Valentin Platonovich Zubov Manuscripts, 1850-1968

Valentin Platonovich Zubov (1884-1969), Russian philosopher and art historian, founder and director of Institut Istorii Iskusstv in St. Petersburg. He belonged to one of the most famous Russian noble families. His great-grandfather, Count Nikolai Alexandrovich Zubov, was a brother of the famous favorite of Catherine the Great, Prince Platon Zubov.

Count Valentin Platonovich Zubov was born on November 10, 1884 in St. Petersburg. In 1904, he graduated from a privileged Gymnasium and entered the St. Petersburg University.

However, since fall 1905, he had been studying art history at the universities in Heidelberg, Leipzig, Halle and Berlin. In 1913, V. P. Zubov had finally received his PhD in the University of Berlin. Soon before this, in 1912, he became the founder and director of the Institute of Art History, the first such institution in Imperial Russia. It was created as a publicly accessible historical and art library with regular lectures by leading art scholars. All books were purchased with V. P. Zubov's personal funds (by the time of the opening it was about 6000 volumes). He also donated a part of his palace on St. Isaac's Square for the Institute. Everyone was admitted to the Institute, and lectures were free of charge.

After the Bolshevik takeover, Zubov became known as "the red Count" simply because he hadn't fled Russia but voluntarily gave the Bolsheviks the rest of his luxurious palace. In 1918, Count Zubov was arrested and released only after Anatolii Lunacharsky's pleading. He was imprisoned one more time in 1922 and that time spent several months in Lubianka prison in Moscow. In 1923, Zubov was transferred to Petrograd, released again and finally managed to leave Russia with his young wife in 1925.

In France, he started several antique shops and lived between Nice, Berlin, and Paris. The last twenty years of his life he lived in Paris and actively participated in Russian émigré life. He published extensively on the subject of Russian iconography. However, he became well known after publishing in Germany his book on Tsar Paul the First. His less known works include his memoirs Stradnye gody Rossii: Vospominaniia o revoliutsii (1917—1925) (Suffering years of Russia: Recollections of the revolution) and his editing work for Ivan Iakubovskii's manuscript and its publication under the title Karlik favorita (Dwarf of the Favorite), both published in Munich. He died in 1969 in Paris.