Mark Antokolsky (1843–1902) is one of the most original Russian sculptors of the XIX century. He was born in a poor family of an innkeeper, who considered the boy’s artistic inclinations pointless. “I was an unloved child, and I got it from everyone…”, the artist recalled. Only a happy accident helped him break out of his native Vilno (now Vilnius) and become a non-degree student at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. One of his works, a wood-carved reproduction of the painting Christ and the Virgin by Van Dyck, caught the eye of the local Governor-General’s wife. She helped the young man move to Saint Petersburg.

Later, motifs from the Russian history brought Antokolsky true glory. In particular, the statue of Ivan the Terrible that he created in 1870. According to the sculptor, he depicted the Russian Tsar as a tormentor and a martyr. The work was a tremendous success and, in art historians’ view, paved new ways for the Russian sculpture development.

In 1871, Antokolsky went to Rome and created there another oeuvre, which became paradigmatic. This was the statue of Peter I, meant by the sculptor as a demonstration of two completely opposite features of the Russian history.

The bust from the collection of the Dagestan Museum of Fine Arts has similar features. This work is one of the sketch versions of the statue of Mephistopheles, who sits on a rock like a bird of prey. It was conceived by the sculptor as an antithesis to the ideal image of Christ. Working on his Mephistopheles, Antokolsky intentionally accentuated the angular, sharp forms of the character’s face, emphasizing his psychologically nuanced nature and ambiguity.