A Romanov Coronation Album
Imperial coronation albums document the long and complex series of rituals and ceremonies that make up the event — from the symbolic entry into the ancient capital of Moscow, to the public fireworks over the Kremlin. Alexander II's is the most lavish and ostentatious of all Russian coronation albums. The volume is "of such immense size," wrote Sacheverell Sitwell, "that the term 'elephant folio' has no meaning, and, indeed, this may be the largest book that ever issued from the printing press." No cost was spared in the production of the book, published by the Academy of Arts under the direction of its vice president, Prince G.G. Gagarin: special large type was cast, and it was printed on Chinese paper. The album was prepared not merely for the rich, but also for the diplomatic elite and the aristocracy of Europe. Two hundred copies were published in Russian, and two hundred in French, the latter as gifts for high figures in the court and foreign guests attending the ceremony. The album was clearly not an instrument of mass publicity, but rather an expression of the unity of rulers and aristocracy to whom Alexander sought to appeal at a moment when Russia was isolated on the international scene.
The album contains 52 illustrations, 15 in color lithography, the remainder in black-and-white lithography and engraving. The black-and-white text illustrations are devoted to smaller scenes, following the emperor through the stages of the ceremony. The large color plates present scenes of the tsar and tsaritsa appearing before inspired and even ecstatic spectators. For the first time in such albums, considerable space is devoted to showing the empress as wife of the ruler. The large figures with rapt faces who occupy the foreground of these lithographs demonstrate the popular love that was supposed to surround the tsar. Among the artists involved with this sumptuous production were F. Blanchard, V.F. Timm, M.A. Zichy, and I. Monigetti. Of their work, Sitwell observed: “Not works of art, but fascinating in their improbability."
Opisaniie sviashchiennieishago koronovaniia ikh Imperatorskikh Velichestv Gosudaria Imperatora Aleksandra Vtorago i Gosudaryni Imperatritsy Marii Aleksandrovny Vseia Rossii [Description of the Sacred Coronation of His Imperial Highness Emperor Alexander the Second and Her Imperial Majesty Empress Maria Alexandrovna of All Russia]. St. Petersburg: Tip. Imp. akademii nauk, 1856.
The New York Public Library, Slavic and East European Collections.
More Images from Alexander II's Coronation Album
Online Exhibition: The Romanovs: Their Empire, Their Books
Exhibition Brochure: The Romanovs: Their Empire, Their Books
Collection Guide: Icons and Images of Cultures: Plate Books from the Russian Empire, Early Soviet Russia, and Eastern Europe, 1730–1935
About the Slavic and East European Collections
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