Mikhail Vladimirovich Alpatov (russian: Михаил Владимирович Алпатов; 10 December 1902 – 9 May 1986) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

historian and

art theorist Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

, notable for his contribution to the history of the

culture of ancient Rus The culture of ancient Rus' can be divided into different historical periods of the Middle Ages. During the Kievan period (989–), the principalities of Kievan Rus’ came under the sphere of influence of the Byzantine Empire, one of the most ...

Biography

Alpatov graduated from

Moscow State University M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU; russian: Московский государственный университет имени М. В. Ломоносова) is a public research university in Moscow, Russia and the most prestigious ...

, where he studied the history of arts from 1919 and 1921. Subsequently, he worked at the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, and, from 1923 to 1930, in the Institute of Archeology and Art History of the Academy of Sciences. In 1943 he became a professor at the Surikov State Institute of Arts, also in Moscow. In 1954, he became a member of the USSR Academy of Art. He died in 1986.

Work

Beginning in the 1920s, Alpatov was primarily engaged in researching the culture and art of the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantin ...

and of ancient Rus. Later, he also turned to the Renaissance, and to the general theory of culture. He advocated that art history is a reflection of history itself, a kind of "applied history". He discovered deep connections between old Russian art, in particular,

Andrei Rublev Andrei Rublev ( rus, Андре́й Рублёв, p=ɐnˈdrʲej rʊˈblʲɵf , also transliterated as ''Andrey Rublyov'') was a Muscovite icon painter born in the 1360s who died between 1427 and 1430 in Moscow. He is considered to be one of the ...

, and Byzantine and Greek art.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpatov, Mikhail 1902 births 1986 deaths 20th-century Russian historians 20th-century Russian male writers Writers from Moscow Full Members of the USSR Academy of Arts Members of the Austrian Academy of Sciences Moscow State University alumni Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the USSR State Prize Russian art historians Russian educators Russian male writers Soviet art historians Soviet educators Soviet male writers Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery