Early 1770s
oil on canvas
58 x 47

This portrait is one of the most puzzling works of F.S. Rokotov. There are two versions of who the subject of the portrait may be. According to one version, we have before us Count A.G. Bobrinsky, the son of Catherine the Great and her favourite G.G. Orlov. Another point of view is based on an X-ray examination which reveals that the work was painted on top of the portrait of a young woman, whose face was entirely preserved in the later painting and became the portrait of the “unknown” person without any alteration. The artist only changed the pose and costume. The male masquerade costume makes the depicted personage still more anonymous. Evidently the portrait depicts a woman, most likely O.S. Balbekova, N.E. Struisky’s first wife. The colouring of the portrait is constructed on a very fine play of nuances of brown and blacks flooded by a golden light and lively bright silvery highlights.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 3