Baroness Elizaveta Demidova (1812-1863), Russian lacquer miniature Fedoskino, by artist Linkova. Baroness Elizaveta Alexandrovna Demidova (née Stroganova) (3/5 February 1779, Saint Petersburg - 8 April OS: 27 March 1818, Paris) (Russian - Елизавета Александровна Строганова) was a Russian aristocrat of the Stroganov family. From the original painting of Robert Lefevre in Hermitage, St Petersburg, Russia. In September 1795 in Saint Petersburg, she married Count Nikolai Nikitich Demidov at the age of 16. Husband Nikolai Demidov became a diplomat and the young couple set up home in Paris, in the Hôtel de Brancas-Lauragais, at the corner of Rue Taitbout and Boulevard des Italiens, becoming strong supporters of Napoleon I of France. However, mounting tensions between France and Russia forced Russia to call Nicolas back home in 1805. The couple then set up home in Italy before returning to Russia in 1812 to settle in Moscow. They were of completely different characters and often lived apart. She was beautiful, light and witty, and her husband more introspective, and so they soon grew bored with each other. After Anatole's birth in 1812, they separated and she returned to live in Paris, where she died in 1818 and was buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery. Size of the box: 80 x 110 mm x 30 mm = 8.0 cm = 11.0 cm 3.0 cm; Fedoskino miniature (Russian: федоскинская миниатюра) is a traditional Russian lacquer miniature painting on papier-mache, named after its original center Fedoskino (Федоскино), an old village near Moscow widely known from the late 18th century. The contemporary Fedoskino painting preserves the typical features of Russian folk art. The use of oil paint, typically applied in many layers, is a distinctive feature of a Fedoskino miniature, as well as the use of mother-of-pearl, pure gold or silver leaf under segments of the background to create the effect of a shimmering glow or silvery sparkle. Many boxes are painted inside and outside in imitation tortoiseshell, birch bark, mahogany or tartan. The heyday of Fedoskino miniature fell in the second half of the 19th century, and the works of that time are known as 'lukutins', named after the merchants Lukutins, who owned the Fedoskino factory at that time. Petr Lutukin inherited the factory in 1824 and it remained in the families ownership until 1904. After a brief interlude in the hands of former Lutukin workers ('The Fedoskino Artel of Former Lutukin Factory Workers') the factory effectively ceased trading until after the revolution, when in 1923, Fedoskino wares were awarded a diploma for 'superb artistic skill' at the All Union Exhibition of Agricultural, Industrial and Cultural Products; which was held in Moscow in that year. Some of the factory craftsmen had artistic education, and many of them had come from icon-painting studios. In 1931 the opening of a vocational school of miniature painting at Fedoskino ensured the perpetuation of the art form, which allowed the continued development through the following years. Stylistically the Fedoskino factory is distinct from the other schools of miniature lacquer painting: notably those of Palekh, Mstera and Kholui. [1] The popular motifs used in Fedoskino miniature are all sorts of tea-drinking with samovar, troikas (carriage-and-three), and scenes from Russian peasant life.