Ivan Betskoy

Ivan Ivanovich Betskoy (1704–1795), born in Stockholm to Field Marshal Prince Ivan Trubetskoy and his Swedish mistress, was Catherine II's chief adviser on education. He spent years in Paris among Enlightenment thinkers including Rousseau, helped Catherine seize power from Peter III in 1762, and in 1763 presented his Statute for the Education of the Youth of Both Sexes, inspired by Rousseau.

He oversaw the Smolny Institute for noble girls, founded foundling homes in Moscow in 1764 and Saint Petersburg in 1770, and served as president of the Imperial Academy of Arts from 1764 to 1794, building Russia's first unified public education system.