Portrait of Prince Petr Vasilievich Lopukhin (1753-1827), wearing the star and sash of the Order of St Andrew, the star and cross of the Order of St Vladimir, the Order of Alexander Nevskii, the Order of Malta and a diamond portrait badge

Details

Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757-1825)
Portrait of Prince Petr Vasilievich Lopukhin (1753-1827), wearing the star and sash of the Order of St Andrew, the star and cross of the Order of St Vladimir, the Order of Alexander Nevskii, the Order of Malta and a diamond portrait badge
signed in Cyrillic 'Painted by Borovikov/skii' (lower left)
oil on canvas
31 5/8 x 24 5/8 in. (80.5 x 62.5 cm.)
Painted circa 1801

Provenance

Prince Nikolai Petrovich Lopukhin-Demidov (1836-1910/1), Korsun estate, Kiev Governorate until at least 1906.
Prince Serge Obolensky (1890-1978) and Ava Alice Muriel Astor (1902-1956), London, circa 1925.
By descent to the present owner.

Literature

Exhibition catalogue, Vystavka russkikh portretov [Exhibition of Russian Portraits], St Petersburg, 1905, listed pp. 30 and 101, no. 172.
Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, Portraits Russes des XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, St Petersburg, 1906, vol. II, 1st ed., no. 16, illustrated pl. VXI, listed p. II.
Exhibition catalogue, Exposition de l’Art Russe, Paris, 1906, listed p. 41, no. 100 (incorrectly listed as Princesse Serenissime Catherine Nicolaevna Lopoukhine).
Exhibition catalogue, Exhibition of Russian art, London, 1935, listed p. 28, no. 121.
T. Alekseeva, Vladimir Lukich Borovikovskii i russkaia kultura na rubezhe 18go-19go vekov [Vladimir Lukich Borovikovskii and Russian culture at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries], 1975, listed and illustrated p. 355, no. 174.
Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, [S. Nikitin (ed.)], Russkie portrety XVIII i XIX vekov [Russian portraits of the XVIII and XIX centuries], Moscow, 2003, illustrated p. 35 no. 16, listed p. 152 II no. 16.

Exhibited

Probably: St Petersburg, The Tauride Palace, Vystavka russkikh portretov [Exhibition of Russian Portraits], 1905, no. 172.
Paris, Salon d’Automne, Exposition de l’Art Russe, 1906, no. 100 (label on the stretcher)
London, Belgrave Square, Exhibition of Russian art, 4 June-13 July 1935, no. 121 (label on the stretcher and frame).

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Lot Essay

Petr Vasilievich Lopukhin was a Russian statesman, Privy Councillor and Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Russian Empire from 1816-1827. His standing at court rose significantly when his daughter Anna Gagarina became a favourite of Paul I.
Following the accession of Emperor Alexander I in 1801, Lopukhin became an Member of the Indispensable Council in 1803, Minister of Justice and Head of the Commission for the Formulation of Law; in accordance with the responsibilities of being Procurator-General of the Senate, he oversaw its reorganisation (he established two new departments, as well as temporary departments and committees for the 'Review' of incoming Senate complaints).
Tall and handsome, Lopukhin was always popular with women and remained a gallant figure well into old age. He was married twice and had seven children. His first wife was (1776) Praskovia Ivanovna Levshina (1760-1785), the second (1786) Ekaterina Nikolaevna Shetneva (1763-1839).
In the early 1800s Borovikovsky painted almost all of the influential family of ‘His Serene Highness’ Prince Lopukhin: his eldest daughter (A. P. Gagarina (1801, State Russian Museum, St Petersburg), the prince himself and his two wives.

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