Like Mother , like Daughter

[blessOTMA]

Olga Nicolaievna is famous for looking like her father, the Tsar . And indeed she had his features...but the more I paint her, the more I see her mother Alexandra in Olga . Funny. It's as if Olga had her father's features, but her facial expression, particularly in repose, increasingly look like Alexandra to me. Certainly not all  the time...but alot more than I expected!

[Janet Ashton]

Olga Nicolaievna is famous for looking like her father, the Tsar . And indeed she had his features...but the more I paint her, the more I see her mother Alexandra in Olga . Funny. It's as if Olga had her father's features, but her facial expression, particularly in repose, increasingly look like Alexandra to me. Certainly not all  the time...but alot more than I expected!

I have always thought so, too. When I was writing my fictionalised "autobio" of Alexandra, I spent quite a bit of time looking at pics of the children "through a mother's eyes" to spot family resemblances, and I always felt that while OLga was like Nicholas in features her expressions (and character) were Alexandra's. Tatiana resembled Victoria Milford Haven and Ernst Ludwig more than her mother per se; Marie was nearly all Romanov, and Anastasia looked like Alexandra but also more like Ella, Irene and to some extent Princess Alice.
Olga and Anastasia were similar as toddlers, however, and although Alexei was much more like his mother than father the sister he most resembled in infancy was Marie, I think, which goes to show that you can't be categorical about which side of the family any child looked like!
Someone here once posted that Alexei was like Mikhail Alexandrovich, and oddly enough since reading that I've noticed it too. As he approached adolescence he grew more like  a Romanov. He also looked like his maternal cousin Dickie Mountbatten to a degree.

[blessOTMA]

Fascinating observations  generally Janet.

Tatiana resembled Victoria Milford Haven and Ernst Ludwig more than her mother per se; Marie was nearly all Romanov, and Anastasia looked like Alexandra but also more like Ella, Irene and to some extent Princess Alice.

I would agree

and although Alexei was much more like his mother than father the sister he most resembled in infancy was Marie,

True!

. I think, which goes to show that you can't be categorical about which side of the family any child looked like!

Indeed . Studying  the photos  as I do in order to paint the family, I see they have similar features ( brows eyes, chins  etc) to a remarkable degree for those famed for  looking  different from each other ...and expression wise, looking at OTMAA at times is like looking at Alexandra times 5! lol! Particulally if one looks at photos of  the younger Alexandra naturally 

Someone here once posted that Alexei was like Mikhail Alexandrovich, and oddly enough since reading that I've noticed it too. As he approached adolescence he grew more like  a Romanov. He also looked like his maternal cousin Dickie Mountbatten to a degree.

I agree...and I also think  Alexei could look like Tatiana as well ( particularly when they would quint)  but at the same age . So one would have to compare  photos taken at the same age to readily see it.   

[Katya90]

Olga also looks quite a bit like her mother in this picture:


It's almost like the parent that the children resembled depends on the lighting, angle, etc. Although overall I'd say Olga resembled her father.

[blessOTMA]

Excellent example Katya90....indeed Olga resembled her father....so much so it's  surprising how much one can see Alexandra in Olga's facial expression because their features were quite different. No one would say Alexandra had a " humble snub" as Olga said about her own nose! lol!

[voyageroffreedom]

Hmm I never notice that resemblance before between Olga and her mother, maybe because out of Nicholas children Olga resembled him the most. So that why I didn’t bother to compare her with her mother, though she inherited some qualities from her: shyness, her love of solitude, stubbornness
For me, Tatiana and her mother look alike in those 2 pics:




Out of OTMA, Olga and Maria were the sisters who resembled each other the most, maybe because they share the same broad face structure. Sometimes it’s hard to tell which one is Olga or Maria in pictures (esp. when Maria has her hair up). Imo, from Nicholas children Olga and Maria look more Romanovs and Russian than their siblings. (Though Nicholas himself was 1/128 Russian)
As Alexei grew older, he resembled his sister Tatiana in some pictures. Anastasia was always more Hessian to me, though in one of her last photos she resembled  her aunt Olga A.

[blessOTMA]

Interesting post voyageroffreedom ! Really what I'm saying is Olga certainly had her father's features...but her expression is often of Alexandra. I guess it's something in the eyes...  So it's about two diffrent things. The  the actually features ( Nicholas) and then is how the features were used to express the person (Alexandra) . See in this  photo...the facial features are different, but the expression is similar 

Anastasia was always more Hessian to me, though in one of her last photos she resembled  her aunt Olga A

You mean the one at the desk and she's looking down? I can see that.
 
Olga and Marie can look like each other for sure. Usually I look at the forehead to see if it's Olga or the jaw if it's Marie...still there are a few photos when all four girls wore the same outfits where even that doesn't help

[voyageroffreedom]

Yes that’s the picture of Anastasia I was referring.
Yeah I catch your drift Blessotma, I can see clearly the resemblance in expression between Olga and her mother in the last photo you posted. What I was saying, we know that Olga look more like her father and she was more closer to him while she tend to argue with her mother from time to time, so unconsciously when comparing Olga with her mother we sometimes look for differences rather than similarities between those two. Though sometimes, we forget that Olga and her mother share many similarities like some personality characteristics and like you have proven facial expressions. What also catches my attention when looking at the pictures of Olga and Alix together, I noticed that Olga in some of the pics, put her arm around her mother in a loving and caring way and for some reason these pics reminds me of the poem that Olga wrote to her mother in captivity.

[blessOTMA]

Indeed voyageroffreedom ...sometimes conflict means closeness particularly if the two  people share the same personality traits!  Certainly Olga writes lovingly about her mother in her diary and as you say there are many  photos where Olga  has a comforting hand or arm upon her mother. I was just looking at this one . The family is going down to the river leaving St P, mostly likely after events and AF would be tired.
 Olga has a guiding hand on her mother's elbow and seems to be watching for the boat to take the family.  Olga is caring for  Alexandra  here.

What you say about the poem is important as well. ....and what a poem. Who but Olga  would say such things to Alexandra ? Anyone interested in Alexandra's character should read that poem as it has great insight into AF's emotionally workings.
 

You are filled with anguish
For the suffering of others.
And no one's grief
Has ever passed you by.
You are relentless
Only toward yourself,
Forever cold and pitiless.
But if only you could look upon
Your own sadness from a distance,
Just once with a loving soul -
Oh, how you would pity yourself,
How sadly you would weep.

There is amazing wisdom there as well as love

It is said Olga and her mother drew even closer in their finale  days and indeed an account of their death tells of Olga helping her mother walk along....just as she is doing the the picture above

[voyageroffreedom]

Thanks Blessotma for the last picture you posted <3 I always have it in tiny size.
They say the eldest child is the worrier and the most caring in the family, also Olga was a sensitive soul  and the thoughtful one; so maybe that why she wrote that beautiful poem to her mother she was worried about her and she summarized her mother beautifully in few lines (and perhaps Olga felt the same as Alix, that’s why she wrote it so beautifully and perfectly, who knows?)
I also noticed in some pictures Olga also put her loving arm/hand on her siblings. And talking about similarity between mother and daughter, I noticed the way that Olga look at baby born Alexei (in one of the formal pictures) is the same look of Alix when she look at her “baby” Alexei in some of the pics , a look full of love.

[blessOTMA]

Indeed to all you say and I would also say The Big Pair were very much a team and worked as such. As many who knew them say, Olga and Tatiana  were different  in their approach to life and yet devoted to each other. I really can't see them functioning as well as they did, in their royal lives and after,  without each other....because of their differences and their different strengths . OTMAA is a study in groups within a group .... there are a number of smaller alliances within it....but they in no way  impede the closeness of the whole group ...quite amazing really
 

[voyageroffreedom]

Yup, Pierre Gilliard said Olga and Tatiana were passionate to each other. As for Tatiana if she lived in our time I’m sure she would have being a great public minister. Tatiana in 1912, when she was a teenager, wrote to her mother:” I hope that Anya () would be nice to you and will not bore you and will not come and disturb you if you want to be alone. Please, dear Mama, do not run from room to room, checking everything was in order...... Good-bye, till tomorrow. Darling, do not worry about the Baby. I'll look after him, and everything will be fine” She talk to her mother in this letter with a maternal and caring tone. And it seems she took her mother role (when Alix is absent) of taking care of her younger siblings. No doubt as Olga and Tatiana grew older, they worked together and took more responsibility towards their siblings(set some disciplines for TMA) and family, and give support to the family in difficult times.