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Annotation

Dmitry Levitsky’s Smolny Girls were portraits of the Imperial Educational Society for Noble Girls (Smolny Institute). Founded at the initiative of Ivan Betskoi by Catherine the Great in 1764, the institute was housed at the Smolny Novodevichy Convent of the Resurrection in St Petersburg. Ivan Betskoi commissioned Levitsky to paint the portraits for the Smolny Institute. Ekaterina Khruschova (left) and Ekaterina Khovanskaya (right) are depicted performing a pastoral scene at the Smolny Institute.
Ekaterina Nikolaevna Khruschova (1761–1811): Daughter of Premier Major Nikolai Khruschov and Princess Praskovia Mikhailovna Volkonskaya. Studied at the Smolny Institute (1767–79). Graduated from the Smolny Institute.
Ekaterina Nikolaevna Khovanskaya (1762–1813): Daughter of Prince Colonel Nikolai Khovansky and Princess Maria Nikolaevna Schepotieva. Studied at the Smolny Institute (1767–79). Graduated from the Smolny Institute.
Married Y. A. Meletsky (1786). Lived in Moscow (from 1798). Fled Moscow to escape Napoleon’s Grande Armée (1812) and died in Yarsolavl (1813).

Author's Biography

Levitsky Dmitry

Levitsky, Dmitry Grigoryevich
1735, Kiev - 1822, St Petersburg
Leading Russian eighteenth-century painter and portraitist. Son of Grigory Levitsky Nos, a priest and Ukrainian engraver. Moved to St Petersburg (c. 1758). Studied under Alexei Antropov. Worked in Moscow (17605). Nominated to the Academy (c. 1769). Academician (1770). Headed the portraiture class at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1771-87). Councillor (1776), member of the Academy council (1780). Retired for unknown reasons (1787). Worked as a free painter. Returned to the Academy council (1807).