Alexander Alexandrovich de Litsyn (1768-1789) was the illegitimate son of Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn and the Hungarian Countess von Klupfel. Thanks to the efforts of his father, he, like his two sisters, received the nobility from the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. Then with Her Imperial Majesty’s Edict of Catherine II, all three entered into Russian allegiance.
In the portrait we see a young officer in a white powdered wig, his eyes are serious, but a slight smile crosses his lips. The young man is not more than 20 years old. He is wearing the uniform of the Yaroslavl Infantry Regiment, in which he served as a colonel. Since 1785, Alexander de Litsyn was married to Princess Anna Alexandrovna Gruzinskaya, daughter of the Georgian Tsarevich Alexander Bakarovich Bagration-Gruzinsky. She followed her husband on his military campaigns in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. Unfortunately, the marriage, like the life of Alexander de Litsyn, did not last long - he was seriously wounded during the assault of Ochakov in December 1788, and died the following year.
Alexander Alexandrovich de Litsyn’s portrait is one of two original works by the Swiss pastel painter Johann Bardou kept in the museum. In Russia, pastel portrait has long been considered the job of foreign artists: there are practically no Russian pastel painters of the 18th century except Gabriel Ivanovich Skorodumov. This form of art became more widespread in the second half of the 18th century. Basically, pastels were used for the execution of intimate portraits. Among those who paid tribute to such works were the famous Russian portrait painters Dmitry Grigorievich Levitsky and Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov.
The biography and works of Johann Bardou have hardly been studied. It is known that he studied at the Berlin Academy of Arts, and from the 1780s he worked in Russia. He created mainly small octagon-shaped works.
Among the works of Bardou, the portraits of Empress Catherine II and Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn, painted by him in 1775 in Warsaw, are especially famous.
In the portrait we see a young officer in a white powdered wig, his eyes are serious, but a slight smile crosses his lips. The young man is not more than 20 years old. He is wearing the uniform of the Yaroslavl Infantry Regiment, in which he served as a colonel. Since 1785, Alexander de Litsyn was married to Princess Anna Alexandrovna Gruzinskaya, daughter of the Georgian Tsarevich Alexander Bakarovich Bagration-Gruzinsky. She followed her husband on his military campaigns in the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791. Unfortunately, the marriage, like the life of Alexander de Litsyn, did not last long - he was seriously wounded during the assault of Ochakov in December 1788, and died the following year.
Alexander Alexandrovich de Litsyn’s portrait is one of two original works by the Swiss pastel painter Johann Bardou kept in the museum. In Russia, pastel portrait has long been considered the job of foreign artists: there are practically no Russian pastel painters of the 18th century except Gabriel Ivanovich Skorodumov. This form of art became more widespread in the second half of the 18th century. Basically, pastels were used for the execution of intimate portraits. Among those who paid tribute to such works were the famous Russian portrait painters Dmitry Grigorievich Levitsky and Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov.
The biography and works of Johann Bardou have hardly been studied. It is known that he studied at the Berlin Academy of Arts, and from the 1780s he worked in Russia. He created mainly small octagon-shaped works.
Among the works of Bardou, the portraits of Empress Catherine II and Prince Alexander Mikhailovich Golitsyn, painted by him in 1775 in Warsaw, are especially famous.
