Mark Antokolski

Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (Марк Матве́евич Антоко́льский in Russian; 2 November 1840 – 14 July 1902) was a Russian-Jewish sculptor.

Mordkukh (Mark) Antokolsky was born in Vilna, Lithuania (at the time part of the Russian Empire). He studied in the Imperial Academy of Arts (1862–68) at St. Petersburg. He first began with Jewish themes, statues: "Jewish Tailor", "Nathan The Wise", "Inquisition's Attack against Jews", "The Talmudic Debate".

From 1868–1870, Mark Antokolsky lived in Berlin. His statue of Ivan the Terrible (1870) was purchased for the Hermitage by Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The latter approved his work and awarded the sculptor the title of Academic. Antokolsky believed that sculpture was a social and humane ideal. In order to improve his failing health, he moved to the Italian resorts in 1871 and settled in Paris six years later.

Every year Antokolsky would come back to his native town of Vilnius during his summer holidays. Namely here he created his first significant work, high relief "A Jewish Tailor", during his summer holidays of 1864.

The work of the young sculptor provoked debate in the Academy in Petersburg. On 28 October 1864, the Council of the Academy decided to award Antokolski with the Small Silver Medal for the "Tailor" by the majority of votes.

While in Vilnius the following year, Antokolski created another high relief - "A Stingy Man," which is sometimes referred to as "A Stingy Jew Counting his Coins". The artist was born into a poor family and saw how his father's financial situation improved. The sculpture might have reflected Antokolski's feelings towards his native town of Vilnius, and firstly to his father. This work as well as the first sculpture was positively evaluated by Vasily Stasov who saw "the features of the simple truth, the things that, previously, nobody dared to think about in sculpture" in the works of the artist. In 1865, the high relief "Stingy Man" was awarded the Grand Silver Medal of the Academy. In later years the sculptor continued working on Jewish themes, which developed into complex, yet unfinished compositions: "Talmud Dispute" (1866–1868) and "Inquisition Attacks the Jews" (1868–1869). The "Inquisition" was M. Antokolski's last work on the Jewish topic in his student years.

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