Portrait of Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna
1914
- oil on canvas. 262 х 188
- ЖБ-1933
- Provenance: Smolny Institute for Ladies of Noble Birth, St Petersburg
-
Location in museum
The St Michael’s Castle
Open the panorama of the hall in the virtual tour
Room 230. The Raphael Gallery - Period Late 19th century – Early 20th century
- CategoryPortrait
- Share
Alexandra Fyodorovna (1872–1918), née Princess Alix Viktoria Helena Luisa Beatrice of Hesse and by Rhine of Darmstadt, fourth daughter of the Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse and by Rhine and Duchess Alice, the daughter of English Queen Victoria, was the last Empress of Russia. In 1884 she visited her sister the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Fyodorovna, wife of the Grand Duke Sergei Fyodorovich, and met Tsesarevich Nicholas. The young people immediately developed feelings for one another. His mother, the Empress Maria Fyodorovna, was opposed to a marriage between the heir to the throne and the German princess, hoping instead that he would marry Hélène Louise Henriette, daughter of Philippe, Duke of Paris. The Tsesarevich Nicholas, however, categorically insisted that he would only marry for love, not for diplomatic reasons — and on 14 November 1894 the union took place. Before her difficulties began, Alexandra Fyodorovna gave the impression of being a haughty, cold German, with a scornful attitude towards her subjects. The Tsarina’s chronic shyness in front of unfamiliar people held her back from establishing simple, natural relationships with representatives of high society, which affected the attitude of the Russian Court towards her. She was killed along with her entire family on the night of 17 July 1918 in Yekaterinburg. She was canonised by the Russian Orthodox Church. This portrait — a copy of Friedrich August von Kaulbach’s painting of the same name (1903) — was donated by the request of the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna to the Society for Education of Noble Maidens to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Smolny Institute in 1914.