Portrait of Baron Grigory Strogsnov

This 1793 portrait of Baron Grigory Stroganov at the Hermitage depicts a member of the immensely wealthy Stroganov dynasty that had been among Russia’s most powerful families since the 16th century. Vigée Le Brun painted several Stroganov family members during her Russian exile, documenting the cultural elite of Catherine the Great’s Russia. Vigée Le Brun was the most technically accomplished and socially successful woman painter of the eighteenth century, achieving membership of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture in 1783 and a clientele that extended from the French royal family to the courts of Russia, Austria, and Italy during her decade of exile following the Revolution. Her portrait manner combined the neoclassical formal values of her training with a quality of feminine intimacy and emotional warmth that made her portraits of women and children especially celebrated. Her ability to make her sitters appear simultaneously dignified and approachable was the technical foundation of her social success.

The portrait presents the baron with patrician dignity while Vigée Le Brun’s characteristic warmth prevents excessive formality. Rich costume details and assured brushwork demonstrate her mastery of the aristocratic male portrait.