Christina Robertson. Portrait of Princess Z. I. Yusupova

This half-length portrait of Princess Zinaida Ivanovna Yusupova was painted by the English artist Christina Robertson, one of the most highly paid portraitists in St Petersburg. The young woman sits in an armchair at a table against a brownish neutral background, her face turned to the right. Her black hair is parted in the middle and falls in a curl onto her neck, her pink dress with long loose sleeves is trimmed with white lace, and she holds a white rose in her right hand.

Zinaida Ivanovna (1809–1893), née Naryshkina, became in 1827 the second wife of Prince Boris Nikolayevich Yusupov, son of the creator of Arkhangelskoye. Memoirists remembered her as a celebrated society beauty, and the princess knew how to make the acquaintance of the most fashionable court painters. Christina Robertson came to St Petersburg in 1840 and almost immediately began a series of portraits of the Yusupovs.

In 1840–1841 the artist painted a full-length ceremonial portrait of Zinaida Ivanovna in a white satin dress (Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts). According to the museum's researchers, this half-length portrait is connected with the same commission. Oil on canvas.