In his portraits of women, the artist Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky rendered the ideal of beauty of the late 18th century. The portrait of Maria Feodorovna, Paul I’s wife, was painted as a part of the double portrait and matched the emperor’s image. Maria Feodorovna was Paul I’s second wife, who gave birth to their ten children, including the emperors Alexander I and Nicholas I. She was crowned together with her husband, and outlived him by 27 years. The empress significantly influenced the development of science and education in Russia. Her portrait is full of tenderness and calm and graceful beauty; there is dignity in her pose and attire. On the chest she wears the orders of St. Catherine and St. Andrew the First-Called, which signify her high social status.

Vladimir Borovikovsky was born into a family of icon painters and took his first lessons from his father. After serving in a Cossack regiment, Borovikovsky returned to painting: he painted frescoes in churches and monasteries, as well as decorated residential interiors. After Catherine II had noticed his work, Borovikovsky moved to Saint Petersburg. There he studied under the master of ceremonial portrait painting Dmitry Levitsky. Borovikovsky was granted the title of adviser by the Academy of Arts for a number of his achievements, including the portrait of Catherine II showing the empress on a walk in Tsarskoye Selo. Vladimir Borovikovsky also painted the icons of the Kazan Cathedral, the iconostasis of the Smolensk cemetery church, and tutored the young painter Alexey Venetsianov.

In his work, Vladimir Borovikovsky combined the ideas of classicism and sentimentalism. His ceremonial portraits brilliantly render the texture of materials: the softness of silk, the shiny finish of satin fabrics, the sparkling of precious stones, and the heaviness of furs. In his portraits, models are depicted in the light of their social status and achievements. The artist portrays people with the most positive qualities — high intelligence, elegance, attractiveness, and the best clothes. The painter embellishes their appearances and perfectly covers the flaws.