I recently bought a copy of the 19th May 1883 Issue of the French magazine
l'Illustration. It has a lovely etching of Empress Marie Feodorovna in her coronation dress on the cover - a rather scarce illustration that I've only ever seen in one other magazine of the period
The Queen, the lady's newspaper. However what interested me about this particular etching was the information underneath the picture where it states that the engraving was
after a photo by M. Bergamsco of St Petersburg.
(etching in L'illustration)
This leads me to believe that the often stated fact that no photos of MF and Alexander were taken in their coronation robes may be incorrect. I have always been puzzled by the sheer amount of detail the etcher has given the dress in this engraving - and one other one I think is sourced from the same photo session shown here - and this may answer the question as to why the dress seems so accurate in these images where often the results are very vague in these engravings. I think MF face may have been "prettied" up a bit in the etchings though.
(etching in Le Journal Illustre 3 June 1883)
(MF actual dress in Kremlin - the designs seem somewhat different from Etchings - though I don't really have a good detail photo of this dress)
I'm also inclined think that at least one photo may have been taken of GD Elizabeth and Serge in their wedding outfits based on the quality and sheer amount of detail in this engraving.
(I think the source for this image is a Russian newspaper)
Any thoughts?
