The Grand Duchess Of Russia Elena Pavlovna By Johann Heinrich Schroeder (1757-1812)

The Grand Duchess of Russia Elena Pavlovna by Johann Heinrich Schroeder (1757-1812) .

Literature: Thieme/Becker Vo11, 1915; Vo5, 1961. Jansa, 1912; Boetticher I. 1, 1891
inscription: unsigned
Technique: Pastel on stretched parchment, luxurious gold-plated period frame.
Measurements: unframed 30.5 x 37.5 cm, framed 46.5 x 54 cm.

This pastel on Pergament, created ca. 1800-1802 depicts Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia, daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia and his second wife Maria Feodorovna. The pastel has been attributed to the hand of renowned German portrait painter Johann Heinrich Schroeder (1757-1812). With great probability it is the author's version of the famous pastel portrait by JH Schroeder, also representing Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, which was located in the City Castle Potsdam and since the end of the First World War is valid as missing. (illustrated in the monograph "Preussische Porträts"; for comparison with our painting See additional image of this portrait). The sitter of our portrait - Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia (Russian: Великая Княжна Елена Павловна; 24 December 1784 – 24 September 1803) was a daughter of the Grand Duke, later Tsar Paul I of Russia and his second wife Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg Maria Feodorvna). After marrying the son and heir of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, she became the heir's spouse and thus gave up her Russian title. Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna was born in Saint Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire. The arrival of a second daughter was happy news to her father, Tsarevich Paul Petrovich, who had lost his first wife Wilhelmina Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt in childbirth eight years previously. She was also said to be very beautiful though her grandmother, Empress Catherine, named her after Helen of Troy. Elena was a sister of: Tsar Alexander I, Grand Duke Constantine, Grand Duchesses Alexandra and Catharine.

Full biography see under follower link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Elena_Pavlovna_of_Russia