Dominique Vivant, Baron Denon 1747-1827. French School 18th.Century. Pencil portrait study of The Princess Yekaterina Romanova Dashkova. Countess Vorontsova 1743-1810. Екатери́на Рома́новна Да́шкова [Воронцо́ва] Graphite on thin wove paper. 13.9 by 17 cms. Sheet. 32.7 by 36.5 cms. Overall in 19th.Century gilt gesso frame. Paper label to reverse "La Princesse d'AscoKof. d'après nature par. M. Denon" Circa.1781.
The Princess Dashkova was a prominent Russian noblewoman, a major figure of the Russian Enlightenment and a close friend of Empress Catherine The Great. She was a primary participant in the coup d'état of 1762 that placed Catherine on the Russian throne. Following the death of her husband in 1768, she embarked on an extensive tour of Europe, spending time in France, Germany and Great Britain. Whilst in Paris she mixed with the intellectual elite, engaging with prominent Enlightenment figures, most notably Denis Diderot, Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. Upon her return to Russia she was appointed Director of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and Sciences, and in 1784 she was named the first President of the Russian Academy, which had been founded at her suggestion. Thereby obtaining her desire to elevate Russian literature, culture and language to more Western European level. In the age in which she lived, especially for a woman, this was a truly remarkable achievement.
Vivant Denon was a highly sucessful French artist, writer, diplomat, author, and archaeologist. A diplomat for France under both Louis XV and XVI He was appointed as the first director of the Louvre by Napoleon after the Egyptian Campaign of 1798–1801, and is today commemorated by the Denon Wing of the Louvre. The current drawing is comparable in handling to a group of portrait studies sold at Christie’s in London (4 July 1989, lots 147-178).