Alexander
Alexeyevich Yakovlev, Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod, was Alexander
Herzen’s uncle. Herzen wrote about his relative in his book “My Past and
Thoughts”,
Portrait of Alexander Yakovlev
Creation period
the early 19th century
Place of сreation
the Russian Empire
Dimensions
69,5x57,5 cm
Technique
oil, canvas
Exhibition
0
Open in app#1
#2
He had received a sound education… was very well read… served in some mission, and returning to St. Petersburg was made Procurator of the Synod.
#3
Alexander Yakovlev descended from an ancient boyar family. According to Pyotr Znamensky, professor of the Kazan Theological Academy, Alexander Yakovlev was “a very businesslike person, an ardent advocate of legality and state interest, like… Shakhovskoy (Chief Procurator under Empress Elizabeth)… experienced and zealous.”
For a long time, Alexander Yakovlev remained a bachelor. He did not legitimate his children with a foreign noblewoman Xenia. All of them had the family name Zakharin. One of his daughters, Natalya Alexandrovna, married Alexander Herzen. At the end of his life, Alexander Yakovlev married Olympias Zotova for their son Alexey to be recognized as a lawful heir. Alexey Yakovlev was Alexander Herzen’s cousin. He was nicknamed the Chemist.
#4
He lived in a way that was very much his own. In his big house on Tverskoy Boulevard he used one tiny room for himself and one as a laboratory. His old mother occupied another little room on the other side of the corridor; the rest of the house was neglected… In his terribly overheated study, the Chemist, in a soiled dressing-gown lined with squirrel fur, was invariably sitting, surrounded by piles of books, and rows of phials, retorts, crucibles, and other apparatus…
#5
The Chemist remained a sworn bachelor. He shared his thoughts with Alexander Herzen,
#6
In a normal condition a man can never determine on such a terrible step [as a marriage]. Two or three very good matches have been proposed to me, but when I imagine a woman taking up her abode in my room, setting everything in order according to her ideas, perhaps forbidding me to smoke my tobacco, making a fuss and an upset, I am so frightened that I prefer to die in solitude.
#7
In
“Woe from Wit” by Alexander Griboyedov, Princess Tugoukhovskaya mentioned an
odd young man, who ”… shuns rank and women. Why, he even runs from me! A
chemist and a botanist. What could be odder? My nephew, that Prince Fyodor.”
This character was inspired by Alexey Alexandrovich Yakovlev known all over
Moscow for his eccentricity.
#9
Portrait of Alexander Yakovlev
#8
Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
read morehide
00:00
00:00
1x
Portrait of Alexander Yakovlev
Creation period
the early 19th century
Place of сreation
the Russian Empire
Dimensions
69,5x57,5 cm
Technique
oil, canvas
Exhibition
0
Point your smartphone camera to open in the appOpen in app
Share
