Countess Varvara Nikolayevna Golovina
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Vigée Le Brun observed that Countess Golovina (1766–1821) “was always on the lookout for the literary news from Europe, which, I believe, was known at her house as soon as it was in Paris.” The sitter is cloaked in a large red stole, as if protecting herself from the rigors of the Russian winter. Perhaps the most original work of the artist’s Russian period, the portrait recalls La Frileuse (Winter) by Jean Antoine Houdon, a bronze version of which is reproduced here.
Artwork Details
- Title: Countess Varvara Nikolayevna Golovina
- Artist: Elisabeth Louise Vigée Le Brun (French, Paris 1755–1842 Paris)
- Date: ca. 1797–1800
- Medium: Oil on canvas
- Dimensions: 32 7/8 × 26 1/4 in. (83.5 × 66.7 cm)
Frame: 40 3/8 × 34 in. (102.6 × 86.3 cm) - Classification: Paintings
- Credit Line: The Henry Barber Trust, The Barber Institute of Fine Arts, University of Birmingham (80.1)
- Curatorial Department: European Paintings