Many remarkable artists of the 18th century — Grigory Musikiisky, Ivan Adolsky, Johann Gottfried Tannauer and Alexei Zubov included — created portraits of Alexander Menshikov, but traces of them have been lost with time. This work is one of the few contemporary depictions of the Prince to have survived. He is depicted in military uniform with Russian, Polish, Danish and Prussian orders. On the back of the canvas is a stamp and a paper label testifying that the depiction is indeed of Menshikov and that in 1745 the office responsible for furnishings gave the portrait “into the keeping of the court painter G. Grooth” — Georg Christoph Grooth who between 1743 and 1750 had charge of Empress Elizabeth’s collection of paintings.