Portrait of Tsarina Natalia Kirillovna
Late January – early February 1694 (?)
Natalia Naryshkina (September 1, 1651 – February 4, 1694) – mother of Peter the Great and Tsarevnas Natalia and Feodora. Daughter of Boyar Kirill Naryshkin (1623–1691) who, at the demand of the rebellious Streltsy, was sent to be a monk in the Kirillo-Belozersk Monastery in 1682, and took the name of Cyprian. Until 1671 Natalia was a ward of Boyar Artamon Matveyev. In 1671 she became Tsaritsa, being the second wife of Tsar Alexis I Mikhailovich. She was the elder sister of Boyar Lev Naryshkin (1664–1705).
The original size of the painting was different (88 x 62); also, it was oval in shape, later painted into a square. Elements that were inserted changed its format. Technical research conducted reveals several changes introduced to the hands of the character by the artist (initially she was holding a handkerchief). During the last third of the 17th century a piece with her “dormition” obtained wide circulation; it was painted for a splendid mansion for her descendants to remember her by. The famous historian Ivan Zabelin, who studied the everyday lives of Russian tsars was the first person to publish a report stating that “in 1694 (February) the painter Mikhail Choglokov painted the dormition of Her Majesty Tsarina and Grand Duchess Natalia Kirillovna, the blessed.”