JOSEPH KREUTZINGER | PORTRAIT OF PRINCE ALEXEI GOLITSYN WITH HIS DOG, SEATED IN A WOODED LANDSCAPE

Kreutzinger was an Austrian painter and engraver who specialized in portraits and was appointed Imperial Royal Court Painter in Vienna. The sitter was a Russian diplomat, art agent, author, volcanologist and mineralogist. Goltisyn helped draft the League of Armed Neutrality and advocated to end serfdom in Russia. In 1760 he moved to Paris and befriended Englightenment thinkers including Voltaire and Diderot. After the latter's death, Golitsyn would manage his library on behalf of Catherine the Great. Kreutzinger's bust-length portrait of Golitsyn wearing the same costume is held in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg.¹

1. Joseph Kreutzinger, Portrait of Alexei Goltisyn, oil on canvas, 49 by 41 cm. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, inv. ГЭ-5143