Portrait of Anna Lazaryan by Ivan Argunov, 1769

Ivan Petrovich Argunov (1722–1802), “Portrait of Anna Ovakimovna Lazaryan”, 1769. Oil on canvas, 78.5×63. National Gallery of Armenia.

An elderly woman sits in an armchair, wearing a tall pearl-decorated headdress, a light headscarf, a blue garment with gold embroidery and a sash, and holding a small box.

Anna Lazareva (1710–1770) was the wife of Lazar Nazarovich Lazarev (1700–1782), founder of the Lazarev family of Russian industrialists and patrons. She was born in New Julfa (Isfahan). Her first child, Hovhannes (Ivan), was born in 1735, followed by three more sons, Minas, Khachatur (Christopher) and Hovakim (Ekim), and a daughter, Anna. In 1779, with the funds of her son Khachatur, construction of the Church of the Holy Cross began in Moscow; it was completed by Ivan in 1790. With Ivan's funds, in 1815 Hovakim built in Moscow the building of a school for the upbringing and education of poor Armenian children, which later became the Lazarev Institute of Oriental Languages.