From January to July 1787, Empress Catherine travelled by carriage to the Crimea to undertake an inspection of newly acquired lands as a result of wars against the Ottoman Empire. The visit was masterminded by her favourite, the military statesman Prince Grigory Potemkin (1739–91), and the portrait is said to have been painted in Kiev, by the serf artist Mikhail Shibanov, then in the service of Potemkin. The journey of about 750 miles would have been arduous and tiring, and this is reflected in the expression of resilience and fatigue in the sitter’s eyes; it is an intimate and informal portrait. The Empress’s dress has always been described as her ‘travelling costume’; indications of her status and military authority lie solely in the orders embroidered on her costume, the stars of the Orders of St Andrew, St George and St Vladimir, and in the cut and detailing of her jacket. Miniatures, after the painting by Petr Zharkov (1742–1803), were commissioned by the Empress to be distributed to each member of the Diplomatic Corps who accompanied her progress. A near-contemporary engraving by James Walker, then resident in Russia, employed as engraver to the Empress, was published in St Petersburg and London in 1789 (RCIN 614327). A version of the painting is in the State Russian Museum, and a number of copies exist of this enigmatic image.

Acquired by Queen Mary in 1929 from the collection of the widow of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich (1860–1919), youngest child of Alexander II, the portrait hung in his residence in Paris, which he shared with his second wife, Princess Olga Paley (1865–1929) during their exile. Before that, its provenance is less certain. An inscription and label on the reverse of the painting suggests it once hung in the ‘Gallery Mamonov’, which may connect the painting to Catherine’s then lover, ‘red-coat’ Count Alexander Matveyevich Dmitriev-Mamonov (1758–1803). Mamonov, a protégé of Potemkin, was asked by Catherine to accompany her to the Crimea, and was also immortalised by Shibanov, c.1786–8.

Shibanov is said to have first belonged to Admiral Grigory Spiridov (1713–90), although he was later sold to Prince Potemkin. He studied in St Petersburg from 1772 to 1777, possibly under Dmitry Levitsky. His modest oeuvre includes rural genre scenes as well as portraits of peasants, which were highly unusual at this time. Opinion seems divided as to whether the Empress actually sat to the artist, although it is hard to believe that such a poignant and searching portrait of the ageing Empress could be produced without a sitting.

Text adapted from Russia: Art, Royalty & the Romanovs, London, 2018