Portrait of Countess de Koller (nee Maria Riznich)

Alexandre Cabanel, the dominant figure of official French academic painting in the Second Empire and early Third Republic, was celebrated equally for his mythological compositions and his aristocratic portraits. This 1873 portrait of Countess de Koller — born Maria Riznich, a name recalling Pushkin's muse — shows Cabanel at the height of his command of the society portrait. The Hermitage's acquisition of the work reflects the Russian aristocracy's sustained patronage of French academic painters throughout this period. Cabanel's sitters included European royalty and the American plutocracy alongside Russian nobility, testifying to his international prestige.

Cabanel's portrait technique is characterized by extraordinary finish and a porcelain-like rendering of feminine skin and costume. His brushwork is nearly invisible in the smoothly modeled passages, while fabrics and jewels are described with virtuosic illusionistic precision.