favour of the
Empress, who showered honours and wealth upon him.

CHAPTER VIII

LIFE IN RUSSIA

PAINTING RUSSIAN ROYALTIES -- FESTIVITIES AT COURT -- THE PANGS
OF WAITING FOR DINNER -- "TO KEEP WARM, SPEND THE WINTER IN
RUSSIA" -- THE HARDINESS OF ITS COMMON PEOPLE -- WHO ARE WELL
SUITED WITH SERFDOM -- AND REMARKABLY HONEST -- THE QUAINT
CEREMONIAL OF BLESSING THE NEVA -- VARIOUS SOCIAL CUSTOMS.

Upon Her Majesty's return from Czarskoiesielo Count Strogonoff came to
me with her command to paint the two Grand Duchesses, Alexandrina and
Helen. These Princesses might have been thirteen or fourteen years
old, and their faces were angelic, though of entirely different
expression. Their complexions especially were so tender and delicate
that one might have supposed they lived on ambrosia. The eldest,
Alexandrina, was of the Greek type of beauty and very much resembled
Alexander, but the face of the younger, Helen, was far more subtle. I
grouped them together, holding and looking at the Empress's portrait;
their dress was somewhat Greek in style, quite simple and modest. As
soon as I had done their pictures the Empress ordered me to paint the
Grand Duchess Elisabeth, not long married to Alexander. I have already
said what a ravishing person this Princess was; I should very much
have liked not to represent such a heavenly figure in common dress,
and I have always wanted to paint an historical picture of her and
Alexander, so regular were the features of both. I painted her
standing, in full court dress, arranging some flowers near a basketful
of others. When I had done her large portrait she had another done for
her mother, in which I painted her leaning on a cushion, with a
diaphanous violet wrap. I can say that the more sittings the Grand
Duchess Elisabeth gave me, the kinder and more affectionate did she
become. One morning, while she was posing, I was seized with a giddy
fit and grew so dazed that I had to close my eyes. She took alarm, and
herself quickly ran for water, bathed my eyes, tended me with
inexpressible kindness, and sent to inquire after me as soon as I had
got home. About this time, too, I did a portrait of the Grand Duchess
Anne, the wife of the Grand Duke Constantine. She, born as Princess of
Coburg, without having a celestial face like her sister-in-law, was
nevertheless sweetly pretty. She was probably sixteen, and her
features were all life and mirth. Not that this y