Portrait of Nataliya Petrovna Golitsyna

Princess Nataliya Petrovna Golitsyna, a member of one of Russia"s most powerful aristocratic families, sits for this portrait around 1760. Russian aristocrats frequently commissioned portraits from fashionable Parisian painters during visits to the French capital, and Drouais"s clientele extended beyond the French court to encompass the European diplomatic and aristocratic world that revolved around Versailles. Drouais was among the most successful portraitists of pre-Revolutionary France, working in the tradition of his father Hubert Drouais and studying under Carle van Loo, Natoire, and Boucher before establishing himself at court.

The Russian princess is presented in the French court style, with Drouais applying the same polished technique to a foreign sitter as to French royalty. The costume and jewels indicate the sitter"s wealth and rank, rendered with Drouais"s characteristic precision. The flesh painting shows the smooth, porcelain-like finish that distinguished his work from the more painterly approach of some contemporaries.