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Lot Essay
This picture was one of the first things coveted by Queen Mary, during her 1934 visit to Avenue House.
The pianist seen from behind in this charming drawing is Countess Catherine Féodorovna Tiesenhausen (1803-1888), the daughter of Count Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen (1782-1805) and Princess Elizabeth Koutouzova (1783-1838). Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen followed his father-in-law, the distinguished General Prince Koutouzov, into a military career and rapidly rose to become aide-de-camp to Alexander I of Russia. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, when his daughters Catherine and Dorothea, or Dolly (1804-1863), were still in their infancy; his dashing career would later provide Tolstoy with the inspiration for Andrei Bolkonsky in War and Peace. Ferdinand's widow Elizabeth remarried in 1811, taking as her second husband Count Nicholas Hitrovo, who was the Imperial Envoy to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The family, including Catherine and Dolly, accompanied their mother and stepfather to Italy in 1815, where their primary residence was in Florence and, although Count Hitrovo died in 1819, Elizabeth and her daughters remained in Italy until 1827. During their sojourn, Elizabeth kept up a lively correspondence with the poet Pushkin, a close friend of the family, which offers glimpses of the family's everyday life. On their return to Russia, Catherine became a lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court, while the beautiful and elegant Dolly - who had married Count Charles Louis de Ficquelmont, Austrian envoy to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in 1821 - established herself at the heart of St Petersburg society. Catherine herself never married, although it was rumoured that she had once been engaged to a member of the Russian embassy in Vienna named Obrezkoff, a romantic attachment which was eventually broken off.
The pianist seen from behind in this charming drawing is Countess Catherine Féodorovna Tiesenhausen (1803-1888), the daughter of Count Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen (1782-1805) and Princess Elizabeth Koutouzova (1783-1838). Ferdinand von Tiesenhausen followed his father-in-law, the distinguished General Prince Koutouzov, into a military career and rapidly rose to become aide-de-camp to Alexander I of Russia. He was mortally wounded at the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, when his daughters Catherine and Dorothea, or Dolly (1804-1863), were still in their infancy; his dashing career would later provide Tolstoy with the inspiration for Andrei Bolkonsky in War and Peace. Ferdinand's widow Elizabeth remarried in 1811, taking as her second husband Count Nicholas Hitrovo, who was the Imperial Envoy to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. The family, including Catherine and Dolly, accompanied their mother and stepfather to Italy in 1815, where their primary residence was in Florence and, although Count Hitrovo died in 1819, Elizabeth and her daughters remained in Italy until 1827. During their sojourn, Elizabeth kept up a lively correspondence with the poet Pushkin, a close friend of the family, which offers glimpses of the family's everyday life. On their return to Russia, Catherine became a lady-in-waiting at the Imperial Court, while the beautiful and elegant Dolly - who had married Count Charles Louis de Ficquelmont, Austrian envoy to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in 1821 - established herself at the heart of St Petersburg society. Catherine herself never married, although it was rumoured that she had once been engaged to a member of the Russian embassy in Vienna named Obrezkoff, a romantic attachment which was eventually broken off.