Countess Anna Artemevna Buturlina (), née Vorontsova (Воронцова; 17771854) was a Russian artist, noblewoman, and artist's model.

Family and early life

Anna Vorontsova was born in 1777, the second daughter of Count Artemiy Ivanovich Vorontsov and his wife Countess Praskovya Feodorovna Kvashnina-Samarina. Artemiy Vorontsov was a senator,

Active Privy Councillor Active Privy Councillor (russian: действительный тайный советник, deystvitelnyi taynyi sovetnik) was the civil rank (ru: чин / chin) in the Russian Empire, according to the Table of Ranks introduced by Peter the Great ...

, and owner of the , as well as the godfather of poet

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

. She was the second cousin of M. A. Gannibal, a relation of

Abram Gannibal Abram Petrovich Gannibal, also Hannibal or Ganibal, or Abram Hannibal or Abram Petrov ( ru , Абра́м Петро́вич Ганниба́л; c. 1696 – 14 May 1781), was a Russian military engineer, general-in-chief, and nobleman of Afric ...

. In 1793 Anna married her second cousin, Count , a noted bibliophile and director of the

Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...

. With her husband she had two sons, Pyotr and Mikhail, and three daughters, Maria, Elizaveta and Elena, as well as several other children who died in infancy.

Artistic life

Contemporaries noted the mind and education of the countess. She loved to draw, was engaged in painting, particularly miniatures on ivory. She was painted by a number of the leading artists of the age, including a portrait by

Fyodor Rokotov Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov (Fedor Rokotov) (russian: Фёдор Степа́нович Ро́котов) (1736–December 24, 1808) was a distinguished Russian painter who specialized in portraits. Fyodor Rokotov was born into a family of p ...

in 1793, now in the . A self-portrait in miniature is held in the collections of the Hermitage Museum. An early portrait by

Dmitry Levitzky Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky (russian: Дмитрий Григорьевич Левицкий, May 1735 – 17 April 1822) was a Russian portrait painter and Academician. Biography He was born to , a priest, who was also an amateur painter and ...

is held in the collections of the

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (russian: Государственный Русский музей), formerly the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (russian: Русский Музей Императора Александра III), on ...

. Another portrait, by after an earlier work by

Vladimir Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (russian: Влади́мир Луки́ч Боровико́вский, ukr, Володи́мир Лýкич Боровикóвський, ; July 24 O.S. (August 4, N.S.) 1757, Mirgorod – April 6 O.S. (April 18, N. ...

, is held by the

State Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (russian: Государственная Третьяковская Галерея, ''Gosudarstvennaya Tretyâkovskaya Galereya''; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered th ...

in Moscow.

Gallery

Dmitry Levitzky 08.jpg, Late 1780s/early 1790s,

Anna Artiomievna Buturlina.jpg, C. 1793,

Anna Buturlina.jpg, 1820s, P. Carloni Anna Buturlina by anonim (c.1829, Obninsk).jpg, C. 1829, Anonymous Anna Buturlina by Yanenko after Borovikovskiy (1790s, GTG).jpg, Late 1790s, , after

Later life

In Saint Petersburg she was visited by Count

Joseph de Maistre Joseph Marie, comte de Maistre (; 1 April 1753 – 26 February 1821) was a Savoyard philosopher, writer, lawyer, and diplomat who advocated social hierarchy and monarchy in the period immediately following the French Revolution. Despite his clo ...

, the envoy of the

King of Sardinia The following is a list of rulers of Sardinia, in particular, of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica from 1323 and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1479 to 1861. Early history Owing to the absence of written sources, little ...

to the Russian court. She was also visited by Pater Jourdan of the

Jesuit Order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

between 1813 and 1814. This association caused Countess Buturlina to consider converting to

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. She moved with her family to Italy in 1817, residing mainly in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

, and converting to Catholicism in 1825.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buturlina, Anna Artemevna 1777 births 1854 deaths Converts to Roman Catholicism Converts to Roman Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy Former Russian Orthodox Christians Russian Roman Catholics Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Italy