Question about group picture of OTMA

[Dodger]

This is my personal favourite of Olga, Tatiana, Maria & Anastasia. But what's going on with their hands. They look almost frostbitten. Was life so hard even for them that they have washerwoman's hands or is something wrong with the picture. It looks as if it was taken before their incarceration.

My first post. Hello to all fellow admirers of the Romanov's. Their fate haunts me.

[Justine]

It would seem to me they were simply sunburned (you can see it in their necklines too).

[Dodger]

It would seem to me they were simply sunburned (you can see it in their necklines too).

Thanks. It may be but in close up (you cant enlarge that picture but it's available larger on the internet) their hands look swollen too.

[Maria Sisi]

I'm surprised the girls were allowed to get that sunburned.

Obviously when at Livadia or on Standart they were out in the sun and therefore their skin darkened but one would think they would cover more to protect themselves. I always thought ladies of that era would cover themselves so the sun wouldn't touch their skin as it was considered unladylike and unattractive of ladies from their social rank to have tans and such.

I've read multiple witnesses mention on multiple occasions how shocked they were at how tanned the girls appeared and now unattractive it made them look. One was their visit to Romania, before the war, the girls purposely tanned themselves so Crown Prince Carol would find them unattractive looking. This was when a possible marriage between Olga and Carol was being tested.

[Превед]

I'm surprised the girls were allowed to get that sunburned.

Obviously when at Livadia or on Standart they were out in the sun and therefore their skin darkened but one would think they would cover more to protect themselves. I always thought ladies of that era would cover themselves so the sun wouldn't touch their skin as it was considered unladylike and unattractive of ladies from their social rank to have tans and such.

Perhaps indicative of how they hardly lived in "society", but in their own mummified imperial reserve, quite free from the opinions of their social equals?

[Sanochka]

I think the desire for snow-white skin might have passed with the passing of the Edwardian era.  By the beginning of the 1920s, women had stopped carrying parasols, wearing outlandishly wide-brimmed hats, and covering up every inch of skin - all ways to protect the skin against the sun when outdoors. In one letter to Nicholas during the war, Alexandra complains about the girls laying on the floor of the train, soaking up the sun's rays.  "From where do they get this craze?" she asks.

[Rodney_G.]

I'm fairly sure  the photo in question was taken after the IF visit to Romania in June, 1914. And yes, it shows in the girls' noticeable suntan/ burns. That's more obvious in this photo, but there are numerous references in the writings of the family to their penchant for sunbathing, especially as they grew in their adolescence. So dark had Anastasia become once  that at one point she referred to herself in a letter as , "an Arab woman."

[Превед]

So dark had Anastasia become once  that at one point she referred to herself in a letter as , "an Arab woman."

Mooress? (Мавританка).

[wakas]

I'm fairly sure  the photo in question was taken after the IF visit to Romania in June, 1914.

It was taken in 1916, I believe.

[Georgiy]

Yes, it was I understand part of a series of official photos in 1916, there are individual photos of O,T and A from this session, haven't seen one of M though. As far as I know, it was their last official portrait sitting.

[Ally Kumari]

Yes, it was I understand part of a series of official photos in 1916, there are individual photos of O,T and A from this session, haven't seen one of M though. As far as I know, it was their last official portrait sitting.

There is this one with Olga



I am sure there are Maria solo pictures. Somewhere, waiting to be discovered!

[Rodney_G.]

So dark had Anastasia become once  that at one point she referred to herself in a letter as , "an Arab woman."

Mooress? (Мавританка).

No, more like Arabka, Arabets (whatever the fem. form might be)