# SHUBIN, Fedot Ivanovich [View the canonical artist record]() ## Artist - Lifespan: 1740–1805 - Profession: sculptor - School: Russian ## Biography Russian sculptor. He came from peasant stock and in his youth he produced bone carvings. In 1759 he went to St Petersburg, first serving as a stoker at the Tsar's court, and then \(1761-67\) studying at the Academy of Arts, where he worked under Nicolas-François Gillet. Between 1767 and 1773 he worked in Paris and Rome on a grant from the Academy of Arts, also visiting London. During these years he produced a portrait bust of the Empress Catherine II \(marble, 1771; London, Victoria and Albert Museum\); and on his return to St Petersburg in 1773 he continued with such work, creating a portrait gallery of contemporary men and women, usually from aristocratic circles. Examples include the portrait busts of Pyotr Aleksandrovich Rumyantsev-Zadunaysky \(marble, 1778\), Grigory Aleksandrovich Potyomkin, Count of Tauris \(1791\), Aleksandr Andreyevich Bezborodko \(1799\) and the Tsar Paul I \(1800; marble or bronze, St Petersburg, Russian Museum\). While following an established formula and showing the sitters with the same self-confident smile, these works succeed in stressing individuality through attention to details of both dress and physiognomy. They are also remarkable for their technical perfection; and Shubin has frequently been compared to the French sculptor, Jean-Antoine Houdon. ## Related artworks - [Bust of A. M. Golitzin]() - [Bust of an Unknown Man]() - [Bust of I. G. Chernishev]() - [Bust of Lomonosov]() - [Bust of M. R. Panina]() - [Bust of P. G. Chernishev]() - [Bust of Tsar Paul I]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()