Alexander Gorchakov

-- Who is depicted? Alexander Mikhailovich Gorchakov was born in 1798 in the family of Prince Mikhail Gorchakov and Baroness Elena Ferzen. He was educated at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where he had the poet Alexander Pushkin as a school fellow. His numerous talents as well as his brilliant literary education allowed him to make remarkable career as a statesman and become an iconic figure on the diplomatic Olympus of the XIX century. In the course of his diplomatic career, Prince Gorchakov participated in the Congresses of Tropau, Ljubljana and Verona (1820-1822), then worked as part of the Russian missions to London, Rome, Berlin, Florence and Vienna (1822-1841). A separate stage of his service was his stay in the German states as a special envoy to the Wurttemberg court (1841-1853) and since 1850 as a vice agent at the Allied Council in Frankfurt am Main where he had an opportunity to observe revolutionary events of 1848-1849 and follow the growing tendencies for unification of isolated German lands. In 1854-1856 Prince Gorchakov served as an envoy to the Austrian court, where he had a chance to experience disloyalty of Vienna, which had forgotten about the help provided by Russia in 1848-1849 in suppression of the Hungarian revolt and almost joined Great Britain and France in the Crimean war against Russia. In April of 1856 Prince Gorchakov was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs in place of Count Nesselrode. In August of the same year he issued a circular to the Russian embassies abroad, which said: "Russia is accused of getting isolated and keeping silence in the face of facts that are neither in harmony with law, nor with justice. They say that Russia is sulking. Russia is not sulking, she is composing herself". These words, perceived abroad as preparation for a new war, became a cornerstone of the Gorchakov's diplomacy, the main goal of which was rejection of humiliating terms imposed on Russia by the Treaty of Paris in 1856, which prevented Russia from having a military fleet in the Black Sea. Playing skillfully on the contradictions of the European superpowers and not drawing Russia into any binding agreements, in the end Prince Gorchakov got what he was waiting for – having used the turmoil in the European governments cause by the Franco-Prussian war, Prince Gorchakov sent a circular to foreign capitals on September 19, 1870 notifying them that Russia did not consider itself bound by limiting conditions related to having the military fleet in the Black Sea. All the great empires had to agree with the changed geopolitical position of Russia. Having returned to Russia its niche in the system of European politics, Prince Gorchakov took great care of strengthening peace on the continent – particularly, due to his firm position it was possible to prevent Germany's aggression in France in 1875. This came out as a complete surprise to Germany and spoilt the game for the "iron" Chancellor Otto Bismarck. Even at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, when Russia was forced to renounce many of its achievements in the victorious war against Turkey in 1877-1878, Prince Gorchakov was guided, among others, by peaceful aspirations – at the cost of certain concessions it was possible to keep foreign empires headed by Great Britain from repeating the Crimean coalition, hostile to Russia. In his later year of life due to his respectable age and poor health, Prince Gorchakov withdrew from political life, and in 1882 officially retired from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and conceded his position to Nikolay Girs. Prince Gorchakov died on February 27 (March 11), 1883 in Baden-Baden and was buried at the cemetery of the Coastal Monastery of St. Sergius. Chancellor Gorchakov will always remain in the history of Russia as embodiment of how our country can hold internal modernization and preserve its dignity on the foreign political arena. Art, which is still in demand nowadays…. -- Technical/Specification about the statue A bust is a sculpted or cast representation of the upper part of the human figure, depicting a person's head and neck, and a variable portion of the chest and shoulders. The piece is normally supported by a plinth. These forms recreate the likeness of an individual. These may be of any medium used for sculpture, such as marble, bronze, terracotta or wood. A parallel term, aust, is a representation of the upper part of an animal or mythical creature.Sculptural portrait heads from classical antiquity are sometimes displayed as busts. However, these are often fragments from full-body statues, or were created to be inserted into an existing body. -- More about the artist We don't know who is the artist.-- 主题人物：亚历山大·米哈伊洛维奇·戈尔恰科夫 于1798年出生于米哈伊尔·戈尔恰科夫亲王与叶连娜·费尔岑男爵夫人的家族。 他就读于皇村中学（Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum），与诗人亚历山大·普希金为同窗。出众的天赋与精湛的文学素养，令他在政界成就斐然，成为19世纪外交殿堂中的标志性人物。 其外交生涯中，戈尔恰科夫亲王先后参与1820至1822年的特劳包、卢布尔雅那与维罗纳会议，随后于1822至1841年间任职于俄国驻伦敦、罗马、柏林、佛罗伦萨及维也纳使团。他职业生涯的另一重要阶段，是1841至1853年以特命全权公使身份驻节符腾堡宫廷，1850年起兼任法兰克福同盟会议副代表，在此期间他得以亲历1848至1849年的革命事件，并观察到德意志各邦日益强烈的统一趋势。 1854至1856年，戈尔恰科夫出任俄国驻奥国公使，亲身体验了维也纳的背信弃义——奥方早已忘却俄国在1848至1849年镇压匈牙利起义时提供的援助，险些与英法联手在克里米亚战争中对抗俄国。 1856年4月，戈尔恰科夫接替涅谢尔罗德伯爵出任外交大臣。同年8月，他向俄国驻外使馆发布通函，其中写道:"俄国被指责在既不合乎法理亦违背正义的事实面前陷入孤立与沉默。有人称俄国在怄气。俄国并未怄气，它只是在重整旗鼓。" 这番言论被海外解读为备战新的战争，成为戈尔恰科夫外交政策的基石：其核心目标是废除1856年《巴黎和约》强加给俄国的屈辱条款——该条约禁止俄国在黑海部署军事舰队。 戈尔恰科夫巧妙利用欧洲列强间的矛盾，避免俄国受任何约束性协定的束缚。最终，他如愿以偿：借助普法战争引发的欧洲政局动荡，戈尔恰科夫于1870年9月19日向各国首都发布通函，宣告俄国不再受黑海海军限制条款的约束。所有欧洲强国最终都不得不承认俄国地缘政治地位的变化。 在重新为俄国夺回欧洲政治体系中的应有席位后，戈尔恰科夫致力于维护欧洲大陆的和平——正是凭借其坚定立场，1875年德国对法国的军事冒险得以被遏制，这令德国方面始料未及，也打乱了"铁血宰相"奥托·俾斯麦的部署。即便在1878年柏林会议上，俄国被迫放弃1877至1878年对土战争中的诸多战果，戈尔恰科夫仍以和平诉求为首要原则：通过适度让步，成功避免了英国为首的外国列强重演克里米亚战争时的反俄联盟。 晚年的戈尔恰科夫因年事已高且健康状况不佳，逐渐淡出政坛，并于1882年正式从外交大臣任上退休，将职务交由尼古拉·吉尔斯接任。 戈尔恰科夫于1883年2月27日（公历3月11日）在巴登-巴登逝世，安葬于圣谢尔吉滨海修道院的墓园。 戈尔恰科夫将永远载入俄国史册，成为本国兼顾内部现代化与维护外交尊严的典范。其精神与遗产至今仍具有现实意义…… -- 雕塑技术规格说明 胸像（bust）是对人体上半身的雕塑或铸像作品，呈现人物的头部与颈部，以及可按需调整比例的胸部与肩部区域，通常由基座承托。这类作品旨在还原个体的肖像特征，可采用任何雕塑媒介创作，例如大理石、青铜、陶土或木材。与之类似的术语"aust"，则指代动物或神话生物的上半身造型。古典时代的雕塑头像有时会以胸像形式展出，但这类作品往往是全身雕像的残件，或是为适配现存躯体而制作的部件。 -- 关于创作者的补充说明 目前尚无确凿资料可考该雕塑的创作者身份。