Zichy mikhail alexandrovich. "portrait of empress maria alexandrovna, dowager empress alexandra feodorovna and grand duchess alexandra iosifovna" signature and date at the bottom right: zichy 1857 soft black and graphite pencils, touched with white in places; circle, paper glued to passe-partout 390 x 400 provenance: post, in 1928 through the state museum of fine arts inv. No. Or-38954 the drawing entered the hermitage as a portrait of three grand duchesses. Nevertheless, the similarity of the two characters with both empresses is beyond doubt. A number of circumstances allow us to connect the drawing with the celebrations that accompanied the coronation of emperor alexander ii, and to name the third character. As a. F. Tyutcheva, maid of honor of empress maria alexandrovna, for several days (september 2, 3, 9, 1856) court masquerades and balls were held in the kremlin palace in moscow, which were attended by the highest persons. On september 3, 1856, a public ball was held, where all classes of society were admitted and which was honored with the presence of the empress, grand dukes and duchesses. Grand duchess alexandra iosifovna was also there “in a half-polish costume, trimmed with fur, which strikingly set off her beauty” (tyutcheva 2000, p. 262). Thus, the name of the third character in the portrait is decided - this is grand duchess alexandra iosifovna, wife of grand duke konstantin nikolaevich. It is possible that zichy, who was required to sketch court events as part of his job, made a number of preliminary sketches, based on which he composed this composition in 1857. Date: 1857.
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