Alexey Petrovich Bogolyubov. Half a century in the service of the Naval Ministry

Abstract

The purpose of the study, carried out on the basis of numerous unpublished documents, is to present the various useful activities of Alexei Petrovich Bogolyubov, a painter and an Actual State Councilor in the Naval Ministry. A.P. Bogolyubov began his service as a midshipman on January 8, 1841, and worked actively in the Naval Ministry for about 55 years. More than 90 documents from various funds were found in the Russian Archives of the Navy, including the artist’s autographs. The recently discovered album of original drawings made by the artist in 1862 and 1864 is of greatest value.
Professor of marine painting, a member of the Council of the Imperial Academy of Arts, A.P. Bogolyubov trained talented apprentice artists who continued his work at the Naval Ministry and brought fame to Russia at numerous international art exhibitions. He performed important practical work (visual drawings of the shores, entrances to the ports and skerry-type channels) and for many decades made it safe for the sailors to navigate through the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland; he created the Art Museum named after Radishchev and the Art and Craft School in Saratov; by the order of the emperors Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III, Bogolyubov painted about a hundred of marine battle scenes covering the history of the Russian Fleet from its origin under Peter the Great up to the visit of the Russian squadron to Cherbourg in 1896. New archival documents testify to all the glorious deeds of A.P. Bogolyubov.