Ivan Shuvalov

Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov (1727–1797) was a Russian patron of education and the arts during the Enlightenment. A Moscow-born court page, he became Empress Elizabeth's favourite in 1749. With Mikhail Lomonosov he secured Elizabeth's approval in 1755 for Moscow University, becoming its first curator, and in 1757 he founded the Academy of the Three Noble Arts in his Saint Petersburg palace, serving as its first president.

From 1763 to 1777 he travelled Europe, corresponding with Voltaire and Diderot and buying art for the Academy and the Hermitage. Catherine II made him High Chamberlain in 1777.