1797, Bolshoe Stolobetshoe (Oryol Province) - 1837, St Petersburg

Sculptor who was born a serf. From 1807 to 1817, he studied in Moscow under the sculptor S. P. Campioni, and from 1817 to 1822 worked in St Petersburg in the workshop of A. Triscorni. For creating a marble bust of Alexander I, he was granted his freedom from serfdom and admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1822. From 1823 to 1829, he lived in Italy at the expense of the state “to perfect his skills in the art of sculpture,” working under the direction of B. Thorvaldsen. After returning to St Petersburg, he created monuments to M. I. Kutuzov and M. B. Barclay de Tolly in front of Kazan Cathedral (1829–1837), the figure of an angel for the Alexander Column (1832–1833), and the decorative sculpture for the Moscow Triumphal Gates (1835–1837). He taught at the Academy of Arts. Academician (1831), Professor of the 2nd Class.