A Child’s Christmas Present in 1892

A nostalgic view of the daily life of children in the late 1800s is shown in these delightful illustrations published in 1892 (click on each to enlarge). It is fascinating identifying familiar objects.

A Christmas Visit to Vienna in 1781

The Count and Countess von Norden left Saint Petersburg on September 30^th 1781 for a trip through Europe. Who were they? It was not unknown for royals to travel incognito although the attempt to conceal their identities was laughable. The Austrian imperial court began preparation in July to receive the son and daughter-in-law of Catherine the Great, Paul and Maria Feodorovna.

They arrived in Vienna on the afternoon of November 21^st, stopping first at the Augarten Palace where Maria was reunited with her Wurttemberg family before proceeding to the Hofburg.

Karl Schütz c1780s engraving (below) of Vienna from the Belvedere Palace

Karl Schütz c1780s engraving (below) of the Hofbibliothek, St. Stephan's and a Platz in Vienna

The Russian guests did not have a free moment. The receptions at court, balls, masquerades, operas and plays were followed by excursions around the city. They went to libraries, galleries, universities, hospitals, orphanages and factories.

Emperor Joseph II wrote to his brother Leopold, the Grand Duke of Tuscany advising that ‘it would be desirable to arrange everything so that the couple do not need to leave before 9 or 10 in the morning and in particular they could retire by 10 or 11 in the evening as they devote a considerable part of the morning and evening to learning and correspondence. Do not bother them with seeing several objects in one day but on the contrary you need to give them an opportunity to examine in detail all the curious and wonderful’. Later Leopold reported back to Joseph that he was struck by the knowledge of the grand ducal couple surprising him with ‘their information about Vienna, all civil and military ranks, family relations, individuals, etc.’

A magnificent masquerade ball was held in Schönbrunn Palace on November 25^th. The couple left the festival at 2:00 am while the other guests continued having fun until 8:00.

Karl Schütz engravings c1780s (below) of Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens

They toured the rich collection of artwork in the Belvedere Palace. On December 15^th they visited the Academy of Fine Arts and on the 23^rd the Music Academy.
 

In the Leopoldine Wing of the Hofburg on December 24^th Joseph II hosted a musical contest for the couple between Wolfgang Mozart and Muzio Clementi. On Christmas day Maria held a small concert for selected guests in the Amalienhof, a part of the Hofburg Palace. Joseph Haydn played, for the first time, his ‘Russian Quartets’ and received from the enthusiastic Maria a box studded with diamonds.

Painting (below) of Joseph Hadyn playing his Quartets

Aerial View of the Hofburg Palace

 

Photographs (below) of the Amalienhof and its interior today

Emperor Nicholas’ apology on a bus!

The huge and clumsy omnibuses pulled by horses of the 1830s along the Nevsky Prospekt, the main thoroughfare of St. Petersburg, had been taken off the route due to a lack of passengers.

Officials decided in 1847 to try again with a ten seater carriage drawn by a pair of horses. The buses now had springs, rare for the city, for a more comfortable ride. The route was inaugurated on Sunday April 20^th. The public were enthusiastic from the start. They were so crowded that it was hard to get a seat.

Photograph (below) of an omnibus in Palace Square

 

Nicholas I was curious. In early May he climbed aboard a bus to try it out. The other passengers were stunned to see their emperor. Sitting down, Nicholas then apologized for his long legs that took up a lot of space.

Photographs (below) of omnibuses on the Nevsky Prospekt

Photograph (below)  of the new electric omnibuses in 1899 at Gatchina Palace

The Artist stands in for Nicholas II

On Monday January 30^th 1895 in the Anichkov Palace, Nicholas II had his ‘first sitting with Repin, Antokolsky and Vasyutinsky as they painted and sculpted me from all angles at the same time. This lasted for more than an hour – a bore!’ 

Nicholas had another sitting with Repin and Antokolsky the following Monday on February 6^th.

The artist Ilya Repin had his photograph taken of him standing in St. George’s Hall in the Winter Palace (below) for the background of his portrait of the emperor.

Repin’s Portrait (below) of Nicholas II

Grand Duke Sergei & Ella at home in Illinskoe

The Empress Marie Alexandrovna wrote her will disposing of her property in May 1868, twelve years before her death. The Illinskoe estate near Moscow was left to her daughter Maria but only on condition that with her marriage she lived in Russia. The will stipulated that in the event she moved abroad the estate passed to her son Sergei and, in case of his death without issue, then to her youngest son Paul. In January 1874 Grand Duchess Maria married the Duke of Edinburgh and left for England. Illinskoe then became the summer home for Sergei and Elizabeth (Ella) of Hesse-Darmstadt after their marriage on June 3^rd 1884.

The two-story wooden manor house had a wide central balcony. It overlooked the Moskva River.

Photographs (below) of Illinskoe late 1800s and today

Lithograph c1867 (below) of Illinskoe

Plan (below) of the 1st floor of the manor house

Sergei’s future adjutant Vladimir Dzhunkovsky was invited to visit Illinskoe in the summer of 1886. Arriving on August 23^rd he was shown to his rooms in one of the small dachas around the park. Sharing a drawing room he had his own study, bedroom and bathroom and was advised that he could order at any time coffee, tea, wine, etc. The routine for the day was as follows: mornings free, lunch at 1:00, afternoon walks, dinner at 7:30 all together, then reading or playing cards and tea at 11:00.

Photograph (below) of the small dacha today

When Sergei returned in the afternoon from picking mushrooms, he greeted Vladimir in his study. He showed him the room and said it was exactly as in the years of his mother.

K. Lemoch’s 1886 painting (below) of Sergei in his Study

The dinner guests that night included Sergei’s sister Maria, her lady-in-waiting Miss Johnson and Ober-Hofmeister Ozerov, his brother Paul, Count Stenbock who was in charge of the palace, Ella’s lady-in-waiting Maria Vasilchikova and her Russian teacher Ekaterina Schneider, a distant relative of Dzhunknovsky. The dinner started disastrously for Vladimir. He poured too much vodka in his glass, spilling it on the tablecloth.

After dinner they gathered in the drawing room. Other evenings they would walk around the park, laughingly playing tricks and frightening each other in the dark. Ekaterina Schneider, a quiet and innocent young woman, was surprising good at instigating jokes. One night she placed a peach under the sheet of Maria Vasilchikova, scaring her when she crushed it getting into bed. Maria and Ella retaliated the next evening with a watermelon as a head and a white sheet, frightening all who were not in on it. Another time Ella filled her glove with sand, extending it when greeting Schneider the next morning who then turned pale, totally confused.

Vladimir, appointed adjutant in 1891, was entrusted by Sergei with the care of his niece Maria and nephew Dmitry in Illinskoe when he was away. On July 22^nd 1893 he wrote Sergei that he gave Maria his presents of a doll and watering can. ‘If you could have seen her delight when she saw the doll and its many clothes, which she immediately wanted to take everything off and dress her up.’

Later in November 1895 Valdimir’s sister Evdokia was appointed governess to the grand duchess.

Photograph (below) of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Evdokia Dzhunkovskaya in 1908

Photograph (below) of Evdokia’s room in Illinskoe

Panorama of the Bedroom of the Little Grand Dukes

The toddlers, three year old Nikolai and one and half year old Mikhail, were the youngest sons of Nicholas I and Alexandra. They shared a bedroom (159) on the 2^nd floor of the Winter Palace facing the Large Inner Courtyard.

Photograph (below) of the former bedroom today

Panorama of the former bedroom (link below)

https://www.hermitagemuseum.org/wps/portal/hermitage/trip-planner-map-view/?lng=ru&roomToShow=B10_F3_H398

Fresh Bough Swag!

These boughs were cut from our trees on our properties in Canada!

Christmas wishes from Canada!

The Friend and ‘Secretary’ of Nicholas I

‘He kept a diary about us which was sent to Papa on a weekly basis. He answered with the next courier writing on the edges of the same sheet. I do not know if these letters with drawings and full of jokes have survived’. When writing her memoirs in the early 1880s, Grand Duchess Olga was unaware the letters between Prince Alexander Golitsyn and her father Nicholas I were preserved in the Winter Palace’s 2^nd floor library.

Alexander Golitsyn (1773-1844) was a confident of Nicholas who entrusted him with the care of the children while absent from St. Petersburg. Beloved by the young grand dukes and duchesses, one of their nicknames for the prince was ‘dear papa’s papa’.

Golitsyn added at the end of his September 7^th 1834 letter: ‘Having already written, I met Grand Duke Nikolai and asked him if he would bow to Papa. He answered ‘yes, yes’ and Mikhail said ‘and me please’. Nikolai was three years old and Mikhail a toddler of one and a half.

Painting (below) of Nikolai and Mikhail in the Dark Corridor at the door to the ship playroom in the Winter Palace

Copy (below) of Prince Golitsyn’s letter [on the right] dated September 9^th 1834 Tsarskoe Selo with Nicholas I’s reply in pencil [on the left]

In the above letter, the prince wrote that Grand Duke Konstantin was sick from the 7^th during the night to the 8^th  where after dinner he was again healthy and merry. The doctor Arendt believed he was very upset by the departure of his parents. In his note in pencil, Nicholas added ‘I hug all the children’.

On September 12^th Golitsyn related that when he told Nikolai he would write about him to his father, he hugged the prince and said to write ‘he kisses papa’. Mikhail, when he heard his brother, also hugged and kissed Golitsyn. Nicholas replied that he ‘kisses all the children’ and ends the note with a joking plea about himself to his friend ‘Do not forget the old man with the long nose and wig’.

Horace Vernet’s 1836 sketch (below) of Nicholas I with his youngest sons Nikolai [Nissi] and Mikhail [Missi]

Golitsyn was so trusted by Nicholas that he handled the emperor’s correspondence while he was away, sorting and forwarding letters and reports. In the Alexander Palace on October 4^th 1834, the prince wrote that the day before when he entered the emperor’s study with the younger sons, the toddler Mikhail said ‘there is no papa’. Then both started beating on their drums and the three year old made the prince dance with their English nannies in the study. Nicholas replied that he hoped Golitsyn ‘did not get too tired from dancing to the drum’.

Hau’s watercolor c1860 (below) of Nicholas I’s Study in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo

 

In 1842 Prince Golitsyn retired and moved to his estate in Crimea. Nicholas lamented the loss of his friend writing in 1843 ‘with heartfelt reverence we look at the chair where you sat and we still think of seeing you but you are no longer with us’.

Grand Duke’s diary on the painter Franz Winterhalter

The diaries from 1836 to 1890 of Grand Duke Konstantin, the second son of Nicholas I and Empress Alexandra, reveal rare insights of imperial sittings with the portrait painter Franz Xavier Winterhalter.

Konstantin, his wife Alexandra Iosifovna and their eight year old son Nikolai left St. Petersburg on October 8^th 1858 for a long journey through Europe.

Sailing from Genoa they anchored in Villafranche on November 24^th where his cousin Catherine, the daughter of Mikhail Pavlovich, had a villa. Four days later on the 28^th Franz Winterhalter arrived at their villa in Nice.

The following day Konstantin wrote that ‘Winterhalter began the portrait of my wife and from the first strokes of the brush grabbed the resemblance. But for a long time they were busy choosing the place for the sitting and the lighting!’ After lunch on November 30^th, Konstantin returned to their villa and found ‘Winterhalter continued to paint my wife’ and on the 1^st of December ‘Winterhalter painted my wife’s portrait all day which comes out surprisingly similar’.

Winterhalter’s portrait (below) of Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna

After the ceremony of the laying of the foundation of the Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas and St. Alexandra and lunch with the dignitaries on December 2^nd, Konstantin wrote ‘Winterhalter began to paint my portrait’.

Photograph (below) of Église Saint-Nicolas-et-Sainte-Alexandra in Nice

The next day the grand duke went to Villafranche in the morning and on returning to Nice ‘Winterhalter continued with my portrait. It seems it will also be good’. On December 4^th Konstantin had to wait! ‘Winterhalter painted in the morning another client and after lunch me’.

Winterhalter’s painting of the grand duke is lost. A lithograph (below) of Konstantin in 1859 may be a copy of it.