Captivating female portraits are one of the achievements of Russian painting of the second half of the 18th century, represented by the works of such brilliant artists as Fyodor Rokotov, Dmitry Levitsky and Vladimir Borovikovsky. The Russian portrait depicting aristocrats is very diverse in terms of both emotionality and quality of painting.

Unfortunately, not all artists signed their canvases, they did not see the need for it. For this reason, it is sometimes difficult to attribute the paintings — to determine the place and time of their creation and establish the artist. Among such female portraits is the half-length image of Anna Gavrilovna Kashkina, nee Bakhmeteva.

Anna Gavrilovna’s life cannot be called easy. Her mother, Alexander Nikolaevna Bakhmeteva, died while giving birth to Anna. The premature baby girl was taken into care by her relative Maria Nikolaevna Rtishcheva. In 1795, Anna Gavrilovna married Nikolay Evgenievich Kashkin, the grandson of Vice Admiral Pyotr Gavrilovich Kashkin. The wedding was held at the Bakhmetev-Kashkin estate in Nizhny Pryski.

The poet Ivan Dolgorukov wrote about this estate,

The manor house was destroyed in Soviet times. Previously, the canvas “Portrait of Anna Kashkina” was displayed in one of the halls among other family portraits.

After the wedding, the Kashkins lived mainly in Moscow. Literary evenings, musical mornings, and balls were held in their house. They were visited by artists, poets, actors, and writers.

The state of the portrayed woman is not dreamy, but at the same time Anna Gavrilovna does not pose: she is in more of an introspective, if not alert mood. As an example of a lengthy series of Russian portraits painted by unknown and forgotten artists, this work is quite significant; it stands out for its originality, which is alien to those “serial” images that are most often limited to a depiction of social status of the sitter.