2 Color Prints 18th century by Russian Master Skorodumov after Angelica Kaufman ^Sale

Gavriil Ivanovich Skorodumov (1755 - 1792) - was a Russian engraver, draftsman, and painter, best known for his stipple prints. These two color prints are based on the works “Justice and Temperance” by Swiss neoclassical painter Angelica Kaufman. Skorodumov had an active career that spanned three decades, and was regarded as the first Russian-born artist to gain international acclaim. He was losely associated with the Florentine draftsman and engraver Francesco Bartolozzi.
Size app.: 30.5 cm (roughly 12 in) diameter, frame is 36 cm (roughly 14.2 in). In average condition with major age wear such burnout in the light and little losses to edges, cracks and retouches to frame. Please study good resolution images for cosmetic condition. In person actual painting may appear darker or brighter than in our pictures, strictly depending on sufficient light in your environment. Weight of app. 2.5 kg is going to measure 4 kg packed for shipment.
Skorodumov was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied painting and engraving with Grigoriy Srebrenitsky, Johann Stenglin and Anton Losenko. In 1772, he graduated with a large gold medal for his engraving, Lot with His Daughters, after a painting by Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée. The medal came with a grant for travelling abroad. The following year, he and Mikhail Belsky, another grant recipient, went to London together. He studied in the workshop of the famous engraver, Francesco Bartolozzi, where he learned engraving techniques that were not in use in Russia (stippling and the "crayon manner"). Before he had finished his studies, he was already taking orders from local publishers, reproducing works by Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West. He established his fame with 24 engravings based on works by Angelica Kaufman, an especially fashionable artist. Although he was supposed to leave England in 1776, he continued to put off his return to Russia for as long as possible. He finally yielded in 1782, when he heard that Empress Catherine admired his work and would "give him a thousand two hundred rubles and a thousand for the trip, if only he promised not to be lazy". Upon his arrival in St. Petersburg, she named him Court Engraver and caretaker of engravings at the Hermitage Museum. During the last few years of his life, he managed to produce some engravings and portrait miniatures. In 1791, he began work on an album, with twelve scenes of St. Petersburg, that was never completed. On the day of his death, he was the guest of a merchant named Strunnikov. After dinner, he laid down on some damp grass to take a nap. By evening, he had become deranged, and was dead before morning, aged only thirty-seven.