Views of Palaces of Tsarskoe Selo

[Joanna]

I received my copy today of this beautiful book "Views of the Palaces of Tsarskoe Selo" - Editorial director, Emmanuel Ducamp, Text by Ivan P. Sautov, Editeur, Alain de Gourcoff, published in Paris 1992. It is part of the portofolio of four books "Imperial Palaces in the Vicinity of St. Petersburg" which normally sells for US $265.00. My copy was US $35.00!!!!!

It is watercolors, paintings and engravings from the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries. Many are by the painter E.P. Hau c1860. The detail and color is enchanting even better than seeing black and white photographs! One of the schoolroom of Grand Dukes Mikhail and Konstantin Nikolaievich in the Alexander Palace is fascinating as I now want to identify which room this was! Another also I am curious where it was in the AP is the bedchamber of dowager Empress Alexandra Feodrovna c1861 with walls covered with chintz in a large floral pattern.

Joanna

[leanora]

Hello Johanna  

Can you tell me where you have found this book? I would like to buy it, but it's too expensive for me now.. You said you bought it for only 35 $.. what a luck!! I can only find a price between 200 and 250 $   is the book talking about the Alexander palace? Can we see all the formal and family rooms in the time of Alexander III and Nicholas II?

[BobG]

Joanna,
I too, am interested in the right wing of the AP.  See my posts under the Alexander Palace.  I'm hoping we'll get someone to identify the right wing rooms.
Do you think the classrooms were on the 2nd floor of the right wing as OTMA and Alexei's were on the 2nd floor of the left wing?
I've been trying to locate Ducamp's books for some time. Very hard to locate!

[Robert_Hall]

These are indeed beautiful  volumes. I think I have them all- St. Petersburg,Moscow, Pavlosk  & Winter Palace. The volumes of the St. P. palaces [Tsarkoe Selo] has water colours going up to  the 1860's, so, no Alex. III or N II rooms.
Cheers,
Robert

[Joanna]

Hi Leanora, BobG & Robert,

Leanora, I have sent you an instant message with my information ok!

BobG, when looking at the watercolors I believe they are in sequence i.e. Nicholas I study, schoolroom, children's bedchamber, Empress bedroom, then it is The Raspberry Drawing Room with a caption that says "On the other side of the semicircular central bay ..."  This room was the chapel c1900. Therefore if I am correct in my deduction, Nicholas I's suite would have been in the left wing where Nicholas II lived. The schoolroom and bedchamber of the grand dukes are high ceilinged with window embrasures that would have been on the main/first floor. I have to look again at all my notes to decipher what rooms were prior to N&A's years! I too am curious of the rooms of the right wing especially of the second floor. I have read Baroness Buxhoeveden's description of her suite on the second floor facing the courtyard and windows of Nicholas' rooms but have never seen any photographs. I would love to look through her albums one day!

Robert, are your four volumes Tsarskoye Selo, 2 of Pavlovsk and Peterhof? Is the Winter Palace the one by Madame Korshunova? Does this one have views c1860's of the suite that Nicholas & Alexandra lived in?

Joanna

[leanora]

Hi johanna  

thank you very much for your reply.. I have try to find the books on the links you gave me.. but it seems that they are not available in the moment...I will try again in a few days to check if the book can be bought... In waiting, a lot of frustration lol...

Do you know others books which talk about the AP? It's difficult to find informations on it unless on this wonderful website.. but I am looking for watercolors or colored photos of the interiors rooms of the AP and I don't find them anywhere..

Thank you again Johanna

Leanora

[leanora]

Heeayyyyyyyyyy! I have just found it  

I searched with the author's name (Ivan Sautov) and the title "Tsarskoe selo: watercolors, paintings and engravings from the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries" appeared... just waiting me..lol

I have bought it for 38 $, a little more expensive than yours, Johanna, because I live in Europe..

I hope now it will arrive without inconvenient

Thank you so much again for your help, Johanna..  

Leanora

[BobG]

Joanna,
Thanks for the detail on the AP. I'm still hoping for locations of Alexander and Marie's rooms in the right wing.
I have the Winter Palace watercolor book.  It is delightful.

[Robert_Hall]

The 4 volume St. P. set:
Tsarskoe Selo, text by Sautov,Peterhof, text by Znamenov, Gatchina, text by Tretyakov,Pavlosk, text byMudrov
the other volumes I have:
The Winter Palace, Ducamp
Pavlosk, Ducamp
Moscow Kremlin, de Gourcuff
All are lavish, cased & very heavy ! Why I hauled them to Calif. from England is beyond me, as I have a home there to keep them in as well.
I honestly do not remember when or where I bought them. But if new, probably Hatchards, Piccadilly [depending when, perhaps Harrods, but that would have been years ago-I no longer patronize that store] If second hand, anybody's guess. I just do know I bought them seperately, at different times in London.
Hope this helps the book hunters amongst us.
Cheers,
Robert

[Joanna]

Hi Leanora, BobG and Robert,

Leanora, I am so happy you have found the book at a great price   You will adore it  

BobG, are there watercolors c 1850's - 1860's in the Winter Palace book of the rooms that Nicholas & Alexandra redesigned in 1894?

Robert, you are so lucky to have all of these books   And I adore Hatchards when I am in London!

Joanna

[BobG]

Yes the rooms are there, but they are shown as they were decorated for Nicholas I and Marie Feodorovna.  They are much more ornate than the photos I have seen of Nicholas II and Alexandra's time.  The biggest change is the Marie's Wintergarden which was eliminated in the later renovations.

[BobG]

Hi Leanora, BobG & Robert,

Leanora, I have sent you an instant message with my information ok!

BobG, when looking at the watercolors I believe they are in sequence i.e. Nicholas I study, schoolroom, children's bedchamber, Empress bedroom, then it is The Raspberry Drawing Room with a caption that says "On the other side of the semicircular central bay ..."  This room was the chapel c1900. Therefore if I am correct in my deduction, Nicholas I's suite would have been in the left wing where Nicholas II lived. The schoolroom and bedchamber of the grand dukes are high ceilinged with window embrasures that would have been on the main/first floor. I have to look again at all my notes to decipher what rooms were prior to N&A's years! I too am curious of the rooms of the right wing especially of the second floor.

I was looking at some old downloads from the site and I found a page on the English Suite.  It states that these were Nicholas I's private suite and actually has a copy of the watercolor  of GD Mikhail and Konstantin's bedroom(from the Tsarskoye book).  So I think the sequence going up the Right Wing (on the courtyard) might be Study of Nicholas I, Schoolroom, GD Mikhail and Konstantin's bedroom.  I think the reference on the other side of the the semi circular bay is just a reference to the State Drawing room earlier in the book.

Still would love to have more details on the Right Wing, if anyone can help?

[Joanna]

Hi BobG,

This is fascinating! Then I am guessing across the corridor would be the Empress' bedroom, boudoir, Nicholas I's dressing room, facing the garden side. Also it may be their daughters' bedrooms were on this side. What do you think the rooms in the left wing were used for during the reign of Nicholas I?

Joanna

[BobG]

Joanna,
This is strictly a guess, but since the AP was originallly built for Alexander I, it's possible that the right wing might have been his rooms.  There seems to be a tradition of leaving rooms for their previous owners, and they may have been retained as Alexander I left them.
Since, Alexander III and Marie had the Right Wing, Nicholas II and Alexandra may have taken those rooms by default. (Enough time would have passed to allow Alexander I rooms to be redone.)
Alexander I ultimately preferred living at the Catherine Palace, but that would not prevent him from having a suite in the AP as well.  In the Tsarskoye Selo book, there are watercolors of Nicholas I's rooms in the Catherine Palace, even though he mainly lived in the AP.

[BobG]

Joanna,
Since my last post, I have reviewed the AP chapter in Romanov Autumn.  It doesn't seem like Alexander I really ever lived in the palace.  It does say, however, that the rooms of the  left (east) wing of the palace were prepared as a honeymoon suite for Alexander II's daughter Marie, who married Queen Victoria's son Alfred, the Duke of Edinburg in 1872.  Before that, it doesn't really tell how the rooms were used, but maybe as guest suites for those visiting the occupants of the right wing.
Bob
PS. Romanov Autumn by Charlotte Zeepvat is a great book. Hope you have it.