Karl Hampeln. Portrait of Yekaterina Alexandrovna Zubova

A watercolour portrait of a young lady of the 1830s, Yekaterina Alexandrovna Zubova, who lived only 32 years (1811–1843). Its author, Karl Hampeln, was a portraitist of the reigns of Alexander I and Nicholas I who painted members of the nobility and people from the Decembrists' circle.

Hampeln was born in Moscow into an Austrian family and studied in Vienna. The artist was deaf and mute and signed his works "Sourd-muet". He worked as a miniaturist, watercolourist, engraver and lithographer.

Zubova is shown half-length, almost full-face, her large blue eyes turned to the viewer. Her black hair is parted in the middle and gathered into a high bun with a braid; she wears long blue and gold earrings and a pearl necklace of 6 strands. Her white low-cut dress in the fashion of the 1830s, with a pointed bodice and full sleeves, is complemented by a light blue gauze scarf, and the background is a blue sky with clouds. The portrait is painted in watercolour and white on paper.