Mikhail Tikhonovich Tikhanov (Михаил Тихонович Тиханов; 1789–1862) was a Russian artist who accompanied Captain Vasily Golovnin's circumnavigation aboard the frigate '' Kamchatka''.

Biography

Born a

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...

in 1789, Tikhanov showed artistic talent at the age of seventeen and was sent by his master Prince Galitzine to 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 ...

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. Freed in 1815, he worked at the Academy before being recommended by

Alexey Olenin Alexey Nikolayevich Olenin (Aleksey Nikolaevich Olenin, russian: Алексей Николаевич Оленин; in Moscow – in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian archaeologist, most notable for being a director of the Imperial Public Libra ...

for the post of an expeditionary artist for Captain Vasily Golovnin and the expedition of the '' Kamchatka'' around the world. During the voyage from 1817 to 1819, Tikhanov painted at least 43 different pictures of important figures and scenes from Russian North America,

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

. He specialized in human portraits and painted figures including Hawaiian notables King Kamehameha I and High Chief Boki, as well as Russian colonial governor Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. Hawaiian scholar David W. Forbes stated his works done in Hawaii were "among the most mysterious, haunting portrayals of Pacific Islanders ever created". His paintings done in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

, including one of a man named Balthazar, are the only known depictions of

Bodega Bay Bodega Bay ( es, Bahía Bodega) is a shallow, rocky inlet of the Pacific Ocean on the coast of northern California in the United States. It is approximately across and is located approximately northwest of San Francisco and west of Santa Ros ...

Coast Miwok.

Illness and death

On the voyage home in 1818, Tikhanov became seriously ill while the ''Kamchatka'' was in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. Afterward, he started showing signs of mental illness and was placed in a hospital in Saint Petersburg. Despite a brief period where he showed signs of improvement, he relapsed and never recovered his sanity or worked again. He lived off a disability stipend for the rest of his life. From 1824 until his death in 1862, he spent the remainder of his life in the care of a widow of one of his colleagues. Although some of his works were later published by Captain Golovnin in his account of the expedition, most of his works were never published in his lifetime. His works are now in the Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg.

Gallery

File:Tikhanov - Balthazar Inhabitant of Northern California (1818).png, ''Balthazar, Inhabitant of Northern California'', 1818 File:Tikhanov - Aleut in Festival Dress in Alaska (1818).png, ''Aleut in Festival Dress in Alaska'', 1818 File:Tikhanov - Alexandr Andreyevich Baranov (1818).png, ''Alexandr Andreyevich Baranov'', 1818 File:Tikhanov - Boki and Hekili on the Kamchatka (1818).jpg, ''Boki, Chief of Oahu, and Hekili, Minister of the Navy'', 1818 File:Sitka Island Chief Katlian With His Wife.jpg, ''Sitka Island Chief Katlian With His Wife'', 1818

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tikhanov, Mikhail 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters 1789 births 1862 deaths Russian serfs Russian explorers of the Pacific 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire