Vasiliiivanovich Demut-Malinovskii

Born Mar. 2 (13), 1779, in St. Petersburg; died there July 16 (28), 1846. Russian monument sculptor.

Demut-Malinowski studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1785-1800) under M. I. Kozlovskii. Between 1803 and 1806 he lived on a scholarship from the Academy of Arts. From 1808 to 1836 he taught at the St. Petersburg Academy, becoming a professor in 1813 and rector of the department of sculpture in 1836.

At the height of his powers, between about 1810 and 1830, Demut-Malinovskii, together with S. S. Pimenov, executed some of the most important works of monumental decorative sculpture of the Empire style in Russia—the sculpture of a number of outstanding buildings designed by K. I. Rossi, as well as of the Stock Exchange and Admiralty. Among these works were the group The Abduction of Proserpine, in front of the portico of the Mining Institute (stone, 1809-11), the pediments and bas-reliefs of the Mikhail Palace, now the Russian Museum (gypsum, stone, 1823-25), and the sculptural group on the attic of the arch of the Main Staff Headquarters on Dvorets Square (copper leaf, 1827-28). Demut-Malinovskii’s works of this period are characterized by bold and heroic imagery, a solemn rhythm, clarity of composition, and organic unity with the architecture. Demut-Malinovskii also created nonmonumental sculpture, including portraits and tomb sculpture (the tomb of M. I. Kozlovskii, marble, 1802, Museum of Municipal Sculpture, Leningrad; the tomb of M. B. Barclay de Tolly, bronze, granite, 1823, in Jógeveste, near the town of Tórva in the Estonian SSR), and executed monuments (the monument to Ivan Susanin in Kostroma, bronze, 1841-43, unveiled in 1851; the monument to Barclay de Tolly in Tartu, constructed from Demut-Malinovskii’s design in 1849).