Prince Mikhail Nikitich Volkonsky (1713–1788/89) was a prominent political and military representative, a participant of the 1762 coup d’état. Mikhail Nikitich’s mother, Agrafena Petrovna from the Bestuzhev-Ryumin family, during the reign of Catherine I played an important role at court and participated in court intrigues, for which in 1728 she was brought to trial by the Supreme Privy Council. By a court decision, she was exiled to the Tikhvin monastery, and her husband became a jester under the Empress Anna Ioannovna. The son, from 1724, was brought up by his grandfather Peter Bestuzhev-Ryumin in Kurland.

Prince Mikhail Volkonsky had a different fate. The years of his service passed under the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II. Both empresses appreciated in him the ability to combine ‘the firmness of a general with the ingenuity of a minister.’ He took part in the Polish campaign (1733-1734), the Russian-Turkish (1735-1739), the Russian-Swedish (1741-1743) and the Seven Years Wars. He was ambassador to Poland twice.

Mikhail Volkonsky was a direct participant of coup d’état that took place in 1762. He sided with Empress Catherine, leading the Horse Guards, which determined the success of the coup, as well as the future fate of the prince. He was awarded the rank of general-in-chief, was appointed senator and lieutenant colonel of the Horse Guards, and soon received 5 thousand rubles life annuity. From that moment on, he became especially close to the empress, carrying out her most complex and delicate assignments.

After the Plague Riot in 1771, Volkonsky received the post of commander-in-chief in Moscow. He stimulated stone construction, including factory buildings, laid water pipes and reconstructed several streets. As commander-in-chief, he also prepared the city for defense during the Pugachev uprising (1773-1775), pulling significant military forces into the city. Later Volkonsky was one of the leaders of the investigation of Yemelyan Pugachev and his main associates.

In 1768 he was a member of the Council, established under the chairmanship of Catherine II, to consider all cases related to the war with Turkey. A year later, he became the host of the famous festivities on the Khodynskoye field that marked the conclusion of the amicable agreement with Turkey.

The portrait came to Zaraysk Kremlin collection from the Bogdanovs' estate in the Zaraysk district of the Ryazan province in the 1920s. The painting is part of the family portrait gallery of the Vice-Chancellor of the Russian Empire, Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn.