Nikolai Utkin

Nikolai Ivanovich Utkin (russian: Николай Иванович Уткин; 19 May 1780 – 17 March 1863) was a Russian graphic artist, engraver and illustrator. He also served as curator of prints at the Hermitage and superintendent of the museum at the Imperial Academy of Arts.Brief biography
from the ''Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary'' @ Russian WikiSource.

Biography

His mother was a serf on the estate of the poet Mikhail Nikitich Muravyov, who is generally assumed to have been his father. She was later given in marriage to Muravyov's chamberlain, Ivan Utkin.Brief biography
@ RusArtNet. Shortly after Nikolai's birth, they moved to Saint Petersburg. In 1785, he was manumitted and began his education at the Imperial Academy which, at that time, had a primary school.

At the age of fourteen, having shown a talent for drawing, he was transferred to the engraving school, where he studied with Antoine Radigues and the German engraver, Ignaz Sebastian Klauber. Four years later, he created eighteen engravings of antique statues, which earned him a gold medal and the right to continue at the Academy for three more years. However, in 1802, he was awarded another gold medal that also conferred the right to travel abroad and he took advantage of that right as soon as possible; leaving for Paris in 1803.

Once there, he was engaged at the workshop of Charles Clément Balvay (known as "Bervic"), where he helped fulfill orders as well as study. In 1810, he exhibited at the Salon, receiving a gold medal from the Académie des Beaux-Arts and the title of "Academician" from the Imperial Academy. During the French invasion of Russia, he was under house arrest and police surveillance for two years, until Napoleon's defeat.

He returned to Saint Petersburg upon his release and, after Klauber's death, took his positions at the Academy and the Hermitage. In 1819, he was appointed official engraver to the Tsar, at a salary of 3,000 rubles per year. His best-known students at the Academy included Antoni Oleszczyński, Fyodor Iordan and . In addition to his regular engravings, he provided illustrations for works by Vasily Zhukovsky and Gavrila Derzhavin, as well as a translation of the ''Iliad'' by Nikolai Gnedich.

He became a Professor in 1831 and was named Professor Emeritus in 1840 but, at that point, he was already past the height of his creative powers. In 1850, he handed over his engraving class to Iordan. In 1860, the Academy honored him with an embossed gold medallion. His last known work, a depiction of the Holy Family, was completed just before his death in 1863.

Selected works

File:LzheDmitriy by Utkin.JPG, The False Dmitriy
File:A S Pushkin by Utkin.jpg, Alexander Pushkin
(after Kiprensky)
File:Sergey Uvarov by Utkin.jpg, Sergey Uvarov
File:Heroes of iliad by Tischbein.JPG, The Heroes of the Iliad
(after Tischbein)

References

Further reading

* Dmitry Rovinsky, ''Николай Иванович Уткин, его жизнь и произведения''. (Life and Works), Imperial Academy of Sciences, 188
Complete text online
@ Google Books
* Galina Printseva, ''Николай Иванович Уткин. 1780—1863'', Искусство, 1983

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Utkin, Nikolai
1780 births
1863 deaths
Engravers from the Russian Empire
Graphic designers from the Russian Empire
People from Tver
Curators from Saint Petersburg
Burials at Tikhvin Cemetery