Alexander Lvovich Naryshkin () (14 April 1760 – 21 January 1826) was a Russian noble of the

Naryshkin family The House of Naryshkin () is a noble Russian boyar family of Crimean Tatar descent, going back to a certain Mordko Kurbat Naryshko, who moved to Moscow in the 15th century.Sergei O. Prokofieff, ''The Spiritual Origins of Eastern Europe and the ...

. He was the director of the

Imperial Theatres Imperial Theatres of Russian Empire () was a theatrical organization financed by the Imperial exchequer and managed by a single directorate headed with a director; was pertain to the Ministry of the Imperial Court from 1742. The system operated i ...

from 1799 to 1819 and Marshal of Nobility of Saint-Petersburg from 1818 to 1826. He and his brother were famous for their lavish parties in Saint-Petersburg.

Life

Aleksandr Naryshkin was born on 14 April 1760 into the

. After being tutored at home, he embarked on a Grand Tour, as was often done by upper-class young European men as a rite of passage. Upon his return, he entered the Izmailovsky Life Guards regiment, where he rose to the rank of lieutenant captain. In 1778, he was granted the position of chamber-junker and began building his career at the Imperial Court. In 1785, he was promoted to chamberlain and made friends with the heir to the throne,

Catherine the Great Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter I ...

's son

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

. After the accession to the throne of Paul I in 1797, he was awarded the Order of St. Anna of the 1st degree, and shortly after in 1798 he was awarded the

Order of St. Alexander Nevsky The Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was an order of chivalry of the Russian Empire first awarded on by Empress Catherine I of Russia. History The introduction of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky was envisioned by Emperor ...

and granted the position of chief marshal. In 1799, he was appointed director of the

. In 1812, he became a member of a special committee responsible for the management of all St. Petersburg and Moscow theaters. In 1815, he accompanied Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna on her trip to the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

. In 1819, he resigned from his post as director of the Imperial Theatres. He was then an honorary member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1820, he went abroad and lived the rest of his life in Paris, where he died of

dropsy Edema (American English), also spelled oedema (British English), and also known as fluid retention, swelling, dropsy and hydropsy, is the build-up of fluid in the body's tissue. Most commonly, the legs or arms are affected. Symptoms may inclu ...

on 21 January 1826.

Public Image

Following several generations of the Naryshkins, Alexander Lvovich was known as a bon vivant, an epicurean and yet forever without money and saddled with debt. At the Bellevue country estate, he hosted the entire Petersburg society, including

Alexander I Alexander I may refer to: * Alexander I of Macedon, king of Macedon from 495 to 454 BC * Alexander I of Epirus (370–331 BC), king of Epirus * Alexander I Theopator Euergetes, surnamed Balas, ruler of the Seleucid Empire 150-145 BC * Pope Alex ...

, who referred to Naryshkin as his cousin. In the book "Ten Years' Exile", describing concerts of horn music at Naryshkin's estate,

Madame de Staël Madame may refer to: * Madam, civility title or form of address for women, derived from the French * Madam (prostitution), a term for a woman who is engaged in the business of procuring prostitutes, usually the manager of a brothel * ''Madame'' ( ...

characterized the owner as "an amiable and courteous man," but inclined to seek entertainment not in books, but in a noisy company: surrounded by 20 people, he imagines himself in "philosophical seclusion".

Family

From his marriage to Maria Alekseevna Naryshkina, daughter of admiral Alexei Senyavin, he had four children: *

Lev Naryshkin Lev Alexandrovich Naryshkin (; also known as Léon Narychkine) (5 February 1785—1846, Naples) was a Russian Imperial aristocrat who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. Biography He was the son of Alexander Lvovich Naryshkin and his wife Maria Ale ...

(1785—1846), lieutenant-general in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

and acquaintance of

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin () was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era.Basker, Michael. Pushkin and Romanticism. In Ferber, Michael, ed., ''A Companion to European Romanticism''. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005. He is consid ...

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

* Elena Aleksandrovna Naryshkina (1785—1855), maid of honour and mother of

Alexander Arkadyevich Suvorov Alexander Arkadyevich Suvorov, Prince Italiysky, Count Rymniksky (; 13 June 1804, in Saint Petersburg – 12 February 1882, in Saint Petersburg), was a Russian general, diplomat and politician. Life Education His parents were Arkadi Suvorov and ...

* Kirill Alexandrovich Naryshkin (1786—1838), member of the State Council *Maria(?-1800), died in childhood Along with many members of his family, Alexander Naryshkin was buried in

Alexander Nevsky Lavra Saint Alexander Nevsky Lavra or Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery was founded by Peter I of Russia in 1710 at the eastern end of the Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg, in the belief that this was the site of the Neva Battle in 1240 when Alexa ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Naryshkin, Alexander Lvovich

Alexander Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here ar ...

1760 births 1826 deaths 18th-century nobility from the Russian Empire 19th-century nobility from the Russian Empire Burials at the Dukhovskaya Church