during the 1830s she was travelling away from her artist husband and her own children. she worked in paris in the mid 1830s and she was tempted to st petersburg. there would have been more commissions than normal to replace the paintings lost in the fire that destroyed the winter palace in 1837. robertson was in st petersburg from 1839 to 1841 where she carried out full length painting of empress alexandra and her three daughters - maria, olga and alexandra. in 1841 she was made an honorary member of the imperial academy of arts.