File:Comtesse Sophie Laval (Middleton Album).jpg

English: The Middleton Watercolor Album consists of a collection of 45 watercolor portraits bound in leather covers with neo-gothic embossing and a gilt bronze clasp in the same style. The album relates to the Middleton family of South Carolina, from which it descended until Hillwood purchased it in 2004. Williams Middleton—who was secretary to his father, Henry Middleton, the American minister to St. Petersburg from 1820 to 1830—assembled this album. The artist of many of the watercolors, most of which are unsigned, is likely Middleton's sister, Maria Henrietta, who studied painting during her years in St. Petersburg with her governess, Madame Mathes, who also painted miniatures. Two watercolors, including this portrait of the Countess Bobrinsky, are signed by the well-known Russian watercolorist Petr Sokolov. The portraits are of Russians and people in the foreign community who were close associates of the Middleton family. Their portraits provide an extraordinary commentary on the fashion and hairstyles of the 1820s.