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Mephistopheles

Creation period
Second half of the 1870s
Dimensions
60х25,7х23,3 см cm
Technique
Marble
1
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#1
Mark Antokolsky
Mephistopheles
#2
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.
#3
M. Antokolsky. Ivan the Terrible. 1870. Source: State Tretyakov Gallery
Alexander II was greatly impressed by the statue; he purchased it to make a part of the Hermitage collection, for an incredible for that time sum of 8 thousand roubles (for comparison, an officer’s full-length uniform costed about 70 roubles). When the Academy of Arts, which had been ignoring Antokolsky, realized that the Emperor was delighted by his work, they bypassed the formal rules and granted him the title of Academician.
#4
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 seventies became a milestone in the work of the master: he began to reflect on good and evil, on the calling of the artist. It was during this period that the image of Mephistopheles appeared in his artwork.  The seventies became a milestone in the work of the master: he began to reflect on good and evil, on the calling of the artist. It was during this period that the image of Mephistopheles appeared in his artwork. At first, Antokolsky portrayed him in accordance with the prototype from literature, but he shortly diverged from the interpretation proposed by Goethe: ‘Part of that Power…Which always wills the Evil, and always works the Good.’ The Spirit of Doubt in the sculptor’s works became the embodiment of insatiable, infinite malice. 
#6
“He is spiritually powerless”, 
— wrote Antokolsky.
#8
M. Antokolsky. Mephistopheles. 1883. Source: State Tretyakov Gallery
Initially, the sculptor even named his most famous marble statue of Mephistopheles The XIX Century, linking this image with the era. However, he later abandoned this idea. The statue is exhibited at the State Russian Museum.
#7
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.
#9
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Mephistopheles

Creation period
Second half of the 1870s
Dimensions
60х25,7х23,3 см cm
Technique
Marble
1
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To see AR mode in action:
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  5. Watch what happens on your phone screen whilst you flip through the pictures.
 
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