Sergei Grigoryevich Stroganov

He was born in Saint Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire, in 1794 to Baron Grigory Stroganov (1770–1857) and Princess Anna Trubetskaya (1765–1824).

[1] Count Stroganov played a large role in the development of the Russian education and culture during the 19th century.

In 1825, Stroganov founded the first private academy of art in Russia (in Moscow) using his own money.

[1][2] As a landowner, Stroganov opposed Tsar Alexander II's emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861.

After the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, Stroganov, along with Konstantin Pobedonostsev and some others, succeeded in convincing the new Russian Tsar, Alexander III, to shelve Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov's proposal for a Russian Duma and constitution.

A portrait of Sergei Stroganov in his younger years by Pietro de Rossi (1761-1831).
A portrait of Sergei Stroganov in his later years by Konstantin Makovsky , 1882