Nikolai Aleksandrovich Yaroshenko was a member of a group of Russian painters called Peredvizhniki (Russian: “The Wanderers”). Portraits of people he loved occupy a special place in his oeuvre. The canvas from the museum’s collection depicts Elizaveta Platonovna Yaroshenko.
The portrait “Lady with a Cat” entered the museum in 1919 from the Stepanovskoye estate (Pavlishchevo, Pavlishchev Bor). It was this estate that Elizaveta Platonovna Yaroshenko, nee Stepanova, inherited.
Elizaveta Platonovna’s life was quite challenging. She was born in 1850. By the will of her mother, she was married. An unsuccessful marriage awakened in her a passion for learning. The young woman enrolled in the Higher Courses for Women in St. Petersburg, engaged in self-education, and studied legal literature. Then she entered the University of Bern. Elizaveta Platonovna traveled a lot in Europe, visited Vienna and Venice. She was a brilliant literary talent, which is evidenced by her letters from abroad addressed to relatives and friends. The second husband of Elizaveta Platonovna was Vasily Aleksandrovich Yaroshenko, the brother of the artist who created the presented portrait.
Local peasants called the estate “Yaroshenko’s estate”. The architect of the brick house was the husband of the hostess — Vasily Aleksandrovich Yaroshenko. He based its design on the image of an Italian villa. The Yaroshenko family also built a school in Pavlishchevo.
There is an element of genre painting in the image of the woman sitting in the armchair: a cat has interrupted her reading. Elizaveta Platonovna holds a paper knife in her right hand, which indicates that the book has been recently printed. Strict dark brown clothes with white lace cuffs and collar, a neat braid, and a light blanket thrown over her — everything bespeaks elegance and coziness. The contrasting light emphasizing the face, hands, book and white cat denotes that the artist creatively uses a classic technique, one of the favorites of the old Dutch masters.
Her ward Praskovya Ivanovna Vasilyeva wrote in her memoirs,
The portrait “Lady with a Cat” entered the museum in 1919 from the Stepanovskoye estate (Pavlishchevo, Pavlishchev Bor). It was this estate that Elizaveta Platonovna Yaroshenko, nee Stepanova, inherited.
Elizaveta Platonovna’s life was quite challenging. She was born in 1850. By the will of her mother, she was married. An unsuccessful marriage awakened in her a passion for learning. The young woman enrolled in the Higher Courses for Women in St. Petersburg, engaged in self-education, and studied legal literature. Then she entered the University of Bern. Elizaveta Platonovna traveled a lot in Europe, visited Vienna and Venice. She was a brilliant literary talent, which is evidenced by her letters from abroad addressed to relatives and friends. The second husband of Elizaveta Platonovna was Vasily Aleksandrovich Yaroshenko, the brother of the artist who created the presented portrait.
Local peasants called the estate “Yaroshenko’s estate”. The architect of the brick house was the husband of the hostess — Vasily Aleksandrovich Yaroshenko. He based its design on the image of an Italian villa. The Yaroshenko family also built a school in Pavlishchevo.
There is an element of genre painting in the image of the woman sitting in the armchair: a cat has interrupted her reading. Elizaveta Platonovna holds a paper knife in her right hand, which indicates that the book has been recently printed. Strict dark brown clothes with white lace cuffs and collar, a neat braid, and a light blanket thrown over her — everything bespeaks elegance and coziness. The contrasting light emphasizing the face, hands, book and white cat denotes that the artist creatively uses a classic technique, one of the favorites of the old Dutch masters.
Her ward Praskovya Ivanovna Vasilyeva wrote in her memoirs,
