Matvey
Afanasievich Chizhov

[10(22).11.1838, der. Pounds, now the Moscow region, — 28.5(10.6).1916, Petrograd], Russian sculptor. Studied at the Stroganov art-industrial school in Moscow (1856-57), the Moscow school of painting, sculpture and architecture (1857-60), St. Petersburg Academy of arts (1860-67).. S. Pimenov and P. K. Klodt, member of the Academy of arts (1893). He taught at the Central school of technical drawing of Baron Stieglitz in St. Petersburg (1879-1910). Works H ["Farmer in trouble" (bronze, 1872, Russian Museum, Leningrad; marble, 1873, Tretyakov gallery, Moscow), "Mother teaches her daughter the native word" (gypsum, 1873, Russian Museum, Leningrad)] on the subjects of people's life and interpretation of images close to the work of the Wanderers. The author of a number of portraits.

The son of a peasant-Mason, contained in Moscow at the German cemetery, a small workshop of tombstones, was born in 1838, in the Podolsk district, Moscow province. While still a five year old boy, made of clay with figures of animals, and from 11 years of age assisted his father in his work. At the same time he studied at the Moscow German school of St. Michael, attended the Stroganov school of technical drawing and, in addition, practiced in modeling under the guidance of a pupil of this school, Borowski. The latter recommended him to the Professor of the Moscow school of painting, sculpture and architecture N. Ramazanov and begged him to take gifted young man into the students of this institution. Thus Chizhov managed to finally get to start regular classes of sculpture. In spite of the threefold privation, in the workshop Ramazanova he quickly showed successes: in 1858, for the relief fashioned them "Fighters", the Academy awarded him a silver medal, and a year after another high relief, "Torturing the Savior", awarded him a silver medal. Then Ramazanov took his assistants to himself in the execution of works for the Moscow Church of the Savior, Chizhov and the drawings and sketches of his mentor made this Cathedral the huge high relief "Descent of Christ into hell" and in addition, for two other Moscow churches the high reliefs of the "Uspenie Bogorodichno" and "Sveti Nikolay Chudotvorets". Invited soon for the M. Mikeshin to participate in the work on the implementation of the project of the monument to the Millennium of Russia, erected in Novgorod (in this monument Chizhov executed high reliefs of "Heroes" and "Educators" and a third of relief the "State people"), Chizhov moved to St. Petersburg, where in 1863 he entered the students of the Academy of Arts. In it, he was not slow to consistently two silver medals, small and large, for sculpting from life, and a small gold medal (in 1865) for "Kievan wading, with bridle in hand, through the camp of the Pechenegs" (bronze specimen in the Museum of Emperor Alexander III in Saint-Petersburg) - the statue, which, in addition to this award, delivered the young artist a gold medal, established by Mrs. Kamensky for the best expression. Classes in the sculpture class of the Academy did not prevent him to perform in a variety of private commissions and work for Mikeshin, among other things, to make it auxiliary model of the Petersburg monument of Empress Catherine II and the fashion part of the monument is a colossal figure called Empress. After graduating from the academic course in 1867 with the title of class artist 1-th degree and with a large gold medal, received for fashioned for a given program to the high relief of "Christ raises the son of the widow from Nain" (located in the Academy and in the Museum of Emperor Alexander III), a talented sculptor went abroad as a pensioner of the Academy, visited some cities in Germany, Austria and Italy and settled in Rome, where he spent six years in incessant labor. Of the many works executed at this time, the most remarkable marble group of the "Game of hide and seek" (in the Museum of Emperor Alexander III), "First love" (the count G. Stroganoff ), "Farmer in trouble" (in the Moscow public Museum) and graceful figure of a girl moved at a log across the Creek ("Rezvushka", common in many copies (one of them, a bronze - at the Imperial Palace in Livadia). All of these works were exhibited in St. Petersburg; the first two delivered to the artist in 1873, the title of academician, and the third, in 1874, a gold medal at the Academy A. Rzhevskaya and N. Demidova as a reward for the expression, and the fourth, in 1875, the same medal name and Lebrun at Paris universal exhibition 1878, gold medal of the 3rd class. Returning to St. Petersburg in 1875, Chizhov three years after he entered a teacher of sculpture at the Central school of technical drawing Stieglitz and got a job as a sculptor-restorer at the Imperial Hermitage. Both positions he holds to this day, consisting, moreover, since 1893 a member of the Board of the Academy of Arts. Of other, unnamed above works Chizhov, on the most important point to the busts of Emperor Alexander II , executed for the Kharkiv court of justice and for the Perm Zemstvo, Prince Pyotr Georgievich of Oldenburg (Imperial law school), M. I. Glinka (in the foyer of the Mariinsky theatre in St. Petersburg), painter A. P. Bogoliubov and F. G. Gromova (in the school of Baron Stieglitz) and N.. Nekrasov (the cemetery of the Novodevichy monastery in Saint-Petersburg), the colossal statue L. G. knop , his monument in Kreenholm factory, a colossal bust of Alexander II and the decoration of the pedestal for the monument to the Emperor in Kalisz, the colossal statue of Emperor Nicholas I and 4 bas-relief for his monument in Kiev, on the monuments of Admiral P. Nakhimov in Simferopol, count M. N. Muraviev in Vilna and Empress Catherine II in Odessa, on groups of "At the well", "reading Lesson" and some others.