This portrait of a woman is a mystery of the museum that has not yet been solved. Neither its author nor the model has been authentically identified today.
According to art critic Elena Terkel, it probably depicts the baroness of an old earl ancestry, Lidia Pavlovna Shteingel (1869-1942), nee Samoilova. The second version of identifying the portrait’s model belongs to the museum specialists. The technique of the work is more consistent with the technique of the French academics of William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s company. Since the portrait came from the Zatishye estate of the Zaraysk district, which belonged to the Swiss Adolf Perle, it can be assumed with some caution that the model was Perle’s wife, Berta Fedorovna (1874-1938). If the guess is correct, then the portrait was painted before her marriage, in Switzerland.
Innuendo and mystery add charm to the portrait. The model looks at the viewer openly, with a slight smile on her face. Her fair skin and light blush contrast with her dark clothing and neutral gray background. The young woman is dressed in the fashion of the late 19th century - a dark coat with a fashionable gigot sleeve in the French manner. The collar is trimmed with fluffy fur, and the cuffs are decorated with thin translucent light lace. This creates a sharp contrast of textures that catches the eye.
It is remarkable that such an image - in a very elegant, maximally closed outerwear, often of dark colors, defined the paintings on the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was addressed, for example, by Ivan Kramskoy in the portrait “Unknown Woman” (1883) and Mikhail Nesterov in his work “Amazon” (1906).
The model’s hair looks very natural - by the end of the 19th century, ladies did not often style their hair in complex compositions, often simply putting it in neat hairstyles.
Young woman holds a book in her hands - she has laid the page where she stopped. This small detail, almost imperceptible at first glance, gives the portrait a charming simplicity. The artist seemed to catch this moment from life and transferred it to the canvas.
According to art critic Elena Terkel, it probably depicts the baroness of an old earl ancestry, Lidia Pavlovna Shteingel (1869-1942), nee Samoilova. The second version of identifying the portrait’s model belongs to the museum specialists. The technique of the work is more consistent with the technique of the French academics of William-Adolphe Bouguereau’s company. Since the portrait came from the Zatishye estate of the Zaraysk district, which belonged to the Swiss Adolf Perle, it can be assumed with some caution that the model was Perle’s wife, Berta Fedorovna (1874-1938). If the guess is correct, then the portrait was painted before her marriage, in Switzerland.
Innuendo and mystery add charm to the portrait. The model looks at the viewer openly, with a slight smile on her face. Her fair skin and light blush contrast with her dark clothing and neutral gray background. The young woman is dressed in the fashion of the late 19th century - a dark coat with a fashionable gigot sleeve in the French manner. The collar is trimmed with fluffy fur, and the cuffs are decorated with thin translucent light lace. This creates a sharp contrast of textures that catches the eye.
It is remarkable that such an image - in a very elegant, maximally closed outerwear, often of dark colors, defined the paintings on the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was addressed, for example, by Ivan Kramskoy in the portrait “Unknown Woman” (1883) and Mikhail Nesterov in his work “Amazon” (1906).
The model’s hair looks very natural - by the end of the 19th century, ladies did not often style their hair in complex compositions, often simply putting it in neat hairstyles.
Young woman holds a book in her hands - she has laid the page where she stopped. This small detail, almost imperceptible at first glance, gives the portrait a charming simplicity. The artist seemed to catch this moment from life and transferred it to the canvas.
