1. Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov was called the Maecenas of the Russian Enlightenment, the first Russian Minister of Education and Active Privy Councillor.
14 Facts About Ivan Shuvalov
1. 2.
Ivan Shuvalov was born in Moscow, the only son of Ivan Menshoi Shuvalov, an army captain who died when the boy was ten, and Tatiana Rodionovna.
3.
Three months later, Ivan Shuvalov was appointed a Gentleman-In-Waiting, and his liaison with the Empress began.
4.
Unlike the self-seeking favourites of Catherine the Great, Ivan Shuvalov determined to put his good fortune to constructive use for the advancement of education and the promotion of fine arts in his country.
5.
Ivan Shuvalov supplied the latter with materials necessary for his Histoire de l'empire de Russie sous Pierre le Grand and was later instrumental in publishing it in Russia.
6.
Ivan Shuvalov's activity brought him in touch with Mikhail Lomonosov, a Russian scholar who aspired to establish a university in Russia.
7.
Lomonosov found a loyal patron in Ivan Shuvalov and paid tribute to his accomplishments in his dedication of a couple of odes and "meditations" to him.
8.
Ivan Shuvalov became the university's first curator and attracted the finest scholars to teach there.
9.
Ivan Shuvalov came up with the idea of establishing The Moscow News, a newspaper published by the university press, which was founded at Shuvalov's instigation.
10.
Ivan Shuvalov was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1758.
11.
In 1757, Ivan Shuvalov submitted to the Governing Senate his project for establishing the Academy of Three Noble Arts at his own palace in Saint Petersburg.
12.
Ivan Shuvalov commissioned copies of the finest Roman sculptures in Rome, Florence and Naples and later presented these to the Academy of Arts.
13.
Ivan Shuvalov's tomb is in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery.
14.
In 2003, a memorial statue of Ivan Shuvalov was unveiled in the inner court of the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg.