Penza and Saransk police chief Ivan Vasilyevich Kravkov: materials for biography and portrait attribution

Abstract

Background. The formation of regional identity is greatly influenced by the process of formation and evolution of various public authorities and local government. This was especially evident during crucial periods for the country. An important role was played by the subjective factor, i.e. those representatives of the authorities who determined the main vectors of development of each particular region and thereby influenced the processes of territorial integration. In this regard, the appeal to the biographies of provincial officials seems to be very relevant. The purpose of this work is to examine the activities of Penza and Saransk police chief I.V. Kravkov and the attribution of his portrait. Materials and methods. The research tasks were achieved through the dialectical method of historical processes studying, including the principles of historicism, objectivity and systematicity. It helped to characterize the variety of sources, compare and analyze them in complex. Results. The complex of sources allowed attribution of the portrait of Penza and Saransk police chief I.V. Kravkov, as well as to identify the main milestones of his biography and present the main directions of his activities during the Patriotic War of 1812. Conclusions. Identification and attribution of portraits of the first half of the XIX century is one of the important directions in the study of the era of the Patriotic War of 1812. It should be noted that researchers who turn to this topic are primarily interested in portrait images of officers and generals of the Russian army who directly participated in the fighting with Napoleon's army. The study of portraits of representatives of various estates of provincial society, in-cluding officials of provincial and county administrations, in the context of addressing the topic of the “war of 1812”, fades into the background. In this regard, a miniature portrait of Penza (1812–1814) and Saransk (1814–1826) police chief Ivan Vasilyevich Kravkov, which is in a private collection, is of undoubted interest. In the State Archive of the Penza Region, more than 20 reports of I.V. Kravkov, dated June 1813 – February 1814, were found, in which various aspects of his activities as Penza police chief are touched upon. All reports have I.V. Kravkov's autographs. The Penza police chief was mentioned in his memoirs by the lieutenant-general of the Bavarian 5th Line Regiment F. von Furtenbach. The miniature portrait of the Penza police chief I.V. Kravkov certainly complements the gallery of available images of representatives of the provincial society of the Penza province of the Patriotic War of 1812.

Keywords

• patriotic war of 1812
• penza province
• penza
• saransk
• police chief