Madame Rimsky Korsakov — and the Mystery Behind It

Added: 2026-05-16

[00:00:00]She looks at you, and nobody really knows who she is.

[00:00:04]Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1864, Musée d'Orsay, Paris.

[00:00:12]Winterhalter painted Queen Victoria, Empress Eugénie, and Sissi.

[00:00:18]The splendor of European aristocracy.

[00:00:21]Nobody painted it better.

[00:00:23]This woman is called Varvara Rimsky-Korsakov.

[00:00:27]Russian aristocrat.

[00:00:29]Some say aunt of the composer.

[00:00:32]Others, the model for Tolstoy's Anna Karenina.

[00:00:36]Nothing is proven.

[00:00:38]Her hair falls loose, shoulders bare.

[00:00:42]For 1864, that was daring.

[00:00:46]Critics called Winterhalter superficial.

[00:00:48]His clients loved him.

[00:00:51]And she looks as if none of it matters to her.