[Collection Of Carved Images Of Medals Representing Famous Military Events of 1812, 1813, and 1814].
Sankt Peterburg, Plavilshchikov, 1818
Exceptionally fresh example of this rare edition celebrating the major battles during the Napoleonic Wars.
In 1816 renowned artist Count Fedor Tolstoy (1783-1873) submitted a project to the Imperial Academy of Sciences proposing to make 19 medals that would celebrate in a pure neo-classical style the progress of the allied forces against Napoleon, once the Russian army -and winter- had mortally struck the Grande Armée in 1812. The designs were to follow his earlier medal that proved to be a real success - Родомысл девятого на десять века, showing Alexander I as Rodomysl, a god of the ancient Slavs.
The Academy of Sciences' board unanimously approved the presented proposal. It also agreed to fund the publication of engraved designs meanwhile Count Tolstoy was preparing wax casts for the medals. Two years later the present book was published in three variants: with text in Russian, French and German. The plates were engraved by one of the best graphic artists and engravers of the time – Nikolay Utkin (1780 - 1863).
Tolstoy's wax casts were finished only by 1836 (now in the Russian Museum), and became quickly popular: they can be admired nowadays in the Winter Palace as large stucco decorations on the walls of a special room dedicated to them; they are also used on some prestigious vases, one of which is in the Hermitage Museum, another one in the Literature Museum of Pushkin House in St. Petersburg.
Octavo (26 x 21 cm). 46 pp., 20 engraved plates by N. Utkin after F. Tolstoy, uncut. Publisher's blue printed wrappers; spine slightly chipped.
Obolyaninov 2551; Vereshchagin 865 ("Rare"); Mezhdunarodnaya kniga 909; Rovinskiy, Slovar' russkikh graverov II, 1064.
In 1816 renowned artist Count Fedor Tolstoy (1783-1873) submitted a project to the Imperial Academy of Sciences proposing to make 19 medals that would celebrate in a pure neo-classical style the progress of the allied forces against Napoleon, once the Russian army -and winter- had mortally struck the Grande Armée in 1812. The designs were to follow his earlier medal that proved to be a real success - Родомысл девятого на десять века, showing Alexander I as Rodomysl, a god of the ancient Slavs.
The Academy of Sciences' board unanimously approved the presented proposal. It also agreed to fund the publication of engraved designs meanwhile Count Tolstoy was preparing wax casts for the medals. Two years later the present book was published in three variants: with text in Russian, French and German. The plates were engraved by one of the best graphic artists and engravers of the time – Nikolay Utkin (1780 - 1863).
Tolstoy's wax casts were finished only by 1836 (now in the Russian Museum), and became quickly popular: they can be admired nowadays in the Winter Palace as large stucco decorations on the walls of a special room dedicated to them; they are also used on some prestigious vases, one of which is in the Hermitage Museum, another one in the Literature Museum of Pushkin House in St. Petersburg.
Octavo (26 x 21 cm). 46 pp., 20 engraved plates by N. Utkin after F. Tolstoy, uncut. Publisher's blue printed wrappers; spine slightly chipped.
Obolyaninov 2551; Vereshchagin 865 ("Rare"); Mezhdunarodnaya kniga 909; Rovinskiy, Slovar' russkikh graverov II, 1064.
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