Two portraits of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (or three - no, four... five?) by Bernhard Österman, circa 1913

 

These portraits were all taken during her marriage to Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, 1908-1914.

I have no idea why, in this one portrait, her eye color is mismatched; I've never come across any mention of heterochromia related to Maria Pavlovna.

This third painting, of which I've - frustratingly - never found a better, larger, uncropped version, is certainly a portrait of Maria Pavlovna, and almost certainly the work of Österman, but I've been unable to discover any documentation for it. (I apologize for the poor quality of the image.)

This next charming portrait by Österman is "presumed" to be a portrayal of the same subject, and I believe it is. The lighting is the same as in the first three examples; all of Österman's portraits of her were posed with basically the same lighting. The hair style and color - a wig or dressed and powdered - and the gown, reminiscent of eighteenth century styles, would signify fancy dress.

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Speaking of gowns, the Grand Duchess was always very interested in clothes. In exile in Paris during the twenties, she would even start her own embroidery business, Kitmir, successful for a time, during which she worked closely with Chanel, among others designers. Some of her personal wardrobe remains in the collection of the Sörmlands museum, including the gown featured below. She can be seen here wearing the same gown as she posed once again for Österman - a fifth portrait, seen unfinished, its whereabouts are unknown - and the top of its bodice can be seen in the second portrait featured in this post.

Another digression: In the first portrait, seen in the Grand Duchess' hair is a diamond link necklace worn as a bandeau. The necklace was given to her by her aunt, the Grand Duchess Elisaveta Feodorovna. Both women were frequently photographed wearing the piece in its two configurations.

And because I can't seem able to stop my digressions, here are two post-Revolution portraits of Maria Pavlovna by artists I've never heard of. 

Pencil sketch by Nicolas Paganiotti Zarokilli, 1919.

Drypoint by Alex-Ceslas Rzewuski, 1925.

In full fig - first cousins and princes of Liechtenstein, by an unknown artist, 1630

 

Prinz Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein at the age of nineteen.

Prinz Hartmann III von Liechtenstein at the age of seventeen.

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Karl Eusebius von Liechtenstein (11 April 1611 - 5 April 1684, Schwarz Kosteletz), second Fürst of Liechtenstein, Duke of Troppau, and Duke of Jägerndorf from 1627 to 1684, and from 1639 to 1641 Oberlandeshauptmann of Silesia. The eldest son of Fürst Karl I, his primary goal, after his accession at the age of sixteen, was the restoration and reorganization of his family, which had been heavily burdened by the Thirty Years' War and damages claimed against his father's expropriations of other landholder's estates. In spite of this, he invested considerable sums in cultural goods, stating, "The money is only to leave beautiful monuments to eternal and immortal memory.” To that end, he laid the foundation for the Liechtenstein art collections. Furthermore, the prince was a brilliant horse breeder, a passionate gardener, and a builder who wrote his own architectural theory treatise which remains an important source for the architectural understanding of noble builders of the seventeenth century. He and his wife Johanna Beatrix von Dietrichstein-Nikolsburg had nine children. Their youngest child and only surviving son, Johann Adam Andreas (1657 - 1712), succeeded his father as third fürst, but since none of his own sons survived him, his successor as head of the family was his cousin Anton Florian from the younger, "Gundakarian" line of the House of Liechtenstein.

Hartmann III von Liechtenstein (9 February 1613, Vienna - 11 February 1686, Wilfersdorf, Mistelbach, Lower Austria), Prince of Liechtenstein, the common ancestor of the current princely house of Liechtenstein. He was the eldest son of Prince Gundaker, younger brother of Fürst Karl I of Liechtenstein. When his uncle Karl's male line died out in 1712, his own son, Anton Florian, became head of the family and first sovereign prince of Liechtenstein.

Ahoy! - selected photographs of seafaring gentlemen