The Metropolitan Museum of Art displayed this work and had this biography for the sitter, "Vigée Le Brun painted this portrait in Moscow for the sitter’s mother, a personal friend. Varvara Ivanovna (1785–1840) was an illegitimate child of Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov and Countess Stroganova, who had left her husband in St. Petersburg to be with her lover. In this compelling image, the sitter is represented in Greek costume: a chemise dress under an embroidered stole fastened at the shoulder.” The Wikipedia article for Ivan Rimsky-Korsakov has a story of intrigue in Catherine II’s court, including this, "Varvara Ivanovna Ladomirsky married Ivan Dimitrievich Narishkin and was the great-great-grandmother of Prince Felix Yussupov.”
From li.ru/interface/pda/?jid=4648276&pid=379630851.
Varvara Ladomirskaya’s long hair appears wild in this portrait. A coral (?) necklace and gold temper the French influenced of her dress.
Keywords: 1800, Vigée-Lebrun, Varvara Ladomirskaya, Ladomirsky family, Yussopov family, long curly coiffure, ribbon headdress, bodice, necklace, high neckline, bare shoulder sleeves, jeweled arm bands, waist band, wrap, clasps