Empress Marie Feodorovna - discussion and pictures, Part I

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

click on image for larger version

I've seen this etching in an old copy of "The Queen" magazine pulbished in the UK in 1883 for her coronation, but that is the only place I've seen this image before. I wonder if the original painting is still around? Thanks for posting this.

i think most of us are familiar w/ the "head & shoulders" version of this... i'm wondering if this 'full body' version was done later. 
what i mean is this: in terms of quality & execution, the smaller, head & shoulders portrait seems much more professional, while this full view version strikes me as... well... somewhat amateurish.  i've always thought it looks like one of those "GET YOUR REALISTIC REPLICA OF A FAMOUS PAINTING, RIGHT HERE FOR NO MONEY DOWN!!" sorta things.   i could be wrong, but i bet this full view is someone's guess at what the rest of MF looked like, had there been a full portrait done.

i may be going out on a limb here, but i think it's entirely possible, since it was during the period of the Russian coronation, this "full view" was created by someone who used a postcard or engraving of the original "head & shoulders" portrait as the model specifically for publication in newspapers & periodicals.

(did that make sense?  it does to me, but i never know if it does to other people...)

.

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

.

click on images for larger version


.

i know i've posted this before, but i thought it might be good to post it again because
this is another portrait i think was done, not from life, but from the artist's imagination.
i think the artist used the famous photo as his model...



.

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

Yes, you're right, she does look very sad.
She has position, rank and jewels and looks like a lady who should be admired and perhaps envied;  but maybe she wasn't that happy after all.

Larry

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

.

here's a photo for comparison...i'm still looking for the painting i was referring to...
i've got it around here somewhere, just have to find it...

click on images for larger version

.


.

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

.

i, and others, have posted these before, but i can't recall when, so...


click on the images for larger version
.

.

.

[Yelena Aleksandrovna]

Courtesy www.btinternet.com