Portrait of Anna Alexandrovna Obolenskaya
by CAROLUS-DURAN, Oil on canvas, 120 x 78 cm
Carolus-Duran, a fashionable society portraitist, arrived in Russia in 1876 at the invitation of Alexander Polovtsov, a senator and secretary of state under Alexander III. While there, he painted several family members, including Polovtsov’s daughter Anna, who married Prince Alexei Obolensky, a high-ranking state official.