The Artistic Legacy of Leonid Inglesi
In 1882, the painter, teacher, and public figure Leonid Inglesi was born in Mykolaiv — a representative of the city’s branch of a prosperous Greek family. His father, Vasyl Inglesi, was a merchant and one of Mykolaiv’s largest property owners. From an early age, Leonid showed a keen interest in drawing.
After completing his studies at the Mykolaiv Alexandrov Real School, he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, one of the leading art institutions of the Russian Empire. Upon returning to Mykolaiv, Inglesi combined his civil service with an active role in public and cultural life: he worked as a provincial secretary and, between 1913 and 1917, served as a member of the Mykolaiv City Duma.
In his own house on Tavriyska Street, the artist and his wife ran the Central Hotel, and on Soborna Street — a restaurant. Yet his true passion remained art. Leonid Inglesi painted landscapes and genre scenes, regularly took part in exhibitions, and in 1913 became one of the founders of the Vereshchagin Society of Fine Arts. Members of this society initiated the creation of the Mykolaiv Art Museum, which officially opened on May 24, 1914. A school of drawing, drafting, and sculpture operated under the museum, where Inglesi taught, laying the foundation for local art education.
After the Revolution of 1917, the artist’s life changed drastically. He was dismissed from teaching and evicted from his home. In 1922, Inglesi left Mykolaiv with his family and moved to Odesa, where he taught drawing at a trade school while continuing to paint despite financial hardship.
Thanks to his Greek heritage, Inglesi was able to obtain Greek passports for his family. In 1928, he emigrated with his wife and three children via Poland to France, settling in Paris. At first, he worked in a studio producing theatrical decorations and costumes, but within a few years, his talent and professionalism brought him new opportunities.
In 1931, Leonid Inglesi met the renowned monumental artist Boris Anrep, who invited him to become chief artist of his mosaic workshop. Inglesi later headed the studio himself and for thirty years oversaw major monumental projects. Under his direction, mosaics were created for the National Gallery in London, the Bank of England, and Westminster Cathedral — works still regarded as outstanding examples of twentieth-century artistic and architectural synthesis.
The artist lived modestly, remaining devoted to his craft. He passed away in 1972 in Boulogne-Billancourt, near Paris.
In 2025, the team of the Museum Digital Collection digitized the complete collection of Leonid Inglesi’s paintings — works that had been transferred from Paris to Mykolaiv as a gift from the artist’s descendants to two local museums.
“A Mykolaiv exile with a tragic yet brilliant fate, Leonid Inglesi has been gradually returning home from Paris for over thirty years thanks to the dedication of his granddaughter, Hanna Khrystoforova,” says Serhii Piskuriov, senior researcher and curator of the art department at the Mykolaiv Regional Museum of Local History. “It is through her long correspondence with the museum and her donations that the artist’s creative legacy — paintings, drawings, archival documents, and personal belongings — has found its way back to Mykolaiv.”
According to him, the return of the Inglesi family’s heritage became possible largely thanks to the many years of devoted research carried out by museum specialist Olena Ponomariova, who passed away prematurely.
Among Inglesi’s works held in the regional museum’s collection are vivid landscapes of early twentieth-century Mykolaiv, including On the Streets of Mykolaiv (1905), Fountain (1910), Mykolaiv City Administration, House with Flower Pots (1910), Old Cannons (1910), Mykolaiv Grain Elevator (1912), Post Station in Mykolaiv, Troika, and Secret Garden. Of particular interest are also paintings from his French period.
According to Larysa Tvieritinova, Deputy Director for Research at the Mykolaiv Art Museum, the museum holds Inglesi’s View of Mykolaiv — a study gifted in 1965 by Mykolaiv artist Pavlo Kovaliov. This work was first exhibited at the Spring Exhibition in Odesa in 1913.
“In 2010, our collection was further enriched by two of Inglesi’s landscapes — Field. Study and Flowerbed in a Private Garden, La Garenne-Colombes (a suburb of Paris). They were donated by the artist’s granddaughter from France, where they were created in the 1920s–1930s,” she notes.
The digitization of these collections has made possible their preservation, study, and virtual presentation, marking an important step in safeguarding and promoting the artistic heritage of southern Ukraine — a legacy that has finally returned home after decades of exile.
