Prince Aleksei Dmitrievich Saltykov (1806–1859) was a Russian artist and traveller in
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
. He was the grandson of Prince
Nikolay Saltykov
Count, then Prince Nikolay Ivanovich Saltykov (russian: Николай Иванович Салтыков, 31 October 1736 – 28 May 1816), a member of the Saltykov noble family, was a Russian Imperial Field Marshal and courtier best known ...
.
Family
Prince Alexis Soltikoff (as the family name was spelled in his own time) was born in
St. Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
on 1 February 1806 to Prince
Dmitri Nikolaevich Saltykov (1767–1826) and Anna Nikolaevna Leontieva (1776–1810) and had three older brothers (the princes Ivan (1797–1832), Petr (ca. 1804–1889) and Vladimir (ca. 1799–1835) and an older sister Princess Mariya (1795–1823). The Soltykov name was one of the more esteemed in Russia.
Alexis's father Dmitri had two brothers (no sisters): Aleksandr (1775–1837) and Sergei (1776–1828). The three boys were the son of the famous General Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov (31 October 1736 – 24 March 1816) and Natalya Vladimirovna Dolgorukaya (1737–1812).
Life
Alexis's early days are somewhat of a mystery. He grew up in St Petersburg and at the age of eighteen joined the diplomatic services with the Russian State Board (Collegium) for Foreign Affairs in Moscow. By the age of 23 he was with the Russian Foreign Service, first in Constantinople, then in Athens, later in London, Florence, Rome, and Teheran. In 1840 Alexis retired and moved to Paris where he planned his voyages to India. He ended up making two voyages there (1841–43 and 1844–46), and achieving the sobriquet 'The Indian' from the Russian and French aristocracy. In 1849 he published a selection of his letters in French accompanied by his drawings, which became very well known in Europe "Lettres sur L’Inde". Paris, 1848).
In 1851 the book was translated into Russian and became an instant success: it truly enraptured the Russian reading public. The drawings were published separately in London in 1859 as "Drawings on the Spot".
The 11th century
Gloucester Candlestick
The Gloucester Candlestick is an elaborately decorated English Romanesque gilt-bronze candlestick, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It was made for Gloucester Cathedral between 1104 and 1113, and is one of the outstanding survi ...
was obtained by the V & A from (a) Prince Soltikoff in 1861
and the
John Grandisson Triptych which is now in the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
was also once part of the Saltykov collection.
[A. W. Franks]
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London
2nd Series, no.1, pp. 376-377.
File:Салтыков-дорога.jpg
File:Салтыков-Ганг.jpg
File:Салтыков-Кали.jpg
File:Салтыков-слоны.jpg
File:Салтыков-пагода.jpg
File:Салтыков-Мадрас1.jpg
File:Салтыков-Мадрас2.jpg
File:Салтыков-Канди.jpg
File:Kolkata Dance.jpg
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saltykov, Alexei Dmitriyevich
1806 births
1859 deaths
Diplomats of the Russian Empire
Russian male writers
Russian male artists