13.11.1831  –  28.01.1877

Gun Karl Fedorovich is a talented painter of historical, genre and portrait direction. Born in the family of the Baltic Germans in Sissegal in the Livonian Province, which was located on the shores of the Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea.

His father was a teacher of the parish school. Therefore, Karl received a general education at the Riga Cathedral School. And in 1850 he moved to St. Petersburg and enrolled as a draftsman to the lithographer Pappa. He also attended evening classes at the Academy of Fine Arts. Two years later Charles was accepted as a student of this academy. His main mentor was Professor PVBasin. During the academic course he received four silver medals for success in drawing and painting, and a small gold medal for the painting “Olympic Games” written in 1860.

In 1861, Gong received the title of class artist of the first article and a large gold medal for the program: “Grand Duchess Sofia Vytovtovna at the wedding of Basil the Dark.”

In 1863, the artist went abroad, as a pensioner of the Academy. Visiting Leipzig, Dresden, Prague and Munich, he settled in Paris and took up the picture: “The eve of the St. Bartholomew’s Night”, for which he subsequently received the title of academician. Living in Paris, Gong wrote many paintings, among which “Italian with flowers”, for which the author was awarded the title of professor.

In 1872, Gong moved to St. Petersburg, but lived there for long. In 1874, he had symptoms of pulmonary tuberculosis, and he went to other people to seek salvage from illness in a more favorable climate than St. Petersburg. However, the disease did not recede, and he died in Switzerland, in Davos.

Karl Gong is among the best painters of the Russian school. He possessed considerable observance, knew the pattern well, and had a strong and harmonious color. And his painting “Odalisque”, written in 1875, was sold at Christie’s auction for a record amount of 713747 US dollars.

In the Voronezh Regional Art Museum. I.N. Kramskoy presented the artist’s painting “Normandy”, written during his travels abroad in 1867.

Image: Gun Karl Fyodorovich. Normandy. 1867.