Ugriumov, Grigorii

Born Apr. 30 (May 11), 1764, in Moscow; died Mar. 16 (28), 1823, in St. Petersburg. Russian painter.

Ugriumov studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1770 to 1785; he received a stipend from the academy to live in Rome from 1785 to 1790. Ugriumov’s paintings are marked by the conventional theatricality and compositional artificiality characteristic of the historical paintings of classicism. Yet, at the same time, they reveal an interest in themes from national history, contain heroic and emotional imagery, depict individualized figures, and convey a sense of complex motion (The Election of Mikhail Fedorovich as Tsar and The Capture of Kazan, both c. 1800, Russian Museum, Leningrad). Ugriumov’s art influenced Russian historical painting, which turned to the heroic past of the Russian people. Ugriumov also painted portraits.

Ugriumov joined the faculty of the Academy of Arts in 1791. He became an academician there in 1797, a professor in 1800, and a rector in 1820. His students included A. E. Egorov, V. K. Shebuev, A. I. Ivanov, and O. A. Kiprenskii.