Salvatore Tonci

Salvatore Tonci (Russian: Сальваторе Тончи; January 1756, Rome – December 1844, Moscow) was an Italian-born painter, musician, singer and amateur poet who spent most of his career in Russia.

In 1805, by that means, he met and married Princess Natalia Gagarina (1778–1832), the daughter of Prince Ivan Sergyevich Gagarin.

Although the marriage was considered a misalliance by her family,[1] it served as his introduction into high society, where he became a good friend of Count Fyodor Rostopchin.

In September 1812, he witnessed the brutal and bloody mob murder of Mikhail Vereshchagin [ru], a writer who had been denounced as a traitor by Count Rostopchin.

After 1815, he worked for the "Экспедиция кремлёвского строения" (roughly: Dispatch Office for Kremlin Buildings), an agency that was responsible for construction and repairs at the Imperial palaces in Moscow.