Overwhelming under the red cross
Maximilian Wilhelmine Augustus Sofia Maria Hesssekaya - Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife Alexander II
The beginning of her "Russian biography" was truly delightful. Hayyleneberg, who moved from the little castle, the princess immediately fell into the dazzling luxury of the imperial yard. At the first official reception, it was dressed in the "Blue Clay, the entire silver embroidered, and a white silk sundress, before which was also embroidered with silver, and instead of the buttons, the diamonds were treated with rubies."
"She kept this young appearance all her life, so that in 40 years it could be accepted for a woman of thirty years old. Despite high growth and harmony, she was so thin and fragile, which did not produce beauties at first glance; But it was extremely elegant - the very special grace, which can be found on the old German paintings, in Madonna Albrecht Dürer, connecting some rigor and dry forms with a kind of grace in motions and pose, "wrote later Freillin Anna Tyutchev.
The poet-Prince P. A. Vyazemsky known in the Supreme Society dedicated several of his poems, in one of them, written in the fall of 1865, there are such lines:
"The lets will not call me the relatives of Russia.
No, the delights of the double I honestly obey:
Kanitsa russian how russia i'm proud
And I love a pretty woman as a poet. "
Contemporaries noted that the sovereign was always dressed very elegant and at the same time, being already in adulthood, preferred dreamed of dark color.
Nelligent dress Mary Alexandrovna. Photo: Alexander Dobrovolsky.
Considerable attention of the sovereign, as well as "simple" representatives of the highest light, paid shoes. After all, at that time, the shoes were hardly the main "business card" of the ladies. "A decent woman is more likely to find out on a beautifully walled foot, rather than on a rich dress," wrote the magazine "Fashion. Magazine for secular people "In 1852 - to the home along, from a fuil dresses and an embroidered asterian cap, thin stockings with firmware, and shoes, trimmed with narrow black lace, with bows of ribbons. With taft dresses, there are beautiful shoes, and in the evening satin shoes with bows and thin stockings, smooth or openwork. On the balas, sometimes white satin shoes are visible, and with colorful suit color, but black is much better, because they can be worn with every dress. " For many years, shoes for her majesty came from the company "Okler", which in 1869 awarded the honorary title of the supplier of the highest yard.
(In addition to the "branded" shoes, every self-respecting lady was required, - if she gathered somewhere to leave the house, - another very important toilet element: a small folding umbrella, called "Marquis". "Umbrellas are now small, with a folding hand , with fetestal frills around the edges and with big bows from ribbons from above, from where long ends are hanging from ... Fashion requires certainly that the umbrella is with a folding hand - it is inevitable ... The most elegant umbrellas are covered with more lace - black or white, and the ruffles are made from the same Lace. "(" Fashion. Magazine for secular people "1856)
Maria Alexandrovna. Photo: Garf Archive.
For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that in the later years, the spouse "Tsar-Liberator" was distinguished by extreme trampleness and economy. This was largely due to the fact that the sovereign large funds spent on charity, numerous shelters, allests and guest houses were founded for charity. It was Maria Alexandrovna that opened the first in Russia the Department of the Red Cross, to expanding the activities of which during the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 G. She spent very large sums. By giving all the savings for the benefit of the wounded, sick, soldiers and orphans, Her Majesty even refused to sew new dresses in this period. And as a present, the winner who returned to the capital after the successful end of the war with the Turks, the queen presented only a modest leather cigarette card, because I was sure that I could not spend on gifts of big money, so necessary for charity.
Among other "public duties", the sovereign should be noted its "patronage" over the imperial porcelain factory. Guided by personal tastes, she did not pay little attention to the artistic perspectives of this enterprise. But Maria Alexandrovna really liked the work of the German sculptor of August, which, with her filing, received the position of the main fashion model of the plant and became the author of the majority of sculptural models performed at this enterprise in the middle of the XIX century. Among the most typical works of Shpisch are porcelain figures of children, amurists, small flowers ...
Entertainment at the leisure was at Maria Alexandrovna quite traditional for a representative of the highest light. Pictures and recordings in albums, reading, music. ("The Empress was a musical evening in the evening. Only classical music was played: Weber Trio and Septo Beethoven." She recorded Freulin Anna Tyutchev in the diary. "The Empress wanted to arrange a small holiday and invited only such persons on which she was confident. that they will not be bored. Therefore, the number of chosen was very small ... ") Also, her Majesty loved the so-called salon games - Charades, Burim, Prompt, Epigram, inscriptions for live pictures ... The sovereign appreciated painting, and the walls of her personal office in the Winter Palace (which was also used as a living room for receiving personal guests) decorated the canvas of famous artists - "Saint Georgy" and "Madonna Alba" Rafael, "Madonna Litta" Leonardo da Vinci ...
The last period of life of Mary Alexandrovna turned out to be very dark. The beginning of him was death in 1865. The favorite eldest son is Zesarevich Nicholas. And after that, the Empress learned about the novel of her husband Alexander II with a young princess of Catherine Dolgoruki ... such severe blows of fate led to her majesty lost all interest in life. Even the successful marriage of the second son and the appearance of charming grandchildren could not become the rays of happiness for this woman. The health of the queen was increasingly pushing the disease, and at the age of only 56 she died.