Born in 1895, Princess Irina was the only daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, a close advisor to Emperor Nicholas II. In 1914, she married Prince Felix Yusupov, at the t.mes one of the wealthiest.mes n in Russia, who in 1916 would take part in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin. After the Revolution, the Yusupovs escaped Russia via Crimea, and after some t.mes in London, they settled in Paris in 1920.

Dating from 1925, the present portrait is a very early example of Serebriakova's French period. Her husband had died in 1919, leaving her alone to provide for their four children in the midst of a civil war. The family relocated to Petrograd in 1920, but Serebriakova was hoping to move abroad in search of work. The sale of one of her paintings at the Russian Art Exhibition in New York in 1924 finally made this possible. She left Petrograd in late August of that year, arriving in Paris in early September. There, Serebriakova was able to make a living by painting portraits, initially mostly of other Russians in exile.