En
Ru
Mikhail Mikeshin, an outstanding Russian graphic artist, battle painter, academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1869), was born
Mikhail Osipovich Mikeshin (born February 9 (21), 1835) was a Russian graphic artist and battle painter who was best known for his work on the monument Millennium of Russia in Veliky Novgorod and the monuments to Empress Catherine II and Bogdan Khmelnitsky.
He was born in the family of Osip Mikeshin and Anna Dmitrievna in the village of Maksimkovo, near Roslavl. After studying at the Roslavl District school and Smolensk Gymnasium, he moved to St. Petersburg with the help of A. A. Vonlyarlyarsky, who recognized his talent for drawing. Mikeshin later became an academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1869.
From 1852 to 1858, Mikhail Mikeshin studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts under the guidance of academician B. P. Villevalde in the class of historical painting. During his studies, he received two silver and two gold medals for his works, in particular, Life Hussars at the Watering Hole (1853) and Count Tilly at Magdeburg in 1631 (1857).
In November 1859, Mikhail Mikeshin won a design competition to create a monument to Russian statehood in Veliky Novgorod. The group of sculptors that included I. N. Schroeder, R. K. Zaleman, M. A. Chizhov, A. M. Opekushin, N. A. Laveretsky, A. M. Lyubimov, and P. S. Mikhailov, along with architect V. A. Hartman, worked on the monument Millennium of Russia. It was unveiled on Sofia Square in the Novgorod Kremlin in September 1862. For his artistic efforts on the monument, Emperor Alexander II awarded M. Mikeshin with the Order of Saint Vladimir, fourth degree, and an annual pension of 1200 rubles.
After the Novgorod victory, Mikhail Mikeshin became interested in monumental sculpture and in 1861, he won a competition to create a monument to Empress Catherine II for Tsarskoye Selo. The young artist's design was chosen to be installed in front of the Alexandrinsky Theater in St. Petersburg. Sculptors M. A. Chizhov and A. M. Chizhov, as well as architects D. I. Grimm and V. A. Schroeter, contributed to the creation of the monument. The grand opening took place in 1873.
The works of M. O. Mikeshin have brought him worldwide recognition. The artist has received state awards in various countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, and Persia.
In 1864, he was elected an honorary member of the Lisbon Higher School of Fine Arts, and in 1869, he became an academician at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Other notable works by Mikeshin include the monuments to Admiral A. S. Greig (not preserved) in Nikolaev, Bogdan Khmelnitsky (not preserved) in Kiev, and Catherine II (not preserved) in Yekaterinodar.
Mikeshin also created sketches for sculptural decorations on ships of the Russian Navy, worked as an illustrator, and published an art magazine called Pchela.
M. O. Mikeshin passed away on January 31, 1896, in St. Petersburg, and was buried in the Nikolsky Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
His son, Boris Mikhailovich, also became a renowned sculptor. Mikeshin, born in 1873 and passing away in 1937, is known for his monuments to the poet Mikhail Lermontov, including one in Pyatigorsk in 1915 and another in St. Petersburg in 1916.
Lit.: Власов В. Г. Микешин Михаил Осипович // Стили в искусстве: в 3 т. Т. 3: М–Я. СПб., 1997. С. 64; Микешин Михаил Осипович // Большая российская энциклопедия. Электронная версия (2023) [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://old.bigenc.ru/fine_art/text/2211999; Микешин Михаил Осипович // Виртуальный Русский музей [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://rusmuseumvrm.ru/reference/classifier/author/mikeshin_mihail_osipovich/index.php; Савинов А. Н. Микешин. М., 1971.
Based on the materials of Presidential Library:
Киев. Памятник Богдану Хмельницкому: видовая фотография. Киев, [нач. XX в.];
Новгород – памятник 1000летия России: [открытка]. 1-я Новгородск. артель фотографов, [19--];
Памятник тысячелетию России, воздвигнутый в Новгороде 8 сентября 1862 г. по повелению императора Александра II-го, по сочинению и при личном участии в исполнении и дирекции над всеми хозяйственными работами автора памятника Михаила Микешина: С рис. фигур, помещённых на горельефе / Описание сост. А. Семёновский. [СПб.], 1892 (доступно в электронном читальном зале);
Пятигор. Пам. Лермонтову на мес. дуэли: [открытка]. Киноиздат, [1920-е].