I looked it up on search here and online and couldn't find the answer to this question, which is did Kardovsky paint this from a description of the ball, or was he more just using artistic license? I know he couldn't have been at the ball. Just wondering how accurate the painting is. It's nice to see Olga dancing. On an older thread it says it's also possible Irina A was in this painting.Olga looks much like she did in the 1913-14 formal pictures here.
Hi, Imperialangel!
I have a Portuguese catalogue right here and it states the official version, I guess. I will try to translate:
« Dimitry Nickolaevich Kardovsky - 1915.
Ball at the St. Petesbourg Nobility Assembly in Honour of the 300th Anniversary of the House of Romanov on February 23, 1913.
Watercolour, gouache, white lightening, graphite pencil on paper, glued to canvas 89X113 cm.
Provenance: Winter Palace. 1941: transferred to the Hermitage from the State Museum for Ethnography of the USSR people, Leningrad.
In 1913 the House of Romanov celebrated 300 years. A huge ball was held to mark the date. On February 19 (March 4) the IF moved from their permanent residence in Tsarkoe Selo and on February 23 the ball was held in the Assembly.
Here we see the IF in the main box: Empress Alexandra sits in the centre, to left by the column id Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and against the column is grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, wife of the Emperor's cousin Grand Duke Kyrill Vladomirovich. Behind the ladies standing, are Emperor Nicholas II, Grand Duke Nikolai Nickolaevich the younger, Grand Duke Pyotr Nicholaevich and Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich. Among the dancers waltzing are the Grand Duchess Olga, the Emperor's eldest daughter, with Prince Ivan Nicholaevich Saltykov. To right the dancers include Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrova, the Emperor's sister, with her cousin Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich.
Kardovsky worked on this painting for 2 years (I think they are just guessing, because of the picture's date) and was probably using photographs since each depiction is obviously from a recognizable portrait.»
When I first saw this watercolour I was struck by its vibrant and careful details (none of which shows on the pic, unfortunately). It is a real masterpiece of portrait, though it is so small and each figure is hardly 8 cm tall.