Coloured pictures XXXVI

[Tatiana Z]

Your photo of Nicholas as the Tsesarevitch is just incredible @_@

Thank you! 

[Rodney_G.]

Nicholas II & Alexandra Feodorovna . 1917.



http://s019.radikal.ru/i608/1312/9b/81a98ff86676.jpg

http://tashusik.deviantart.com/art/Nicholas-II-and-Alexandra-1917-415147000

Though I enjoy the colorizing of this photo, especially Nicholas, it really does make them look almost decades younger than they were, or younger than they looked, in 1917. Life in general, and particularly the stress they experienced , had prematurely aged them both, most notably Alexandra.


My view of the date on the right, "19??" leaves the date in question for me.

[edubs31]

I agree with Rodney. Your colorations are lovely, but are we sure this is 1917? Looks more like N&A in 1907, or perhaps even earlier.

[Rodney_G.]

Yes. Although the date could be the year "19something", it could be a conventional European dating, in which it's : day/month/year, in which case, the date might be the 19th of any month in any year. Even if it's a year in the 1900s, I don't quite see the "17" part. (  though admittedly there are sharper eyes than mine).

[Tatiana Z]

I agree with Rodney. Your colorations are lovely, but are we sure this is 1917? Looks more like N&A in 1907, or perhaps even earlier.

Photos from this photosession



http://s019.radikal.ru/i617/1312/c1/a162a495bbf4.jpg



http://s019.radikal.ru/i621/1312/9f/f29de220cf59.jpg



http://s53.radikal.ru/i139/1312/7c/49d0f1805249.jpg

[edubs31]

Hmmm. The evidence is surely there Tatiana Z, but these one's still don't sit well with me...

Is it possible that these are older pictures that were presented as gifts in 1917? Perhaps Easter or a birthday? Of course we all know they were under house arrest by the latter-half of March that year making for a tight window to have had these photos taken (considering how often Nicholas was gone at the front) and to distribute it as a gift.

Assuming that it is indeed 1917, where are those "streaks of gray" in the hair of both N&A everyone talks about? The lines on the face of a tired and weary Tsar don't seem at all apparent. Guards stationed at the palace talk about Alexandra having looked like an elderly woman not long after this time (assuming these photos were indeed taken in early-1917). But if you look at the two subjects in these photos you don't see any of that. You see a healthy and rather youthful looking pre-middle aged couple.

I'll see about digging up some other photos of Nicholas from that time to compare. Yes, he certainly would have aged some from all of the stress endured over those first few months of 1917, but aged a decade or more in a few months? It's not like things in January or February were all happy-go-luck either for the imperial couple.

[Rodney_G.]

TatianaZ's larger , date-included photo of N&A would seem definitive, but I still have trouble with that date. Do I believe my lying eyes or not?

Is it possible that the photo in question was from an earlier year, and yet entered into a 1917 album? We know the IF spent a lot of time together while in captivity going over their photos and working on albums. I find this  possible , though  not most probable.

As it is, I think this photo, when placed next to others known to be from the 1917 captivity (or even Jan/Feb.), would seem jarringly out of place. I can more readily see either or both N and A with a very young Alexei or Anastasia in his/her arms.

[edubs31]

I did read somewhere recently that as a departing keepsake Alexandra gave Anna Vyrubova a portrait of the imperial couple. Supposedly it was when Anna and Lili Dehn were leaving Alexander Palace (Anna under arrest and being taken to the Fortress of Peter & Paul) during the early stages of captivity.

Is it possible that one of these could have been that portrait? If so, is it equally possible that Alexandra would have given her a photo not taken recently but something from the couple's past...a picture of them that she always liked and then dated it "1917" as to indicate the year it was being given as gift rather then when the photo itself was taken?

If not, do we have any record of the imperial couple setting up a professional photo shoot of themselves in early-1917? Not that it takes much time to dress up and pose for the camera, but given the circumstances it strikes me as a little odd. They were mourning Rasputin's death in January and then dealing with the growing civil unrest and losses at the front in February/March. Are there other professional photos of the family from this time period that I'm not thinking of?

[Tatiana Z]

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna



http://s004.radikal.ru/i205/1312/13/212b76d9d48a.jpg

http://tashusik.deviantart.com/art/Empress-Alexandra-Feodorovna-418739348

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Beautiful work everyone here!! :-)

GD Olga 1910


Archduchess Elisabeth "Erzsi"

[Dru]

Nicholas II & Alexandra Feodorovna . 1917.



http://s019.radikal.ru/i608/1312/9b/81a98ff86676.jpg

http://tashusik.deviantart.com/art/Nicholas-II-and-Alexandra-1917-415147000

Though I enjoy the colorizing of this photo, especially Nicholas, it really does make them look almost decades younger than they were, or younger than they looked, in 1917. Life in general, and particularly the stress they experienced , had prematurely aged them both, most notably Alexandra.


My view of the date on the right, "19??" leaves the date in question for me.

Perhaps the photo was taken earlier and just signed in 1917? 
 

[Georgiy]

That is what I have long thought.

[Kassafrass]

I think that has to be the case. Even looking at the family portraits in 1913 Alix looks much older than she does in this photo.

[Kassafrass]

http://poison-ivy-alice.deviantart.com/art/Olga-At-Mogilev-418913217

[edubs31]

I think that has to be the case. Even looking at the family portraits in 1913 Alix looks much older than she does in this photo.

Yes, agreed. As I mentioned in a post above there was apparently a keepsake or two given by Alexandra & Nicholas to Anna Vyrubova when she was placed under arrest and removed from Tsarskoe Selo by the Provisional Government. I read that one of these items included a photograph of the imperial couple. Perhaps one of these could be it?

It seems likely that Alix would have given her friend a nice flattering photo taken years earlier during happier times for the family. Then they could have simply signed and dated it (in this case just the year, 1917). It's not unlike one of us given an older book as a gift on our birthdays or a holiday. The book could have been the possession of an older relative but the inside cover still could have been signed and dated for when it was given as a gift many years later. I have some such items from my aunts/uncles and grandparents. Copyright 1952, signed "Happy Birthday, 1989. Love, Grandmom"