Lot Essay
A fine and extremely rare album of personal photographs of the Imperial Russian family including informal portraits of Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duchesses Xenia and Olga Alexandrovna (sisters of the Tsar), Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (uncle of the Tsar), the Tsar's young children Grand Duchesses Marie, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia and the Tsarevich Alexis. The photographs were taken at the palaces of Peterhof and Gatchina, at the Imperial residence at Ropsha near St. Petersburg, at Krasnoye Selo where summer camp was held for the regiments' annual military manoeuvres, and on board the Imperial yacht, "Standart".
The political upheaval in the Russian Empire that was to result in the revolution of 1917 is nowhere to be seen. The role of this last Russian Emperor and Empress is well documented, as is the tragedy of their early deaths, along with those of their children in 1918, only a few years after these photographs were taken. While several photographs show the Tsar and other members of the Imperial family inspecting troops or attending other formal occasions, these images, like those taken on private picnics or on holiday, are seen through the lens of an "insider" and share an endearing and uncommon intimacy.
The precise attribution of the photographs remains difficult. The Imperial family were fascinated by photography and images of family activities and groups frequently include at least one individual holding a camera. One small portrait reproduced in The Waking Dream, shows Grand Duchess Xenia apparently holding a Kodak Panoram camera, the apparatus which would have been used to make these photographs. It has also been suggested that the Empress was the panoramic potographer in the family. It seems likely that different members of the family shared the use of the same camera.
One other similarly bound album devoted to panoramic photographs from the collection of the late Sam Wagstaff is now in the Getty Museum. A third album of panoramic images was sold in these rooms on November 9, 1989, lot 484. This last example was said to have been the property of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, and documented the holidays of the British, Danish and Russian royal families in Northern Europe and Scandinavia.
The photographs in the present album have a spontaneity which was technically impossible only a few years earlier. The easily portable "hand " cameras favoured by the Imperial family were introduced at the end of the 19th century by Kodak and were the first to be designed specifically for easy use by amateurs. The Kodak Panoram camera which was used for these elegant snapshots reveals a much wider subject area than normal. When used outdoors this enhances expansive views and adds to the sense of grandeur associated with formal events. Indoors or in enclosed spaces there tends to be a reversal of effect and the walls or woodland appear to close in on the sitters, often enhancing the intimate or secluded nature of the scene, occasionally evoking a sense of suffocation. The parallel advance of technology alongside the demise of the Empire combine in this album to present a poignant observation of a unique moment in Russian history.
The political upheaval in the Russian Empire that was to result in the revolution of 1917 is nowhere to be seen. The role of this last Russian Emperor and Empress is well documented, as is the tragedy of their early deaths, along with those of their children in 1918, only a few years after these photographs were taken. While several photographs show the Tsar and other members of the Imperial family inspecting troops or attending other formal occasions, these images, like those taken on private picnics or on holiday, are seen through the lens of an "insider" and share an endearing and uncommon intimacy.
The precise attribution of the photographs remains difficult. The Imperial family were fascinated by photography and images of family activities and groups frequently include at least one individual holding a camera. One small portrait reproduced in The Waking Dream, shows Grand Duchess Xenia apparently holding a Kodak Panoram camera, the apparatus which would have been used to make these photographs. It has also been suggested that the Empress was the panoramic potographer in the family. It seems likely that different members of the family shared the use of the same camera.
One other similarly bound album devoted to panoramic photographs from the collection of the late Sam Wagstaff is now in the Getty Museum. A third album of panoramic images was sold in these rooms on November 9, 1989, lot 484. This last example was said to have been the property of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, and documented the holidays of the British, Danish and Russian royal families in Northern Europe and Scandinavia.
The photographs in the present album have a spontaneity which was technically impossible only a few years earlier. The easily portable "hand " cameras favoured by the Imperial family were introduced at the end of the 19th century by Kodak and were the first to be designed specifically for easy use by amateurs. The Kodak Panoram camera which was used for these elegant snapshots reveals a much wider subject area than normal. When used outdoors this enhances expansive views and adds to the sense of grandeur associated with formal events. Indoors or in enclosed spaces there tends to be a reversal of effect and the walls or woodland appear to close in on the sitters, often enhancing the intimate or secluded nature of the scene, occasionally evoking a sense of suffocation. The parallel advance of technology alongside the demise of the Empire combine in this album to present a poignant observation of a unique moment in Russian history.