Portrait of Princess Maria Abamelek-Lazareva

This second portrait of Princess Maria Abamelek-Lazareva from 1900, also in the Hermitage, likely represents either a variant study from the same commission or a separate sitting that produced a different compositional solution. The practice of making multiple portrait versions — for different family members, or to explore different formats — was common in the period, and the Hermitage's holding of both works reflects the royal and aristocratic collections that formed the museum's foundation. Bogdanov-Belsky was at the height of his portrait production around 1900, moving between the peasant-life subjects that made his reputation and the aristocratic commissions that sustained his career financially. The Abamelek-Lazareva family's Armenian-Russian heritage placed them in an interesting position within the imperial elite — wealthy, distinguished, culturally sophisticated, but carrying a non-Russian identity that the portrait format typically smoothed over in favor of shared markers of imperial aristocratic belonging.

Oil on canvas — likely variant in composition, scale, or costume from the companion Hermitage portrait. Bogdanov-Belsky's handling of the sitter's features would be consistent between versions, while costume, background, and formal arrangement might differ significantly. The technical challenge of a second version is maintaining freshness of observation rather than simply reproducing a known solution.