No Russian emperor has been the subject of as many sculptures as has Peter the Great. The range of works is very broad, from city monuments to relatively small statuettes intended for reproduction in bronze. One of the latter type is this work by Boris Mikeshin, the son of the artist Mikhail Mikeshin, and the author of numerous designs for famous monuments.

Mikeshin Boris

Mikeshin, Boris Mikhailovich
1873, St Petersburg –1937, Outside Newberg (NY, the USA)
Amateur sculptor, author of monumental, decorative and easel works. Son of the artist Mikhail Mikeshin. No special artistic education, mastered wax and clay molding on his own (from 1904). Awarded the first prize in the design competition for a monument to Russian soldiers valiantly fallen in the assaults of Kars (unveiled in 1910, not preserved); the first prize in the academic design competition (1908) for a monument to Adjutant General Konstantin von Kaufmann in Tashkent(unveiled in 1913, not preserved); the Pavel Stroganov first prize (1910) for the sculptural group Before the Border-Line in the Society for the Encouragement of Arts’ competition.Author of Mikhail Lermontov’s busts in Pyatigorsk on the place of the poet’s death (1915) and Petersburg (1916). Created the tombstone of his father’s grave at the Nikolskoye Cemetery in St Petersburg (1912–1916). Contributed to sculptural decoration of the Churchof theSaviour on Watersin memory of sailors who perished in the Russo-Japanese War. Member of theArkhipKuindzhi Society. Contributed to exhibitions of the St Petersburg Society of Artists and Spring Exhibitions in the rooms of the Imperial Academy of Arts. One of the founders of the Petrograd Union of Sculptors and Artists (1917). Emigrated (1921). Lived in Finland, settled in the USA (1924). Continued work as a sculptor and contributed to exhibitions.