Painter in watercolor. Member of the Academy of fine Arts since 1910 (Kondakov)
Academician of painting, a member of the Board of Vladikavkazskoy Railways, member of the boards of Russian banks and the United for foreign trade.
After graduating from the University of Paris, he (D. A. Benkendorf) entered the Ministry of foreign Affairs; in 1877 went to war with Turkey as a Commissioner of the red cross. At the end of the war he retired and devoted himself to art and philanthropy. Was Chairman of the society of watercolor artists, and was one of the Directors of the Board of the South-Western railway. His contemporaries regarded him warily, and even with hostility, although he recognized the talent "to be the soul society." He was a regular at the "small court" of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and his wife Maria Pavlovna, procivesa Benkendorf presidential Academy of arts, which provoked the protest of many high-ranking persons. Alexander III treated him with distrust and opposed, he was given the court rank. Says about it, A. N. Benoit, a well-known figure in the World of art, he possessed a certain natural taste, which pushed him into collecting, so the apartment was one of the most beautiful in St. Petersburg. (M. Dobrovolskaya
the magazine "Russian jeweller", № 4(9), 1998)
