The Mystery of One Portrait: Maria Vladimirovna Staritskaya or Maria (Lupu) Radziwill? Cover Image

Загадка одного портрета: Мария Владимировна Старицкая или Мария (Лупу) Радзивилл?
The Mystery of One Portrait: Maria Vladimirovna Staritskaya or Maria (Lupu) Radziwill?

Author(s): Lilia Zabolotnaia
Subject(s): History, 17th Century
Published by: Издательский дом Stratum, Университет «Высшая антропологическая школа»
Keywords: Maria (Lupu) Radziwill; Maria Vladimirovna Staritskaya; 17th century; portrait; costume; Rosenborg; State Historical Museum (Moscow)
Summary/Abstract: The main objective of this study is an attempt to identify one of the portraits of Maria (Lupu) Radziwill, lost more than 300 years ago. The original of the portrait was found by the author in 2019, in the Rosenborg Castle (Copenhagen, Denmark). A copy of the portrait is kept in the State Historical Museum (Moscow). Both in Rosenborg and in Moscow, until now, the portrait was considered a portrait of Maria Vladimirovna Staritskaya. The author, based on comparative and retrospective methods of historical research, in terms of chronology and typology compared already known, attributed images and systematized the data for constructing the arguments. The basis for the refutation of the existing attribution of the portrait was the mismatch of the costume of the depicted lady with the Russian style, era, etc. According to the author of the study, it is the costume of the portrait’s heroine that irrefutably indicates that this is not Maria Vladimirovna Staritskaya, but Maria (Lupu) Radziwill, since it reflects her national origin.