1802
oil on canvas
75 x 69,2

The portrait of Anna Gavrilovna (1782–1856) and Varvara Gavrilovna (1784–1808) Gagarina presents the daughters of privy councilor Prince G.P. Gagarin. One of the sisters, A.G. Gagarina, later became the wife of Major P.V. Golovin and founded a dormitory for women on his Moscow country estate of Dedenevo (Novospasskoye) which formed the basis for the Spaso-Vlakhernsky Women’s Convent in 1861. The girls are portrayed playing music against a background of park vegetation. One of them is a poet and the other accompanies her on the guitar. They demonstrate the “kindred souls” so beloved in Sentimentalism. Compared to Borovikovsky’s earlier works, the portrait of the Gagarina sisters shows increasing signs of Late Classicism. The artistic language becomes more definite, clear and concrete. The colouring acquires brilliance and local notes. The outlines are more precisely drawn. A subject and story appear in the painting.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 7