One of the finest works of Orest Kiprensky’s later period, Portrait of Ekaterina Avdulina was painted towards the end of the artist’s first trip to Western Europe (1816–23). Art historians still debate whether the picture was painted in Italy or Paris. When Portrait of Ekaterina Avdulina was exhibited in St Petersburg, contemporaries highly rated its “perfect lifelikeness”, poetic romanticisation of image, delicately refined texture of painting and contrasting colour combinations.
Ekaterina Sergeyevna Avdulina (1788–1823): Granddaughter of the millionaire merchant Sergei Yakovlev and daughter of full state councillor Sergei Yakovlev. Wife of Major General Alexei Nikolaevich Avdulin (1776–1838).

Kiprensky Orest

Kiprensky, Orest Adamovich
1772, Nezhinskaya (St Petersburg Province) - 1836, Rome
Portraitist, history painter, draughtsman. Illegitimate son of a serf woman, Anna Gavrilova, who gave him the name Kipreisky, later changed to Kiprensky. Grew up in the family of his foster father Adam Schwalde. Emancipated from serfdom and enrolled in the Imperial Academy of Arts (1788). Studied history painting under Grigory Ugryumov and Gabriele-Francois Doyen. Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1803-09). Worked in St Petersburg, Moscow and Tver. Academician of portrait painting (1812), councillor of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1815). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Lived in Italy (1816-23, 1828-36). Contributed to the Paris Salon (1822). Donated Self-Portrait (1820) to the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence (1825). Appointed second-class professor of history and portrait painting with automatic member¬ship of the nobility (1831). Councillor of the Accademia di Belle Arti in Naples (1831). Buried at Sant'' Andrea delle Fratte in Rome.