Portrait of Ekaterina Khruschova and Ekaterina Khovanskaya

Dmitry Levitsky’s Smolny Girls were portraits of the Imperial Educational Society for Noble Girls (Smolny Institute). Founded on the initiative of Ivan Betskoi by Catherine the Great in 1764, the institute was housed at the Smolny Novodevichy Convent of the Resurrection in St Petersburg. Ivan Betskoi commissioned Levitsky to paint the portraits for the Smolny Institute. Ekaterina Khruschova (left) and Ekaterina Khovanskaya (right) are depicted performing a pastoral scene at the Smolny Institute. Ekaterina Nikolaevna Khruschova (1761-1811): Daughter of Premier Major Nikolai Khruschov and Princess Praskovia Mikhailovna Volkonskaya. Studied at the Smolny Institute (1767-1779). Graduated from the Smolny Institute. Ekaterina Nikolaevna Khovanskaya (1762–1813): Daughter of Prince Colonel Nikolai Khovansky and Princess Maria Nikolaevna Schepotieva. Studied at the Smolny Institute (1767-1779). Graduated from the Smolny Institute. Married Y. A. Meletsky (1786). Lived in Moscow (from 1798). Fled Moscow to escape Napoleon’s Grande Armée (1812) and died in Yarsolavl (1813).