Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Portrait of Princess Tatiana Yusupova

This formal portrait of Princess Tatiana Alexandrovna Yusupova was painted in 1858 by Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805–1873), the German master of society and court portraiture. He worked for King Louis-Philippe, Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, and Queen Victoria, and his Russian sitters included Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

Tatiana Alexandrovna, born Countess Ribeaupierre, was the daughter of the diplomat Alexander Ivanovich Ribeaupierre. From 1847 she was a maid of honour at the Russian imperial court, and in 1856 she married her cousin Prince Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov. The portrait was painted while the couple lived in Paris. Their daughter was Zinaida Nikolaevna Yusupova.

The princess is shown at three-quarter length in a white dress with ribbons and a pearl parure: a diadem, earrings, a necklace and a pendant. At her left shoulder, on a blue ribbon, is the maid-of-honour cipher; across her right shoulder runs a white ribbon with blue stripes bearing a cross beneath a crown, and in her right hand she holds a fan. In the distance on the left are the Arkhangelskoye park and the facade of the palace. Oil on canvas.