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Alexander Roslin, artist
Alexander Roslin, like Van Meytens, was born in Sweden but received a thoroughly international training and worked primarily elsewhere. Roslin's talent was obvious; on his study trip in 1745, at the age of twenty seven, he was named court painter and head of the academy of art in Bayreuth. Two years later he moved on to Naples and Parma. In 1752 he arrived in Paris, already well connected in the international artistic world, and quickly became a leading portraitist and an integral part of the artistic establishment.
In 1775 a personal invitation from Empress Catherine II brought Roslin to St. Petersburg, where he painted full length state portraits of the Empress and the heirs to the throne, Grand Duke Paul and his wife, Maria Fedorovna (born Princess Sofia Dorothea ofWiirttemberg Stuttgart). Roslin wrote in 1777 that the ruling family had ordered a number of copies of these pictures. The Princeton pendants of Paul and Maria Fedorovna are likely from this group of copies. There are at least twelve known versions of the portrait of Maria Fedorovna and six of Paul. These replicas were given as gifts; the Princeton pendants were diplomatic gifts to James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury (1746-1820), who was British ambassador at the Russian court during Roslin's time there.
In 1775 a personal invitation from Empress Catherine II brought Roslin to St. Petersburg, where he painted full length state portraits of the Empress and the heirs to the throne, Grand Duke Paul and his wife, Maria Fedorovna (born Princess Sofia Dorothea ofWiirttemberg Stuttgart). Roslin wrote in 1777 that the ruling family had ordered a number of copies of these pictures. The Princeton pendants of Paul and Maria Fedorovna are likely from this group of copies. There are at least twelve known versions of the portrait of Maria Fedorovna and six of Paul. These replicas were given as gifts; the Princeton pendants were diplomatic gifts to James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury (1746-1820), who was British ambassador at the Russian court during Roslin's time there.
