Princess Maria Ilyinichna Golitsyna
Portrait of Princess Maria Ilyinichna Golitsyna c1875 by Spanish Painter Federico de Madraso y Kunz (1815 – 1894), was a Neoclassic Portrait Artist.
This is a captivating and elegant portrait of Princess Maria Ilyinichna Golitsyna (1834 – 1910); a Russian Noblewoman, Courtier and Philanthropist; who served as Ober-Hofmeisterin (Mistress of the Robes) to empress Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse 1872 – 1918) from 1894 until 1910.
Princess Maria is dressed in a black leather garment with a black mesh scarf flowing from the back of her black hair over red flowers and on to the leather garment, that is accented with a gold necklace.
She is standing in garden that has trees and flowers her her figure is set against a green-blue sky with billowing white clouds.
This is a retouched digital art old masters reproduction of a public domain image.
Information Below Derived From Wikipedia.org
Federico was born in Rome to José de Madrazo y Agudo (1781 – 1859), a painter and former Director of the Prado Museum.
Federico came from a line of artists; his grandfather on his mother side was Tadeusz Kuntze (1733 – 1793), a Polish painter.
His brothers were Luis de Madrazo (1825 – 1897), a painter, Pedro de Madrazo (1816 – 1898), an art critic and Juan de Madrazo (1829 – 1880), an architect.
Among his children were Ricardo de Madrazo, also a painter, Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta and Cecilia de Madrazo who married the great Orientalist artist, Marià Fortuny.
The Madrazo family have been described as one of the most important painting dynasties, who literally dominated 19th-century painting in Spain.
Federico began taking artistic lesson from his father, and while still attending the Royal Academy of San Fernando, painted his first picture The Resurrection of Christ c1829; which was purchased by Queen Christina.
Soon after that painting he created Achilles in his Tent, and after that presented to the Academy The Continence of Scipio, which secured him admission as a member “for merit”.
Three years later Federico left for Paris where he studied on the Franz Winterhalter and painted portraits of Baron Taylor and Ingres (a French Neoclassical Painter).
In 1837 he received a commission to create a painting for the gallery at Versailles, for which he painted “Godfrey de Bouillon proclaimed King of Jerusalem”; soon afterwards he returned to Rome and took on projects creating portraits for the Spanish Aristocracy.
