Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev was an outstanding Russian scholar, historian, archaeologist, philologist, and art historian. He was a corresponding member of the Petersburg Academy of Sciences and taught at Moscow University, where he also held the position of secret advisor. Tsvetaev became the founder and first director of the Alexander III Fine Arts Museum at Moscow Imperial University, now known as the Pushkin Museum. He was the father of the famous poets Marina and Anastasia Tsvetaeva.

Ivan was born in 1847 into the family of a rural priest, Vladimir Vasilievich Tsvetaev, and his wife, Ekaterina Vasilievna. After the early death of his mother, his father raised four sons, directing them towards spiritual education. Ivan studied at the Shuya Theological School and then at the Vladimir Theological Seminary. Later, he enrolled in the Medical-Surgical Academy, but due to health issues, he transferred to the Imperial St. Petersburg University at the Faculty of History and Philology, graduating in 1870 with a candidate degree. From 1871, he taught Greek in St. Petersburg, and in 1872 became an associate professor at Warsaw University, where he defended his master's thesis. In 1874, he went to Italy to study ancient languages.

In 1876, Tsvetaev became an associate professor at the Imperial University of St. Vladimir in Kyiv, but soon was invited to Moscow University to teach Latin. From 1901 to 1910, he directed the Rumyantsev Museum. After an incident involving theft at the museum, Tsvetaev was accused of negligence but was later acquitted. To defend himself, he wrote a book that helped close the case.

In 1888, Ivan Vladimirovich became an honorary member of Bologna University. In 1889, he began working at the Department of History and Theory of Arts at Moscow University. In 1894, at a congress of Russian artists, Tsvetaev proposed creating a new fine arts museum in Moscow. At his initiative, a competition for the museum's design was held, which was won by R. I. Klein. In 1897, Tsvetaev met Yu. S. Nechaev-Maltsov, who became the main sponsor of the museum. Construction of the museum began in 1899 and it opened on May 31, 1912. Initially, the museum specialized in ancient art, including a collection of Greek sculpture. According to Marina Tsvetaeva's recollections, some works were made in a workshop in Charlottenburg. Some casts from the museum's collection are now kept in the University Museum of RGGU.

Ivan Vladimirovich Tsvetaev passed away in 1913 in Moscow and was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery.