Natalia Alekseevna, 1st wife of Emperor Pavel I

Natalia Alexeievna buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

Natalia Alexeievna by Falconet

Natalia Alexeievna.

Do you know who is the paintor and where could it be now?

Do you know who is the paintor and where could it be now?

If I remember correctly, it's in the Regional Art Museum in Lugansk, but I don't know who the artist is.  Here is another image of Natalia Alexeievna:

Natalia Alexeievna.

Wonderful portrait Dru! It's completely new for me. When was it painted?

Sadly, I don't know when it was painted...

Portrait of princess Wilhelmina Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Natalia Alexeievna.

The same portrait by Johann Ludwig Stecker in Frankfuther Goethe-Museum identified as her sister Louise:

http://www.bildergipfel.de/products.php/luise_herzogin_von_sachsen-weimar-eisenach_johann_ludwig_strecker/cPath,5_26_33

The museum is obviously wrong as letters in her orden are written in cyrillic just indicating who the sitter is...

Medallion featuring Pavel Petrovich and Natalia Alexeievna.

The museum is obviously wrong as letters in her orden are written in cyrillic just indicating who the sitter is...

The museum is correct - the portrait shows Natalia/Wilhelmine's youngest sister Luise Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar, Goethe's close friend.

Empress Catherine decorated not only Wilhelmine but also her mother Caroline and her two sisters Amalie and Luise (who all came to Russia to meet the Heir who was supposed to chose one of them) with the order of St. Catharine. Therefore the caption is quite correct. Another copy of the Strecker is located in the Porcelain Collection of the Grand Dukes of Hesse, Prinz Georg Palace, Darmstadt.

The museum is obviously wrong as letters in her orden are written in cyrillic just indicating who the sitter is...

The museum is correct - the portrait shows Natalia/Wilhelmine's youngest sister Luise Grand Duchess of Saxe Weimar, Goethe's close friend.

Empress Catherine decorated not only Wilhelmine but also her mother Caroline and her two sisters Amalie and Luise (who all came to Russia to meet the Heir who was supposed to chose one of them) with the order of St. Catharine. Therefore the caption is quite correct. Another copy of the Strecker is located in the Porcelain Collection of the Grand Dukes of Hesse, Prinz Georg Palace, Darmstadt.

Thank you for this information Thomas these mislabels are quite often when siblings are in question...just like the one with Wuerttemberg sisters,where Elisabeth and Friederike are often mistaken when labeled!

Letter from Catherine II Baron Grimm December 21, 1774

"She (Natalia Alekseevna) was constantly sick, but how can she not be sick? Ney from all over the extreme. If you are thinking to walk on foot, 20 miles away, if it starts to dance, then immediately dances 20 Contradance menuetov and the same, except Allemann. That the room was too hot, the heat stopped them altogether. Some rubbed themselves with ice face, we turned the whole body in the face. In short, the golden mean is far from us. Fearing evil people, we feed distrust of all general and do not take any advice - neither good nor bad. In short, have not seen any of kindness, no care, no reason. God knows where all this will lead, as we listen to anyone not want, and have our own little will. Imagine now a half years as we have here, and still do not know a word in Russian. We demand that we have been taught, and at the same time do not want to dedicate this moment diligence. In all one vertoprahstvo, then that is what else we do not ponutru. Debts have doubled than the domain, and it seems hardly anyone in Europe this much."

There is a translation of part of this letter extract in John T. Alexander’s biography ‘Catherine the Great’, in which the meaning of the last sentences are a bit clearer:

“If one goes for a walk, it’s twenty versts; if one dances, it’s twenty quadrilles, as many minuets, not counting the allemandes; to avoid heat in one’s rooms, they are not heated at all; if somebody rubs their face with ice, then the whole body becomes the face: in short, moderation in everything is very far from our household.  Apprehending evildoers, we do not trust the whole world and listen to neither good nor bad advice; in a word, up till now there has been neither consideration, nor prudence, nor shrewdness in anything, and God knows what will come of it, since one listens to nobody and wants to do everything in one’s own way.  Just imagine, after more than a year and a half one still speaks not a word of the language: we wish for someone to teach us, but we do not give an hour a day to it; everything is trifles; we cannot bear the one nor the other; we are in debt for twice what we have, and yet we have as much as anyone in Europe”.

The last part about the debts of the Grand Duchess is pretty hypocritical of Catherine, since she herself was severely in debt before she seized the throne.