The most famous portrait of Prokofiy Akinfiyevich Demidov was painted by the Russian artist, master of ceremonial and chamber portraits, academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts Dmitry Grigoriyevich Levitsky in 1773. The Nevyansk Historical and Architectural Museum houses a copy of this painting.

Prokofiy Demidov (1710–1786) was the eldest son of the Ural mining owner Akinfiy Nikitich Demidov, a philanthropist and patron of arts, guardian of the Moscow educational home, where he founded the Commercial School. He became the third and last Demidov to own the Nevyansk plant. Prokofiy was born in the Nevyansk plant, where he spent his childhood and youth. It was there that his lively, active, but obstinate, unyielding Demidov character was formed. His father Akinfiy Nikitich instilled in him technical and organizational skills that could be useful in managing the factory.

Prokofiy knew the factory business, but he had no desire to “constantly supervise the factories.” Having received the Nevyansk factories, for 10 years he ran the plant from Moscow, sending orders to trusted clerks and receiving detailed reports. Prokofiy Demidov tried to encourage his children to run the factories: he sent his sons Akaky and Lev to the Urals to study factory management in practice. But they were never able to master mining and after a while returned to Moscow.

In 1769, Prokofiy Demidov completely lost interest in factory affairs and preferred to get rid of the burdensome business by selling the enterprise to the industrialist Savva Yakovlev.

Even back in his youth, Prokofiy Demidov was interested in gardening and retained this hobby throughout his life. In 1738, he left the Nevyansk plant and, after spending a year in Solikamsk with his middle brother Gregory, moved to Tula, and in 1750 he moved to live in Moscow. In his Neskuchnoye estate, Prokofiy Demidov founded a large botanical garden, also called Neskuchny, where he grew annual and perennial plants. There were also greenhouses for heat-loving plants, a poultry house, and a large pond. Prokofiy also compiled herbariums — the results of persistent collecting.

Prokofy Demidov is known as a prominent philanthropist of his time. He donated huge sums to the establishment of the Orphanage and to Moscow University. By the end of his life the total amount of his donations exceeded four million rubles. And, of course, Prokofiy Demidov was known for his numerous eccentricities. His extravagant acts illustrated his life motto to “live cheerfully.”