In 19th century Scotland, France, and eventually Russia, Christina Robertson forged a career in painting portraits of the highest members of society, including the Tsar of Russia
On a trip to see my family in Alston recently, I shared a bus journey with an old friend from the town. Alastair Robertson, who is also a member of the Alston Moor Historical Society, told me about his 4x great aunt Christina Robertson, a 19th Century portrait artist. Hearing Alastair talk about her successes, and her large family, I was reminded of the quote about Ginger Rogers doing everything Fred Astaire did “but backwards and in high heels” and, with March 2026 being International Women’s History Month, it got me thinking about what women have to deal with to be part of “a man’s world”.
Christina (1796 -1854)was a Scottish portrait artist, and whilst it may not be fair to say she was perpetually pregnant, she did birth eight children between 1823 and 1833, whilst being the family’s main breadwinner. Sadly, not all her children were to survive, so I can only imagine that she was also grieving much of the time she was raising her four remaining children and painting to support the family. Her husband, James, was also an artist, but certainly doesn’t appear to have been as successful as Christina, who exhibited many portraits at the Royal Academy during the years between 1823 and 1844. In 1829 she became the first woman member of the Scottish Royal Academy, although Christina being a mere woman, hers was to be an honorary membership only.
Painting society portraits takes her to Russia
Concentrating mainly on portraits of women and children, Christina became popular with the society ladies of the day, who sought her out to paint them, and by the middle of the 1830s she had travelled to France where she seems to have met affluent members of Russian society. Perhaps persuaded by these Russian nobles, she eventually left her husband in Paris, along with their two sons, and moved to St Petersburg with her daughters in 1839.
It seems that her work was keenly received in Russia, which may have been partly due to her ability to pick up on the fashions of the day. In any case, she had painted several portraits for the well-to-do Baryatinsky family within her first two years in the country. She found such success she ended up painting at the court of Tsar Nicholas I, and several of her paintings of the Tsar’s family were on display at the Hermitage, at least as recently as a couple of years ago, although apparently her portrait of the tsar was not so well received by the man himself.
I can’t find much more information about Christina’s life in Russia, although it would appear that she was unable to return to the UK before her death in St Petersburg in 1854, but I found her little-told story to be yet another fantastically interesting slice of history about the life of a woman and the struggles and juggles we face daily.
More about Christina’s work and a display in Newcastle
You can find out more about Christina at The Journal of Art in Society, where you’ll find a wonderful and more in-depth article by Elizaveta P Renné and Jane Anderson, or you can contact Alastair Robertson. You can also see an example of Christina’s work, Portrait of Margaret Robertson (1842), at the Laing Art Gallery in their upcoming exhibition Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer Portrait Award 2025 and Exploring Identity,which runs 28 March – 5September 2026.
