A portrait of Empress Catherine II hangs in the dining room of the East Wing of the Karabikha estate. The Nekrasovs acquired it when they bought the estate from the Golitsyn princes.
The painting dates from the second half of the 18th century. It is a copy from a ceremonial portrait that was executed by the Swedish painter Alexander Roslin in 1776.
The Empress did not like the portrait: in one of her letters to the baron and publicist Friedrich Melchior Grimm, she noted that the artist depicted her as a “Swedish cook, rude and simple”.
The portrait was painted over by an unknown artist, it is assumed that it was the painter Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov. The new version of the portrait satisfied the Empress.
The portrait, after its refinement by Rokotov, was recognized as the official image of Catherine II and was often copied for state institutions and organizations. The original work is kept in the State Hermitage Museum.
The exhibition of the Nikolay Nekrasov Museum-Reserve displays a full-length image of the Empress. Her eyes are fixed on the viewer. In her right hand she holds a scepter, her left hand with a pointing gesture is lowered down.
Catherine II is dressed in a light olive-colored dress with narrow long sleeves, the cuffs are laced. The belt of bluish-gray shade descends in front with two ends, which are lined with fringe. A bluish-colored casaquin is worn on top of the dress, on the margins there is a border of black petals with a row of round buttons. There is a similar border on the dress from the waist to the hem.
Over the right shoulder is an order ribbon with a white cross at the waist. On the chest is a diamond chain of the Order. From the shoulders falls a mantle of yellowish-sand color with the image of the national emblem, which is downy and lined with ermine fur.
To the right of the figure is a throne-chair, which is upholstered in red cloth with the image of the national emblem. The seat of the throne is covered by the folds of the mantle. In the back, to the left of the throne, there is a column, the upper part of which is wrapped in a red cloth canopy.
To the left of the figure is a bench with a red cushion on which the symbols of imperial power rest. In the back there are two more columns. Between them on a pedestal is a bust of Peter the Great in profile to the right.
At the bottom of the portrait is an oval edge of the throne-like elevation, which is draped with a red cloth, drooping in folds downward.
After the revolution and nationalization of the
estate, the painting was handed over to the Yaroslavl Museum of Local Lore. In
1947, the portrait was returned to Karabikha.
