Mikhail Konstantinovich Clodt, Freiherr (

Baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

) von Jürgensburg (; 1832–1902) was a Russian Realist painter.Clodt family

Biography

Mikhail Clodt was born to the artistic family of barons Clodt von Jürgensburg, his father was the first Russian

wood engraver Wood engraving is a printmaking technique, in which an artist works an image into a block of wood. Functionally a variety of woodcut, it uses relief printing, where the artist applies ink to the face of the block and prints using relatively lo ...

,Klodt family
his uncle

Peter Clodt von Jürgensburg Peter Jakob Freiherr Clodt von Jürgensburg (; 5 June 1805 – 25 November 1867) was a Russian sculptor. He was well regarded by Nicholas I of Russia. Biography Born in Saint Petersburg, Klodt belonged to a distinguished family of Baltic Ger ...

was a famous Russian sculptor. He learnt drawing at the Saint Petersburg Mining Cadet Corps, then at the

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

(1851–1858). After receiving a ''Large Gold Medal'' he received a scholarship for three years to study painting in France,

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and

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but abandoned his foreign trip in a year. He complained that the foreign landscapes would not inspire him and that French and Italian school of painting is inferior to Russian one. After returning Clodt got permissions to use the rest of the scholarship funds in his travel over Russia. In 1863 Clodt got recognition for his painting ''Highway in Autumn''. Even higher praise was given for his work ''In the Field'' (1872) and the ''Forest view in Midday'' (1878). Observers celebrated his devotion to Russian landscape, attention to the details and perspective. On the other hand, popular art critic

Vladimir Stasov Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (also Stassov; ; 14 January O.S. 2 January">Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe">O.S. 2 January/small> 1824 – 23 October .S. 10 October/small> 1906), was a Russian critic of music and art. ...

noted petty naturalism and the "slavish following to reality" in many Clodt works. As an example of such a work he stated ''Cows at Watering'' (1879). In both his devotion to the Russian landscape and some petty naturalism Clodt was probably the forerunner of

Ivan Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (; – ) was a Russian landscape painter and graphic artist, one of the most famous landscape painters of the post-reform era, and the creator of the iconic painting '' Morning in a Pine Forest''. He was an academician ...

. Mikhail Clodt was a founding member of the

Peredvizhniki Peredvizhniki (, ), often called The Wanderers or The Itinerants in English, were a group of Russian realism (arts), realist artists who formed an artists' cooperative in protest of academic restrictions; it evolved into the ''Society for Trave ...

movement, but the Peredvizhniki did not completely consider him as their own. That was partially due to the sharp criticisms from Clodt and partially because of him keeping his professorship of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1871–1886). After Clodt's particularly sharp criticism over Arkhip Kuindzhi Clodt was forced to break with the Peredvizhniki. Soon he retired from the Academy as well. Clodt did not paint anything of value after the 1870s. Half-blind and financially broken, he died in 1902.

Selected paintings

Image:Klodt HighwayInAutimn.jpg, A Highway in Autumn, 1863 Image:Klodt na pashne1.jpg, In the Fields, 1872 Image:KlodtM VechernVidVDerevHAB.jpg, Evening View in a Village.
Oryol Gubernia, 1874 Image:Mikhail Clodt Village in the province of Orel.jpg, Village in the Oryol Gubernia, 1864 Image:Klodt lesnaya dal v polden.jpg, Forest View at Mid-day, 1878 Image:Clodt Michail Constantinovich The Cows at Watering.jpg, Cows at Watering, 1879 Image:KlodtM VolgaPodSimbirskIRK.jpg,

Volga The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...

near

Simbirsk Ulyanovsk,, , known as Simbirsk until 1924, is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River east of Moscow. Ulyanovsk has been the only Russian UNESCO City of Literature since 2015. The city wa ...

, 1881 Image:Mikhail Clodt Riverside Farmstead.jpeg, View at the estate/homestead near

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, 1858 Image:Долина реки Аа в Лифляндии. Клодт.jpeg, Aa River Valley in

Livland Livonia, known in earlier records as Livland, is a historical region on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. It is named after the Livonians, who lived on the shores of present-day Latvia. By the end of the 13th century, the name was extende ...

, 1862 –

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...

Image:Русская деревня - М.К. Клодт.jpg, Russian Village, 1867 Image:Mikhail Clodt Oak Grove.jpg, Oak Grove, 1863 –

Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

Image:Вид в Нормандии (Летний день). Михаил Клодт.jpeg, View in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

(Summer Day), 1860

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clodt, Mikhail Konstantinovich 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Male painters from the Russian Empire Painters from Saint Petersburg Realist painters from the Russian Empire Landscape painters from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire of German descent 1832 births 1902 deaths 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire