text: Before departing for France, Vigée Le Brun decided to visit Moscow. Halfway through her journey to the city, news of the assassination of Paul I reached her. The journey was extremely difficult due to the melting snow, and the carriage often got stuck in the infamous Russian mud, and her journey was further delayed when most horses were taken by couriers spreading the news of the death of Paul and the coronation of Alexander. Vigée Le Brun enjoyed her stay in Moscow, and painted many portraits during her stay. Upon her return to Saint Petersburg she met the newly crowned Emperor Alexander I and Empress Louise, who urged her to stay in Saint Petersburg. Upon telling the Emperor of her poor health and prescription by a physician to take the waters near Karlsbad to cure her internal obstruction, the Emperor replied "Do not go there, there is no need to go so far to find a remedy; I shall give you the Empress's horse, a few rides will have you cured". Vigée Le Brun was touched by this, but replied to the Emperor that she did not know how to ride, to which the Emperor said "Well, I will give you a riding instructor, he will teach you". The artist was still adamant about leaving Russia, despite her closest friends, the Count Stroganoff, M. de Rivière and the princesses Dolgoruky and Kourakin and others attempting all they could to make her stay in Saint Petersburg, she left after residing there for six years. Julie predeceased her mother in 1819, by which time they had reconciled.
  It was in Russia that Vigée Le Brun formed several of her longest lasting and most intimate friendships, with the Princesses Dolgoruky and Kourakin, and the Count Stroganoff.
  Prussia
  After her departure from Saint Petersburg, Vigée Le Brun travelled – with some difficulty – through Prussia, visiting Berlin after an exhausting journey. The Queen of Prussia invited Vigée Le Brun to Potsdam to meet her; the Queen then commissioned a portrait of herself. The Queen invited the artist to reside in the Potsdam palace until she finished her portrait, but Vigée Le Brun, not wishing to intrude on the Queen's ladies-in-waiting, chose to reside in a nearby hotel, where her stay was uncomfortable.