A VERY RARE antique cabinet photograph of Russian Grand Duchess Elizabeth, dated 1885, by St. Petersburg photographer of the Russian Imperial court Bergamasco.

4 x 8 in. (10 x 20,2 cm)

The Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (called Ella by the Imperial family), German Princess of Hesse by birth, married to Russian Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (son of Alexander II and uncle of Nicholas II) in 1884.

Her younger sister Alix became the wife of Russian Czar Nicholas II in 1894 (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna).

During the 1917 revolution Elizabeth was arrested and sent to Alapayevsk (the Urals). On July 18, 1918 after cruel beating she was thrown into a pit with the other detainees and buried alive.

On the photograph, the Grand Duchess at age 21, is wearing a court dress and a gem-set Russian kokoshnik.

The photograph is boldly signed in French with black ink:

Elisabeth

Ilinskoe

1885

* Ilinskoe is the name of the estate of Grand Duke Sergei and Grand Duchess Elizabeth outside Moscow.

Impressed photographer’s signature in the lower right corner.