Carte-de-visite half length portrait of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia, in a vignette format. She is shown from a frontal viewpoint, her head turned towards the right of the image. She is seated on an elaborately carved wooden chair and rests her chin on her right hand and holds her left hand in her lap. Her hair is covered by a white lace headscarf, decorated with flowers and ribbons. She is wearing a dark coloured silk dress with white lace cuffs, embellished with faceted beading on the bodice. She is wearing a pearl bracelet on her right arm and a jewelled ring on the third finger of her right hand.

She was born in Stuttgart as Princess Friederike Charlotte Marie of Württemberg, eldest daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In 1823, she was received into the Russian Orthodox Church and was given the name Elena Pavlovna.

In 1824 she married Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich of Russia and the couple had five daughters. In 1849, on the death of her husband, she became a notable patron of charities and the arts. She founded the Saint Petersburg Conservatoire as well as establishing the foundations of the Red Cross in Russia.