During his stay in Odesa, Alexander Pushkin often visited her salon. The prominent literary critic Georgy Makogonenko believed that Vorontsova and Pushkin’s love story was “a myth created by the Pushkinists.” Nevertheless, it is understood that the poems “All’s Finished: You and I Are Fractured…” (1824), “A Burnt Letter” (1825), “Thirst for Glory” (1825) and others were dedicated to Elizaveta Vorontsova. Before the poet’s expulsion from Odesa, Elizaveta gave him a ring. Pushkin is depicted with it in the famous portrait by Vasily Tropinin. Two poems by Pushkin are associated with this gift. One of them is a well-known masterpiece — “Guard Me, My Talisman” (1825). The other — “Talisman” — was written two years later, in 1827.

Countess Vorontsova also presented the poet with her portrait in a gold medallion. Perhaps the lines written in 1824 in Mikhaylovskoye reference this gift: