For a trip to colder climes, Russian Splendor mines the portraits, objets and costumes in the State Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg for a touch of fur-trimmed luxury of the 19th-century Imperial Court.
The New York Times This book features a plentiful selection of photographs and a history written, brilliantly, by four curators of the museum's historical ... Read morecostumes department, who locate the costumes in the life of the court and its ceremonials . . . The narrative is wonderfully enriched by quotations from the memoirs and letters of courtiers and visitors who recorded moments from the lives of royal and aristocratic personages.
Art News A stunning volume showcasing the magnificent court dress of the Russian Empire, culled from the authoritative collection at the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, photographed with the Winter Palace as a backdrop.
City Book Review With beautiful photography and details highlighting the handspun silks and lace and jeweled embroideries, this book highlights the glamour of this gilded age and offers a fascinating window into a vanished world. Essays by Hermitage Museum curators, alongside historic Russian paintings and photo-graphs, place the clothing in a historical context, revealing the rich cultural layers and artistic influences of czarist Russia.
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