2-548-449 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

'Portrait of the Vice-Chancellor Prince Alexander Kurakin', 1797. Prince Alexander Borisovich Kurakin (1752-1818) was a Russian statesman and diplomat. During the reign of Tsar Alexander I he served as Russian Ambassador to France. He delivered several warnings to the tsar of the impending French invasion of Russia, which took place in 1812. Found in the collection of the State Hermitage, St Petersburg.