Lot Essay
Enrolled in the Preobrazhenskii regiment in 1756, promoted to aide-de-camp to the Empress Catherine II the Great, first major of the regiment in 1787-91, he had a brilliant military career during the Empress' reign, until forced into retirement by her son Paul. On the accession of Alexander I in 1801 he was promoted to general in chief, the following year appointed military governor of the Baltic provinces. He died while on campaign against the Turks. He married in 1779 Varvara Vasil'evna Engelhardt, whose mother was Potemkin's niece.