Presidential Library marks anniversary of sculptor Peter Klodt

June 5, 2025 marks the 220th anniversary of the birth of Peter Karlovich Klodt, the author of the famous sculptures on the Anichkov Bridge, the chariot of Glory adorning the Narva Triumphal Gate, the monument to Nicholas I on St. Isaac's Square in St. Petersburg and other monumental works of art.

Born in St. Petersburg, into a family renowned for military prowess (General Karl Fyodorovich Klodt was immortalized in a portrait in the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace for his fearlessness and loyalty), Peter Klodt spent his childhood in Omsk, where his father served. From an early age, the boy was fond of drawing, modeling and carving on wood, especially the figures of horses. However, family traditions required Peter to become a military man. This was also the dream of his father, who received a high military rank in 1817 – the decree on conferring the rank of Major General to Baron Karl Klodt von Jurgensburg, signed personally by Emperor Alexander I, is stored in the Presidential Library fund.

While studying at the Artillery School in St. Petersburg, young man picked up a pencil or penknife at the slightest opportunity. Drawing and carving the figures of horses from various angles and poses, he carefully studied every muscle, every movement of these graceful animals. Soon, the wooden figures of the self-taught sculptor were noticed first by the writers who gathered at the house of Nikolai Grech, his cousin, then by Grand Dukes Mikhail Nikolaevich and Nikolai Nikolaevich, and finally by the emperor himself. After graduating from high school, after serving only a year, Klodt retired to devote himself entirely to art. For two years he studied independently, working from nature and copying works of ancient and modern plastic art, and in 1829 he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts as a free student, where he became a student of the head of the Foundry House of the Academy, Professor Vasily Ekimov.

Soon Klodt took part in the creation of the Narva Triumphal Gate erected in memory of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812. This was the first large-scale monumental and decorative work of the young master, which deserved high praise – the sculptor received the title of "appointed to academicians", as well as an apartment at the Academy of Arts and a large workshop. This is reported on the website of the Presidential Library in the section On this Day. In the collections of the institution, the archive file of 1836 about the highest prohibition "for private craftsmen to cast or repeat the artistic works of Baron Klot" is presented.

The ensemble "Horse Tamers" for the Anichkov Bridge brought European fame to Peter Klodt. When the first sculpture group was finished in full size and prepared for bronze, the teacher and employee of Klodt, the foundry worker Ekimov, died. Peter himself had to take up the casting of his work, and from 1838 he headed the foundry of the Academy of Arts. In November 1841, two bronze sculptural groups made by Klodt appeared on the western abutments of the Anichkov Bridge. Plaster replicas of them, painted in bronze, were placed on the eastern abutments.

However, soon, the sculptures were sent as a gift to the Prussian king by order of Nicholas I, and four years later the newly cast horses were presented to the King of Sicily. This is reported by the encyclopedic dictionary of F. A. Brockhaus and I. A. Efron (1890-1907). Copies of "Horse Tamers" were installed in Peterhof, Strelna, in the Stable Yard of the Kuzminki estate near Moscow. Klodt decided not to make any more copies, and in 1850 bronze statues were installed on the Anichkov Bridge, cast according to new models. As a result, a composition of four different sculptural groups was formed, representing a detailed dramatic series in which the story of the conquest of a horse by a person consistently developed. The master's idea was based on the theme of man's victory over the elemental power of nature, the image of a rebellious force tamed by reason.

In the late 1840s, Klodt executed a 70-meter sculptural relief on the theme "Horse in the service of man", decorating the service building of the Marble Palace with it. On the relief were depicted hunting and road paintings, fighting battles of horsemen, horse processions.

Klodt's last major work was the equestrian monument to Emperor Nicholas I on St. Isaac's Square, completed in 1859. The sculpture has only two points of support without any artificial support, which is a rare engineering solution in the history of monumental sculpture.

Baron Peter Klodt, sculptor and foundry master, the largest representative of monumental animal sculpture in Russia of the XIX century, died on November 20, 1867.

His farewell work was a horse cut out of a playing card for his beloved granddaughter.