He came from a noble family based at Raadi Manor who were members of the Estonian intelligentsia and owned a significant art collection.

[5] The bas-relief of St Jerome by Desiderio da Settignano now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, was purchased in Florence by an agent of Maria Nikolaevna as a gift for Baron Liphart.

In 1867, following a theory put forward by Gustav Waagen, Liphart was able to recognise that a painting of the Annunciation newly arrived in the Uffizi Gallery was by Leonardo da Vinci.

It was Liphart and his friend the Director of the Berlin State Museums, Wilhelm von Bode, who independently established that this artist was more than just an etcher.

The university still conserves the collection which includes examples of Japanese art as well as noted European printmakers like Albrecht Dürer and William Hogarth.