Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn the Younger

Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Golitsyn or Gallitzin (Russian: Дмитрий Михайлович Голицын; German: Demetrius Michalowitsch von Gallitzin; born 15 May 1721 in Abo, died 19 September 1793 in Vienna) was a Russian diplomat, philanthropist and art collector from the Golitsyn family.[2] He was the son of Field Marshal Michael Gallitzin and grandson of Prince Boris Kurakin.

A portrait by François-Hubert Drouais, 1762[1]

In the late 1750s, Prince Gallitzin resided in Paris where he headed the Russian embassy during the Seven Years' War. His beautiful wife Catherine died there in 1761. Her liaison with actress La Clairon gained great notoriety.[3] Catherine was the daughter of Dimitrie Cantemir, the former ruler of Moldavia, by Princess Anastasiya Trubetskaya.

From 1761 to 1792 he was Russian ambassador to Austria,[4] with the poet Ludwig Heinrich von Nicolay as his secretary. Catherine the Great bestowed on him the Order of St. Andrew for negotiating the First Partition of Poland with Emperor Joseph II. The prince was acclaimed for having returned to Russia the lands annexed by his patrilineal ancestor, Grand Duke Gediminas.

The Golitsyn Hospital in the Leninsky Avenue, Moscow

In the winter of 1782 Mozart was engaged for all the concerts given by Gallitzin who "placed his carriage at my disposal both going and returning, and treated me in the handsomest manner possible".[5] Gallitzinberg is the hill near Vienna where the Russian ambassador built his residence (with an artificial Roman ruin and a round temple still standing). Gallitzinstraße in Vienna is also named after him.

The childless Prince Gallitzin, wishing to keep the memory of his wife alive for future generations, spent a fortune to establish the Golitsyn Hospital in Moscow. His palace in Vienna boasted several hundred paintings by Old Masters.[6] After his death, these paintings were exhibited in the gallery of the Golitsyn Hospital before being auctioned off in order to finance the hospital's extension.