Prakhov, Adrian Viktorovich

Born Mar. 4 (16), 1846, in Mstislavl’; died May 1 (14), 1916, in Yalta. Russian art historian, archaeologist, and art critic.

Prakhov graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1867 and began teaching art history there in 1873. Beginning in 1875, he taught at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, and from 1887 to 1897, he taught at the University of Kiev. In Kiev he supervised the construction and fresco painting of the Vladimir Cathedral. He also studied a number of Old Russian paintings of the 11th to 13th centuries, as well as ancient oriental works of art. He edited the arts sections of the magazines Pchela (The Bee; 1875–78) and Khudozhestvennye sokrovishcha Rossii (The Art Treasures of Russia; 1904–07). In a number of his articles, including some directed against the Academy of Arts, for which he was barred from teaching there in the late 1870’s, he welcomed realistic art. However, at the end of the 19th century, he shifted to a conservative, conformist position.