The artist is Serov
Orlova (nee Princess Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya) Olga Konstantinovna (1872–1923)-wife of Major General Prince in. N. Orlova, Head of the Military Council Chancellery.
It is hard to believe, but this is a representative, marked with high -style features, the canvas was created almost simultaneously with the portrait of Ida Rubinstein. For Serov, such a multidirection of searches was an interesting breakdown of forces. In this case, he sought to create a modern picture in the forms of a traditional front portrait, in which Dmitry Levitsky and Karl Bryullov once shone. His model, Olga Orlova, belonged to the ancient Beloselsky-Belozersky family, was the wife of the approximate Nicholas II. Proud and somewhat limited, it was not beautiful, but was distinguished by that special threshold that it was “minted” for centuries, from generation to generation. Orlova was known as the most elegant lady of the capital – they said that in St. Petersburg no one can wear a hat as beautifully as she. The portrait was written with large breaks in 1910-1911. The princess is depicted in the family house on the sink embankment. Everything in this work: a wise, complete dynamics, a restrained and noble flavor, an acute silhouette of a figure and a gesture of a sleek hand, the “enamel” letter itself – serves as a psychological characteristic of a model with an arrogant and at the same time a dreamy expression of the eyes – a vivid representative of the Russian and European higher worlds in the world The eve of the First World War. Like the portrait of Ida Rubinstein, this picture was exhibited with great success in the personal hall of Serov at the 1911 World Exhibition in Rome. (AT. To.).
Russian portrait. XX century: St. Petersburg, 2001. With. 82.
Valentin Serov. Portrait of Princess Olga Orlova. Online excursion e.AT.Stankevich
