Question about and/or Help with Picture(s)

[blessOTMA]

I can´t imagine ,that her sisters would NOT have taken a picture of her on this special occasion, considering how often they took pics of each other !

I agree and it seems any new bench mark in thier lives was  usually documented by a photo . There's a great deal that has come down to us and sadly  a great deal that likely has not...She must of looked amazing....as usual .

[edubs31]

I can´t imagine ,that her sisters would NOT have taken a picture of her on this special occasion, considering how often they took pics of each other !

I agree and it seems any new bench mark in thier lives was  usually documented by a photo . There's a great deal that has come down to us and sadly  a great deal that likely has not...She must of looked amazing....as usual .

It is amazing Anne how much we have but how much is conspicuously absent.

We talked before about the Gorsky photo collection. It borders on suspicion that he could have sat with the IF in 1909 showing his colored photographs. Those pictures apparently enjoyed enough by the Tsar that he commissioned Gorsky to set about the country documenting Russian life...yet NO ONE got the bright idea to snap some shots or a portrait of the family?!

This is unbelievable to me. This guy had a collection of some 10,000 photos yet none of Alexander Palace and its inhabitants? What a splendid piece of propaganda to distribute among the masses or an item to sell for charity, etc, a color portrait of the IF could have been. Perhaps one of these five possible explanations provides the answer...

1) No colored photos were simply taken - probably true but so incredibly strange to me.
2) Colored photos were in fact taken but black & white was considered more dignified at the time so N&A hesitated on allowing them to be circulated.
3) Colored photos were taken and meant to be seen but perhaps they became ruined in the development process, never again retaken.
4) The photos exist right now and are stashed away somewhere waiting to be uncovered - lets hope!
5) The photos existed but were subsequently destroyed during the revolution or aftermath. Or perhaps for reasons passing understanding the IF (most likely the Empress) burned them.

[Forum Admin]

Just noticed this discussion...

Prokhudin-Gorskii did in fact take color photos of the Imperial Family.  Marie Feodorovna had copies at the Anitchkov. When he left Russia, he was only able to take what he had with him,which were the boxes now in the Library of Congress.  The photos he took of the IF are considered to either be a)Destroyed during the Bolshevik era when it was illegal to even possess images of the IF or b) stashed away in some forgotten boxes somewhere yet to be discovered. 

[edubs31]

Just noticed this discussion...

Prokhudin-Gorskii did in fact take color photos of the Imperial Family.  Marie Feodorovna had copies at the Anitchkov. When he left Russia, he was only able to take what he had with him,which were the boxes now in the Library of Congress.  The photos he took of the IF are considered to either be a)Destroyed during the Bolshevik era when it was illegal to even possess images of the IF or b) stashed away in some forgotten boxes somewhere yet to be discovered. 

Oh wow, thanks FA!

Yeah it was beyond belief to me that they would not have been photographed at all. His pictures are of remarkable quality so it would be a wonderful find to uncover those images.

What did ended up happening to MF's copies do you think? Obviously she survived the revolution but I guess it's likely that such items were not brought along with her to exile.

That it was illegal to possess images of the IF during the Bolshevik era certainly hasn't kept thousands of black & white photos from surviving all of these years, so why would the color images be destroyed/disposed of? I would think such photos would have been pretty well kept considering they were so unique...

[Jen_94]

Oh thanks for that, FA! Very interesting information there! I would love it if these photos have actually not yet been discovered, and are stashed away in boxes, waiting to be discovered, but who knows. It was rumoured he had one of Alexei with him wasn't it, when he escaped, right?

[Sarushka]

That it was illegal to possess images of the IF during the Bolshevik era certainly hasn't kept thousands of black & white photos from surviving all of these years, so why would the color images be destroyed/disposed of? I would think such photos would have been pretty well kept considering they were so unique...

To my knowledge, the vast majority of b&w photos that survived are from the Romanovs' own albums, which were held in soviet archives. There are likely thousands more yet unpublished images held in GARF -- perhaps Maria's debut is among them.

[aleksandr pavlovich]

That it was illegal to possess images of the IF during the Bolshevik era certainly hasn't kept thousands of black & white photos from surviving all of these years, so why would the color images be destroyed/disposed of? I would think such photos would have been pretty well kept considering they were so unique...

To my knowledge, the vast majority of b&w photos that survived are from the Romanovs' own albums, which were held in soviet archives. There are likely thousands more yet unpublished images held in GARF -- perhaps Maria's debut is among them.

  And who knows!  Perhaps lurking in the recesses of an interior or exterior group shot of the last years there may  come forth finally, an authoritatively documented photo of Leonid I. Sednev, the so called "Kitchen Boy," whose visage has not been definitively determined on photographic paper, though some verbal  descriptions are extant.          Regards,  AP.

[edubs31]

No doubt it would be an amazing and long overdue day to have that treasure trove of stashed artifacts finally surface!

[blessOTMA]

Amazing...I had no idea colour photos of the family  were taken...but location is currently generally unknown, if still in existence ...great news really, Thank you! It makes totally sense Prokhudin-Gorskii's  project would include  the Imperial shutter bugs.

[Forum Admin]

I can tell you for certain, from direct descendants of Xenia, that the color plates were not with Marie Feodorovna during their time trapped in Ai Todor and their escape on the Marlborough.  The family does not have them.

[blessOTMA]

I can tell you for certain, from direct descendants of Xenia, that the color plates were not with Marie Feodorovna during their time trapped in Ai Todor and their escape on the Marlborough.  The family does not have them.

Thank you! I'm hopefully they are in an archive somewhere as I would think  Marie Feodorovna's posotions would generally be carefully collected...The news the plates are not in the family is sadly, not surprising. I can't imagine taking  the plates in exile as I believe each photo had three heavy, and fragile  glass plates for green, blue and yellow....if anything, paper prints of the photos would be taken. I just wish a set of prints had been sent to family in Denmark or the UK before the Revolution.

[Forum Admin]

Actually, you misunderstand the history of what happened.  Marie Feodorovna was "persuaded" after the abdication to leave to the Crimea for safety.  She had no idea when she left Petrograd that she would never return.  She packed only for an extended stay in the Yalta area, not to leave Russia forever. 

[blessOTMA]

Actually, you misunderstand the history of what happened.  Marie Feodorovna was "persuaded" after the abdication to leave to the Crimea for safety.  She had no idea when she left Petrograd that she would never return.  She packed only for an extended stay in the Yalta area, not to leave Russia forever. 

Thank you. Amazing that wasn't thought of considering how bad things got for the family shortly  after the abdication , her son arrested and his family in captivity . But even if Marie Feodorovna thought it might be  forever, I can't see  the glass plates making the cut.( that is , coming along)  They were very heavy and would likely break anyway. Besides a large amount  of baggage would excite notice that one is fleeing ....perhaps not wise, nor in keeping with Marie's style...The Russian revolutions were careless  of people, but very careful with valuable objects and so the hope remains there is more to discover . 

[LadyHezter]

Thanks and sorry for not replying earlier. It is indeed possible  that the earlier mentioned photos could turn up some day- remember the "workers who stumbled upon the tresure stash" while renovating  the former Naryshkin mansion i St.Petersburg, earlier this year !

And I also read on Paul Gilberts   Royal Russia-site,  that in Moscow, -(quote) while preparing for a massive renovation of its 100 years old facility, librarians at the State Polythechnical museum, found more than 30.000 pre-revolutionary books and magazines, behind some  "secret" wall-or something !

Could very well be something to find there too, ( especially since one of the "managers/curators" of the museum -IF  it is the same Polythechnical- was noone else than the infamous commendant Yurowsky  in the late 1920-s,early -30-s..........,speculations, I know! )
Anyway, time will tell.

LadyH.

[blessOTMA]

I remember both stories well and found the  pre-revolutionary books and magazines horde quite moving when one thinks of those doing the hiding  and how successful they were....which they could not of known. The love involved is what moves one...and  I'd love to see a book about curator/  librarians heroes, around the world and though out  time, who somehow protect and preserve thier charges in dangerous times, often at the risk of themselves...so many stories, some of the most heroic  are from  Russia, but each area of the globe has a story to tell