Prince Paolo (Paul) Troubetzkoy (1866-1938) was one of the most internationally successful sculptors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, whose refined bronzes secured him a distinguished reputation across Europe, Russia, and the United States. The second son of the Russian diplomat Prince P. I. Troubetzkoy and the American pianist Ada Winans, Pavel Petrovich Troubetzkoy spent his childhood at the villa of Ada's parents near Lago di Maggiore in northern Italy. There he first began studying sculpture under the Italian artist Daniele Ranzoni. From 1884 he lived in Milan, where he studied in various sculpture workshops, and from 1885 he worked from his own studio.

Troubetzkoy visited Russia for the first time in 1883 and eventually settled in St. Petersburg in 1897, where he became a member of the celebrated artist group The World of Art. He worked in Moscow from 1898 until 1906, serving as Professor at the Moscow Art College of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. In Russia he created more than fifty works. Among his friends and models were Isaak Levitan, Feodor Shaliapin, Sergei Witte, Sergei Botkin, and Leo Tolstoy, placing him at the very heart of Russian cultural life during a remarkably rich moment. From 1899 until 1906 he worked on an equestrian monument of Tsar Alexander III, which was installed in St. Petersburg in 1909.

From the late 1880s Troubetzkoy participated regularly in all the major European exhibitions, including the Berlin Secession, the Paris Salon, and shows in Venice, Munich, Dresden, Vienna, and Rome. He lived in Paris from 1906 until 1914, and during this time frequently visited Italy, Sweden, England, and Russia.

In 1911 and 1912 Troubetzkoy lived in the United States, returning again in 1914 when he was forced to stay through the outbreak of war in Europe. He lived in Hollywood, portraying many of the movie stars of the era. In 1921 he moved back to Paris, and from 1932 until his death in 1938 he lived permanently in Intra on Lago di Maggiore, his native town. During this final period Troubetzkoy, who himself had been greatly influenced early in his career by the work of Auguste Rodin, began teaching and influenced Rembrandt Bugatti, who would go on to become a distinguished sculptor in his own right.