Portrait of Princess Olga Volkonskaya (nee Kleinmichel)

Portrait of Princess Olga Volkonskaya (née Kleinmichel), painted in 1882 and now in the Hermitage Museum, represents the more conventional side of Ge's portrait practice — the formal aristocratic commission that coexisted with his radical religious and social painting. The Volkonsky family was among the most distinguished in Russia, with deep connections to the Decembrist movement and the literary world; a Volkonsky appears in Tolstoy's War and Peace. Ge's portrait of a princess from this lineage demonstrates that despite his progressive associations, he continued to work within the social structures that formal portraiture served. The Hermitage's acquisition of the work places it within the national collection of Russian art as an example of Ge's conventional portraiture alongside his more celebrated religious canvases.

Oil on canvas in the formal portrait mode expected for an aristocratic sitter. The compositional conventions of women's portraiture — elegant dress, composed posture, carefully managed setting — are observed, though Ge's handling brings its characteristic directness to bear. The hands and face receive the most careful modelling; the elaborate dress is handled with attention to fabric quality but without the fetishistic detail of some society portraitists.