Leonid Sherwood

Who was Leonid Sherwood?

Leonid Vladimirovich Sherwood was a Russian sculptor.

Sherwood was born in Moscow. He was of English descent, his grandfather Joseph Sherwood having been an English engineer who emigrated to Russia. His father was the architect Vladimir Osipovich Sherwood and his brother was the architect Vladimir Vladimirovich Sherwood. His surname is often transliterated as Shervud.

Leonid Shervud was responsible for the magnificent memorial to Admiral Stepan Makarov, killed at the battle of Tsushima during the Russo-Japanese war, erected in 1913 on Yakornaya Ploshchad ("Anchor Square") in front of the Naval Cathedral of St. Nicolas in Kronshtadt, the headquarters of the Russian Imperial Navy. Sherwood chose to use as the pedestal a 160-ton granite rock originally cut for a monument to Peter the Great in front of Kazan Cathedral, which sunk in transit to St. Petersburg. The bottom of the rock is engraved with the words: "Remember war". This was the personal motto of Stepan Makarov.

Sherwood was one of the first sculptors to be involved in monumental Soviet sculpture after the revolution and was responsible for many official busts and other monumental statues.