The State Pushkin Museum houses a portrait of Semyon Semyonovich Khlyustin, created by Pyotr Fyodorovich Sokolov.

Semyon Semyonovich Khlyustin was the son of wealthy Kaluga landowners and the nephew of Count Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, also known as “The American”. He was educated abroad and attended Oxford University. Khlyustin served in the Life Guards Uhlan Regiment and participated in the Turkish Campaign of 1828–1829. He retired in 1830 with the rank of Lieutenant and lived abroad for several years. Then, he joined the diplomatic service in 1834 as an official “for special missions” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a letter, Natalia Pushkina suggested to Alexander Pushkin that her sister Yekaterina Goncharova could marry Khlyustin. In response, Pushkin wrote to his wife,

Khlyustin frequented literary gatherings. In the early months of 1836, there was a dispute between Pushkin and Khlyustin that arose because of their literary disagreements and nearly culminated in a duel. Following explanations in correspondence, the matter was resolved. Khlyustin served as an associate member of the “Society of Lovers of Russian Literature” at the Imperial Moscow University. This society aimed to promote Russian literature as a primary means of disseminating enlightenment ideals. Vasily Lvovich Pushkin, one of the founders, read at meetings, among other works, poems by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, his nephew. From 1812, the society published “Works, ” “Prose and Poetry, ” and other collections.