SHUBIN, Fedot Ivanovich

Russian sculptor. He came from peasant stock and in his youth he produced bone carvings. In 1759 he went to St Petersburg, first serving as a stoker at the Tsar’s court, and then (1761-67) studying at the Academy of Arts, where he worked under Nicolas-François Gillet. Between 1767 and 1773 he worked in Paris and Rome on a grant from the Academy of Arts, also visiting London. During these years he produced a portrait bust of the Empress Catherine II (marble, 1771; London, Victoria and Albert Museum); and on his return to St Petersburg in 1773 he continued with such work, creating a portrait gallery of contemporary men and women, usually from aristocratic circles. Examples include the portrait busts of Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaysky (marble, 1778), Grigory Aleksandrovich Potyomkin, Count of Tauris (1791), Aleksandr Andreyevich Bezborodko (1799) and the Tsar Paul I (1800; marble or bronze, St Petersburg, Russian Museum).

While following an established formula and showing the sitters with the same self-confident smile, these works succeed in stressing individuality through attention to details of both dress and physiognomy. They are also remarkable for their technical perfection; and Shubin has frequently been compared to the French sculptor, Jean-Antoine Houdon.