Friday, July 20, 2018

Count and Countess Nikolai Saltykov - three portraits by Johann Friedrich August Tischbein, 1780-85


Countess Natalia Vladimirovna Saltykova, née Princess Dolgorukova (12 May 1736 - 19 September 1812), 1780.

Count Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov was a member of the noble Saltykov family, a Russian Field Marshal, and Imperial courtier. He was head of the Russian Army as president of the War Collegium from 1791 to 1802, and Lieutenant Grand Master of the Order of Malta from 1801 to 1803. He was also the tutor of Catherine II's heir, the Tsarevich Paul and, subsequently, that of the future Paul I's two sons, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich and the future Tsar Alexander I. His military and court career appears to have been one long string of triumphs, and he remained in great favor with three successive rulers of Russia - Catherine II, Paul I, and Alexander I - no small feat when one considers the complicated and troubled relationships of mother, son, and grandson.

Count, later Prince, Nikolai Ivanovich Saltykov (31 October 1736 - 28 May 1816), 1785.
The Count and Countess with their sons Dmitri (1767-1828), Alexander (1775-1837), and Sergei (1777-1828), 1782.


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Johann Friedrich August Tischbein, known as the Leipziger Tischbein (9 March 1750, Maastricht - 21 June 1812, Heidelberg), German portrait painter, a member of the prodigious Tischbein family of artists.


2 comments:

  1. I was familiar with Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein's portrait of Goethe, in particular, and assumed your Tischbein might have been the same person. After all, the date of birth was almost identical, they both learned art from the same uncle and their aristocratic family groups looked similar. But no, Johann Friedrich August Tischbein was just as interesting/talented in his own right.

    Quite a family!

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    1. Yes, what a family. Does make it tricky when I'm trying to attribute their work correctly, though. Obviously, doing this blog, I have to get almost all my information from the internet, and so much information on the internet is... wrong! Gathering what I need for my posts, I've had to become an A+ detective! : )

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