Details
TOLSTOY, Count LEO NIKOLAYEVICH (1828-1910). Postcard photograph signed and dated ("Leo Tolstoy 1905, 12 December"), by R. Thiele (imprint and caption on lower margin), J. Beagles & Co. [London], n.d. [circa 1905]. 139 x 88 mm. (5½ x 3½ in.) including margins, some minor oxidation on image, fingerprint (Tolstoy's?) on last letters of date. A bold half-length standing pose showing the Russian novelist with flowing white beard dressed in peasant garb, signed on the lower margin.
In his last years Tolstoy embraced Christian anarchism and non-violence, liberated the serfs on his estate and altered his lifestyle and dress to express his spiritual identification with the peasants, as this photograph shows.
In his last years Tolstoy embraced Christian anarchism and non-violence, liberated the serfs on his estate and altered his lifestyle and dress to express his spiritual identification with the peasants, as this photograph shows.