Porträt der Catherine Semyonovna Vorontsov (1783-1856), Countess of Pembroke

Catherine Semyonovna Vorontsova, Countess of Pembroke through her marriage to the 11th Earl, was painted by Lawrence around 1804 as one of the most significant Russian-British aristocratic connections of the Regency period. Her father, Count Semyon Vorontsov, was Russian ambassador to Britain for over twenty years from 1785 — an extraordinary tenure that made him one of the most integrated foreign diplomats in British society, deeply embedded in the country he represented. Catherine grew up partly in England, and her marriage to the Earl of Pembroke connected Russian aristocratic culture to one of England's most ancient earldoms, whose seat at Wilton House was itself a repository of exceptional Old Master paintings. Lawrence's portrait of Catherine belongs to his comprehensive engagement with the cosmopolitan aristocratic world of Regency London where Russian, German, and Italian nobility mingled with the British establishment. The portrait, whose institutional location is not definitively established, documents the personal Anglo-Russian cultural connections that would be tested by the political stresses of the Napoleonic era but that survived into the post-Waterloo period as one of the enduring legacies of eighteenth-century diplomatic culture.

Lawrence brings his full powers of flattery to bear on this beautiful young sitter, with luminous skin, expressive dark eyes, and an elegant treatment of costume that suggests both wealth and taste. The warm palette and fluid brushwork create a portrait of striking vivacity and charm.