2628 - Romanov Dynasty - Empress Mariya Aleksandrovna of Russia (carte de visite, full-length seated portrait). Yalta, Studio of Count I. Nostic, (early 1870s). Vintage. Albumen print, mounted on cardboard. Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 cm. Cardboard dimensions: 10.5 x 6 cm.

Romanov Dynasty - Empress Mariya Aleksandrovna of Russia (carte de visite, full-length seated portrait). Yalta, Studio of Count I. Nostic, (early 1870s). Vintage. Albumen print, mounted on cardboard. Dimensions: 9 x 5.5 cm. Cardboard dimensions: 10.5 x 6 cm. The cardboard features a printed gold border and, at the lower left edge, a relief-embossed mark of the “Count Nostic” studio (Cyrillic). The photographer Ivan Nostic, who was actually a lieutenant general in the Tsar’s Life Guard, had taken an early interest in photographic processes and thus developed a certain mastery of the craft. He was known for his Crimean landscapes and for portraits of the imperial family, to whom he had access; he also filed a patent application for a lens. Maria Aleksandrovna, daughter of Tsar Alexander II and mother of, among others, Tsar Alexander III, is depicted here in a style entirely in keeping with the fashion of the time. The photograph was likely taken in the studio in Yalta, though it may also have been taken directly at the Tsar’s residence in Livadia. - The cardboard and photograph are slightly stained; otherwise, they are well preserved. - Provenance: Formerly owned by Grand Duchess Maria Aleksandrovna (1853–1920), the younger daughter of Alexander II of Russia from his first marriage, Duchess of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; private collection in Switzerland, private collection in southern Germany.