
Daria Khristova nee Chernenko
Department Director
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Sold for £2,750 inc. premium
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Grand Duchess Elizaveta (Ella) (1864-1918) was born Elizabeth, Princess of Hesse, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She was the older sister of Alix, who later, after marrying heir to the Russian throne, became Empress Alexandra Fedorovna. In 1884 she married Grand Duke Sergei, son of Emperor Alexander III, who was assassinated by the revolutionaries in 1905. Following his murder, Grand Duchess Elizaveta completely devoted her life to the Russian Orthodox religion, nursing and charity. Tragically, she was imprisoned after the Revolution and executed on July 17, 1918 at Alapayevsk. Her remains were later transported and buried at a church at the foot of Mount Olives in Jerusalem. She was canonized as a martyr to Communist persecution by the church abroad in 1984 and by the Moscow Patriarchate in 1992.
For an identical example see: The Tsar's Cabinet. Two hundred years of Russian Decorative arts under the Romanovs, exhibition catalogue, Muscarelle Museum of Art, The College of William and Mary, August 26-October 8, 2006, cat. 103, illustrated on page 36.