in charge of managing interior decoration for

St Volodymyr's Cathedral St Volodymyr's Cathedral ( uk, Володимирський собор, russian: Владимирский собор) is a cathedral in the centre of Kyiv. It is one of the city's major landmarks and the mother cathedral of the Ukrainian Orthodo ...

, including marble and bronze works, frescoes and furniture. He made two trips to Greece to study

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

decorative styles and oversaw a large group of well-known Russian and Ukrainian painters, including

Victor Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (russian: Ви́ктор Миха́йлович Васнецо́в; May 15 ( N.S.), 1848 – July 23, 1926) was a Russian artist who specialized in mythological and historical subjects. He is considered the co-founde ...

and

Mikhail Nesterov Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov (russian: Михаи́л Васи́льевич Не́стеров; – 18 October 1942) was a Russian and Soviet painter; associated with the Peredvizhniki and Mir Iskusstva. He was one of the first exponents of ...

. In 1897, he returned to his former chair in Saint Petersburg and remained there until his death. After 1901, he and

Alexandre Benois Alexandre Nikolayevich Benois (russian: Алекса́ндр Никола́евич Бенуа́, also spelled Alexander Benois; ,Salmina-Haskell, Larissa. ''Russian Paintings and Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum''. pp. 15, 23-24. Published by ...

edited ''Художественные сокровища России'' (Russian Art Treasures), the monthly journal of the

Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts The Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (Russian: Императорское общество поощрения художеств (ОПХ)) was an organization devoted to promoting the arts that existed in Saint Petersburg from 182 ...

. His wife, , was a concert pianist who had studied with

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

and also posed as a model for the painter,

Mikhail Vrubel Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all New Style, n.s.) was a Russian Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and inno ...

. His son, , was a painter and art historian. His daughter, , was an amateur artist, and worked as a model for

, to whom she was briefly engaged.

Writings available online

Критические наблюдения над формами изящных искусств. Зодчество древнего Египта.
(Critical observation of forms of Fine Arts. Architecture of Ancient Egypt) 1880.
Киевское искусство X, XI и XII вв. Каталог выставки копий с памятников искусства в Киеве X, XI и XII вв.
(Kyiv Art X, XI and XII centuries. Catalog of the exhibition of copies of works of art in Kyiv, X, XI and XII centuries) 1883.
Открытие фресок Киево-Кирилловской церкви XII века, исполненное в 1881 и 1882 г.г.
(The discovery of murals in St. Cyril's Church of Kyiv-the XII century, executed in 1881 and 1882) 1883.
Альбом Исторической выставки предметов искусства, устроенной в 1904 году в С.-Петербурге.
(Historical Album of art exhibitions, set up in 1904 in St. Petersburg) 1907.

References

External links

A description of the work at St Volodymyr's Cathedral
by Prakhov's son, Nikolai @ the Victor Vasnetsov website. {{DEFAULTSORT:Prakhov, Adrian 1846 births 1916 deaths Russian art critics Russian art historians Russian archaeologists People from Mstsislaw Saint Petersburg State University alumni Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv faculty