Michail Petrowitsch Klodt

Michail Petrowitsch Klodt was born in 1835. His exact birth date and birthplace, and his family relationship (if any) to the sculptor Pyotr Karlovich Klodt, are not confirmed in the available sources reviewed for this profile.

Secondary Russian art market references, including auction and market-tracking sites, describe a training history within the Imperial Academy of Arts system in Saint Petersburg, including Academy medals, an Academician title, and a professorship, along with membership in the Peredvizhniki and later restoration work at the Hermitage Museum. These specific milestones, including exact years and individual painting titles, could not be independently corroborated against primary institutional records for this profile and are treated here as reported, low-confidence claims rather than settled fact. Notably, one part of the research record explicitly warns that a closely matching Academy and medal history belongs to a cousin, the landscape painter Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt (1832 to 1902), rather than to this artist, underscoring the risk of cross-attribution between the two.

He died in 1914. The exact date and place of death are not confirmed in the available sources.

Russian art-market references describe Klodt as a significant figure in the formation of critical realism in Russia, noted for narrative clarity, careful detail, and a restrained, warm palette of ochre, brown, and red used to depict hardship, family life, and rural labor. No exact, attributable quotation from a named critic in a major outlet, specific to this artist rather than to his cousin, has been located; assessments of his standing rely on institutional and market summaries rather than a single well-known critical statement.

Klodt's approximate auction high is USD 200,358, per MutualArt's market overview. The specific work, auction house, and exact sale date behind this figure are not disclosed in available sources and could not be confirmed for this profile. Higher results reported under closely related naming, including a GBP 769,250 sale of A riverside farm (Christie's, London, June 2010) and a GBP 241,250 sale of Cattle Watering (Sotheby's, London, June 2008), are attributed in some market databases to "Klodt von Jurgensburg" and most likely belong to the cousin landscape painter Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt (1832 to 1902) rather than to this artist; they should not be treated as this artist's record. His market is thin overall, with a limited number of tracked auction results.

There is no catalogue raisonne for Klodt, and attribution should be confirmed through major auction house cataloguing and museum provenance rather than assumed from a signature alone. The most important caution is naming: Michail Petrowitsch Klodt is frequently conflated in listings, dealer descriptions, and even reference databases with his cousin, the landscape painter Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt (also styled Baron Klodt von Jurgensburg, 1832 to 1902), whose landscapes trade in a separate and sometimes higher-value market, including a reported GBP 241,250 sale of Cattle Watering at Sotheby's in June 2008. Collectors should verify which Klodt, and which patronymic, a given work is actually attributed to before relying on comparable sales.