Russian Art

Nikitin, I. N. "Portrait of Tsarina Praskovia Ioannovna (?)". 1714

Notes: Portrait of Tsarina Praskovia Ioannovna (?) (1694-1731), niece of Peter I "Portrait of Tsarina Praskovia Ioannovna," (1694 -1731) of 1714 is conventionally viewed as one of Nikitin's most successful works. However his portraits of Peter I on his Deathbed and also of a Cossack leader (see ImageBase) are far more unusual, and are exceptional early eighteenth-century paintings by any standard. That is so because they have a vitality and dignity not unlike certain masterworks of the Spanish school from the previous century. The painter's likenesses of members of the Tsar's family generally lack the forthright presentation and immediacy conveyed so well by these two works.