Alexey Bogolyubov in the naval service, 1841–1853

Abstract

The article considers the period of the making of A.P. Bogolyubov as a painter. After graduating from the Naval Cadet Corps, A.P. Bogolyubov begins his service in the Navy; simultaneously he gets increasingly interested in drawing. For a young officer, it was just a hobby at first; but in 1849, on board the steam frigate Kamchatka, en route from Kronstadt to Madeira, there happened A.P. Bogolyubov’s fateful meeting with Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg, President of the Academy of Arts. The Duke praised Bogolyubov’s works and gave him a recommendation to become a professional artist. From that moment on, A.P. Bogolyubov definitely decided to take a new path for himself. He entered the Academy of Arts in 1850, and then, in 1853, left the service in the Navy. Impressed by the naval service, the artist made up his mind to choose subsequently marine painting. On September 24, 1853, the Council of the Imperial Academy of Arts decided to award a large gold medal to Bogolyubov, and that allowed him to do what he really loved. Based on the archival documents, the article describes the key events in the biography of A.P. Bogolyubov; those events made it possible for the artist to leave the naval service and devote himself to art.