Voltaire sitting in a chair

Arranging secular receptions and publishing the magazine "Golden Fleece" at a loss, Nikolai squandered all his fortune. He even made a sarcophagus for himself, but he never had to use it. In addition to all kinds of eccentricities and an ineradicable passion for the weaker sex, Ryabushinsky was probably one of the first Russian autolickers. His luxurious "Daimler" red, with a capacity of 60 horsepower (which at that time was the latest technology), the residents of Moscow quickly learned to recognize. Several times Nikolai was prosecuted for violating the rules of car driving, and once he even had to pay substantial compensation to the downed pedestrian.Nikolai Ryabushinsky was born on May 24, 1877 in Moscow, in the family of Pavel Ryabushinsky, a major Russian industrialist and banker, who owned the “P.M. Ryabushinsky with his sons ”. His mother, Alexandra Stepanovna, was the daughter of a large grain merchant Ovsyannikov. Nikolai's grandfather, the founder of the dynasty, Mikhail Yakovlevich (1786-1858), who took the surname Rebushinsky (changed by his sons to Ryabushinsky) after the name of his native village Rebushka, not far from the town of Borovsk, Kaluga province, used to be called Glaziers. Having moved to Moscow around 1802, he presented a thousand rubles (quite a lot of money at that time) to the merchant assembly and became a merchant of the third guild. After the Patriotic War of 1812, Mikhail Yakovlevich was ruined, for ten years he moved to the bourgeoisie, but then by tireless work again won a place in the merchant class. The business developed, and by the 50s M. Ya. Rebushinsky already owned several factories in Moscow and in the provinces. They spoke of him as one of the prominent Moscow rich men. After his death in 1858, his sons, Vasily and Pavel, inherited a capital of two million rubles in banknotes, and they continued their father's business. Pavel Mikhailovich earned 20 million rubles in his life. In 1899, he died, having managed to manage the money wisely: he bequeathed several tens of thousands of rubles to his spiritual father, left the house in Maly Kharitonevsky Lane to his wife, and handed over to his sons a well-oiled and vigorously developing business, as well as a huge fortune at that time of 20 million in bank notes. He had eight brothers (not counting five sisters), who later acquired enterprises in the linen, glass, paper and printing industries, and during the First World War - in the timber and metal industries. In 1916, in Moscow, near the Simonov Monastery, they founded the AMO automobile plant. This is how the history of the famous Moscow automobile plant ZIL began. Nikolai Pavlovich He received an excellent commercial education, but after the death of his father he decided to leave the family business and sold his share. He was attracted by the Moscow bohemian life, and he became a significant figure in it. He saw himself as the successor of the famous cultural figure Sergei Pavlovich Diaghilev. In 1906 Ryabushinsky organized a monthly art magazine "Golden Fleece", where he invited such eminent masters as K.A. Somov, E.E. Lanceray, L.S. Bakst and A.N. Benoit. Ryabushinsky put his money and soul into the magazine, but it still did not pay off, and in 1909 it had to be closed. The first exhibition, which was organized by Nikolai Pavlovich, was the sensational exhibition "Blue Rose" in 1907, which was attended by artists Kuznetsov, Utkin, Saryan, Sudeikin and many others. The philanthropist's business began to go worse and worse, expenses were growing, but this was not only the case - Ryabushinsky was an avid gambler and often lost large sums. To cover his debts, he had to sell a significant part of his chic collection. After the 1917 revolution, Ryabushinsky worked for some time in the civil service as an appraiser and art consultant, what was left of the collection was nationalized and transferred to the State Museum Fund. In 1922, the almost completely ruined Ryabushinsky emigrated to France, where he continued to engage in the antique business. He died on April 18, 1951 in a hospital after an operation, and was buried in Nice. Throughout his life, the collector was engaged in graphics and painting, although he never received a professional art education. He was close to the artistic ideals of Art Nouveau and Symbolism, which he embodied in his luxurious villa "Black Swan". The villa was distinguished by original architectural solutions, rich furnishings and a unique collection of paintings. He began to collect the French school of painting as the first of the Russian collectors. In his mansion Ryabushinsky organized such receptions and parties that all of Moscow spoke about them. But the villa burned down, and with it almost all the paintings. There were legends about the night orgies in the mansion of Nikolai Ryabushinsky in Moscow, and the number of ladies wishing to visit the scandalous Black Swan villa did not diminish. Nikolai Ryabushinsky retained his passion for the female sex for life. Apparently, to make the nights more fun, the owner decorated one of the premises of the villa with a collection of poisoned arrows from New Guinea. The fact is that Ryabushinsky, traveling in his youth to exotic countries, visited the cannibalistic Papuans and even allegedly drank wine from the skull of a defeated enemy at the leader of a hospitable tribe. Arranging secular receptions and publishing the magazine "Golden Fleece" at a loss, Nikolai squandered all his fortune. He even made a sarcophagus for himself, but he never had to use it. In addition to all kinds of eccentricities and an ineradicable passion for the weaker sex, Ryabushinsky was probably one of the first Russian autolickers. His luxurious "Daimler" red, with a capacity of 60 horsepower (which at that time was the latest technology), the residents of Moscow quickly learned to recognize. Several times Nikolai was prosecuted for violating the rules of car driving, and once he even had to pay substantial compensation to the downed pedestrian.