The artist is Rokotov
Fedor Stepanovich Rokotov-one of the greatest Russian portraitors of the second half of the 18th century-created several ceremonial portraits of the empress.
In 1769, Catherine established the statute of the Supreme Russian Military Order of the Holy Great Martyr and Victorious George and the “Like Grassmaster” of all Russian orders became the St. George Cavalier of the 1st grade. Then she ordered Rokotov her portrait with St. George’s tape. He brilliantly coped with the assignment, creating the original oval portrait of the empress. Catherine is depicted in a small imperial crown and an ermine mantle, and in addition to the Order of St. George, on it is a chain on her neck and star of the Order of St. Andrew the First -Called.
The nobility, mind, energy and femininity of the Empress found a bright picturesque embodiment in this portrait. Rokotov as usual does not pay attention to the back plan, leaving only a neutral dark background, but with the ease and freedom of a real master conveys the texture of fabric and fur, the soft radiance of precious stones. The chiaroscuro, dissolving secondary details, emphasizes the face, the outline of which seems to be “not given” by the artist, melts in the air haze. The flickering atmosphere surrounding the model contributes to a special emotional mood of the portrait, helping to emphasize the special spiritual state of the empress.
Rokotov, most likely, wrote to Catherine from nature, but “not from memory” or according to well -known samples. The initial version of the portrait (no earlier than 1769), which was at the Academy of Sciences and Gabriel Skorodumov, engaged in 1777, unfortunately not preserved. In the Russian Museum – the author’s repetition of the portrait, performed in 1779. The work of Fedor Rokotov, approved by the highest customer, was recommended as a “sample” when creating other artists of imperial portraits.
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