Baron Grigori Alexandrovich Stroganov, 1st Count Stroganov, and his wife née Princess Anna Sergeevna Trubetskaya were life long friends and patrons of Vigée Le Brun. The Stroganovs were one of the richest families in Russia, and formery bore the designation of "imenitye liudy" (distinguished persons), which had been granted to them by the Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.

The first two portraits were painted in Viena 1793. The third portrait of Countess Anna Sergevna Stroganova and Her Son Sergei was painted in Russia between 1795 and 1801. The fourth portrait presented here is of their son Sergei Grigorievich Stroganov. The artist is unknown.

Their son Sergei Grigorievich, 2nd Count Stroganov (b. 8 Nov. 1794, d. St. Petersburg 27 Mar. 1882, bur. at St. Alexander Nevsky Monastery in St. Petersburg) fought in the battle of Borodino and accompanied the Russian armies to Paris. This was a decisive but costly battle with Napolean. The "Battle of Moskva," as the French call it, was one of the bloodiest fought before the twentieth century

Count Sergei Grigorievich Stroganov was named a Senator in 1837, Lieutenant General in 1847, and Governor General of Moscow in 1860. He married his cousin, Countess Natalia Pavlovna Stroganova ( b. 7 May 1796, d. 7 Oct. 1872), the daughter of Count Pavel Alexandrovich Stroganov and his wife née Princess Sophia Vladimirovna Golitsyna. Following his marriage, he and his wife had a combined property of 94,000 serfs on 1,400,000 hectares (3,458,000 acres) of land. Upon the death of her mother in 1845 Countess Natalia Pavlovna Stroganova inherited an additional 60,956 serfs on 1,181,653 hectares (2,920,000 acres) of land.

Sergei and Natalia had 4 sons and 2 daughters: Alexandr, Pavel, Sophia (m. Count Ivan Petrovich Tolstoy), Elisaveta (m. Prince Alexandr Vasilievich Meshchersky), Grigori and Nicolai.

Vigée Le Brun also painted Anna Sergevna's sister Countess Ecaterina Sergeevna Smoilov née Princess Troubetzkoy (1797). (Art Page 88)