1801–1802
oil on canvas
259 x 175

Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin (1752–1818) was brought up in his childhood together with the future Emperor Paul I. During Paul’s reign, and also during the reign of Emperor Alexander I, Kurakin occupied important government posts. He was a knight of all the Russian orders. In the portrait the prince is presented in all the splendour of a formal court dress costume which is sprinkled with brilliant precious gems. Not without reason contemporaries called Kurakin the “diamond prince.” On the armchair we see the black cloak with white cross of a Knight of the Maltese Order, whose Grand Master was Paul I. A sculptural bust of the prince’s friend and protector is also here. In the distance we see the Mikhailovsky (Engineers’) Castle, the residence of Paul I, which was designed to look like an inaccessible knight’s fortress. The portrait was made at the turn of the century and incorporated all the achievements of the 18th century – a festive composition, brilliant painterly technique and expressiveness of detail. The grandeur is conveyed by the texture of the materials: the heavy folds of the velvet tablecloth, the radiant golden brocade of the uniform, the shining orders and precious stones, the moiré of the order ribbons. The portrait conveys the complexity of the sitter: through the haughty condescension and aristocrat’s arrogance we can see a mild sadness and melancholy which were present in a sensitive hero of the age of sentimentalism.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 7