Portrait of Alexander Kurakin

Jean-Marc Nattier completed this portrait of Prince Alexander Kurakin in 1728, capturing the Russian nobleman in the elegant Rococo style that made Nattier the most fashionable portraitist of eighteenth-century France. The oil on canvas measures 64 by 48 centimeters.

Prince Alexander Kurakin (1697-1749) was a Russian diplomat and nobleman who spent time in France during the reign of Louis XV. Nattier was renowned for his flattering and elegant depictions of his sitters, often portraying ladies of the French court in classical mythological attire. This portrait demonstrates his ability to capture aristocratic refinement in male subjects as well.

In 1715, Nattier had traveled to Amsterdam to paint Peter the Great and Empress Catherine, declining an invitation to relocate permanently to Russia. The portrait of Kurakin entered the State Hermitage Museum in 1923 via the State Museum Fund from the collection of S.V. Panina in Petrograd.