Dmitry Mikhailovich Strukov (Russian: Дмитрий Михайлович Струков; 1828,

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

- 1899, Moscow) was a Russian painter, art restorer and

archaeologist Archaeology or archeology is the study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of Artifact (archaeology), artifacts, architecture, biofact (archaeology), biofacts or ecofacts, ...

Biography

His father was a tailor. In the 1830s, during the cholera pandemic, the family moved about; first to

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

, then

Verkhoturye Verkhoturye () is a historical town and the administrative center of Verkhotursky District of Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located in the middle Ural Mountains on the left bank of the Tura River north of Yekaterinburg. Population: 7,815 ( ...

and, finally,

Nizhny Tagil Nizhny Tagil ( rus, Нижний Тагил, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj tɐˈgʲil) is a classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located east of the Boundaries between the continents#Asia and Europe, boundary ...

. When they returned to Moscow in 1840, he was enrolled at the Stroganov School for Technical Drawing.Brief biography
@ Vitebsk Encyclopedia. Four years later, he produced his first professional works; an

iconostasis In Eastern Christianity, an iconostasis () is a wall of icons and religious paintings, separating the nave from the sanctuary in a Church (building), church. ''Iconostasis'' also refers to a portable icon stand that can be placed anywhere withi ...

and a portrait for the mayor of

Lyubertsy Lyubertsy (, ) is a city and the administrative center of Lyuberetsky District in Moscow Oblast, Russia. Demographics Population: History It was first mentioned in 1621 and was granted town status in 1925. It is sometimes described as a wo ...

. In 1849, he helped establish the icon painting school at the

Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius () is a lavra and the most important Russian monastery, being the spiritual centre of the Russian Orthodox Church. The monastery is situated in the town of Sergiyev Posad, about to the northeast from Moscow ...

. That same year, he compiled a guide to Moscow's Orthodox shrines. The following year, the Rector of Sarov Monastery commissioned him to draw the monuments there and at the Diveyevo Monastery. After that, he travelled almost constantly, sketching historical sites in Nizhny Novgorod,

Vladimir Vladimir (, , pre-1918 orthography: ) is a masculine given name of Slavic origin, widespread throughout all Slavic nations in different forms and spellings. The earliest record of a person with the name is Vladimir of Bulgaria (). Etymology ...

Murom Murom (, ) is a historical types of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Vladimir Oblast, Russia, which sprawls along the west bank of the Oka River. It borders Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and is situated from the administrative center Vladimir, ...

, the Caucasus and Crimea. In 1853, he was named an "Artist" for watercolors by the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Imperial Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the Imperial Moscow University, under the name ''Academy of th ...

. His copy of an ancient icon at Grebnevskoy Church was presented to Tsar Nicholas I, who awarded him a diamond ring and free access to antiquities in every monastery and church. In 1858, he began publishing a magazine, ''Школа рисования'' (Drawing School), containing lessons on drawing

historiated initial In a written or published work, an initial is a letter at the beginning of a word, a chapter, or a paragraph that is larger than the rest of the text. The word is ultimately derived from the Latin ''initiālis'', which means ''of the beginning ...

s and miniature vignettes, as well as essays on Russian art in general. He was forced to discontinue publication in 1863, and was left in debt for 25 years. In 1859, he was invited to the

Kremlin Armoury The Kremlin ArmouryOfficially called the "Armoury Chamber" but also known as the cannon yard, the "Armoury Palace", the "Moscow Armoury", the "Armoury Museum", and the "Moscow Armoury Museum" but different from the Kremlin Arsenal. () is one of ...

to copy the monuments and decorations and assist in their restoration. Later, he became the artist-in-residence there. In 1860, he helped catalog the collection of Christian antiquities belonging to the archaeologist , to prepare them for donation to the

Rumyantsev Museum The Rumyantsev Museum evolved from the personal library and historical collection of Count Nikolay Rumyantsev (1754–1826). Its origin was in St. Petersburg in the Rumyantsev house or mansion, building number 44 on the English Embankment overlo ...

. To help defray his debts, he also served as a teacher at several Moscow schools. This experience allowed him to develop a special method to teach drawing quickly; which he demonstrated by teaching 200 soldiers from the Pernovsky Regiment. In 1864, the Governor-General of Vilnius,

Mikhail Muravyov-Vilensky Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov (; 12 October 1796 in Moscow – 12 September 1866 in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian imperial statesman of the 19th century, most known for brutally putting down of Polish and Lithuanian uprisings and leading s ...

, invited him to tour the

Northwestern Krai Northwestern Krai () was a ''krai'' of the Russian Empire (unofficial subdivision) in the territories of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (present-day Belarus and Lithuania). The administrative center was in Vilna (now Vilnius). Northwestern ...

to research ancient monuments that were damaged or nearly destroyed by the recent

January Uprising The January Uprising was an insurrection principally in Russia's Kingdom of Poland that was aimed at putting an end to Russian occupation of part of Poland and regaining independence. It began on 22 January 1863 and continued until the last i ...

. Many of these monuments are now known only through the medium of Strukov's watercolors. Five years later, he encouraged the "" to initiate a program that would identify icons in need of restoration. Over 300 were eventually saved. In 1873, he opened an icon painting school in a house donated by a prominent merchant and gave the works that were produced to poor rural churches. His later notable restoration projects included ones at

Saint Basil's Cathedral The Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed (), known in English as Saint Basil's Cathedral, is an Orthodox church in Red Square of Moscow, and is one of the most popular cultural symbols of Russia. The building, now a museum, is officially known as ...

and the

Ivan the Great Bell Tower The Ivan the Great Bell Tower () is a church tower inside the Moscow Kremlin complex. With a total height of , it is the tallest tower and structure of the Kremlin. It was built in 1508 on Cathedral Square for the three Russian Orthodox cathed ...

. He also made numerous trips to Crimea and the Caucasus on behalf of the Imperial Russian Archaeological Society. In 1888, he discovered the "" (named after the nearby Bolshoy Zelenchuk River); a tenth-century inscription on a tombstone made in an alphabet based on the

Greek script The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It was derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and is the earliest known alphabetic script to systematically write vowels as w ...

that is the earliest known example of the

Ossetian language Ossetian ( , , ), commonly referred to as Ossetic and rarely as Ossete, is an Eastern Iranian language that is spoken predominantly in Ossetia, a region situated on both sides of the Russian-Georgian border in the Greater Caucasus region. ...

. During his later years, he operated a workshop that produced icons and church plate in the old styles. He was a recipient of the Order of St. Anna, the Order of St. Stanislaus and the Order of St. Vladimir.

References

External links

Some notes about his work in Crimea and the Caucasus
@ Heritage SAI.
"What Strukov Saw in Latvia"
@ Pravoslavie (Latvian Orthodox Church website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Strukov, Dmitry 1828 births 1899 deaths 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters Russian watercolorists Russian icon painters Archaeologists from Moscow Recipients of the Order of St. Anna Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (House of Romanov) Recipients of the Order of St. Vladimir Painters from Moscow Stroganov Moscow State Academy of Arts and Industry alumni

Biography

References

Further reading

External links