Portrait of unknown girl by piano

Taras Shevchenko. Portrait of unknown girl by piano.
1842. [St. Petersburg. Watercolour].

Right below watercolor author's date and signature: 1842. Shevchenko.

Original not found. Portrait known for photocopies, stored in the Taras Shevchenko National Museum. There is an assumption that Shevchenko posed for this portrait Pauline Garcia–Viardo (1821 – 1910), a leading Italian singer Paris Opera, which has repeatedly toured in Russia [Palamarchuk G. Semi-discovered mystery // Literary Ukraine. – 1997. – 25 September]. However, she toured for the first time in St. Petersburg from October 1843 to March 1844 [A. Rozanov Polina Viardo–Garcia. – L., 1969. – p. 35 – 48] – a year later from a portrait.

First reproduced and described in 1961 [T. Shevchenko Complete Works: in 10 volumes. – K., 1961. – Vol. 7, bk. 1. – p. 19. – № 37]

O.I. Shevchenko

After publication: T.H. Shevchenko Complete Works in 12 volumes. – K.: Naukova Dumka, 2003, v. 7, p. 92 – 93 (image), p. 387 (notes).