Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (priv.coll.)

Portrait of noblewoman, traditionally identified as Catherine the Great (l762-1796), Empress of Russia, bust-length, in a blue silk dress with lace trim and an ermine-lined cloak oil on canvas 32 x 24½ in. (81.3 x 61.6 cm.)

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF BARONESS AIDA NORA VON DEM BUSSCHE-STREITHORST

We are grateful to Sir John Guinness for pointing out that the sitter is in fact Johanna Elizabeth, Princess of Holstein-Gottorp (1712-1760), wife of Prince Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst (1690-1727) and mother of the Tsarina Catherine the Great, wearing the Order of Saint Catherine. The type can be dated between 1743 when the sitter was summoned with her daughter to Russia and 1747 when she was widowed (for a related picture, see E. Berckenhagen in ed. G. Poengsen, Antoine Pesne, Berlin, 1958, no. 161).