Pyotr Shchukin
Russian art collector
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin (1853 – 12 October 1912) was an art collector who built an important collection of Russian ancient art and artifacts and owned several impressionist masterpieces.
Pyotr Shchukin | |
|---|---|
Pyotr Shchukin | |
| Born | 1853 |
| Died | 12 October 1912 (aged 58–59) |
| Occupation | Art collector |
Early life and family
Pyotr Ivanovich Shchukin was born in 1853, one of ten children[1] of Ivan Vassilievitch Shchukin, a self-made Moscow merchant in the textile trade from an Old Believer[2] background who acquired a wealth of 4 million gold rubles, and his wife Ekaterina Shchukin, the daughter of Pyotr Konovich Botkin, a tea merchant and patron of the arts.[3][4] I.V. Shchukin and Sons became one of the largest textile companies in Russia.[5][6]
Art collecting
Shchukin built an important collection of Russian ancient art and artifacts and owned several impressionist masterpieces.[1] His younger brother, Sergei Shchukin, was also a noted art collector[7] while his brother Dimitri Shchukin assembled "Moscow's best collection of Old Masters" that eventually entered the Pushkin Museum. Another brother, Ivan, also collected art.[1]
He was a customer of French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel[1] and accompanied his brother Sergei on buying trips to Paris.[8]
When Shchukin was blackmailed by a former mistress and needed money to pay her off, he sold his Impressionist paintings to Sergei rather than sell them back to Durand-Ruel for less.[1]
Death
Shchukin died on 12 October 1912.[9]
