Mikhail Kozlovsky

Mikhail Ivanovich Kozlovsky (6 November 1753 – 30 September 1802) was a Russian Neoclassical sculptor active during the Age of Enlightenment.
Beginning his training at the Imperial Academy of Arts with Anton Losenko in 1764, he went to Rome in 1774 and then to Paris in 1779. Although his early works harked back to the Baroque sensibility, Kozlovsky eventually succeeded in adapting his manner to Neoclassical monumentality. In 1788, he returned to Paris with the task of superintending Russian students abroad. He was appointed a professor at the Academy of Arts in 1794 and instructed young sculptors in St Petersburg until his death.
Among his classicizing works was the awesome gilt bronze statue of Samson Rending the Lion's Jaws (1800–02), a central piece of the Grand Cascade at Peterhof Palace, symbolizing Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War. After it was looted by the invading Germans, a replacement statue was installed in 1947. Another masterpiece is the expressive bronze sculpture of Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov in the guise of youthful Mars (illustrated, to the right). It was unveiled in the Field of Mars (Saint Petersburg) a year before the sculptor's death.