Maxim
Nikiforovich Vorobiev was born into the family of a soldier, who after
he had retired became a guard in the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.
There Maxim was admitted in 1798; he studied in the architectural class
of J. B. Toma de Tomon and graduated from the Academy in 1809 as a landscape
painter.
His life was successful: in 1814 he became an academician; in 1815 he was
invited to teach in the Academy; in 1823 he became a professor, in 1843
– an honored professor. He had many pupils, among them Ivan
Aivazovsky, Alexey Bogolyubov,
L. F. Lagorio, the Tchernetsov brothers and others. Despite his intensive
teaching duties Vorobiev himself painted all his life. The artist painted
city and sea, architectural monuments, landscapes and also war episodes.
He traveled much throughout Russia and abroad. In 1813-14, he was with
Russian troops in Western Europe and brought home many European cityscapes
and landscapes. Later he executed the beautiful views of Moscow, especially
Kremlin. View of Moscow, View
from Yauza of Kremlin in Moscow. The paintings executed by
Vorobiev during his trip to the Middle East brought him fame. View
of Jerusalem. Oriental Landscape.
At the end of the 1820s the painter visited the military theatre on the
Danube. From his impressions he painted the landscapes of Bosporus and
Seashore near Varna. View of the Military
Telegraph near Varna.
Vorobiev’s pictures were very popular with the Russian public and he repeated
them for his clients. The most valuable part of his heritage is his Petersburg
landscapes, fulfilled in the 1820s-30s. A romantic painter, he managed
to see the city in his own tender and poetic way and render its changing
atmosphere and light. Moonlit Night in St.
Petersburg.
Neva Embankment
near the Academy of Arts.
Maxim Vorobiev’s works influenced many Russian painters, and among them
was Socrat Vorobiev
(1817-1888), Maxim’s adopted son. Two of his works are represented in our
gallery. By an Old Mill. Landscape
with a Cross, Lithuania.
Bibliography: Russian Water-Colour in the Collection of Hermitage, Leningrad.
Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1975.
