The artist is Nikitin
Natalya Alekseevna (August 22, 1673 – June 18, 1716) – Princess, daughter of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and his second wife, Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina, beloved sister of Peter I. In 1698, after the Queen Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina was tonsured in the monastery, Little Tsarevich Alexei was given to Principal Principle Principle to Principle Tsarevna. Later in her house, Peter settled Marta Skavronskaya, where she received the name of Catherine in baptism, and Tsarevich Alexei became her godmother. At the court of the princess Natalia, two sisters lived and. D. Menshikova. From 1708 I lived in St. Petersburg. Peter I. Time and environment. SPb, 2015. With. 125.
She was a supporter of the Peter’s reforms, was known as one of the educated Russian women of her time, owned foreign languages, contributed to the foundation of the theater in Russia, composed plays, mainly on hagiographic plots, and arranged theatrical performances at her yard.
The presented portrait is one of the earliest works in domestic art written by Russian artists in the European manner. The appearance of the heroine – the style of the dress, wig, manner of holding – talks about the style of the new time. At the same time, in the visual language of the portrait created and. N. Nikitin, "Personal affairs master", The favorite of Peter I, the echoes of medieval painting are still felt: the bends and folds of the fabric are rigidly conveyed, there is flatness in the interpretation of the figure, but the heroine’s face is written voluminous and expressively. The presence of different times in painting, duality in an artistic solution is logical at an early stage of the formation of secular art. Probably and. N. Nikitin (1680s-not earlier than 1742?) completed a portrait before his departure to Italy, where he was sent to Peter I as a pensioner. A similar portrait is located in the Pavlovsk Palace-Museum, in the GTG.