Classicism
return from foreign parts, this son of a simple composer received, owing to his achievements and genteel manners, the highest honours an artist could possibly be granted at that time. He held the office of director of the Tapestry Manufactory, gave lessons to the sons of the crown-prince, and finally, in 1796, was elected director of the Academy.
"Akimov was an intelligent artist," says Ugryumov's biographer, in 1824, "but his manner of execution could not be instructive for the young artists. A man had to come who would call their attention to true beauty, and who, in his own creations, would set an example worthy of imitation." Such an example for the young appeared in the person of Ugryumov, the teacher of Yegorov and Shebuyev, who in their turn taught Kiprensky and Bryullov. Ugryumov was, indeed, a more definite representative of the new tendencies. Baroco art held no temptations for him. He devoted himself wholly to the imitation of the ancient works of art, the Farnese Hercules being his chief favourite. Few of his works have reached us, but his best painting—"Yan Usmovich"—in the Academy of Art—and several drawings of his are characteristic examples of his striving to approach the ancients in power and grandeur. It seems, however, that Ugryumov was no soulless, routine academicist. Those of his portraits—he
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