2-548-319 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Andrei Ivanovich Stakenschneider, Russian architect, 1860. Stakenschneider (1802-1865) is credited with transforming Russian architecture from Neoclassicism to Romaticism. In the late 1830s he became the foremost court architect of Tsar Nicholas I and designed several royal palaces in St Petersburg, including the Mariinsky, Nicholas and New Michael Palaces. Stakenschneider was also responsible for the refurbishment of parts of the interior of the Winter Palace. From a private collection.