UNDER THE REIGN OF THREE TSARS : 1825-1896 with Eugene Barilo Von Reisberg

Rarely did the Romanov women shine as brightly or were as visible and active in Russian and European social, political, and cultural circles as during the successive reigns of Nikolai I, Alexander II, and Alexander III in the middle of the 19th century. The lecture follows, among others, the lives of the highly respected Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, who was the catalyst behind the emancipation of the serfs enacted by her nephew, Alexander II; the worldly Maria Nikolaevna, the intrepid art collector who became the first female president of the Imperial Academy; the glamorous Alexandra Iossifovna, who proudly distributed bookmarks in the shape of her small feet; and the haughty, authoritarian Maria Alexandrovna, who rarely missed a chance to ruffle the feathers of her formidable mother-in-law, Queen Victoria.

EUGENE BARILO VON REISBERG is a Melbourne-based arts writer, curator, and blogger. His research on Franz Xaver Winterhalter, a 19th century elite portrait specialist, is widely recognised, and he has contributed numerous articles and presented lectures on the artist in Australia and internationally. He is currently pursuing a doctoral thesis on the artist at The University of Melbourne.

Christina Robertson (1796-1854), Portrait of Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna and Alexandra Nikolaevna of Russia (detail), 1840, The State Hermitage and Winter Palace Museum, St Petersburg