The Russian Museum in St Petersburg is a very big museum- and a very good one! I have visited it several times and a must always is the portrait of Zinaida Yusupova. A beautiful lady from a family with a colourful and dramatic history. They say that the Romanovs were wealthy but the Yusupovs were rich, and indeed they were. Don´t miss their palace on the Moika embankment when visiting St Petersburg
Here is another portrait from the same museum: Countess Olga Orlova. She was said to be quite unhappy by her portrait: Why do I look so sour when Zinaida is so beautiful ! The countess never paid the artist
As Finland celebrates the 100 years of history our National Gallery, Ateneum has compiled a special exhibition of the art from the Golden Age . This is Antti Favens portrait of the poet Eino Leino. His poems were especially important to the Finns during the last years of the Autonomy (under Russia).
Eino Leino died in 1926 and the portrait was painted four years earlier
The Russian Museum is on the Ploshad Isskustva, The Art Square, just behind the Grand Europe Hotel. Ateneum is very close to the railway station in Helsinki
