Vassili Vassilievitch (c1685 -1743) & Marfa Ivanovna (née Yanovitch) (? -1742)

Vassili Vassilievitch and his 2nd wife Maria Ivanovna (née Yanovitch)
Vassili Vassilievitch and his 2nd wife Marfa Ivanovna (née Yanovitch)

The above portrait is an unusual portrait of a couple who are in fact Vassili Vassilievitch and his second wife Marfa Ivanovna Yanovitch (?-1742). While the label on the frame suggest that the lady in the portrait is Marfa Andreevna Skoropadskaya it has been proven to be in fact Marfa Ivanovna Yanovitch.  She was the sister of the Glukhov Ataman Ivan Ivanovitch Yanovich, a friend in the circle of the Kotchoubeys. The error may be linked to the fact that Vassili was first married to Anastasia Danilovna (née Apostol), the daughter of the Hetman Danilo Apostol and the author confused the name of a Hetman’s daughter for Skoropadskaya instead of Apostol. It could be that the author of the portrait labels confused Vassili with his older brother Feodor Vasilievitch who was in fact married to Anastasia Vasilievna (née Skoropadskaya). Whatever the reasons, the genealogist Modzalevsky in his published work, Malorossiskiy Gerbovnik of  1910 made this correction and published a copy of this portrait from the collection Prince Victor Sergeievitch.

Vassili Vassilievitch may have been the second son of General Judge Vassili Leontievitch (1640-1708) as a Eucharist prayer request written by Vassili Leontievitch in 1684 and sent to Saint Catherine’s Monastery near Mount Sinai does not yet mention his son Vassili’s name.  Unlike his father who lost his head but was given the highest honor to be buried at the Lavra Monastery in Kiev, his son Vassili is buried in the Church of the Intercession in the town of Zhukovski (Poltava Province) / Жуковской Покровской церкви. The church was built in stone in 1770 and is located on the family estate of his mother. Over his burial place, is an icon which was nailed in place at the request of his descendent, Prince Sergei Victorovitch (-1880) with the images of the prophet Daniel, and the Patriarch Jacob who is dreaming of the ladder (Jacob’s ladder). In the corners are images of the Virgin Mary and other prophets. (see: http://moskalik.at.ua/vidannja/buchnevych.doc)

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