DescriptionIn Alexander Roslin’s painting, we see the Russian Princess Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna (1741–1838), a woman who during her lifetime came to be both an important personage in European court life and a source of inspiration for writers such as Alexander Pushkin. Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna was born in 1741 into a noble family where her father was an ambassador in Berlin. The family later moved to London but returned to their homeland of Russia for periods of time. In 1762, she was appointed a lady’s maid to Catherine the Great and came to be a favourite in European court circles.
It was through Catherine the Great that she met her future husband, Prince Vladimir Borisovich Golitsyn. They were married in 1766 and after a period of married life in Russia, the couple moved to Paris. Natalya Golitsyna became a darling of the French court where she was nicknamed the “Venus of Moscow”. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, they returned to Russia and settled in St Petersburg. During her time in Russia, she founded important salons, was awarded orders of nobility, and mixed with the highest elites of society.
Natalya Petrovna Golitsyna was not the only name she was known by. Over the years she was called “Princess Moustache”, and perhaps the most famous nickname of all, “The Queen of Spades” after Alexander Pushkin’s short story of 1834. The story that was told is that Golitsyna’s great-nephew, Prince Sergey Grigorevich Golitsyn, had gone to her for advice after losing a large amount of money at cards. She is said to have told him secrets of the gaming table that she had learned in France, tips that then helped him win the money back. Sergey is then said to have told the story to Pushkin, who used it as a source of inspiration for his short story. Golitsyna, who was in her nineties when the story was written, was identified with its title character and gained the nickname “The Queen of Spades”.ExhibitionsFrån kungaporträtt till selfies / From Royal Portraits to Selfies, emuseumplus, 12.11.2021
Samlingen - The Collection, Malmö Konstmuseum, våning 2, 12.06.2021
Alexander Roslin, Rijksmuseum Twenthe, Enschede, 19.10.2014 - 30.03.2015
Google Art Project, Internet, 01.01.2012
Rokoko, Tikanojas konsthem, Vasa, 13.06.2009 - 11.10.2009
Alexandre Roslin, Château de Versailles, Versailles cedex, 18.02.2008 - 18.05.2008
Alexander Roslin, Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, 27.09.2007 - 13.01.2008
Katarina den stora och Gustav III, Ermitaget, St: Petersburg, 01.02.1999 - 24.09.1999
Museum + demo
Från 1500 till Nu, Malmö Konstmuseum, 2:a våningen
1500 till Nu (augusti 2010), 1500-Nu 