Nikolai Argunov painted the portrait of Elizaveta Bantysh-Kamenskaya in 1823. The young woman is dressed according to the fashion of that time — she is wearing a red sarafan and a white shirt with a wide neckline. This outfit was reminiscent of typical peasant clothes. After the victory in the Napoleonic War, the folklore theme in Russia gained popularity and many members of the nobility started to wear such outfits. But the woman in the portrait does not just show appreciation for the fashion — the Bantysh-Kamensky family were interested in the peasant traditions and her husband, Dmitry Bantysh-Kamensky, professionally studied the history of Malorossiya. 

Nikolai Argunov learned painting from his father, Ivan Argunov, one of the most famous artists of the XVIII century. They were both serfs of Counts Sheremetevs. Argunov- the father was one of the first artists to create portraits in which he primarily reflected the subject’s personality, but not the social stratum he or she belonged to. He used a modest range of tones in the small chamber portraits often depicting the models chest-high.