Nikolai Yusupov, elder brother of Felix, his life and death

[AkshayChavan]

This painting however is terrible. It does not do justice to his handsome good looks.I have two other very nice photos but i dont know how to post them. Where can i find info as to how to upload the photos?

[AkshayChavan]

These are some of the photos which i have. The first one is a simply stunning photo. He looks so debonair!!! Just like a fairytale prince.


The second photo is with Zenaida and Felix. He must be in his 20s. Zenaida too looks great!

[Emilia]

Thanks for those stunning photos, AkshayChavan!!
Do you have more?

[AkshayChavan]

I purchased the book lost splendor from amazon. To my outrage, there are more photos of romanovs and rasputin in it than those of yussupovs. Why the hell would i buy this book to see photos of romanovs? In this book there is a nice photo of nikolai in white sailor suit and he looks awesome!. I wish i had more photos of him but sadly these are all i have. Does anyone else have more?

[Lisa]

A portrait of Nicholas by Bogdanov Belsky in the 1900 (Musuem of Fine Arts Pushkin, Saint-Petserbourg)

[Penny_Wilson]

There is quite a bit of information about Nicholas Yussupov in this book: Rubis Portent Malheur (Monte Carlo: Editions Regain 1967).  The author is Marina de Heyden, who is the woman over whom Nicholas and Arvid Manteuffel fought the duel in which Nicholas was mortally wounded.  I don't know if there are any photos or pictures in the book: My copy has none, but it's so seriously thrashed that it has no back cover and I keep it in a big plastic sandwich bag so as not to lose any pages of text. 

A couple of years ago, when Greg and I were still producing Atlantis Magazine, we published a two-part article on Countess Marina de Heyden and her love triangle with Arvid Manteuffel and Nicholas Yussupov -- and including young Felix's involvement in the matter.  If there is any interest, we will ask the author of the article if she will agree to reproduce it here, or make it available for readers elsewhere...

~Penny

[Valmont]

If you are talking about the one from Gretchen, it is very good. I loved it...
I also recomend Marina de Heyden's book. I read it through  the local public library. I have been trying to buy it ever since but it is very hard to get.
Best Regards,

Arturo

[Penny_Wilson]

If you are talking about the one from Gretchen, it is very good. I loved it...

That's the very one -- it really is a great article, and one we were proud to include in Atlantis.  Gretchen should write more books!

I also recomend Marina de Heyden's book. I read it through  the local public library. I have been trying to buy it ever since but it is very hard to get.
Best Regards,

Arturo

I feel very lucky to have found my poor little copy!

Best,
Penny

[Romanov_fan]

It's interesting to speculate about what would have been if he had not died so young. If he hadn't, Felix would have been less important, although still very important and wealthy. Would he have married Irina then? He still would have been important, but he would not have been the sole heir to all the Yusupov fortune, as he became after his brother's death. I think it sounds like his brother shared some of the tastes of Felix, but that he wasn't as flamboyant, at all. Felix was more of a character, Nikolaj more quiet.

[Valmont]

I think they both were some kind of charatcters in their own particular way. They did not have much in common except for the fact they both shared the same parents.They both like to party and  Felix mentions in his memories that  Nicholas and his lover at that time were the ones who encourage him for the first time to dress up in woman's clothes in order to be allowed in a night club. Felix must have been very young if he was not allowed in there. Nicholas had  his own theatre company or theatre group, although I do not remember if Zenaida ever allowed him to perform in one of her theatres. He loved to perform gipsy songs and enjoyed a kind of bohemian lifestyle,  I am sure it must have been a kind of "Bohemian-chick" lifestyle being as spoiled as he was, he woulnd't had allowed himself nothing less.  He was also a womanizer and I don't know for sure if he was in love with Marina de Heyden for I have only read Marina's side of the story, but something other than  pride must have been going on to end up things as fatally as they did. As a consecuence of Nicholas death, Marina de Heyden became Felix's worst enemy. She never forgave him, and I do not know if she blamed Felix directly, but she did blame Felix for Nicholas death; and until the end of her days, Marina hated Felix more than anything else in her life.....

[Romanov_fan]

I do think they were different personalities, seems to me. They both lived the high life, and had those tastes, but you are right, they were different personalities. Maybe we don't know much about Nikolaj, but I have only read the book by Greg King which is very good, which covers the Yusupovs. I think he is more intriguing than the coverage of him would make you think. He certainly had a stupid death, but then he was just living life for the pleasure of it, and maybe didn't mind going young. But, Felix had too much of a good opinion of himself to be killed in a duel the way that Nicholaj was. Prince Felix was less careless with his life than Nikolaj,  and he would not have gotten involved. I'm not saying Nikolaj was careless with his life, it just seems he had the attitude, of '' I'm here for a good time, not a long time''. I'm not sure about the long time part, but I am sure about the good time part.

[Johnny]

Here is the link to the serov painting
http://www.abcgallery.com/S/serov/serov65.html

This painting however is terrible. It does not do justice to his handsome good looks.

Dear AkshayChavan,

You are rather unkind to Serov's masterpiece  . I find it to be a fabulous picture. Nicholas was indeed handsome, but that can also be seen in Serov's painting of him. But what a great artist like Serov captures in his painting of his subject is its psychology which is not made so bluntly visible in Belsky's portrait of Nikolai. Another painter, a lesser artist than Belsky and Serov would have just painted a flattering photographic resemblence of the sitter. In Belsky's painting you see a handsome and wealthy young man if a bit disturbed. In Serov you see a handsome, wealthy young man with hot passions burning deep in him, with disturbed thoughts. His impulssivness is brought out to the surface. He looks like a ticking time-bomb awaiting its impeding doom by its own explosion. In his face you can almost see the upcoming duel which resulted in his death. Perhaps that's what makes him look less attractive in this painting, but the physical resemblance is absolutely uncanny. It's Serov after all. Thank you very much for posting the link!

[pattypahn]

Thank you for posting Belsky's portrait too.  I have never seen it before and it is wonderful!

This is my first time posting in this forum, though I have enjoyed reading many of the posts here.  What a great place this is!  I am a big fan of the Yussupovs.  I just wanted to let everyone know that it is not entirely impossible to buy Marina de Heyden's "Rubis Portent Malheur".  I lucked out a few years ago when I put it on my wish list at Powell's (www.powells.com) -- an  excellent online bookstore for new, used, rare books.  They found one for me in a few months  .  And Penny is right, it doesn't have any pictures :-(

[Valmont]

I think it does have a picture of Marina de Heyden. I remember Gretchen telling me the copy she read had that page torn, but one of her friends sent her the picture...maybe it has something to do withn the year each book was published....

[pattypahn]

Er... my book is also from -- Monte Carlo: Editions Regain 1967 as is Penny Wilson's; and I don't know of any other editions of the book.  It's hard enough to find, whew!   And mine never seems to have been read since the pages were still uncut when I got it.     Ferrand's book "Les Youssoupoffs" has only one picture of an old Marina de Heyden seated at what appears to be a party so I was really glad when I read Gretchen's article on Nikolaj and included a picture of the young Marina.