Gilt-bronze figure of Rodopa

Nikolai Akimovich Laveretskii (1837-1907) studied in St. Petersburg in the sculptural classes of I.P. Vitali, P.K. Klodt and N.S. Pimenov. In 1860-63 he worked on the monument to the millenium of Russia after which he made extensive tours in Western Europe. He returned to Russia in 1870 where he continued to teach being named professor of sculpture in 1883.
A version of the present statue is illustrated in F.I. Bulgakov Our artists, St. Petersburg, 1890, vol.II, p.3, entitled 'Rodopa', a slave in Aesop's Fables, cast in bronze in 1882 and exhibited in the All-Russia exhibition in Moscow that year.