Ivan Martos. Portrait of Emperor Alexander I

This portrait of Emperor Alexander I (1777–1825) was made in 1822 by the sculptor Ivan Martos. It is cast in light brass.

Ivan Martos (1754–1835) was born in Ichnia in the Chernihiv region, graduated from the St Petersburg Academy of Arts and continued his studies in Rome; from 1814 he was rector of sculpture at the Academy. His best-known work is the Monument to Minin and Pozharsky on Red Square in Moscow, completed in 1818.

Martos turned to the image of Alexander I more than once. In the same year, 1822, a colossal marble bust of the emperor was unveiled in the main hall of the St Petersburg Stock Exchange: Martos modelled it and Boris Orlovsky carved it in marble. Later the sculptor created a monument to Alexander I for Taganrog, dated 1830.