Portrait of a young woman

Konstantin Makovsky entered the 20th century in excellent physical and creative form. In 1898 he was elected as a full member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, finalised his divorce from Iulia Makovskaya and registered his third marriage to Maria Matavtina. In 1902 Makovsky travelled to the United States where, as the magazine Niva reported, his works produced ‘a sensation, especially the portraits.’ In 1899 Makovsky had been elected as a member of the St Petersburg Society of Artists with whom he would annually exhibit his works from then on. Alongside large historical paintings the artist showed portraits, as well as numerous female heads, creating an entire gallery characterised by certain common features. These works were so popular that, according to his contemporaries, reproductions could be found ‘in any tailor, bakery [or] hairdresser.’ From the second half of the 1900s, one increasingly sees his costumed characters, reminiscent of heroines from an era past. It is not only the familiar Boyarinas in kokoshniks that are reproduced in the St Petersburg Society exhibition catalogues but also European types in caps with titles such as Empire, Louis XVI (1906), In Louis XV costume (1907), In the style of Louis XV (1915) and so on. The present work is similarly in the style of Louis XV and the subject bears a resemblance to Matavtina, the artist’s last muse, distinguished by her elongated oval face, large blue-grey eyes and grey, slightly curly hair. While not painted from life it was typical of Makovsky to include the facial features of his loved ones.
We would like to thank Professor Elena Nesterova, author of the 2003 Konstantin Makovsky monograph, for providing this catalogue note.