HEINRICH FRIEDRICH FÜGER (AUSTRO-GERMAN, 1751-1818)

The sitter bears a strong resemblance to Prince Platon Zubov, the last of Empress Catherine the Great's favourites and arguably the most powerful man in the Russian Empire during the final years of her reign. The Empress, then in her sixties, made Zubov, then in his early twenties, her lover and she lavished him with titles, estates and even tens of thousands of serfs and he heavily influenced decisions made by the Empress. Arrogant and capricious, he was insubordinate to the Empress's heir, Tsarevich Paul. On Catherine the Great's death Zubov was stripped of his estates and relieved of his posts and advised to leave the country.
For a likeness of Prince Zubov, see the oil on canvas portrait of 1793 by Johann Baptist Lampi in the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.