NATALIA LVOVNA OBRESCOVA, NÉE SOLOGUB,

Creator(s):

Currently in storage

About this object

One of the great St. Petersburg beauties of the 1820s, Natalia Lvovna Obrescova, née Sologub (1809-?), was the daughter of Lev Ivanovich Sologub (1785-after 1826), who married Anna Mikhailovna Gorchakova (1793-1854) in 1808. Lev Ivanovich was a colonel in the Russian Imperial army and a landowner. He was the uncle of the writer Vladimir Alexandrovich Sologub (1813-1882). In 1828, Natalia married Russian diplomat Alexander Mikhailovich Obrescov (1793-1885), son of Senator Mikhail Alexeevich Obrescov (1764-1842), Director of the Department of Foreign Trade. Natalia’s sister, Nadezhda, was portrayed by the renowned Russian portraitist Petr Sokolov.

The three-quarter-length portrait depicts Natalia Lvovna Obrescova with her body facing partly right and her face and eyes turned slightly left, against a neutral background. She sits on a Russian mahogany armchair with her right elbow leaning on the armrest. A pink shawl is similarly draped over the right side of the chair. Her light brown hair is elaborately styled in an Apollo knot and embellished with three pink roses and ears of wheat (?). She wears an elegant white ball gown enhanced with pink rosettes as well as pearl drop earrings. A white elbow-length glove adorns her right arm and hand; she holds the other in this same hand. She grasps a closed fan in her left hand.

Object name:

NATALIA LVOVNA OBRESCOVA, NÉE SOLOGUB,

Made from:

Watercolor on paper

Date made:

1828-1835

Size:

H. 8 in., W. 6 3/8 in.

Detailed information for this item

Catalog number:

52.39.24

Signature marks:

Inscription Madame d'Obresscoff, née Comtesse Salahoub Bottom of page In cursive

Credit line:

Museum Purchase, 2004