Vasily Ivanovich Rukavishnikov (January 18, 1872 - 1916),
Vladimir and
Sergei Nabokov's maternal uncle, was a wealthy, eccentric dilettante. Queer Places:
Rozhdestveno Memorial Estate, st. Museum, 1, Rozhdestveno, Leningradskaya oblast, Russia, 188356
Vasily Ivanovich Rukavishnikov (January 18, 1872 - 1916),
Vladimir and
Sergei Nabokov's maternal uncle, was a wealthy, eccentric dilettante.
Uncle Ruka, as he was universally known, stuttered and loved music passionately. He considered his greatest achievement to be an original poem that he set to his own accompaniment, but of all the Nabokovs it was only Sergei who learned to play it by heart.
When he died in 1916 he left his entire Rozhdestveno Estate - a mansion, 2,000 acres of land and a fortune in rubles - to his favorite nephew, Vladimir, who became thus a wealthy 17-year-old, just for a year before the Russian Revolution took it all away again.
My published books:
http://andrejkoymasky.com/liv/fam/bior3/rukavi01.html