The Camera And the Tsars: The Romanov Family In Photographs

The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for a little over three hundred years and their story, ending with their tragic deaths, has exerted a lasting fascination. This new book, an album of pictures gathered by the author over many years - the majority of which are unpublished - shows the extended Romanov family. The photographs range from the 1860s, when Alexander II was Tsar, through the reigns of his son, and grandson to the 1930s, when remaining members of the dynasty could be found in the outposts of Europe. With the beginnings of commercial photography, a new dimension was added to people's perception of the monarchy: for the first time ordinary people could see exactly what their monarch looked like, and they became aware of them as human beings. It was perhaps just such familiarity, rather than the deference of the subject, that contributed in part to their downfall.