Princess Maria Tenisheva

Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva (née Pyatkovskaya, in the first marriage – Nikolaeva, (20 May 1858 – 14 April 1928) was a Russian Princess, artist, educator, philanthropist and collector.

Maria Tenisheva is famous as the founder of the Art studio in St. Petersburg, and the Drawing School at the Museum of Russian antiquity in Smolensk, handicraft college in Bezhitsa town, as well as by artistic and industrial workshops held in her own estate of Talashkino.

She collected watercolors and befriended famous artists, including Vasnetsov, Vrubel, Roerich, Malyutin, Benois, the sculptor Paolo Troubetzkoy, and many others.

[3] When traveling with her husband to Europe, the princess had no financial restraints and bought Western European paintings, porcelain, marble sculptures, jewelry, and historic valuables of China, Japan and Iran.

When she and her husband went traveling through the old Russian towns of Rostov, Rybinsk, Kostroma, and the Volga region villages and monasteries, the handmade beauty crafted by unknown masters made her start a collection of utensils, clothing, furniture, jewelry, and glassware.

In 1893, Maria Tenisheva persuaded her friend, Princess Catherine Svyatopolk-Chetverinskaya, to sell her ancestral estate Talashkino,[4] and there she quickly created a welcoming, creative atmosphere that attracted many famous artists, musicians, and scientists: Ilya Repin, Nicholas Roerich, Mikhail Vrubel, and many others.

[5] In September 1895, thanks to the princess' efforts to erect a new building with dormitories, a dining room and a kitchen, a school opened for village children near Talashkino.

Princess Maria Tenisheva died on April 14, 1928, in her house "Iris Cottage", located in the Parisian suburb of La Celle Saint-Cloud.