Fyodor Rokotov. Portrait of M. F. Zotova

An intimate female portrait of the 1780s by Fyodor Rokotov (c. 1735–1736 – 1808), the leading Moscow portraitist of Catherine II's era, author of the coronation portrait of Catherine II and of a whole gallery of portraits of the Moscow nobility. According to the museum, the intimate portrait is the most fully represented genre in its collection, above all through works by Rokotov and artists of his circle.

The oval canvas shows a middle-aged woman half-length, in three-quarter view turned to the right. She has brown eyes shaded by thick lashes, a straight nose, a half-smile and full silvery-ash hair with a lock falling freely onto her chest. Her greenish-blue dress with a deep neckline is trimmed with lace and a turned-down collar edged with black velvet. The paint layer is dense, the face and chest are painted with free brushstrokes, and the pink flesh tones carry greenish-white touches under the eyes and near the lips. Oil on canvas.