This portrait of Marfa Matveevna may have been started at the end of the Moscow period of her life and finished at the beginning of the Petersburg period. In early 1708, Peter forced both widow tsarinas (Marfa Matveevna and Praskovia Feodorovna) to move to St Petersburg with their daughters. Members of the tsar’s family were allowed to build their houses on the banks of Neva to the West of the Liteyny courtyard. The palace of Tsaritsa Marfa Matveevna was located next to the palace of Tsarevich Alexis (29 Shpalernaya St). There she spent the last years of her life.
Marfa Matveyevna Apraksina (1664–1715)
Daughter of Matvey Vasilyevich Apraksin and Domna Bogdanovna Lovchikova. She was the second wife of Tsar Theodore III Alexeyevich from February 14 to April 27, 1682. She was the sister of General-Admiral Fyodor Matveyevich Apraksin, Andrei Matveyevich Apraksin (Maddening Andrei), and Peter Matveyevich Apraksin, a senator.
