#12 Romanov Children Art Series

Hello there again. I’m back, and this will be my first art blog this month.

    A lot of things have happened, and I’ve been feeling a lot better than I was two weeks ago. My cough is almost gone now *yay* and I can finally speak without that annoying raspy voice. .( ̵˃﹏˂̵ ) When I was sick, I was too lazy to create new artwork and even practice for my architectural portfolio. But instead, I was so focused on playing The Sims 4. I love that game so much because I love designing my characters and my own house. Playing that game can make you do things that you couldn’t do in actual life. I will write a blog about my sims creations soon!

    Before I caught a common cold, I was working on a mini-project called “The Mad Tsar”, which I will also share once I’ve finished it. The project is a mini-comic about Paul I of Russia, who was described as one of the maddest rulers in Russian history. For now, I will just share the other Romanov artworks that I’ve created. And it’s all about OTMA (Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia) and their brother Alexei. If you have read my previous blog post, I have already mentioned that I have a fascination with the story of the Romanovs. 

    The Romanov Finland photos in 1910, which became the theme of this series, inspired the fashion of this art.

Finland, 1910 | google images

Once upon a time, there was a vast Empire stretching from the beaches of Crimea to the deep Siberian forests. Its capital never knew the darkness of the night in summer, and its countryside flourished with myths and folk legends... It was a country of great men and of small, a land where beauty and suffering lived side by side. A world swept away, imprisoned forever in books and pictures. -Tumblr

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

The Big Pair

Olga Nikolaevna

    When I was creating this, I swear that I did this thrice because it was difficult to validate Olga’s actual hair color. Many sources said that she was the only Romanov daughter with blonde hair, but some books described her to be chestnut blonde instead of yellow blonde. Well, we cannot really tell. ¯\(°_o)/¯

collage of real Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna

Almost exactly a year after they were married, Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra were blessed with a baby girl, the first love of their lives. Moments after her birth, the empress cried and apologized to the Tsar, feeling she had failed by giving him a daughter rather than the promised son. The Tsar showered her with love and comfort, exclaiming that he was so thrilled to have a little girl!“This child is ours, and ours alone. If a son had been born, it would not have been so. He would have belonged to Russia.” -Tsar Nicholas II

"Olga was always described as the most intelligent and studious of the imperial siblings but at the same time the most prone to self-analysis, even melancholy. Much like her father, Olga enjoyed taking long walks in the parks of Tsarskoe Selo. She often said that she would someday live in a small village because she liked nature so much more than the city. As Olga grew older…she became an even more voracious reader of books: the classics: the history of Russia and works detailing the lives of the peasants, ancient traditions, customs, laws, and geography of her nation. She had an extraordinary memory. Along with her siblings, Olga had a keen interest in the lives and problems of others. It was she who once noticed a disabled girl in one of the keeper’s cottages in the park at Tsarskoe Selo and insisted on becoming the child’s ‘patron’. She made arrangements for the child to be at a hospital and planned on paying for her own care out of her own allowance." — The Diary of Olga Romanov: Royal Witness to the Revolution by Helen Azar

Tatiana Nikolaevna

    The most challenging part of making anime Tatiana was her facial expression. Frankly, I’m not quite good at making serious faces without making them look sad haha. Tatiana rarely smiled, which was very evident in the photographs, and she had auburn red hair which was very typical of the Romanov dynasty. (◕‿◕)♡

collage of real Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna

The second daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Tatiana was one of the five tragic Romanov children who today stand for the innocence lost on the part of aristocracy in the turbulent times of the Russian revolution and civil war. In her life, Tatiana was said to be introverted and reserved, dutiful, humble and with a great need to look after others. From the earliest age, she was her mother´s confidant and often managed her younger siblings, for which she was teasingly nicknamed “The Governess”.

She’s a grand princess from head to toe, so aristocratic and regal. Her face is pale matte, only the cheeks are slightly rosy as if pink satin is trying to escape from just under her thin skin. Her profile is flawlessly beautiful as if cut from marble by a great artist. The widely set eyes provide uniqueness and originality to her face.

Her most glorious moments, however, came during the Great War. She was only 17 years old, but pleaded to be allowed to train as a Sister of Mercy, and subsequently went on to become a capable nurse in one of the palace hospitals, never avoiding any task from changing bed linen, dressing open wounds to cleaning the operation room. Level-headed, hard-working and deeply devout, Tatiana Nikolaevna seemed to have found her calling in the care of the wounded and sick. — tumblr

The Little Pair

Maria Nikolaevna

    Ah, Maria! This one was so fun to draw because of the subject’s bubbly personality. ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡ The only thing that I’ve missed here is the lack of proportion of her sleeves lol. I didn’t notice it until I was done with my art and recreating it will take a lot of time. And oh, I love the color scheme of this anime Maria.

collage of real Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna

In the twilight of the 19th century, a third daughter was born to Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra, Russia’s imperial couple who were eager for a male heir. A pretty baby with large, soulful eyes and merry nature was Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, who became known to her family and friends simply as ‘Mashka’.

With her angelic looks and personality, Mashka grew into an empathetic, down-to-earth girl, unaffected by her imperial status. Often overshadowed by her two elder sisters, and later her brother and younger sister Anastasia, Maria ultimately proved to have a uniquely strong and solid personality.

‘The incarnation of modesty elevated by suffering,’ as Maria was described during the last weeks of her life, she was able to maintain her kindness and optimism, even amid violence and degradation. Maria’s gentle character belied her incredible courage, which emerged in the darkest hours of her short life. This humble girl with simple wishes turned out to have a great strength of spirit.

Her surviving diaries and letters offer a fascinating insight into the private life of a loving family, for whom this middle child ultimately became a pillar of strength and hope. It was no accident that Maria was chosen among her sisters to accompany her parents to Ekaterinburg, where the entire imperial family would ultimately meet their brutal end.

She was murdered along with her family members in a cellar of a house chosen for this ‘special purpose’, on a stuffy summer night in 1918, only a few short weeks after her 19th birthday. Two sets of charred remains, confirmed to be Maria’s and her brother Alexei’s, were not discovered until almost 90 years later, separately from those of the other victims of that massacre. Today it is still unknown if these remains will ever be allowed to be laid to rest. — Maria Romanov: Third Daughter of the Last Tsar, Diaries and Letters 1908 - 1918

Anastasia Nikolaevna

    This one is Anastasia - and I believed that she’s the one who shined among the others in this series. (^_<)〜☆

collage of real Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna

When Anastasia was born, her parents and extended family were disappointed that she was a girl. They had hoped for a son who would have become the heir apparent to the throne. Tsar Nicholas II went for a long walk to compose himself before going to visit Tsarina Alexandra and the newborn Anastasia for the first time. The fourth grand duchess was named for the fourth-century martyr St. Anastasia, known as "the breaker of chains" because, in honor of her birth, her father pardoned and reinstated students who had been imprisoned for participating in riots in St. Petersburg and Moscow the previous winter.
Anastasia was closest to her brother Alexei in age and character, her playmate and kindred spirit. They played together, conspired together, and teased each other because they were both mischievous. Several people around them described that the “The Little Pair” label would suit Anastasia and Alexei more than it did Anastasia and Maria.

Grand Duchess Anastasia was called by many nicknames in her lifetime, but perhaps the one that characterized her best was “Schwibzik” - “Imp”. Small in stature and last in a line of politically insignificant daughters of the Emperor, Anastasia made a reputation for herself with her mischievous pranks, gift for comedy, and zest for life. Roguish and as if made of quicksilver, Anastasia was much loved by her family and thought of as awful by many others, especially those who had to suffer her pranks.

Persistent rumors of her possible escape circulated after her death, fueled by the fact that the location of her burial was unknown during the decades of Communist rule. The abandoned mine serving as a mass grave near Yekaterinburg which held the acidified remains of the Tsar, his wife, and three of their daughters was revealed in 1991. These remains were put to rest at Peter and Paul Fortress in 1998. The bodies of Alexei Nikolaevich and the remaining daughter—either Anastasia or her older sister Maria—were discovered in 2007. Her possible survival has been conclusively disproved. Scientific analysis including DNA testing confirmed that the remains are those of the imperial family, showing that all four grand duchesses were killed in 1918. — Tumblr

The Heir

Alexei Nikolaevich

    Finally, this one is Alexei. I didn’t enjoy creating this one because I find drawing male characters a little tedious. (∪｡∪)｡｡｡zzZ Hehe. But I think anime Alexei is as cute as the real Alexei.

collage of real Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich

The long-awaited son, the future and hope of all Russia! He was the Empress's favorite child, the one on whom all her thoughts were centered, was her boy. His illness was the tragedy of her happy home life. She could never feel for an hour that he was safe. The little accidents that are bound to happen to a lively child were grave dangers in his case. just because a fall was so serious to him he seemed always to be falling. When he hurt himself before any public function, the real reason was never given for his non-appearance. It was said that he had a cold or a sprained ankle. All he suffered in the course of his short life can scarcely be believed. It did not embitter him. It only seemed to give him pity, unusual in a child, for the suffering of other people. He was a pretty child, tall for his age, with regular features, splendid dark blue eyes with a spark of mischief in them, brown hair, and an uptight figure. His frequent illnesses made him rather backward at his lessons, but he was very clever, with a good memory, and when he was well he worked hard to make up for a lost time.

He was full of spirits and had quick powers of observation, generous nature, and a very strong will. He had chosen as a motto the words of Peter the Great that he had found for himself in a book: " Prayer to God and service to the Tsar will not be lost (i.e. in vain)." -Sophie Buxhoeveden: The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna

༶•┈┈⛧┈♛ ♛┈⛧┈┈•༶

    Again, I hope that you find my art cute. I hope to finish my pending artwork too, and also… I hope to recover from this annoying cough–it already affects my life routine.

    Until the next blog!

Imperial children of Russia, 1911 (from left to right: Grand Duchesses Maria Nikolaevna, Tatiana Nikolaevna, Anastasia Nikolaevna, Olga Nikolaevna, and Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich)