Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, wife of Alexander I

[hikaru]

I think that the answer is in the 18th century and in the demand for the painters to write the portraits as well as  in the principal rules to make the portraits.
The main thing in the portraits of that epoque was not the resemblance to the original .
It was necessary to expresse the status of the person and the the atmosphere of this person ( i.e. if it is beaty so the canon of beauty of that period was painted etc )
some kind of fashion look of the year.

[Robert_Hall]

An excellent explanation, one that most of us tend to forget. Thank you.

[hikaru]

You are welcome. Thank you.

[Lisa]

1795 by Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun:

[Lisa]

1802 by Jean-Laurent Mosnier

[Lisa]

1814 by Borovikovsky

[kmerov]

Thank you very much Lisa, for posting those pictures.
The last two were new to me...

[Lisa]

You're welcome!

[Marc]

Was she politically envolved?What was her life like after her husbands death and what were her relations with the rest of the family were like?

[Svetabel]

Elizaveta Alexeevna was really a nice person. And very unhappy in her family life. As a result she had a love affair with a handsome staff-captain Alexey Okhotnikov. There were rumours that her youngest daughter Elizaveta (born 1806-died 1808 ) was not a child of EmperorAlexander but Okhotnikov. Unfortunate staff-captain died in 1807 after an attempt at his life. Many contemproraries considered that Alexander or his brother Konstantin had ordered to kill Okhotnikov.

All correspondence between Elizaveta and Alexey Okhotnikov (and some of her diaries) were obliterated by the Emperor Nikolay I after her death.

[Marc]

Poor Empress,if one can say this...but she really looked like a nice person and a beautifull woman!

[Poppy]

From http://www.rosizo.ru/eng/japan/i/pavlovsk/06.html

UNKNOWN ARTIST, early 19th century
Portrait of Empress Elizaveta Alexeevna. 1810s

[Marc]

Great portrait...

[leanora]

Elizaveta Alexeevna was really a nice person. And very unhappy in her family life. As a result she had a love affair with a handsome staff-captain Alexey Okhotnikov. There were rumours that her youngest daughter Elizaveta (born 1806-died 1808 ) was not a child of EmperorAlexander but Okhotnikov. Unfortunate staff-captain died in 1807 after an attempt at his life. Many contemproraries considered that Alexander or his brother Konstantin had ordered to kill Okhotnikov.

All correspondence between Elizaveta and Alexey Okhotnikov (and some of her diaries) were obliterated by the Emperor Nikolay I after her death.

Svetabel,

Elisabeth Alexeevna's main lover was her husband's best friend, the prince Adam czatoryski...A polish prince, very handsome and clever.. and the first child of Alexander and Elisabeth (called Marie) was in fact the daughter of Adam and Elisabeth... a funny story talks about it...At the baptism of the little Marie, Paul, sniggering, asked to the princess Lieven "do you really think  that two fair-haired persones can give birth to a  dark-haired child"??

When Adam returned in Poland, Elisabeth found herself very lonely and she had a few love matches, not very long...and between them Okhotnikov...

I have just finished to read the wonderful biography of Alexander I by Henri Troyat... I love this book, and I advice it to everybody... The end of Elisabeth and Alexander 's lifes is very sad and romantic... after 32 years of a unhappy married life, they were very close from each other at the end, Alexander died in the arms of his wife ... Elisabeth died 3 months after

[lexi4]

Because I am eccentric.

You are great Grand Duke