Carte-de-visite full length photograph of Princess Marie (later Maria Pavlovna) of Mecklenburg Schwerin. The subject is shown in three quarter view, facing towards the right of the image, with her glance turned towards the left of the image. She is standing beside an upholstered chaise longue which is shown on the right of the image. In the background on the left of the scene is a small wooden table, on which are placed two closed books. The subject clasps her hands in front of her and her hair is arranged in ringlets. She is wearing a cuff bracelet on each wrist and a multiple strand of pearls around her neck. She is wearing a pale coloured, off-the-shoulder gown incorporating a bustle and elaborately trimmed with ruffled lace.  

The subject was born Marie Alexandrine Elisabeth Eleonore of Mecklenburg Schwerin, daughter of Grand Duke Frederick Francis II of Mecklenburg Schwerin and Princess Augusta of Reuss Köstritz. In 1874 she married the Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and the couple had four sons and a daughter. She became a prominent hostess in St Petersburg, becoming a rival of the Empress Maria Feodorovna.

On the death of her husband in 1909, she succeeded him as President of the Academy of Fine Arts.