Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy was a medalist, sculptor, painter, draftsman, and major social figure. He was a direct descendant of the famous diplomat of the Peter the Great era Peter Andreyevich Tolstoy, who belonged to an old and renowned noble family. The famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy was Fyodor Tolstoy’s first cousin once removed, and another Russian writer Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was his nephew.
Count Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy was born in 1783 in Saint Petersburg. He was expected to join the military, but fate in the face of Apollo, patron of the arts, predetermined his career in art.
At the age of 19, Fyodor Tolstoy began to attend classes at the Academy of Arts as a non-matriculated student, where he studied sculpture under Professor Ivan Prokofyevich Prokofyev. He also studied drawing and became friends with Orest Adamovich Kiprensky, who gave him some valuable advice. Tolstoy wrote in his book called “Notes”: “I owe my rapid progress in the plaster class, which everyone at the Academy was so surprised about, to him and his generous instructions.”
The subject of the bas-relief “Hermes Leading the Suitors’ Shades to Hades” is the transition of the disembodied souls of the suitors to the underworld.
The foreground on the left shows the souls of the great Achilleus and King Agamemnon standing on the shore. They are the first to meet the suitors’ shades. Among them, Agamemnon recognized the soul of Amphimedon, and they started talking. Amphimedon’s shade told Agamemnon about how they wooed Penelope, thinking that Odysseus would not return, but Penelope remained faithful to Odysseus all along and refused the idea of entering a new marriage. In the end, when Odysseus returned, he exacted terrible vengeance on them for the havoc they brought into his house.
The three main figures — Hermes, Achilleus and Agamemnon — are shown in high relief.
The stone vault of the arch divides the foreground and middle ground of the composition. The figure of Hermes is skillfully placed between them. Behind Hermes are the ethereal figures of the suitors. Despite this group’s being shown in low relief, the sculptor still managed to vividly express the men’s despair and remorse.
The depths of the composition reveal boats pulling in on the opposite shore. In order to enhance the impression of the riverbank being far away, Tolstoy greatly reduced the size of the people and placed them against a landscape background.
