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Portrait of Regent Anna Leopoldovna
Caravaque Louis,
Oil on canvas
120 х 100
State Russian Museum
Annotation
Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna, née Elisabeth Katharina Christine (1718–1746), was the daughter of Duke Karl Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Tsarevna Catherine Ivanovna, who was the daughter of Tsar Ivan V Alexeyevich. Anna was the niece of Empress Anna Ioannovna. She married Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick-Luneburg in 1739 and gave birth to Ivan Antonovich, the heir to the throne, in 1740. After the death of Anna Ioannovna and the dismissal of Biron, who had been appointed regent, she herself became regent for the infant Emperor Ivan VI on 9 November 1740. Following a palace coup on 25 November 1741 she and her son were overthrown and sent into exile, where she died in 1746.
Ioann Antonovich spent the rest of his life in confinement (in the fortress of Shlisselburg from 1756). He was killed by guards on 5 July 1764 during an attempt to liberate him organised by Vasily Mirovich, an officer of the guard.
Author's Biography
Caravaque Louis
Caravaque, Louis
1684, Marseilles – 1754, St Petersburg
Painter, portraitist, designer, miniaturist, graphic artist. Member of the third generation of French painters working in Marseilles and Tulon. Invited to Russia by Peter the Great (1715). Lived and worked in St Petersburg (from 1716). Painted portraits of Peter the Great and members of the Imperial family. Painted murals and headed painting work in Peterhof and in the Summer Palace in St Petersburg. Compiled festival projects for the Imperial court. Court artist with an exclusive right to paint Imperial portraits during the reign of Empress Anna Ioannovna (1730–1740) and Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1741–1761). Taught painting to Ivan Vishnyakov, Alexei Antropov and Mikhail Zakharov.