Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia did the drawing for her charity’s leaflet. As the wife of the Governor-General of Moscow, the Grand Duchess attended society events and was involved in the life at Court, but charity was always the most important thing for her: she gave her own money to buy clothes and food for the poor. During the war, Elizabeth Feodorovna helped soldiers at the front, collected donations for them and paid to equip hospital trains.
A leaflet of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Charity
Creation period
1916
Dimensions
31,2x21,7 cm
Technique
Paper, ink; chromolithograph, autographed with the signature of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia
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Elizabeth Feodorovna
A leaflet of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Charity Society
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The Grand Duchess became one of the founders of the Elizabeth Charity Society. Its purpose, as stated in its articles, was to take care of “legally born babies of the poorest women who previously would have been placed, without any right, as illegal by the Moscow Foundling Home”. The charity first existed in Moscow alone, but later branched out to the Moscow region as well. Its committees acted as wards for children of different age groups, and the benefactors took care of their future.
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In 1891 году Emperor Alexander III ordered to admit tp the Imperial Orphanages only illegitimate children. The fate of the great number of legitimate children of the poorest parents was jeopardized
S.V. Belchinkova. Content for the exhibition Hessian Princesses in the Russian Empire.
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The Elizabeth Charity’s leaflet shows two dates. In 1891, the Duchess converted to the Russian Orthodoxy. She had lived in Germany and been raised in the Protestant faith before her marriage to Grand Duke Sergei. In 1916, the leaflet itself was published to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Grand Duchess Elizabeth’s conversion.
On the front of the drawing is the Holy Protection Cathedral of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. The Duchess Elizabeth retained architect Alexei Shchusev to build the cathedral, and artist Mikhail Nesterov did the paintings inside it. The Duchess believed that work for the benefit of others was the basis of religious life, and the nuns in her convent were involved in charitable work, helping the poor and unfortunate.
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In the background, painted in red, is the Chudov Monastery in the Moscow Kremlin, where her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, was buried.
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For centuries, it had been the site of burial of high nobility and aristocracy, and the Grand Duke’s crypt was beneath its floor.
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In the centre, the leaflet carries quotes from the Bible:
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory.
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
The Spirit gives life.
Charity is a very paradise of blessing and almsgiving endures for ever.
For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
The Spirit gives life.
Charity is a very paradise of blessing and almsgiving endures for ever.
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Sverdlovsk State Regional Ethnography Museum
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A leaflet of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Charity
Creation period
1916
Dimensions
31,2x21,7 cm
Technique
Paper, ink; chromolithograph, autographed with the signature of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia
1
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