Russian portrait painting of the second half of the 18th century is represented by a number of outstanding artists. Among them, the works of Alexei Petrovich Antropov, Ivan Petrovich Argunov, Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov, Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky and Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky are especially remarkable. Their paintings reflect a particular historical stage in the development of Russian portraiture in a wide European context.

The portrait of Varvara Afanasyevna Bibikova has long been associated with the name of Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky. His works were praised at one of the first exhibitions held in St. Petersburg in 1770. With his diversity and flexibility, he resembled the great Western European academic painters, who depicted the whole gamut of creative interests of the era in the art of portraiture. Levitsky pushed the then-established boundaries of the portrait genre, demonstrating its capabilities and fulfilling the desires of his customers and a noticeably grown number of educated people.

Tatyana Valerianovna Ilyina and Maria Sergeyevna Fomina in their book “The History of Russian Art” write,

In 1910, the artist Alexander Sredin suggested that the portrait was created by Dmitry Levitsky. Then this hypothesis was confirmed in 1949 by Igor Grabar. Natalia Gershenzon-Chegodaeva questioned this evaluation. Finally, in 1999, experts of the State Tretyakov Gallery came to the conclusion that this is a copy of a painting by Dmitry Levitsky created in the last quarter of the 18th century. Apparently, the original has not been preserved. In this case, the work is still quite valuable as it fully reproduces the lost masterpiece.