Portraits of Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse: Return after Neglect

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the attribution of two portraits of an unknown German general in the Tsarskoye Selo Museum collection. One of them is a ceremonial knee-high portrait, the other is a small head portrait of the same general. In addition, one portrait was purchased in 1997 at the “Lenfilm” stage properties, the other has always been in the museum. It was believed that the head portrait, by an unknown artist, depicted Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse-Darmstadt — father of future Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The weak inscription at the bottom of the knee-high portrait states that it is a copy done by Heinrich R.Kröh in 1896 in Darmstadt, based on Heinrich von Angeli`s original. On the backs of both canvases, monograms from the personal collection of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna were found: the interwoven Russian letters “A” and “F” under a crown and “№ 8” (ceremonial knee-high portrait) and “№ 65” (head portrait). Both images date back to the famous “Family portrait of Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse”, commissioned by Queen Victoria for the Drawing-room of her Osborne-House in London. In the queen’s letters, it is noted that Angeli had started to work on the head sketches immediately upon his arrival in 1878. Alexandra Feodorovna brought one of them, her father’s head sketch, with her to Russia. Also, in the year of 1878 Angeli painted the knee-high ceremonial portrait with the same regalia for Grand Duke Ludwig’s residence in Darmstadt. The portrait is known in copies executed by Ludwig Hofmann-Zeitz (Royal Collections, London) and Heinrich Kröh (now in Tsarskoye Selo Museum). The fate of Kröh’s replica happened to be tragic. First it was seen in a photograph of the Empress’s study in the Winter Palace of the 1900s made by St. Petersburg photographer Karl Kubesh. The photo shows companion portraits of the Empress’s parents. Both portraits disappeared after the 1917 Revolution. The knee-high portrait of Ludwig was badly damaged and as a result was included into the stage props of the studio as it was deemed unnecessary. After many decades, the portrait was returned to the Tsarskoye Selo Museum collection.