Olga Nikolayevna Romanova was the Grand Duchess, the second daughter of the Russian Emperor Nicholas I. In 1846, she married the Prince of Württemberg, later known as King Charles I. The princess grew up together with her sisters, Maria and Alexandra, and was brought up in simplicity and severity. According to her contemporaries, the chambers of the sovereign sisters on the first floor of the Winter Palace were deprived of their usual luxury.

Olga Nikolayevna received an excellent education at home under the guidance of several mentors, such as the professor, poet, critic and publisher Pyotr Pletnev; the Doctor of Divinity, translator Archpriest Gerasim Pavsky and the famous poet Vasily Zhukovsky. The latter instilled in his student a love for Russian literature and, in particular, for the works of Alexander Pushkin. Contemporaries considered the Grand Duchess the most beautiful of the three daughters of the emperor. The traveler Friedrich von Gagern wrote in his diary,

‘Portrait of the Grand Duchess Olga Nikolayevna of Russia’ was painted by Karl Bryullov in 1841. This painting is a study for a portrait of two princesses. The emperor had to evaluate the work of several artists and select the artist for the future portrait. The second sketch was created by Timofey Neff, and his version was eventually chosen.

Bryullov’s relationship with the tsar was more than cold. The emperor often visited Bryullov’s workshop at the Academy of Arts without warning, sometimes unceremoniously intervening in his work. When there was an opportunity, the artist hid pretending to be sick. Nicholas I was reputed to be vengeful and cruel, he personally dismissed those professors of the Academy whom he did not like. The collision took place shortly after Bryullov’s arrival in St. Petersburg in 1835. The emperor waited a long time for the artist to express a desire to paint his portrait but without getting that, during one of the meetings, he ordered, “Karl, paint my portrait.” On the day of the session appointed for the “highest” customer, Bryullov, taking advantage of the emperor’s 20-minute delay, fled from the workshop. The question of a portrait no longer arose, but the career of a court artist for Bryullov was not an option since then.