Photo of Count Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetyev at the 1903 costume ball dressed as Field Marshal Count Boris Petrovich Sheremetev, the design of which is based on a portrait kept in the village of Kuskovo. From the photo of L.S. Levitsky.

St. Petersburg, photo studio of Sergey Levitsky.

Photo: 9.5 x 19.8 cm. Passe-partout: 11.6 x 22.7 cm.
The photo is pasted on a branded passe-partout of the Levitsky's photo studio.
Signature on the photo below in black ink: "S. C." and date "1903". Under the photo inscription in black ink in French "d'apres le portrait du Boyard Boris Petrovich Cheremeteff". On the back side owner's remarks in pencil. Minor wear.

The famous 1903 ball in the Winter Palace was a luxurious ball during the reign of the Emperor Nicholas II of Russia. It was held in the Winter Palace, Saint Petersburg. All the visitors were in bejeweled 17th-century style costumes based on the designs of the artist Sergey Solomko made in collaboration with historical experts. The entire Imperial family posed in rich 17th-century costumes, many wearing priceless original items brought specially from the Kremlin, for what was to be their final photograph together. "Album of the Costume Ball in the Winter Palace" was published later based on the photographs.

Levitsky  Sergei (1819-1898) - court photographer, captured four generations of the Romanov dynasty. He had the exclusive right of artistic property to the portraits of the Emperor and Empress of Russia. In 1849, he shot the writer N.V. Gogol and other prominent Russian writers. In 1864, for his portrait of Napoleon III and his family at Fontainebleau, he was awarded the title "Photographer of Emperor Napoleon III" and became a member of the French Photographic Society. In 1890-1894 at the request of Alexander III a model "photographic house" was built for Levitsky. Levitsky was awarded many foreign and Russian orders and medals, and repeatedly received the highest awards at international photo exhibitions. In 1847, Levitsky designed a camera with furs, in 1849 at the Industrial Exhibition in Paris, Chevalier received a gold medal for daguerreotype photographs taken with this device, it was the first ever award for photographs. Levitsky was one of the first Russian photographers to use the volt arc, electric lighting and bromine-gelatine plates. He was one of the founders of the V Department of Lighting and its applications at the Russian Technical Society.