The old inventory book of the museum has the inscription: “family portrait”. The name of this amazing old woman in the portrait, came in 1918 from the Uvarov estate, was revealed in 1993. Perhaps there was a similar original portrait. It could have been written at the beginning of the XIX century, if we judge by the age and dressing of the depicted woman.
There is practically no doubt that this is Natalia Kirillovna Zagryazhskaya (1747-1837), born Countess Razumovskaya, daughter of the last hetman of Little Russia, Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky. The person being portrayed is identified on the basis of only external similarity with her known images and descriptions — she is ugly, stooped, almost hunchbacked, but intelligent and characteristic. Moreover, the lady is most similar not to her portraits — famous watercolors, where she is already very old, but to the portraits of her brothers Andrey, Lev, Grigory, and especially Alexei, the grandfather of archaeologist Alexei Sergeyevich Uvarov on the maternal side. So, the portrait depicts the famous aunt, a distant relative of the Uvarovs.
M.I. Pylyaev described her among “Wonderful eccentrics and originals”: “It was a living chronicle of the reign of Catherine II, and many of her stories were repeated in print. A wonderful old lady lived on Fontanka near the Chain Bridge in the house of the former III department. Here are the little-known features of her character. She retained the custom of the last century to receive visitors while dressing. She was small in stature, lopsided, one shoulder higher than the other. Her eyes were large, gray-blue, with an extraordinary expression of insight and wit; her nose was straight, thick and large with a huge wart on her cheek.” Despite her natural physical disabilities, she chose her husband for herself, and since she could not give birth to a child, she stole her sister’s daughter. She brought her up perfectly and successfully married her off. Upon the accession of Paul I, Natalia Kirillovna was awarded a cavalier lady of the Order of St. Catherine of the 1st class and enjoyed great honor at court. Her portrait cannot be called ceremonial — she has no her regalia in it.
There is practically no doubt that this is Natalia Kirillovna Zagryazhskaya (1747-1837), born Countess Razumovskaya, daughter of the last hetman of Little Russia, Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky. The person being portrayed is identified on the basis of only external similarity with her known images and descriptions — she is ugly, stooped, almost hunchbacked, but intelligent and characteristic. Moreover, the lady is most similar not to her portraits — famous watercolors, where she is already very old, but to the portraits of her brothers Andrey, Lev, Grigory, and especially Alexei, the grandfather of archaeologist Alexei Sergeyevich Uvarov on the maternal side. So, the portrait depicts the famous aunt, a distant relative of the Uvarovs.
M.I. Pylyaev described her among “Wonderful eccentrics and originals”: “It was a living chronicle of the reign of Catherine II, and many of her stories were repeated in print. A wonderful old lady lived on Fontanka near the Chain Bridge in the house of the former III department. Here are the little-known features of her character. She retained the custom of the last century to receive visitors while dressing. She was small in stature, lopsided, one shoulder higher than the other. Her eyes were large, gray-blue, with an extraordinary expression of insight and wit; her nose was straight, thick and large with a huge wart on her cheek.” Despite her natural physical disabilities, she chose her husband for herself, and since she could not give birth to a child, she stole her sister’s daughter. She brought her up perfectly and successfully married her off. Upon the accession of Paul I, Natalia Kirillovna was awarded a cavalier lady of the Order of St. Catherine of the 1st class and enjoyed great honor at court. Her portrait cannot be called ceremonial — she has no her regalia in it.
