[robbiegk]

JAMES NORTON — Behind the Blinds (2025)

[elssbethtascioni]

favorite c.c. babcock outfits → season 6

[lenoreamidala]

ben barnes, william moseley, anna popplewell

2008 // 2019

[artfoli]

Portrait of an Unknown Woman, 1883, by Ivan Kramskoi (1837-1887)

When this portrait was exhibited it caused a stir among critics. Many shunned the painting, as they believed it must have depicted a very immoral woman (possibly a prostitute) due to her intense gaze.

[ducavalentinos]

"There was much talk about the costumes ordered by the women and above all about the bride’s dress. Those who had met her [Lucrezia] described her as one of the most seductive women, as well as wealthy and generous. “Pray heaven this be true,” said the courtiers. Women exchanged information on the new Duchess’s fashions. It was known that she did not do her hair in curls but let it fall over her shoulders, hardly plaiting it at all, or else she wore it in the style of a young girl as we see in Pinturicchio’s fresco at the Vatican and on the medal struck at Ferrara called the Amorino Bendato. Her bearing was elegant and dignified, and as someone wrote, “she carries herself so gracefully that when she walks she hardly seems to move.”

The Life and Times of Lucrezia Borgia - Maria Bellonci

[catonhottinroof-deactivated2023]

Henry Wallis (1830-1916) 

‘His Highness and His Excellency the Ambassador of the Florentine Republic: Caesar Borgia and Machiavelli’,  1870

[the1920sinpictures]

1925 Hungarian architect Erno Goldfinger in some very Art Deco pajamas! From The Forgotten Splendour, FB.

[imperial-russia]

Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich of Russia, the youngest brother of Nicholas II. 

[ohsoromanov]

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his daughters visiting Nizhny Novgorod. May 17, 1913. The imperial family took part in celebrations connected to 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, celebrated that year.

[otmaaromanovas]

OTMA described by Bernard Pares, English ambassador

"Here everything centred round the health of the little heir to the throne, who was the centre of this close family. Olga was now a sprightly girl with a will of her own and a charming sense of mischief, thoroughly Russian in character and in many ways taking after her father."

"The second girl Tatyana was taller and more stately; she was her mother’s child and especially looked after her and even replaced her as a deputy with her sisters, who sometimes called her ‘the little mother’ or ‘the governess’."

"Maria, who had promise of great beauty, was a plump and friendly creature of unlimited good nature whom the others sometimes called the big bow-wow (le gros toutou)."

"The youngest girl, Anastasia, was spirited, sly and playful; she would get under the dinner table and pinch the legs of some elderly statesman until her father pulled her out by her hair. She has been described as ‘a little inextinguishable volcano, with a world of her own'."

"The four girls were devoted to each other and used to write joint letters to their friends signed by their four initials, OTMA. They never really grew up. [Alexander Alexandrovich] Mosolov describes their conversation as like that of children of 10 or 12. They were also devoted to both their parents, who kept them under a firm and kindly English discipline with camp beds and cold baths. Each of them had a dressing-gown of the colours of the regiment of which they were respectively honorary colonels, which gave them great delight. Their whole life, for instance such details as their birthday presents, was regulated with an almost parsimonious simplicity. None of them except Tatyana had any strong consciousness of their rank. Their mother was so fearful of the looseness of Petersburg society that she did not encourage them to any girl friendships/ though of course they occasionally met their cousins; but they were perfectly happy, talking among themselves or to any of the poor whom they met, ‘with that simplicity which was their charm’."

Source: The Fall of the Russian Monarchy: A Study of the Evidence by Bernard Pares, p. 136

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

‘We know little about this great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. We have seen pictures of her sitting with her sisters, standing alone in Court dress, or on horseback in the uniform of her regiment. We have heard details of her life, of her devotion to her sisters, her parents, her little brother, but few know that her mentality, her intelligence, her gifts, would have made her a remarkable personality, had she lived.’  Meriel Buchanan

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, 1910. (x)

[romanovsonelastdance]

Close up of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.

[adini-nikolaevna]

What were the appearances of Nicholas I's daughters? What were the physical characteristics of Maria, Olga and Alexandra? And who was the sister who was considered the most beautiful, majestic, and admired in Europe? And of course, which daughter of Nicholas and his wife Alexandra did he find most beautiful?

Hi! Here are a few firsthand accounts for you:

“The three princesses, Olga, Marie, and Alexandrine enchanted me more than any beauties have for a long time.  They are surely the most beautiful creatures I've ever seen.  Olga is really imperially proud--a great beauty; Alexandrine is the highest loveliness, delicacy, and grace.  Marie is the least beautiful, but interesting and the most lively of the three.” —Robert Schumann

“Grand Duchesses Olga and Alexandra Nikolaevna were of such amazing beauty that, in my opinion, they had no rivals in the aristocratic world at that time.” — Count Mikhail Buturlin

“The Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, beloved of all the Russians; it is indeed impossible to imagine a more lovely face, which would express such a degree of gentleness, kindness, and tolerance. She is very slim, her face translucent, and her eyes have that unusual sparkle which poets and lovers describe as heavenly […] The very youngest grand duchess, Alexandra […] still has something of the child in her; she is very lively and mischievous, and is promising to be the most beautiful of all the sisters.” — Dutch General Friedrich Gagern

“Little Marie is grace personified.” — Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia

“She [Maria]was prettier, the butterfly had fluttered out of the cocoon. Her resemblance to Papa was now particularly pronounced, and in profile she seemed his miniature… She combined a strict classical face with lively facial expressions.  Her forehead, nose, and mouth were completely regularly, her shoulders and chest were perfectly developed, and her waist was so slender that the band from her Greek coiffure would fit around it.— Queen Olga of Württemberg

“She [Maria] is a bit taller than me, a miniature as to features of her father... she is very lively, and has much frankness and abandon in her manner, & certainly is attractive.” — Queen Victoria

“My little Oline [Olga] is without question the most beautiful child you could hope to see.” — Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia

“The Grand Duchess Olga, the second of the Emperor's daughters, has no rival in beauty amongst the princesses of Europe; and in this instance, flattery, in asserting her to be the loveliest girl in her father's dominions, scarcely outstrips the truth.” — Charles Frederick Hennigsen

“… a tall and slender blonde, a perfect beauty, with the profile of a cameo and big blue eyes. It was the middle daughter of the empress, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, subsequently the Queen of Wuerttemberg, one of the most beautiful women in Europe.” — A.I. Sokolova

“The answer to the ordinary vulgar question of which of the three grand duchesses (Maria, Olga, and Alexandra Nikolaevna) was most beautiful is very difficult to say, but in my opinion, the Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolaevna stood above her sisters in this respect because her beauty was unearthly, like a creature doomed by Providence to leave this world in her youngest years.” — Prince Alexander Vasilyevich Meshchersky

“Alexia [Alexandra] is certainly a remarkable child, as beautiful as the day and so good.” — Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia

“The three young Princesses were the most beautiful of all the family: Marie, her father's favorite, blonde with blue eyes and a delicate complexion, small, rather thin, recalling to mind the Great Catherine, not only by her fine profile, but also by certain traits in her spontaneous, impulsive, and sensual nature; Olga--a beautiful, noble, pale figure, slender and elegant, with a spiritual expression, and superb black hair framing the absolutely pure oval of her face; finally Alexandrine, the youngest, with a long neck and narrow chest, lively, teasing, a frail and fragile figure full of grace and childish gaiety, generally considered to be the living portrait of her mother.” — Constantine de Grunwald

“Mary is in the giraffe stage, is pale and thin, but has charming characteristics and will be a delightful individual; Olly has kept her kind of face but is getting thin and growing a lot; Adini is very small and very mischievous, but I do not think she is pretty in spite of others' opinions.” — Emperor Nicholas I of Russia (16 February 1828)

[anastasiaofrussia]

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova with her sister Maria. Palace Hospital, 1915.

If you repost give credits and do not remove the watermark.

[otmaaromanovas]

"[Papa] said that I could rule like Tsarinas did in the past." - Olga Nikolaevna

SOURCE: Reagan Baker, The Diary of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, 1913, page 20. Olga was officially named regent in 1912 in the event of the death of her brother and father.

PHOTO: Maria Nikolaevna's 1913-1914 album, hand coloured

[otmaaromanovas]

I've been thinking about this quote a lot!

Because Olga Nikolaevna was legally regent, when Nicholas abdicated the throne should have automatically been passed to Olga, and she would have acted as regent on behalf of Alexei. However, Nicholas specified in his abdication that he passed the throne to Mikhail.

I can't help but wonder what would have happened if it had gone to Olga as was planned!

I don't know if it was possible to recover the monarchy in the eyes of the public at that point, but the children were certainly more 'innocent' in the eyes of the common people. Alexei especially, due to his age he would have been seen as a 'blank slate' so to speak, a fresh start.

I've always thought that Tatiana Nikolaevna would have made a good ruler, but Olga had some great personality traits, and this quote demonstrates that she had thought about the possibility of ruling one day. Maybe in another universe!

[aminoscribbles]

✿ ✿ Eugene ✿ ✿

[vivelareine]

A painting depicting Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun painting Marie Antoinette by Gustave Bettinger (1872-1914).