Portrait of Grand Duke, the Crown Prince, Alexander Alexandrovich in childhood
Portrait of Grand Duke, the Crown Prince, Alexander Alexandrovich in childhood
Russia
The 1850-1860s
Ivory, glass, metal, enamel, lapis lazuli, leather; watercolours, gouache, casting, gilding
15.3 х 12.1 х 8.5 cm
A double-sided portrait miniature with a chest-high portrait of a boy in a coral-coloured Russian-style shirt is inserted in the oval glass plate. It is fixed flexible. The viewer sees not only the face of the child, but his back and neck, that is, the reverse of the miniature. The miniature is fixed on an artistically decorated stand with four Renaissance male and female figurines. The whole composition is mounted on a rectangular base lined with lapis lazuli, on the reverse side of which is the name and title of the depicted person: "ГОСУДАРЬ ЦЕСАРЕВИЧЬ и ВЕЛИКIЙ КНЯЗЬ АЛЕКСАНДРЪ АЛЕКСАНДРОВИЧЬ." (CROWN PRINCE OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE and GRAND DUKE ALEXANDER ALEXANDROVICH). Presented series of portraits is stylistically and compositionally close to children's portraits of the 1850s by the Court artist Woldemar Hau (1816-1895). This miniature could be executed on the master's layout original. Alexander III Alexandrovich (1845-1894) - Grand Duke, Crown Prince of Russian Empire, Emperor (since 1881), the second son of Emperor Alexander II (1818-1881) and Empress Maria Alexandrovna (1824-1880). Crowned on May 15, 1883. In 1886, he married to Princess Maria-Sophia-Frederica-Dagmar of Denmark, who adopted in Orthodoxy the name of Maria Feodorovna (1847-1928). For the maintenance of peace throughout his reign went down in history as "The Tzar-peacemaker." He died in Livadia. Buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Инв.8281/ИЗО