Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich Romanov, carte de visite, portrait

Photo of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich Romanov.
Russian Empire, St. Petersburg, photo studio of S. Levitsky.
Size of photo: 8.6 x 5.5 cm, size of passepartout: 10.6 x 6.3 cm. Photo is glued on a branded passepartout of the photo studio of Sergey Levitsky.
Under the photo on the right side signature "Левицкiй", on the left below "СЪ НАТУРЫ / №30 на Мойкѣ въ С. Петербургѣ" (address of photo studio). On the reverse: "ВСЯКАЯ ПОДДѢЛКА БУДЕТЪ / ПРЕСЛѢДУЕМА СУДЕБНЫМЪ ПО- / РЯДКОМЪ НА ОСНОВАНIИ ЗАКОНА" (remark to copyright) and owner's remark in pencil.

Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (1847-1909) was the third son of Emperor Alexander II; senator (from 1868), member of the Council of State (from 1872), adjutant general, general of infantry (1880), Chief of the Life Guard of the Dragoon Regiment. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 he commanded the 12th corps and was on the left flank of the Ruschuk detachment of the Heir Tsarevich (later Emperor Alexander III). In March 1881 he was appointed regent in the event of the death of Emperor Alexander III before the heir to the throne Nikolai Alexandrovich came of age. In 1884-1905 he was Commander-in-Chief of the Guards and the St. Petersburg Military District.

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.