Princess Maria Tenisheva

Princess Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva (née Pyatkovskaya, in the first marriage – Nikolaeva, was a Russian noblewoman, primarily renowned for her work as philanthropist and art collector during Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II's reigns. She was born on 20 May 1858 in St. Petersburg. Maria Tenisheva is famous as the founder of the Art studio in St. Petersburg, and the Drawing School at the Museum of Russian antiquity in Smolensk, handicraft college in Bezhitsa town, as well as by artistic and industrial workshops held in her own estate of Talashkino.