FIVE RUSSIAN RELIEF CAST PLASTER PLAQUES

Count Feodor Petrovich Tolstoi (1783-1873) was born in St. Petersburg and from 1804 studied at the Academy of Arts under I. P. Prokof'ev. In 1806 he started working at the Hermitage, transferring to the Mint in 1810. A sculptor, painter and engraver, Tolstoi became the leading medallist of his day, and was elected a professor at the Academy of Arts in 1842. These plaster plaques are taken from a large series of bronze medals commemorating the Russian war against Napoleon, undertaken by Tolstoi from 1814 until 1836.