The watercolor “Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna taking a walk in the woods” from the collection of the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum and Heritage Site shows the young imperial couple taking a walk on a sunny spring day in the area of Tsarskoe Selo. Nicholas and Alexandra stand by an old tree, looking at a cross carved into the bark. This cross may have been carved by Emperor Alexander III, as the museum collection contains another watercolor by Mikhail Zichy, dated the same year, 1897. In that watercolor, Nicholas II is depicted showing the artist the monogram “A” carved by Emperor Alexander III in the bark of a tree. Both drawings come from the Dressing Room of Nicholas II in the Alexander Palace.

Mikhail Aleksandrovich Zichy, or Mihai Zichy (Zichy Mihály, in Hungarian), was a Hungarian painter of noble lineage. He painted the life of three Russian emperors. Zichy studied drawing and painting with the Italian painter Giacomo Marastoni, then at the Vienna Academy of Arts, where his chief tutor was F. G. Waldmüller. On Waldmüller’s recommendation, the young artist was invited to St. Petersburg in 1847 by Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna to teach drawing and painting to her daughter, Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna.

In 1858, Mikhail Zichy became an Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1859, the artist was appointed court painter and remained in that rank until 1873. He worked in Paris from 1874 until 1880, and then returned to St. Petersburg in his former position to live there up to his death in February 1906. The artist became famous as a master of drawing, the author of book illustrations and scenes from court life.

In the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, Mikhail Zichy was in his advanced years and made drawings of the life of the royal family without leaving Tsarskoe Selo.

After the revolution, the drawings ended up in private collections. In 2003, both watercolors were donated to the Tsarskoe Selo State Museum and Heritage Site by Mr. K. K. Grabbe.