Captivity photo's

[Georgiy]

The photo was taken in late summer - early autumn 1917. While it may well be the last known photo of the Empress, it is by no means the last known photo of her daughters.

[Tsarfan]

The German caption simply -- and ambiguously -- reads "the last photograph of the tsarina and her daughters".  Even if the daughters were photographed later, this is the last photo of the tsarina with her daughters, isn't it?

The photo says "Tobolsk 1918".  Why do you think it was from 1917?  (I'm not saying you're wrong.  I'm just interested in knowing what indicates it's not 1918.)

Thanks.

[Abby]

Personally, I think the picture was doctored with a pencil. If you copy the larger copy of the photo and look at it close up with a graphic viewer, you can see it. Her hand around the umbrella distinctly looks like it was highlighted with pencil. Her mouth and the shadows around her eye looks penciled as well.

Taking a  close look at it, I have to agree that it does look penciled in, or altered in some way, but I have no doubt that the original photo is still authentic -- as it is probable that the photo was improved upon for print in a newspaper.

Georgiy I also thought that the pic is from 1918; at least, that's what I have read in books' captions under the picture. (Naturally, we know of a picture or two of Olga on board the Rus, so it is not the last photo of her -- and we have a photo of Tatiana sitting at a table in Tobolsk with Olga and Anastasia and Alexei and a few ladies-in-waiting, so it is not the last known one of Tatiana.)

[Georgiy]

I am sure I saw the photo in a book by one of their retainers that it was 1917. Also, their clothes look just a little too summery for 1918. Don't forget that when the Empress left, she crossed the river by taratass as it was still ice-bound and only starting to thaw here and there.

[Elisabeth]

The photo was taken in late summer - early autumn 1917. While it may well be the last known photo of the Empress, it is by no means the last known photo of her daughters.

I agree with Georgiy, this photo was mislabelled. It was obviously taken in late summer, early autumn 1917. Not only the summery weather (indicated by the white dresses) but also the turbans the girls are wearing indicate this. When Alexandra left Tobolsk in April 1918, there was still snow on the ground, and when the girls left a month later, they were no longer wearing turbans - their hair had grown out to such a length that it could even be pulled back and worn in a bun. Moreover, they were still wearing their winter clothing (see the photos taken on board the steamboat Rus').

[Abby]

Good points, Elizabeth and Georgiy! I didn't even notice that their outfits were too "summery" for the winter of 1918. I guess I can't always trust the captions!

[Georgiy]

That's very true. And it's not only dates - you know I've seen in a book, that formal photo of the IF from 1913, where they have labelled the Empress as Tatiana and vice versa! I can understand mixing up names in a blurry informal shot where everyone is far away from the camera or looking away or something, but a formal photo mistaking a middle-aged lady for a teenage girl?!

[Abby]

I know! So many silly mistakes...no excuse for them! LOL Don't you think they'd have someone who knows one person from the other edit the photo captions before a book goes to print?
Ah well. At least we know who they are!

[Margarita Markovna]

I have a question...why were they on a roof in Tobolsk?

[Elocin]

I have always wondered about the roof top pictures myself.

Any teenager with a window and a tree knows that rooftops lead to freedom. It always seemed curious to me that prisoners would be let out onto a roof top.

Then again maybe I was too much of a deviant in my younger days.

[Margarita Markovna]

Yea...I know...I have a roof outside my room and I go out there all the time. The only thing is, most teens aren't allowed out on the roof and Nicholas is out there with them...

[etonexile]

A roof top from a window would have been a fairly safe,private place to enjoy some sunshine...away from the guards...and where would they have gone if they'd jumped off the roof?....Into a garden space....with walls all around....Their guards were vicious....not stupid....

[grandduchess_sofia]

Yea, i suppose they could sort of get away from the guards up there.
sopsxx

[RealAnastasia]

I agree with Georgiy, this photo was mislabelled. It was obviously taken in late summer, early autumn 1917. Not only the summery weather (indicated by the white dresses) but also the turbans the girls are wearing indicate this. When Alexandra left Tobolsk in April 1918, there was still snow on the ground, and when the girls left a month later, they were no longer wearing turbans - their hair had grown out to such a length that it could even be pulled back and worn in a bun. Moreover, they were still wearing their winter clothing (see the photos taken on board the steamboat Rus').

This photo is amazing for its bad quality. Alexandra is very much her, but the girls doesn't ressemble themselves in any way... There are desperately thin and fragile, and their faces are a little blurred. Perhaps the one whose face we can see it's Tatiana...But who is the other one? Not likely Maria, nor Anastasia...The problem is that she didn't look a bit like Olga, either!

RealAnastasia.

[koloagirl]

 

I agree that this photo is really bad quality!  

And it always bugs me when someone has "enhanced i.e. doctored" the photo like this one - Alix's face is almost unrecognizable because of the heavily penciled "enhancement".  But many old photos seem to have been published like this.

Does anyone know who took this photo?  I'm assuming that it was a member of the family?  

And the girls do look desperate and unhappy....very thin and what you can see of their faces seem so stressed and sad -- it is a very sad picture indeed.  

By the way, I am also of the opinion that it is Olga on the right -- primarily because of the way she holds herself and I don't think Maria ever became as skeletal as Olga did.

So sad.  
Janet R.