Staande vrouw met lange jurk en doek over haar hoofd 1765

Jean-Baptist Leprince made this print of a standing woman with a long dress and headscarf in eighteenth-century France. The print is part of a series on Russian costume, reflecting the fashion for things Russian in France at the time. Leprince spent some time in Russia in the early 1760s and on his return to France he produced many paintings and prints of Russian subjects to meet this demand. These images give us an insight into the way that foreign cultures were perceived and represented in eighteenth-century Europe, a world in which Russia was seen as exotic and mysterious. The print also tells us something about the institutions of art in France. Leprince was peintre du roi - painter to the king - and his images of Russia would have been seen as contributing to French cultural prestige. Historians use a range of sources to understand the context in which works like this were made, including travel accounts, fashion plates, and other visual materials. By placing art within its social and institutional context, we can understand the complex ways in which cultures interact and influence one another.