The painting shows a woman named Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya. She was the only daughter of Catherine the Great’s supporter, Count Aleksey Orlov, and his wife Evdokiya Lopukhina. Anna was born in 1785; a year later, her mother died in childbirth. Count Orlov did not marry again and raised the daughter alone. She got a secular education, spoke four languages and at the age of eight became already a maid of honor for Catherine II. The death of her father in 1807 was a heavy blow to Anna. Having inherited all his fortune, she started her spiritual seeking and decided not to get married.
After taking up her residence in an estate at the Monastery of St. George, Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya did not withdraw from the high society and enjoyed being favored by the Romanov House. She served as a chamber-maid of honor to Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna and then to Alexandra Fedorovna; she accompanied the latter during her big trip around Russia. Anna did a lot of charity work: she donated about 25 million rubles for the restoration of monasteries and churches throughout Russia.
The friendship with Vera Nikolaevna Voyeykova connected Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya with the province of Tambov, as she often visited their estate, Olshanka.
On October 5, 1848, Anna suddenly died in the Novgorod Yuriev Monastery where she was visiting Archimandrite Manuel. She had bequeathed most of her fortune to Russian monasteries and cathedrals.
In this portrait by an unknown artist, Orlova-Chesmenskaya is depicted as a chamber maid of honor to Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna, the wife of Emperor Alexander I. Anna is wearing a light-colored, thin fabric dress with a high waist and short lantern sleeves.
On the left side of the bodice, she has a pinned maid-of-honor cipher with the portrait of Elizabeth Alekseevna on a blue bow, the color of Saint Andrew ribbon. The cipher goes with a gold brooch decorated with diamonds that form the empress’s initial: this insignia was worn by maids of honor of a monarch.
The painting is not signed, so it is impossible to define the correct date of its creation.
On the back side of the canvas, there is an inscription: From the collection of artist Borzenkov F.Y., and above it, almost in the center, there is another one: Anna Alekseevna Arlova, the daughter of A.F. Arlov.
At first, the portrait of Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya was given to the Tambov Art Museum, and then to the Tambov Regional Ethnography Museum.
Previously, it was part of the collection of paintings of nobleman Boris Chicherin and was kept in an estate named Karaul, in the village of the same name.
After taking up her residence in an estate at the Monastery of St. George, Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya did not withdraw from the high society and enjoyed being favored by the Romanov House. She served as a chamber-maid of honor to Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna and then to Alexandra Fedorovna; she accompanied the latter during her big trip around Russia. Anna did a lot of charity work: she donated about 25 million rubles for the restoration of monasteries and churches throughout Russia.
The friendship with Vera Nikolaevna Voyeykova connected Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya with the province of Tambov, as she often visited their estate, Olshanka.
On October 5, 1848, Anna suddenly died in the Novgorod Yuriev Monastery where she was visiting Archimandrite Manuel. She had bequeathed most of her fortune to Russian monasteries and cathedrals.
In this portrait by an unknown artist, Orlova-Chesmenskaya is depicted as a chamber maid of honor to Empress Elizabeth Alekseevna, the wife of Emperor Alexander I. Anna is wearing a light-colored, thin fabric dress with a high waist and short lantern sleeves.
On the left side of the bodice, she has a pinned maid-of-honor cipher with the portrait of Elizabeth Alekseevna on a blue bow, the color of Saint Andrew ribbon. The cipher goes with a gold brooch decorated with diamonds that form the empress’s initial: this insignia was worn by maids of honor of a monarch.
The painting is not signed, so it is impossible to define the correct date of its creation.
On the back side of the canvas, there is an inscription: From the collection of artist Borzenkov F.Y., and above it, almost in the center, there is another one: Anna Alekseevna Arlova, the daughter of A.F. Arlov.
At first, the portrait of Anna Orlova-Chesmenskaya was given to the Tambov Art Museum, and then to the Tambov Regional Ethnography Museum.
Previously, it was part of the collection of paintings of nobleman Boris Chicherin and was kept in an estate named Karaul, in the village of the same name.
