Arthur Cassini

Arthur Paul Nicholas Cassini
Portrait of Count Arthur Cassini, by Frances Benjamin Johnston
Russian Ambassador to China
In office 1891–1896
Monarch	the Guangxu Emperor
Russian Ambassador to United States
In office 1898–1905
President	William McKinley Theodore Roosevelt
Preceded by	Ernest Kotzebue
Succeeded by	Roman Romanovich Rosen
Russian Ambassador to Spain
In office 1905–1909
Monarch	Alphonso XIII
Personal details
Born	1836
Died	1919 Paris
Nationality	Russian
Children	Marguerite Cassini
Occupation	Diplomat

Arturo Paul Nicholas Cassini, Marquis de Capuzzuchi de Bologna, Count de Cassini (1836–1919), was a Russian aristocrat and lifelong diplomat who served in the Diplomatic Service of the Imperial Russian Government for 55 years during the 19th and early 20th centuries. During his tenure, he served most prominently as Ambassador to China during the Triple Intervention and negotiation for the lease of Port Arthur; as Ambassador to the United States for seven tumultuous years which saw the Spanish–American and Russo-Japanese wars; and as Ambassador to Spain during the Algeciras Conference.

Arthur Paul Nicholas (or Arturo Pavlovich Nicolas) Cassini was born in 1836 into a noble Russian family of Italian lineage which first entered the service of the Czar during the Napoleonic Wars. His father, Paul Viktorovich Cassini, had served as Russian Consul at Trieste and as a State Counsellor to Venice. Although his titles suggest Italian origin they were, in fact Russian, and by imperial decree of October 14, 1892 Arthur, his brother Michael, and their off-spring were entitled to use the title Count.

Having graduated from the prestigious Imperial Alexander Lyceum in 1854, Cassini entered into Government service on December 18, 1854, by joining the Foreign Office in St. Petersburg at age 18. In 1862 he was granted the title "gentleman of the bedchamber", in 1880—that of "Chamberlain", and on April 1, 1881 he was promoted to "State Councillor".

Cassini was married to Zoe Dmitrievna Bibikova (1840 – December 5, 1906), daughter of Russian Minister of Internal Affairs between 1852 and 1855, Dmitry Bibikov .