"Catherine II the Legislatress in the Temple Devoted to the Goddess of Justice", two versions by Levitsky

Circa 1780-82.

1783.

In both versions of this very classically-inspired painting, the Empress nonetheless wears her ermine-lined cloth-of-gold Imperial mantle, and the bodice of her "antique" gown is crossed by the sash of the newly created Order of St. Vladimir. (In the later version, the badge of the order is visible, pendant from the sash, and she also wears the order's collar, while the star is embroidered on her gown.) Each painting is rather an extravaganza of allegory and commemoration - the sculpture of Justice; the eagle crouched on a stack of books, an olive branch in his beak; poppies burning in the brazier; the ships at sea - but the second version exemplifies a much more "proper", i.e., drier Neoclassicism. The second also illustrates a particular whim of the aging Empress: she was often unhappy with the way she was portrayed in her later portraits; viewing her 1778 state portrait by Alexander Roslin, she complained that he had given her "a face as common as a Swedish pastry cook's". So, when new portraits were being copied, she often gave instructions that the artist and/or his studio substitute, as a model for the head, her favorite portrait by the artist Feodor Rokotov, which she felt made her look younger and more attractive.

(I haven't found the first painting attributed to anyone other than Levitsky, but I have to say that in many ways it looks more like the work of another of the Empress' favored artists, Lampi the Elder. But Lampi only arrived in Russia in 1791; could the first painting be later rather than earlier, and by a different hand? At any rate, the two paintings, so similar in composition and content, are very different stylistically.)

"A new kind of woman": well-bred and educated ladies, the "Smolnyanki" series by Levitsky, 1772-76.

Ekaterina Ivanovna Molchanova (1762-1813), 1776.

The Smolny Institute was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764 as the Society for the Education of Noble Maidens, and was Russia's first educational establishment for women. It would continue to function under the personal patronage of the succeeding empress consorts until just before the revolution of 1917. Levitsky's celebrated “Smolyanki” series, comprising seven full-length portraits of young ladies then attending the Smolny Institute, was painted over the course of five years on a commission from the Empress.

Ekaterina Khruschova (1758-) and Princess Ekaterina Khovanskaya (1758-1813), 1773.

Natalia Semyonovna Borshcheva (1758-1843), 1776.

Princess Nastasia Mikhailovna Davidova (b. 1764) and Feodosia Stepanovna Rzhevskaya (1760-1795), 1772.

Ekaterina Ivanovna Nelidova (1758-1839), 1773.

Glafira Ivanovna Alimova (1758-1826), 1776.
(The only one of the seven for which I was unable to find an acceptable image.)

Aleksandra Petrovna Levshina (1758-1782), 1775.

***

Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky (May 1735, Kiev -17 April 1822, St. Petersburg), Russian-Ukrainian artist, the most important Russian portrait painter of his day. The son of a priest who was also an amateur artist, he was first taught by his father. In 1758 he went to St. Petersburg to continue his studies with the well-known artist Alexei Antropov; five years later he began his independent career. The exhibition of the Academy of Arts in 1770, at which he exhibited six portraits, was the turning point that marked his rise to prominence. In the 1770s and 1780s he was at the peak of his fame, with constant commissions from the aristocracy and the Imperial court. Until 1787 he also taught a class in portrait painting at the Academy of Arts. But by the end of the century, though, his work had gone out of style, his commissions slowed dramatically, and he began to suffer financial hardship. He lived alone and became more spiritually minded. In 1807, in a charitable move, he was asked to return to the Academy to be a member of its council. But then he began to lose his sight; in 1812 he painted his last work. He died ten years later, impoverished.