Portrait of Kirill Razumovsky by Pompeo Girolamo Batoni

The article analyzes the portrait of Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky, painted in Rome in 1766 by the famous artist Pompeo Girolamo Batoni. The portrait has features characteristic of portraits of travelers making the Grand Tour of Europe. In the second half of the 18th century, these were usually young aristocrats completing their education. Young people studied at the best universities; acquired extensive communication experience during their stay in major European centers; improved their skills in horseback riding, dancing and swordsmanship in famous academies, and also acquired knowledge of the art of antiquity by visiting Italy. In the portraits of travelers, Batoni emphasized the elegant dignity of the persons depicted; motifs of ancient architecture and sculpture of Rome testified to their good taste. Kirill Razumovsky also commissioned a portrait from the artist during his Grand Tour. However, the Russian count was already a mature man of 38 years old, who experienced a rapid rise in his youth, when he turned from a shepherd boy into a nobleman, and the collapse of hopes for receiving the hereditary title of hetman in Little Russia shortly before his Grand Tour. Comparison of Kirill Razumovsky portrait with the portrait of the young British traveler Thomas Dundas, which is close in composition, reveals the peculiarities of Pompeo Batoni’s work: by making only minor changes in the composition of the works, the painter skillfully conveyed the inner world of the depicted persons.