Count Pavel Pavlovich Demidov

A carte-de-visite portrait of Count Pavel Pavlovich Demidov, 2nd Prince of San Donato, a Russian industrialist, jurist, philanthropist and nobleman of the Demidov family. Owning hundreds of factories in Russia, millions of square kilometres of land and palaces in Russia, France and Italy, he was considered one of the richest men in Europe.

His first marriage was on 1 June 1867 to Princess Maria Elimovna Meshcherskaya. She died two days after giving birth to a son, Elim Pavlovich Demidov, 3rd Prince of San Donato, at Hietzing in the suburbs of Vienna on 6 August 1868. In Saint Petersburg on 2 June 1871 he married, secondly, Princess Elena Petrovna Trubetskaya with whom he had six more children. The couple decided San Donato was too full of memories of Pavel’s first wife and so moved to Villa Pratolino (now known as Villa Demidoff). A large part of the enormous Demidov collection of artworks housed in 14 rooms at San Donato were thus dispersed in several sales and memorable public auctions.

Photographed by Erwin and Ernest Hanfstaengl of Paris.