Vasily Kreitan

[1] In 1858, he enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied sculpture with Pyotr Clodt and Nikolai Pimenov.

Shortly after, however, a student protest now known as the "Revolt of the Fourteen" began, in opposition to the Academy's insistence on teaching what they felt was the outmoded Classical style.

Kreitan was not one of the original thirteen protestors, but joined in solidarity when he saw how poorly they were being treated.

He became a drawing teacher at the Page Corps, taught sculpture at the "Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts" from 1870 to 1891, and gave private lessons.

[2] In 1880, the city of Saint Petersburg decided to establish a sculpture park, with busts of prominent figures from the sciences and arts, in the Alexander Garden, with a selection committee headed by Nicholas Benois.