Olga Kuzminichna Filippova (1772–1829): Daughter of Kuzma Mikhailov and wife of P. S. Filippov, who was a close friend of Vladimir Borovikovsky. A Ukrainian who had served with the Moldavian Hussars regiment, he studied at teaching seminary (1787–89) and worked as a teacher in St Petersburg when this portrait was painted. Married Olga Mikhailova (1790). Assistant architect on the committee for the construction of the Kazan Cathedral in St Petersburg (1800).

Borovikovsky Vladimir

Borovikovsky, Vladimir Lukich
1757, Mirgorod - 1825, St Petersburg
Painter, draughtsman, miniaturist, icon painter, portraitist. Born into a family of low rank Cossacks. Studied painting under his father, the icon painter Luke Borovik, in Mirgorod. Listed "above the specified number" in the Mirgorod regiment where his father and relatives served (1774). Awarded the rank of "comrade of the colours" (1783), resigned with the rank of lieutenant. Moved to St Petersburg (1788) and studied under Dmitry Levitsky and Johann Baptiste I Lampi. Nominated to the Imperial Academy of Arts (1794), academician of portrait painting (1795). Councillor of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1802). Contributed to the iconostasis of the Kazan Cathedralin St Petersburg (1804). Mason and member of Ekaterina Tatarinova''s mystical sect.