Study for the portrait of Nadezhda Polovtseva (Hermitage Collection).

Nadezhda Polovtseva (1843-1908) was the adopted daughter of Baron Stieglitz, founder of the Stieglitz Museum and Central School of Industrial Arts in St Petersburg. She married Alexander Polovstev, Russian Secretary of State and a passionate art collector, who did much to enhance the collections of the Stieglitz Museum, while she herself became director of the School. She was painted by Carolus-Duran during his visit to St Petersburg in 1876.