Princess Zenaida Yusupova - discussion and pictures

[Annie]

While it is true that some people lose height with age, especially if they are heavy, it looks to me like Zenaida is standing near the door, a little behind them. It appears to me that Xenia and Bebe are together, holding hands, and that Irina is a little in front of them, making her look taller, and Zenaida look a lot shorter.

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

While it is true that some people lose height with age, especially if they are heavy, it looks to me like Zenaida is standing near the door, a little behind them. It appears to me that Xenia and Bebe are together, holding hands, and that Irina is a little in front of them, making her look taller, and Zenaida look a lot shorter.

it could turn out to be a combination of all our theories....

[gem_10]

Zinaida Yussupova by Makovsky

[ashdean]

perhaps she was "height challenged" much like Marie Feodorvna.   but for most of her life she had a more slender figure than MF.     her slender figure would lend itself to the illusion of height when photographed.     

also, now that i think about it, am i wrong in thinking the descriptions saying she was tall, were made by those who'd never met her and/or those who'd only seen her from a distance?     example:  her son, Feliks, described her as elegant, among other things, but did he mention her being tall?    i can't seem to recall...    anyone know?

She was described as tall by several people :- Meriel Buchanan,the Infanta Eulalia defintely....Marie of Romania I think....Alexandra was at 5' 7" described as tall...I thought Zenaida must have been at least 5'5"....

[Annie]

I don't think she was short when she was young. Felix always described her as tall, and people describe Felix as tall, and he was taller than her to be tall for a man, so she must have been about the size of Alexandra (5'8")

[ashanti01]

Well, what was considered tall? Looking closely at some of her pictures she doesn't appear to be tall, but then again maybe 5'4 or 5'5 was considered tall for a woman?

[Taksa]

thank all of you very much for those photos! Ive never seen them before!

[brnbg aka: liljones1968]

She was described as tall by several people :- Meriel Buchanan,the Infanta Eulalia defintely....Marie of Romania I think....Alexandra was at 5' 7" described as tall...I thought Zenaida must have been at least 5'5"....

i stand corrected 


and y'know, at this point, i hafta say, i have no clue whatsoever what her height was or if she got shorter with age or if she was harassed (or blessed) by odd camera angles throughout her adult life.
..... or.... perhaps..... it could be that everyone else simply got taller?      ...........  we'll probably never know. 




although, i could be wrong.   

[gogm]

Zinaida Yussupova by Makovsky

Gorgeous!

[ashanti01]

Does anyone know if there are any more painting's of Zenaida out there?

[loulia]

About her size, I remember a picture where Felix and Irina are side by side and Felix was just a little little bit taller than her so I don't know if Irina was very tall or if Felix was not that much? but it's obviously one of them and both can explain why Zinaida looks a bit small.
Anyway she was such a beauty that people did not noticed anything about her size I guess, I mean for example Eva longoria is a real beauty and she's only 1m57 and no one notice

[ashanti01]

Zenaida in 1924

[ashdean]

Zenaida in 1924

There is great dignity & sadness in that picture.Presumably taken in 1924 at the villa in Rome she rented with her husband opposite the British Embassy.Jacques Ferrand must have shared my thoughts as he used it as the very last photograph as he used it as the very last in his 6 volume series of photos of the Russian aristocracy.

[Taksa]

Zenaida in 1924

wow! thank you!
is it chihuahua?

[ashdean]

Zenaida in 1924

wow! thank you!
is it chihuahua?

I suspect that is Drolly the pommeranian that Felix mentions his mother bringing with her from Rome in 1926 after his fathers death..Even in the last years the princess always had a pekinese or lap dog of some kind...