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Portrait of Prince Alexander Bezborodko
Pierre-Charles Cior (French, 1769–1840)
mid- to late 1700s
- Medium
- watercolor on ivory in a 19th-century gilt metal frame
- Classification
- Portrait Miniature
- Dimensions
- Diameter: 8.6 cm (3 3/8 in.); Diameter of frame: 10.2 cm (4 in.)
- Culture
- France
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, European Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Gift of Ellen Wade Chinn, Elizabeth Wade Sedgwick and J. H. Wade III in memory of their mother Irene Love Wade
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
This portrait of Alexander Bezborodko, chancellor of Russia from 1747 to 1799, was painted by Pierre-Charles Cior in the final years of the 18th century. Previously a foreign minister for Catherine the Great, the prince became grand chancellor of the Russian empire upon the 1797 accession to the throne of Catherine's son Paul I. In this position, Bezborodko reformed the post office, regulated the banking systems, and constructed roads. Here he is shown dressed in a blue uniform with the blue sash of the Order of Saint Andrew over the red and black sash of the Order of Saint Vladimir. Pinned over his left breast are stars and badges of the Order of Saint Andrew as well as the Maltese cross. Around his neck is the decoration of the Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky, which is encrusted with diamonds. Bezborodko holds a miniature of Paul I in his right hand while resting his left arm on a leopard pillow. He poses in front of a lavish green curtain and classical colonnade. Trained under the Spanish miniaturist Juan Bauzil, Cior became the official miniaturist of the king of Spain and a court painter in Russia, likely creating this portrait during his extended stay in Saint Petersburg.…
