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Mark Matveyevich Antokolsky (Russian: Марк Матве́евич Антоко́льский; 2 November 1840 – 9 July 1902) was a Russian Imperial sculptor of Lithuanian Jewish^[2] descent.

In 1871 Antokolsky started his first "Russian" sculpture, "Ivan the Terrible", which made an enormous impression on all valuators and connoisseurs of art. When Emperor Alexander II saw the sculpture he asked to make its bronze copy and allocated the sculptor advance payment of 4,000 roubles. Pavel Tretyakov ordered a marble copy for his gallery. The funds received enabled the artist to resolve his personal problems. In 1871 (in Vilnius) Antokolski met Jelena (Gene), daughter of a rich Vilnius merchant Judelis Giršovičius Apatovas. The two married on 6 September 1872.

Antokolsky used 4,000 rubles for the "Ivan the Terrible" to buy half of a big house in Vilnius, the other part of which had previously belonged to his wife. In 1876, upon his regular visits to Vilnius, Antokolsky rebuilt the house. After 1876, Antokolsky was a rare visitor to his native town due to illnesses, work, and exhibitions in Paris and Italy, which took almost all of his time. However, the artist did not break his links with Jewish life. Concern over his nation urged Antokolsky to return to his work "Inquisition Attacks the Jews", started 30 years before in Vilnius.

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