Johann Baptist Lampi the Younger painted the ceremonial portrait of Prince Alexander Kourakin in 1811 who at the time headed the Russian Embassy in Paris. Customers highly praised Lampi’s works as the artist always depicted his models in noble poses and with likable faces. The scale of the canvas emphasized the importance of the Prince. Depicted in rich surroundings, Kourakin is standing in a solemn pose, with decorations on his chest. The master accurately conveyed the texture of the materials: the velvet looked soft, the gold and the precious stones were shining in the sunlight, the draperies hanging under their own weight.
A portrait of Prince Alexander Kourakin
Creation period
1811
Dimensions
254x178 cm
Technique
Canvas, oil
Collection
Exhibition
14
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Johann Baptist Lampi the Younger
A portrait of Prince A.B. Kourakin
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Contemporaries called Kourakin “the Diamond Prince” for his penchant for luxury - he lived the high life and rode around Paris in a gold carriage. Even when Catherine II exiled him to the village of Nadezhdino for his correspondence with Pavel Bibikov which she frowned upon, he set up a residence there and lived a lordly life. Writer Mikhail Pylyaev mentioned the fact that every morning the servant gave Kourakin an album with samples of cloth for the Prince to choose his costume. He used to wear “a silk brocade or velvet French caftan (a long belted tunic), studded, like his camisole, with diamond buttons. The stars, as well as the crosses around his neck were also large solitaires”.
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At the same time, his biographers note that the Prince was an amicable and devoted man. He sincerely loved Emperor Pavel Petrovich, who he had grown up with, and was ready to come to his aid at any moment. “With what skillful representation, what nobility, what consistency and tenderness in friendship, did he offset all his shortcomings!”, - the memoirist Philip Wiegel wrote about him. The Prince was a good diplomat well versed in political affairs - in 1807, Russia and France concluded, with his participation, the Treaty of Tilsit.
The artist reflected these biography details in the ceremonial portrait. In the left part of the painting, the master placed the temple of the Roman god Janus who was revered as a deity of any undertaking. According to legend, the doors to the temple of Janus opened during a war and closed in peaceful times. Lampi the Younger highlighted Kourakin’s success in diplomacy by painting the doors closed.The artist reflected these biography details in the ceremonial portrait. In the left part of the painting, the master placed the temple of the Roman god Janus who was revered as a deity of any undertaking. According to legend, the doors to the temple of Janus opened during a war and closed in peaceful times. Lampi the Younger highlighted Kourakin’s success in diplomacy by painting the doors closed.
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Yaroslavl Museum of Fine Arts
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A portrait of Prince Alexander Kourakin
Creation period
1811
Dimensions
254x178 cm
Technique
Canvas, oil
Collection
Exhibition
14
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