Anna Protasova

Countess Anna Stepanovna Protasova (Анна Степановна Протасова; 1745–1826) was a Russian lady-in-waiting and noblewoman who was a confidant of Catherine the Great.

Life
She was the daughter of Senator Stepan Feodorovich Protasov and Anisya Nikitishna, née Orlova, and the cousin of Alexej Orlov with whom she is reported to have had a relationship. She was the foster parent of two girls who were rumoured to have had Orlov as their biological father and either Catherine or Protasova as their biological mother. Protasova replaced Countess Praskovya Bruce as Catherine's confidante and first maid-of-honour in 1779 and became lady-in-waiting in 1785.

Protasova was entrusted by Catherine with her most intimate personal affairs, becoming best known as l'éprouveuse for the role that she is supposed to have played in Catherine's love life. According to legend, she was to "test" the prospective lovers sexually before they became Catherine's lovers after they had been suggested by Potemkin, chosen by Catherine and examined by a doctor for venereal disease. The same role has been attributed without confirmation to her predecessor as lady-in-waiting, Praskovya Bruce.

Protasova accompanied Catherine on all of her journeys. Protasova is mentioned as l'éprouveuse in the poems of Byron. She and her nieces were also painted by Angelica Kauffman in 1788, based on six sketches sent to her in Rome by Prince Nikolay Yusupov - in her journal of orders she admitted that she did not know if the commission came from Yusupov or Catherine herself. It entered the Hermitage Museum sometime between then and its being mentioned in an inventory in 1797, whilst on 1 January 1792 it was engraved by James Walker.

In 1801, she was given the title of countess, and she remained lady-in-waiting to Empress Dowager Maria Feodorovna. Protasova died in St. Petersburg.