The museum’s collection contains a portrait of Grand Duchess Catherine Alexeyevna, the future Empress Catherine II. The painting was created by an unknown artist in the 1750s. The iconographic source of the painting was the work of the German painter Georg Christoph Groot.
Georg Groot arrived in Reval (modern Tallinn) from Stuttgart in 1741 at the invitation of General Ulrich Löwendal. Two years later, he moved to St. Petersburg, where he became a painter of the Imperial Court. Groot painted portraits of the royal family and the Russian nobility until the end of his life. According to Groot’s contemporaries, his portraits were true-to-life and were distinguished by the then-popular preciosity of poses and costumes, and a refined color scheme.
Groot painted a portrait of Catherine when she was still the 14-year-old bride of the heir to the Russian throne, the future Emperor Peter III. This canvas became the prototype for numerous copies that were placed in official institutions and the houses of noble families.
Catherine Alexeyevna was a Prussian princess and was known as Sophia Augusta Frederica of Anhalt-Zerbst before she became Christian. She ascended the throne as a result of a coup d'état to overthrow her husband, Peter III, who soon died under unexplained circumstances.
The future empress is portrayed in a satin dress decorated with lace along the deep neckline, with a red moire ribbon of the Order of St. Catherine. The head of the Grand Duchess is adorned with a precious Rococo style diadem, which harmonizes with the earrings.
The portrait was painted in Arkhangelsk, most likely by a local artist. The Arkhangelsk regional archive has preserved a request from the Senate to find artists who can paint royal portraits, to which a detailed list of the most prominent ones was sent by the city council. Provincial copyists usually portrayed models down to a bust or waist to avoid depicting hands: this approach does not require high academic education and knowledge of the basics of classical drawing. Portraits tend to have a plain rectangular shape and a neutral background.
