Fyodor Antonovich Bruni

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Fidelio Bruni, self-portrait from 1810 (oil on canvas)

Fjodor Antonowitsch Bruni , origin. Fidelio Bruni (Russian Фёдор (Фиделио) Антонович Бруни;. * 10. June 1799 in Milan ; † August 30 . Jul / 11. September  1875 greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was a Russian painter , graphic designer and artist of Italian descent.

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Fidelio Bruni was the son of Antonio Brunis (1767-1825), an Italian painter and sculptor . In 1807, at the age of eight, he moved to St. Petersburg with his family, where his father Antonio Bruni settled down as Anton Ossipowitsch Bruni (Russian Анто́н О́сипович Бру́ни) and worked until his death.

Fidelio, now Fyodor Bruni said, was highly talented and visited with ten years already the Imperial Academy of Arts (also St. Petersburg Academy of Art ), where in the studios of Alexei Jegorowitsch Yegorov (Алексей Егорович Егоров) and Vasily Kuzmich Schebujew (Василий Кузьмич Шебуев) he learned and took his final exam in 1818.

From 1820 to 1836 he stayed in Italy at the invitation of Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya. Several works such as “The Death of Camilla, Horatio's Sister ” (1820), “Princess Zinaida Wolkonskaja in a Tankred Costume” (1820–1822), “Bacchante gives Amor Wine” (1828) and “Madonna and Child” (1835 ) were created during this time. Despite the possibility of turning to romantic painting, which he mastered and partially processed in his pictures, he remained true to classicism and made both his own work and commissioned copies of famous Italian frescoes (such as that of Raffaello Santi in the Vatican ).

After his return he became a full professor at the Petersburg Academy of Art together with Karl Brüllow, who was the same age (Russian Карл Па́влович Брюлло́в, 1799-1852).

Christ's head with a crown of thorns, Indian ink on China paper

In 1837 he painted " Alexander Pushkin in a coffin", which was well known for its lithographic prints. In 1838 Bruni returned to Italy again to complete his monumental work (5.65 m × 8.52 m), the " Brazen Snake " (Russian Медный Змей), a biblical motif, and in 1841 to bring it to Petersburg, where it was bought by the Hermitage .

Despite his great ability to create large, multi-figure, complex, detailed and expressive paintings, his classical conception of art became outdated. First he received orders such as the design and supervision of the frescoes in the Isaac's Cathedral (Isaakiewskij Sobor) in St. Petersburg, which he completed in 1845. In 1855 Bruni became rector of the Russian Art Academy. As a result of his teaching activity, his painting activity decreased. His adherence to strictly academic principles and ideas ( academism ) distanced him from his students and enlightened- democratic colleagues, so that in 1871 he gave up his position as rector and retired to his estate, where he died in complete seclusion in 1875.

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SURNAME Bruni, Fyodor Antonovich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bruni, Fidelio; Bruni, Fidelio Antonowitsch; Бру́ни, Фё́дор Анто́нович; Бру́ни, Фиде́лио Анто́нович
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian-Italian painter, graphic artist and draftsman
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1799
PLACE OF BIRTH Milan
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 1875
Place of death St. Petersburg