An Artist I Know

Alexander Ivanov was born in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1806. His father Andrei Ivanov, was the professor of Historic Paintings at the academy where he would soon attend in 1817. He joined the academy as an external pupil and continued to live at home unlike all of the other students he went to school with. He had his first success with the picture *Priam Begging Achilles for the Body of Hector* (1824, TG). The subject is taken from Homer's Iliad and the picture, which was painted when Ivanov was eighteen, won him a gold medal(artroots.com). Many of his most famous paintings are biblically based, but the majority of them focus on more personal issues including his feelings of tyranny and opression. In the spring of 1830, having completed a small work entitled *Bellerophon Sets Out on a Campaign against Chimaera*, Ivanov finally was given an opportunity to travel to Italy at the expense of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists(artroots.com). During his stay in italy he focused most of his learning on the Classical and Renaissance based art. He also had a strong belief that art could transform a man spiritually. He also believed very much in the nature of his artwork;He always wanted everything to fit and contrast perfectly. He died abruptly in July 1858 due to cholera.