Disciple N. Pimenov in the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1866 his bas-relief ""Penelope and her suitors"" I delivered him a gold medal along with the title of class artist 1-th degree and the right to a six-year stay abroad as a pensioner of the Academy. Visited Berlin, Vienna, Venice, Naples and settled in Rome. During their stay in foreign lands sang, among other things, the statue ""Girl-yoke"", ""beggars Group gugar"" and "figure"the Fisherman of the Neapolitan, who plays the mandolin"". The first and third of these works were on the academic exhibition in 1872, For them, Popov received the title of academician and a cash prize of 2000 rubles; in addition, in attention to his talent, he continued a pensioner's content for another two years. In 1876 they were fashioned a statue of the ""phryne before the people's court"", soon carved out of marble and brought the artist the title of Professor. Upon returning to St. Petersburg in 1878, he performed a statue of "Cleopatra" in 1881, fashioned a few busts, which was assumed to surround the monument to Catherine II in Catherine square (St. Petersburg) in 1882 went again abroad to statues of marble bust of Emperor Alexander II for the production in the building of the Moscow court statutes, and then did other less important works. Of the most successful of his works, in addition to the above, we can point to the busts ""Crying boy" and" Laughing girl"", the colossal statue of Emperor Alexander II, the characteristic head of a Negro and a portrait bust of Prince S. Obolensky.
