Portrait of Praskovia Kovalyova-Zhemchugova by Nikolai Argunov, winter 1803
This painting was painted in the year of her death. She was 35 years old and pregnant of her first and only child who was born February 3, 1803. The baby bump is not as evident on this painting as on the other painting of her of the same year (see my previous post here). But the paintings cannot be so much apart for she died only 20 days later, February 23rd 1803.
Note her conspicuous miniature portrait necklace. It must have been a portrait of her secret husband, Count Nikolai Sheremetev. She wears the same portrait necklace on this painting here, done by the same painter as the above painting, supposedly also around 1803:
She sure loved to show him off. There is another portrait of her on this link here. Well, he was rather dashing I suppose, so I guess I would do the same… There’s a larger portrait of him here below:
source: WikiCommons, Museum of ceramics in Kuskovo