Zinaida Evgenievna Serebriakova

Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, widow of the sitter

Thence by descent

Julian Barran Ltd., London

Acquired from the above in 2001

Best known for his role in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin in 1916, as well as his flamboyant lifestyle, Felix Yusupov was the heir to one of the biggest family fortunes in Imperial Russia. In 1914, he had married Princess Irina Alexandrovna, the niece of Emperor Nicholas II. Having fled Russia after the Revolution, the Yusupovs settled in Paris in 1920.

Dating from 1925, the present portrait is a very early example of Serebriakova's French period. Her husband had died in 1919, leaving her alone to provide for their four children in the midst of a civil war. The family relocated to Petrograd in 1920, but Serebriakova was hoping to move abroad in search of work. The sale of one of her paintings at the Russian Art Exhibition in New York in 1924 finally made this possible. She left Petrograd in late August of that year, arriving in Paris in early September. There, Serebriakova was able to make a living by painting portraits, initially mostly of other Russians in exile.