The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789 by the Neva River. The academy promoted the neoclassical style and technique, and sent its promising students to European capitals for further study. Training at the academy was virtually required for artists to make successful careers.
The main building on the Academy Quay
The Inauguration of the Academy of Arts, a painting by Valery Jacobi.
G. K. Mikhailov, Second Antique Gallery at the Academy of Arts (1836)
Maksim Vorobyov, Egyptian sphinxes lining Academy Quay (1835)
Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov was called the Maecenas (patron) of the Russian Enlightenment, the first Russian Minister of Education and Active Privy Councillor (1773). Russia's first theatre, university, and academy of arts were instituted with his active participation. A favorite of Elizaveta Petrovna of Russia; friend of the scientist M.V. Lomonosov.
Ivan Shuvalov in 1760, as painted by F. Rokotov A variation of L. Tokke's composition Canvas, oil. 68.6 × 54.2 cm Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
Ivan Shuvalov by Anton Losenko
View of Ivan Shuvalov's art gallery.