Random Romanovs - photographs of the extended family, circa 1860s-1940s

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and her aunt, Grand Duchess Serge (Elisaveta Feodorovna).

Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich.

Princess Irina Alexandrovna.

Grand Dukes George Mikhailovich and Michael Alexandrovich.

Grand Duchesses Elena Vladimirovna, Olga Alexandrovna, and Xenia Alexandrovna.

Empress Maria Feodorovna and Grand Duchesses Elena Vladimirovna, Olga Alexandrovna, and Xenia Alexandrovna.

Grand Duchess Serge.

Prince Feodor Alexandrovich.

Empress Maria Feodorovna and Nicholas II.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. (Two images.)

Empress Maria Feodorovna with her grandsons, Princes Rostislav and Vasili Alexandrovich, and attendant.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with Anna Vyrubova and the Tsarevich.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna.

Prince Felix Yusupov and Princess Irina Alexandrovna.

Princess Nina Georgievna.

Grand Duchess Nicholas (Anastasia Nikolaevna) and Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich.

Prince Gavril Konstantinovich.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna.

Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna.

Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, and Prince Nicholas of Greece.

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich and Nicholas II.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Grand Duchess Vladimir (Maria Pavlovna "the elder").

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Princes Rostislav and Vasili Alexandrovich and Grand Duchesses Anastasia and Maria Nikolaevna with attendants.

Grand Duchess Konstantin (Elisaveta Mavrikievna).

Princess Xenia Georgievna and William Bateman Leeds.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

Princess Paley and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich.

Grand Duchess Kirill (Viktoria Feodorovna) and her son Vladimir.

Grand Duchess Paul (Alexandra Georgievna).

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. (Two images.)

Empress Maria Feodorovna and her daughter Xenia.

Grand Duchess Vladimir with her sons, Grand Dukes Boris and Kirill Vladimirovich.

Nicholas II and his four daughters.

Grand Duchess Serge.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Count Freedericksz.

Grand Duchess Vladimir, Grand Duchess Kirill, and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. (Two images.)

Nicholas II while tsarevich.

Guri and Tikhon, the sons of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna.

Princesses Tatiana and Vera Konstantinovna.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with her daughters Anastasia and Maria.

Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich.

Grand Duchess Serge.

Prince Nicholas of Greece and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Södermanland.

Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich and the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna).

Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Vladimir, and grand duchesses Olga and Tatiana Nikolaevna.

Grand Duke George Alexandrovich.

George Mikhailovich, Count Brasov, the son
of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich.

Princess Irina Alexandrovna.

Grand Duchesses Olga and Anastasia Nikolaevna.

Prince Igor Konstantinovich.

Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia Nikolaevna.

The Tsarevna, later Empress Maria Feodorovna.

Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and her brother, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna with, among others, her brother Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, her sister Grand Duchess
Xenia Alexandrovna and her husband Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, and Olga's first husband, Duke Peter of Oldenburg.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and her daughter Olga.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and his six sons, Princes Andrei, Feodor, Nikita, Dmitri, Rostislav, and Vasili Alexandrovich.

Grand Duchess Kirill.

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna.

Grand Duchess Konstantin (Alexandra Iosifovna) and two of her children,
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich and Queen Olga of the Hellenes.

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich.

Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. (Two images.)

The scabbard as wardrobe - discretions of the "antique"

In contemporary and later depictions, ancient Greek warriors were most frequently portrayed as going into battle nearly or entirely nude. Which seems, for several reasons, rather... awkward? In later, slightly more prudish eras, all that male nudity could be problematic for artists whose intention was to depict one or more of the celebrated ancient heroes. One device employed to avoid so much full-frontal "military splendor" can often be found in French paintings of the Neoclassical period: a warrior's scabbard proved convenient for obscuring his most masculine attributes. This worked well enough while the subject - Achilles, Castor and Pollux, Leonidas, etc. - struck a beautifully static "antique" pose, but we might imagine that any sort of real-life movement - say, walking? - would be rather uncomfortable thus encumbered.

Achille donne à Nestor le prix de la sagesse, by Joseph-Désiré Court, 1820.

Hélène délivrée par Castor et Pollux, by Jean-Bruno Gassies, 1817.

Léonidas aux Thermopyles, by Jacques-Louis David, 1814.

Guerrier avec épée tirée, by Jean-Eugène-Charles Alberti, 1808.

Briséis pleurant Patrocle, by Léon Cogniet, 1815.

Hélène délivrée par Castor et Pollux, by Amable-Paul Coutan, circa 1820s.

Thésée vainqueur du Minotaure, by François-Joseph Heim, 1807.

Egisthe croyant découvrir le corps d'Oreste mort, découvre celui de Clytemnestre, by Auguste-Hyacinthe Debay, 1823.

Soldat romain au repos, académie, by François-Xavier Fabre, 1788. In this case the covering is the attached sword belt, the baldric.

Antigone donnant la sépulture à Polynice, by Sébastien Norblin, 1825. Someone's arm also proves a useful aid to modesty.

Les Sabines / L'Intervention des Sabines / Les Sabines arrêtant le combat entre les Romains et les Sabins, by Jacques-Louis David, 1799.

Sober elegance - eight portraits by Veronese

Lavinia Vecellio, daughter of the painter Titian, circa 1560.

The architect Vincenzo Scamozzi, circa 1585.

Portrait of a Woman, circa 1560.

Portrait of a Man, circa 1560.

Countess Livia da Porto née Thiene with her daughter Deidamia, 1552.

Count Iseppo da Porto - husband of the above - with his son Adriano, 1551-52.

Portrait of a Woman "Bella Nani", circa 1557.

Portrait of a Man, circa 1576-78.