Prince Paolo (Pavel Petrovich) Troubetzkoy (1866–1938) was the second son of the Russian diplomat Prince P.I. Troubetzkoy and the American pianist Ada Winans. He spent his childhood at Ada’s family villa near Lago di Maggiore, where he first studied sculpture under the Italian artist Daniele Ranzoni. In 1884 he moved to Milan to study in various sculpture workshops and by 1885 was working independently in his own studio.

Troubetzkoy visited Russia for the first time in 1883 and settled in St. Petersburg in 1897, joining the influential artist group Mir iskusstva (The World of Art). He worked in Moscow from 1898 to 1906 and served as Professor at the Moscow Art College of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. During this period, he produced over 50 works and maintained friendships with prominent figures such as Isaak Levitan, Fedor Shaliapin, S. Witte, S. Botkin, and Leo Tolstoy. Among his major commissions was the equestrian monument of Tsar Alexander III, completed in 1909 in St. Petersburg after seven years of work.

From the late 1880s, Troubetzkoy exhibited widely across Europe, including at the Berlin Secession, Paris Salon, and exhibitions in Venice, Munich, Dresden, Vienna, and Rome. He lived in Paris from 1906 to 1914, frequently visiting Italy, Sweden, England, and Russia. In 1911–1912 he traveled to the United States, returning in 1914 due to the outbreak of World War I, where he resided in Hollywood portraying many movie stars. He moved back to Paris in 1921 and eventually settled permanently in Intra, Lago di Maggiore, from 1932 until his death in 1938.

Troubetzkoy was greatly influenced by Auguste Rodin early in his career. Later, as a teacher, he influenced artists such as Rembrandt Bugatti. His sculptures are celebrated for their naturalistic, expressive forms, capturing both the vitality of his subjects and a subtle lyrical elegance, blending the realism of portraiture with the fluidity of movement.