In 1846 Countess Yelizaveta A. Bariatinsky (née Countess Tchernicheva) married the Adjutant General, Prince Vladimir Ivanovitch Bariatinsky, a commander of the Chevalier Guards. As the lady of the house, she became famous in high society for her formal dinner parties with high-ranking officers, which she organized every day. She was referred to as countess Betsy. Winterhalter painted portraits of French King Louis-Philippe, Emperor Napoleon III and his wife Eugenie, the Dutch Queen Sophia Frederika Mathilde of Württemberg, and many among the Russian nobility, who felt it was an honor to pose for him. Winterhalter portrays the countess with refined elegance. He skillfully paints her black dress with gorgeous gleaming subtones and masterfully renders a fan in her hand while capturing the shimmer of her jewels. Such a technique was typical for salon art of the mid-19th century.