Princess Tarakanova, in the Peter and Paul Fortress at the Time of the Flood
Flavitsky's most famous painting is Princess Tarakanova, in the Peter and Paul Fortress at the Time of the Flood. "The work is based on a legend from Russian history according to which Princess Tarakanova, who said she was the daughter of Empress Alexei Razumovsky and laid claim to the Russian throne in Catherine the Great's reign, died in the Peter and Paul Fortress during the flood of 1777. Flavitsky depicts with great tragic power the suffering of this young woman facing certain death in a gloomy dungeon flooded with water, depicting her helplessness and despair most expressively." (Masterpieces of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Red Square Publishers, ISBN 978-5-900743-36-3)
