Wilhelm August Golicke

Wilhelm August Golicke (Russian: Вильгельм-Август Голике / Василий Александрович Голике; 1802 – 5 July 1848) was a Russian painter of Baltic German origin.

Life and paintings

He was born in Tallinn or Saint Petersburg. He grew up in the German community of Tallinn ("Reval", in German),^[1] and studied in Saint Petersburg at the studios of the English painter George Dawe.

Between 1822 and 1828 Dawe, together with Golicke and another of his students, Alexander Polyakov, a serf, painted 332 portraits of Tsarist Generals who had distinguished themselves in the war against Napoleon.^[1] The paintings were placed in the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. Dawe became a good friend of Golicke's during their work together and left him an annuity in his will.^[2]

After Dawes' death, Golicke studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts. He graduated in 1832 and was named an "Independent Artist" (Cвободный Xудожник), a sign of official recognition.^[2] In 1837, he visited England and Italy. He died in Saint Petersburg, of cholera, in 1848.^[1]

His post-Dawe work consisted largely of genre paintings, still-lifes and scenes from history. Many of his works can be seen at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.