Vitberg Lavrent'evich Alexander (1787-1855)

Extraordinary life of the painter and architect Alexander (before 1817 - Carl) Lavrent'evich Vitberg worthy of special studies or novels anyway. A gifted young man in the age of fifteen he entered in 1802 at the Academy of Fine Arts, where under the guidance of G. Ugryumova successfully mastered the intricacies of fine craftsmanship: in 1806 he received a small and a large silver medal, 1809 - a gold medal for his painting "Andromache Mourning Hector" also was awarded a gold medal for the Russian program about the truth. After the end of the course was left at the Academy in the class of full-scale Ugryumova assistant.

 In 1806, A. Vitberg paints a picture "Plagued by the Apostle Peter from prison," for which in 1816 he was awarded the title of Academician. By this time, the artist produced pictorial compositions "Agony in the Garden" and "The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene" for the Kazan Cathedral, made numerous sketches and drawings of architectural structures Petersburg, written by a number of portraits, mythological and genre scenes.

 In 1813 Vitberg moved to Moscow and began to seriously pursue architecture. In his project was built a few houses and churches in Moscow and other cities. The main achievement of the architect AL Vitberg was a victory of his project Cathedral of Christ the Savior, that on the Sparrow Hills in Moscow (not to be confused with the project architect of the temple built by KA Ton). The construction of this massive structure in honor of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812 began in 1817. Supervised the building itself Vitberg. However, in 1828 the construction of the temple is terminated, AL Vitberg accused of financial abuse. The court in 1835 him guilty. Vitberg sent into exile in the city of Vyatka, where he has an active artistic life. We refer to the fact that his project was built in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral. Here he wrote a considerable number of portraits, among them - AI Herzen.
Since 1840 the architect-painter, AL Vitberg lives in St. Petersburg, doing according to their vocation designing cathedrals, preparing sketches iconography for them and writing portraits of people close to him.