Last autumn, a one-day exhibition of watercolours by Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882-1960) and personal items that belonged to the family of Emperor Alexander III, was held at the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace[1] in St. Petersburg. A virtual tour of the exhibition is now available – see link below.

The exhibition includes 45 works of art and 16 memorial items from the collection, which was donated to the State Russian Museum by the St. Catherine’s Foundation with the assistance of the ESPO Foundation in 2023.

The exhibition is a joint project of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the State Russian Museum, and the Elisabeth-Sergius Educational Society Foundation (ESPO).

In April 2023, the Russian Museum received 180 watercolours painted by the Grand Duchess in different years, and 44 memorial items from the family of Emperor Alexander III, which included Fabergé and other interesting items. The collection was formerly in the possession of Olga Nikolaevna Kulikovsky-Romanov (1926-2020), the third wife of Grand Duchess Olga’s eldest son, Tikhon Nicholaevich Kulikovsky (1917-1993). 

All the children of the imperial family knew how to draw, but among the children of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, their youngest daughter Olga stood out. From a very early age, Olga proved herself as an artist. The Grand Duchess recalled: “Even during geography and arithmetic lessons, I was allowed to sit with a pencil in my hand, because I listened better when I drew corn or wild flowers.”

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna was the patroness of many charitable societies and artistic associations of the Russian Empire, the chief of the 12th Hussar Akhtyrka Regiment. During the First World War she worked as a nurse, equipping a hospital in Kiev at her own expense.

The 3D tour is complemented by audio accompaniment dedicated to the life and work of the Grand Duchess, who during her lifetime painted more than 2,000 watercolours.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE VIRTUAL EXHIBITION

NOTES:

[1] Before the 1917 Revolution the palace was named the Sergei Palace, a Neo-Baroque palace at the intersection of the Fontanka River and Nevsky Prospekt in the capital. The palace served as the residence of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. Following Sergei’s assassination in February 1905, the palace then became the property of his widow who became a nun in 1909. She went to live at the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow and willed the palace to her ward Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

© Paul Gilbert. 31 January 2025