The Eighteenth Century
and delicate technique. But who was Shebanov? We have only two authentic works by him: the portrait just mentioned and another masterpiece, the portrait of Catherine in a fur hat (the original is in the Kamennoostrov Palace). Shebanov appears on the horizon of Russian art like a fantastic meteor. It is certain that he was Prince Potyomkin's serf; it is supposed further that he was a student at the Academy, and, finally, we are told that it was in Kiev that he painted the portraits of Catherine and her favourite, Mamonov. Despite the success of these works, the name of the artist does not occur again in the annals of art.
Only three portraits are left from the work of Drozhzhin, Levitzky's disciple. Of these, one having the character of a self-portrait (in the Tretyakov Gallery) is especially good. The other two are also noteworthy: one is a curious family group (portrait of Antropov with wife and son, in the hall of the Council of the Academy of Arts); the other is an elegant portrait of the handsome dandy, Maltitz (ibid.). In addition to these there are known only a few icons of his, which are mediocre copies from famous originals. Fate has been even less favourable to Miropolsky (1759–1828), and Komezhenkov (born in 1760). Of the works of the first, only two portraits—that of the painter Kozlov, in the Academy, and that of Prince Vyazemsky, in the
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