Alexander Palace interiors

[londo954]

Has anyone any information regarding the location of things from the Alexander Palace!!!!

[BobAtchison]

They are all over the place.

Some things were stolen from the palace immediately after the revolution.  Other things were expropriated by Bolshevik officials.  A large number of things were sold in Petersburg and abroad in the 20's and 30's.

During the Second World War thousands of items were looted by German, Spanish and other fascist soldiers.  These were used in Russia or sent abroad.  Other things were destroyed in fires and battle.

A significant number of things were saved by the Russian museum workers at the palace.  These are now disbursed among Russian and other CIS museums.

Some things that went with the Imperial family into Siberia returned to the palace after the Romanovs were sent to Yekaterinburg.  Other things were returned by to the palace after the murders.  Finally a number of things from Siberia were looted or were shipped out of the country by the White Army.

Bob Atchison

[londo954]

Is the portrait of Alexandra in the Maple Study display at Pavlvosk the same one that hung in Nicholas's Formal Reception Room at the Alexander Palace??

[Forum Admin]

The Kaulbach portrait and the pastel study for it at Pavlosk both came from the Alexander Palace.

[BobAtchison]

When Kaulbach came from Munich to have Alexandra sit for her portrait he did a large pastel portrait of her.  He took this back to his Munich studio along with a dress the Empress selected to create the big portrait.  When it was completed he shipped the painting along with the study.  Nicholas put the study in his New Study.  A miniature copy of this pastel was with him up until the end.  The girls had copies of this study in their rooms.

This must have been Alexandra's favorite portrait of herself.  I think the study is much more successful than the big portrait.

Kaulbach also did studies of all four girls which Alexandra placed on either side of her corner cabinet in the Maple Room.  These went to Siberia and were later returned to the palace.  In the 30's they were sold to Alexander Schaffer who sold them through his first shop in Rockefeller Center.  Two of them can be seen in a picture taken arond 1934 (see below in the background).  They are now lost.

Bob

[BobAtchison]

Here's a big enlargement of a part of Alexandra's Reception Room I made up so you could see the portrait as it was before the war.

The console table for regilded for this room and dates from the time of Catherine the Great.  The ram's head table to the left of it was also regilded in the reign of Nicholas II.  This table appears in photographs of the Grand Duchesses taken in this room in spring 1913.

On the console is a large bust of Paul the first flanked by a pair of French bronze busts of Alexander I and Elizabeth.  They were at Pavlovsk.  I don't know anything about the glass bowls.

Notice how the cord runs down from the cornice to electrify the three armed-sconce.  This room had original decoration from the time of Quarenghi.  The walls have had a beautiful, pure white artificial marble finish.  The cord was run rather than punching a hole in the wall.  Look to the far left and you will see a thermometer next to the door frame.

Bob

[BobAtchison]

Here's the location of Kaulbach's portrait of Alexandra in Nicholas's New Study - I am not sure why it's missing here.  On the mantle is a marble bust of Alexandra by Anatolsky.  It was found by Kuchumov after the war broken.  I don't know where it is now, I assume Pavlovsk.

To the extreme left is the door to Nicholas's dressing room.  Above it is a painting by Makovsky of children at play - you can barely see it.  Notice the bell pushes to call servants that ran behind the Kaulbach.  To the right below is Nicholas's pool table.  This was taken for the use of Bolshevik officials in the Kremlin.

Bob

[Arleen_Ristau]

Bob, thank you for the beautiful pictures.  The Kulbach painting of Alexandra has always been my favorite one of her.  What happened to the dress he took back to Gemany to paint her in.....didn't I read somewhere it was never sent back to Alexandra??  ..Arleen

[BobAtchison]

Arlene:

I believe there is a Kaulbach museum in his former studios and they still have the dress.

Bob

[Lisa]

There is actually a Kaulbach Museum in Munnich, which keep the Alexandra's dress.You can image how I want to see it!!!

[anna]

Hi Bob,

I possess one of the most beautiful books there is "Nicholas and Alexandra- the last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia-"from the State Hermitage Museum and the SARF.

There's a portrait of Alexandra painted in 1907 by Nikolai Kornilevich Bodarevsky. Oil on canvas 268 x 135cm. Acquired from Pavlovsk Palace Museum in 1959.

This painting looks rather similar to the Kaulbach painting. The pose is the same only Alexandra's dress is a bit different and she's wearing more jewels. It's a beautiful portrait. Am I mixing up things?? Do you know
where this portrait is now?

[BobAtchison]

They are not the same painting and very different.  The Bodarevsky is still at the Catherine Palace and tours a lot - it was in the USA for the Nicholas and Alexandra exhbition that was mounted by Broughton Masterpiece Exhibitions.

I wish I knew more about this painting.  It does not appear in any catalogs of the Alexander Palace I have so I don't think it ever was there.  The study differs from the final work in that the crown was changed.  It's a marvellous work and I think it is the best likeness of the Empress.  The Kaulbach study is also great but I think there is an attempt to make her more pretty.

On the other hand the Kaulbach is pre-Aleksey and I think the Empress aged a lot after his birth.

Also, the Kaulbach is painted by a foreigner and the Bodarvesky is by a Russian - perhaps they have a different attitude toward Alexandra.  The Bodarevsky is more regal, imposing and luxurious.  The Kaulbach is more fragile, light and tentative, even a bit nervous.

The Bodarevsky is painted in the Portrait Hall of the Alexander Palace.

There was at least one full-sized copy of the Kaulbach made by a Russian artist  - it is at the Russian Museum.

I saw the full-sized Kaulbach years ago when it was being restored - it appeared rather dark, but the lighting was bad in the studio at Pavlovsk.

I have seen Kaulbach's pastel of Elizabeth - wow - that's a showstopper.  There was also a Kaulbach of Ernie - I don't remember if I saw that.  Both were in the Maple Room.

Bob

[Arleen_Ristau]

Wouldn't it be lovely to see BOTH paintings....pictures of them, side by side???  I am just wild to see all of these things in the museums and palaces, my dream for many years, but am physically disabled and will never make it.  So what you'all put up on the website and in these discussion groups is so important to me.  Thank you for it!!   ..Arleen

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

There's a portrait of Alexandra painted in 1907 by Nikolai Kornilevich Bodarevsky. Oil on canvas 268 x 135cm. Acquired from Pavlovsk Palace Museum in 1959.

This painting looks rather similar to the Kaulbach painting. The pose is the same only Alexandra's dress is a bit different and she's wearing more jewels. It's a beautiful portrait. Am I mixing up things?? Do you know
where this portrait is now?

Hello Anna,
As far as i know i saw Bodarevsky study in the Winter Palace, it was hung in the portrait gallery, that long corridor just behind the state rooms overlooking the Neva river( Anteroom, Nikolaevsky and Concert hall). The Kaulbach study i saw last summer in Pavlovsk at the Rossi library.There was an exhibition of the museum collections and contained many pre wwii guides to the Alexander Palace.
I´m sorry to say that Kaulbach´s work didn´t impress me much, between this and that of Bodarevsky i definitely prefer the second. Kaulbach is too sweet and ideal, so to say, and lacks psychologic insight. On the contrary, Bodarevsky is powerful, real and (for me) overwhelming. When i´ve been right in front of this study i could see the real Alexandra as i think she was. And, as it uses to be in 18th, 19th siecle paintings , the study is better than the final painting, if not as state portrait at least as work of art. Contradictory as i may appear i prefer Kaulbach´s full size portrait than Bodarevsky´s equivalent. I find Bodarevsky´s final work colder than Kaulbach´s and too stately...
My father is academician of painting and taught me since childhood to see paintings technically and sometimes beyond the beauty of costumes or jewels. He loves Bodarevsky´s study and so do i...

Antonio.

[Antonio_P.Caballer]

Here's the location of Kaulbach's portrait of Alexandra in Nicholas's New Study - I am not sure why it's missing here.  On the mantle is a marble bust of Alexandra by Anatolsky.  It was found by Kuchumov after the war broken.  I don't know where it is now, I assume Pavlovsk.

Hello Bob,

I´ve found the Antokolsky bust of Alexandra and another of Nicholas (made as a pair says the catalogue)in the catalogue of an exhibition in the Russian Museum for the 150 years of the artist´s birth. As far as i can translate Nicholas bust is in the Moscow Historic Museum  collection and Alexandra´s is in Pavlovsk collection. In Pavlovsk there´s also a copy of Nicholas´ bust of lesser size and made of bisque.
Icluded in the catalogue is the "Rusalka" that Alexandra had place in the Maple room just behind the couch near the windows and is now preserved in Pavlovsk. The book is black and white but the photographs are full page, face and profile and very beautiful.

Antonio.