DEMUT-MALINOVSKY, Vasily Ivanovich

Russian sculptor. He was the son of a carver and studied at the Academy of Arts from 1785 to 1800, where he very soon distinguished himself. In 1800 he produced the bronze low-relief Battle at Gangut for the base of Bartolommeo Carlo Rastrelli’s monument to Peter I, placed in front of the Mikhaylovsky Castle in St Petersburg (in situ). In 1802-03 he executed the tombstone for Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky (marble; St Petersburg, Sculpture Museum). Between 1803 and 1806 he worked in Rome under Antonio Canova. Success came to him with two colossal statues for the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg.

In the aftermath of the Russian victory over Napoleon, Demuth-Malinovsky executed a number of patriotic pieces, including a tomb and a large statue of Barclay de Tolly in Estonia. Later Alexander I assigned to him the task of preparing bas-reliefs symbolizing the Neva and the Volga for the Alexander Column on Palace Square.

Demuth-Malinovsky also designed statuary and decorations for other St Petersburg churches, palaces, and public monuments, especially those designed by Carlo Rossi: the General Staff Building, the Bourse, the Admiralty, the Mining Institute, the Egyptian Gate, the Narva Gate, and the Mikhailovsky Palace.