The Stroganoffs (also Stroganovs)

The Stroganoffs is a family of Russian merchants, industrialists and nobles of the XVI-XX centuries. They come from peasants of Archangelsk. The first one known in history is Anikei Fiodorovich (1497-1570), owner of salt production enterprises; in 1558 he got big estates on the Kama and Chusivaya rivers from the Tsar Ioann IV the Terrible. His heirs – Semeon (died 1609) and grandsons Maxim Yakovlevich (died in the 1620s) and Nikita Grigorievich (died in the 1620s) organized the war expedition of Yermak to Siberia in 1581. (These members of the family are mentioned in The Ringed Castle by Dorothy Dunnett, fifth book in the Lymond Chronicles).
Grigory Dmitrievich (1656-1715) united all of the Stroganoffs’ estates. During the North Wars between Russian and Sweden 1700-21 the Stroganoffs offered great assistance to Peter I. In 1722, three brothers, Alexander Grigorievich, Nikolay Grigorievich and Sergei Grigorievich became barons.
 

Stroganoff (also Stroganov), Sergei Grigorievich (1707-1758), Baron, Chamberlain, collector of fine arts, founder of the Stroganoff Picture Gallery, was married to Sophia Kirillovna, nèe Naryshkina, they had one son Alexander Sergeevich Stroganoff (also Stroganov) (1733-1811).
See: Ivan Nikitin. Portrait of Baron S. G. Stroganoff.
 
 
 
 

Alexander Sergeevich Stroganoff (also Stroganov) (1733-1811), Count, son of Baron Sergei Grigorievich Stroganoff and his wife Sophia Kirillovna, nèe Naryshkina, Secret Councilor and the President of the Academy of Arts (1800-1811), was born January 3, 1733. At the age of 19 he was sent by his father to continue education abroad. He lived for 2 years in Geneva, visiting lectures of famous professors, then traveled throughout Italy, where he studied art and started his own collection of art. In Paris he lived for 2 years and studied physics, chemistry and metallurgy, visited factories and manufacturing plants. In 1757 he returned home and married Countess Anna Mikhailovna Vorontsova (1743-1769), the daughter of the Vice-Chancellor. In 1760 he received the title of Count of the Holy Roman Empire from the Austrian Royal court. After 6 years of unhappy marriage the spouses separated and started a divorce proccess, which stopped however because of the death of Anna Mikhailovna.
Soon Stroganoff married Princess Ekaterina Petrovna Trubetskaya (1744-1815). This marriage also failed. The couple lived in Paris for several years, in 1779 they returned to St. Petersburg and soon the countess fell in love with Catherine’s II favorite, Ivan Nikolaevich Korsakov. After Korsakov was sent away from the court, she went with him to Moscow, leaving her only son, Paul, to her husband. Count Stroganoff devoted himself to his son.
He was one of the most intimate friends of Catherine II, traveled with her much in Russia, and was a constant partner in cards. She liked him for wit, independence and that he did not interfere in politics. He had a favor with the next emperors, Paul I and his wife Empress Maria Fedorovna, and Alexander I. In 1810, he was appointed the member of the State Council.
Stroganoff was a patron of arts; he made up good collections of paintings, graphic works, coins, etc. Since 1800 through 1811 he was the President of the Academy of Arts.
See: Johann Baptist Lampi the Elder. Portrait of Count Alexander Stroganoff.
Jean-Laurent Mosnier. Portrait of Count Alexander Stroganoff, the President of the Academy of Arts (1800-1811).

Pavel (also Paul) Aleksandrovich Stroganoff (1772-1817), Count, Senator, Secret Councilor, Lieutenant General, was the only son of Count Alexander Sergeevich Stroganoff (1733-1811), the President of the Academy of Arts. Pavel Stroganoff was born in Paris in 1774. His mother, Ekaterina (or Catherine) Petrovna, nèe Princess Trubetskaya, soon fell in love with another man and left her husband and small son. Count Alexander invited a French tutor, Jilbert Romme, to bring up and educate his son. Jilbert Romme used travels as a means of education; the teacher and the pupil traveled much in Russia, then, in 1787 went abroad, first to Switzerland, then, in 1789 to Paris. The revolutionary events in France captured not only J. Romme, but his Russian pupil as well. Romme founded the Friends of Law Club, and the young Count Stroganoff became its member; they both became members of the Jacobite Club.
By demand of Catherine II, Count Alexander asked his son to return home immediately. Pavel had to subordinate and came to Russia in December 1790. Catherine II ordered him to stay in his estate Bratzovo, near Moscow. There he married, in 1793, Princess Sophia Vladimirovna Golitsina (1775-1845), and there, in 1794, their son, Alexander (1794-1814) was born. After Catherine’s II death Count Pavel Stroganoff could come to St. Petersburg, where Paul I promoted him to a Chamberlain. Stroganoff made a strong impression on the Grand Duke Alexander Petrovich (future emperor Alexander I). Both young men discussed revolutionary ideas, the future political reforms in Russia, liberation of the serfs, necessity of education of the population, etc. When in 1801 Alexander I ascended to the throne he was eager to undertake the reforms, but the conservative party had stronger positions than the reformers. France was also marching from “Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité” into an empire. Alexander I betrayed his youthful ideals. Stroganoff was bitterly disappointed. A Senator and a Secret Councilor, he, in 1807, joined the army, which was engaged in Napoleonic Wars in Europe. His further military career was a testament of his brilliant abilities. He reached the rank of Lieutenant General and commanded an army corps in Napoleonic campaigns of 1811-1815. He was wounded several times and had many military awards, including the order of St. George, 2nd degree. In 1813 Pavel Alexandrovich took his only son, Alexander, to the army in the field. They participated in the battle of Leipzig. February 23, 1814 in the battle of Craon the young Alexander was killed. Pavel Alexandrovich died June 10, 1817.
See: Jean-Laurent Mosnier. Portrait of Count Pavel Stroganoff (1772-1817). Portrait of Count Alexander Stroganoff (1794-1814).

Countess Sophia Vladimirovna Stroganoff (1775-1845), daughter of Prince Vladimir Borisovich Golitsin and Princess Natalya Petrovna, nèe Countess Tchernyshova, was born November 11, 1775. She spent her childhood and early youth abroad and got there a good education, but her Russian suffered and on her return home she had to work much to improve her native tongue. She did it brilliantly and later even translated some Western poetry, including Dante’s Divine Comedy, into Russian. In 1793 she married count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganoff (1772-1817).
Sophia Vladimirovna and Pavel Alexandrovich had one son Alexander (1794- k.i.a. 1814) and four daughters: Nataly (1796-1872), Adelaide (1799-1882), Elizabeth and Olga (1807-1837). The early deaths of her son and husband produced a deep impression on her. For several months she was between life and death herself. Tender support of her daughters and family helped her to recover. She remained the only heir to the Stroganovs titles and estates.
After the death of their only son Alexander, Pavel Alexandrovich asked the tsar to allow his elder daughter Nataly inherit the right of primogeniture for the Stroganovs’ titles and estates after his and his wife’s deaths. Natalia’s husband was to inherit the title of Count Stroganoff.  The parents tried to find the future husband for Nataly among their kin, in another branch of the Stroganoffs, barons. Their choice fell on Baron Sergey Grigorievich Stroganoff (1794-1882) (He is on the portrait with his mother as a child by Vigée-Lebrun: Baroness Anna Sergeevna Stroganova and Her Son Sergey), son of Baron, later Count, Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganoff (1769-1857), a diplomat, Secret Councilor and member of the State Council, third cousin of Count Pavel Alexandrovich, and his wife Anna Sergeevna, nèe Princess Trubetskaya. The young man first refused that honor, but after acquaintance with his hypothetical fiancé, fell in love with her and changed his mind. Sergey and Nataly had four sons and two daughters. Their marriage founded the new line of the Counts of Stroganoff.
 See: Jean-Laurent Mosnier. Portrait of Countess Sophia Stroganoff.
Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. Baroness Anna Sergeevna Stroganova and Her Son Sergey. Portrait of Baron Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganoff (1769-1857).

Stroganoff, Alexander Nikolayevich  (1740-1789), Baron, son of Baron Nikolay Grigoryevich Stroganoff and Praskovya Ivanovna, née Buturlina. He was in military service, retired in the rank of General-in-Chief. Married to Elisaveta Alexandrovna Zagryazhskaya, by whom he had one son Grigory (later Count) and daughters Ekaterina (Catherine) and Elisaveta (Elizabeth).
See: Dmitry Levitzky. Portrait of Baron A. N. Stroganoff.
 

Baron, later Count,Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganoff (1769-1857) son of Alexander Nikolayevich; a diplomat, Secret Councilor and member of the State Council, married to Anna Sergeevna, nèe Princess Trubetskaya. Their son, Sergey married his third cousin Nataly Stroganoff; their marriage founded the new line of the Counts of Stroganoff.
See: Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun. Baroness Anna Sergeevna Stroganova and Her Son Sergey. Portrait of Baron Grigory Alexandrovich Stroganoff (1769-1857).
 

Ekaterina (Catherine) Alexandrovna (1769- ) daughter of Alexander Nikolayevich and twin sister of Grigory Alexandtovich. In marriage Naryshkina.
See:  Jean-Louis Voille. Portrait of  Catherine Stroganova (1769-1844) as a Child.

Elizaveta (Elizabeth) Alexandrovna (1779-1818), daughter of Alexander Nikolayevich,  see  Demidova, Elisaveta Alexandrovna.
 

Bibliography:
Famous Russians in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Lenizdat. St. Petersburg. 1996. (In Russian)
Paintings of the 18th - early 20th centuries from the Reserves of the Russian Museum. Leningrad. 1982. (In Russian)
Vsemirny Biographichesky Encyclodepichesky Slovar. Moscow. 1998. (In Russian)
 

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