This painting was painted almost at the same time as portrait of Marfa Matveevna from the collection of the State Russian Museum. The portraits were painted when Marfa Matveevna was the tsar’s bride. This theory is supported by the fact that she is wearing a kokoshnik headdress, which was part of a maiden’s outfit. The dog was usually a symbol of marital fidelity. Recently it was suggested that the painting was painted by Johann Walter, “a foreigner from the Orenburg lands.”

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.