The Swedish-born portrait painter Alexandre Roslin was employed by aristocratic and royal families across Europe in the eighteenth century. In 1752 he travelled to Paris which remained his home for the rest of his life. He studied under François Boucher and was influenced by Hyacinth Rigaud and Jean-Marc Nattier. In 1775 Roslin travelled to St Petersburg and Moscow and completed portraits of Catherine the Great, her only son, the future Paul I and his new wife Maria Feodorovna (all Hermitage, St Petersburg).

The sitter was born Princess Sophia Dorothea of Württemberg, eldest daughter of Frederick II, Duke of Württemberg. She married, in 1776, Grand Duke Paul of Russia and took the name Maria Feodorovna when she converted to Orthodoxy. Her husband succeeded as Emperor Paul I in 1796, but was assassinated five years later. As Dowager Empress she still maintained considerable influence and lived in great state at the palace of Pavlosk. Two of her four sons, Alexander I and Nicholas I, reigned as emperors of Russia.

A half-length copy after the full-length by Roslin in the Hermitage of 1777. The sitter is wearing the grand habit - formal court dress worn across Europe at this time - consisting of a bodice, with detachable lace sleeves and a full skirt. The bodice is decorated with a blue bow at the bosom, with the sash and star of the order of St Catherine; an ermine-trimmed mantle about her; her hair is dressed with jewels.