Description
Based on previously unpublished documents, this book traces the life in Paris of Countess Olga von Hohenfelsen, later known as Princess Paley, the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul of Russia, uncle of the last emperor Nicholas II.
While immersing the reader in the world of Marcel Proust (most of Princess Paley’s social contacts had fed the writer’s imagination), the book explores the couple’s day-to-day life, highlighting their relationships with leading suppliers such as couturiers Worth and Paquin and the jeweller Cartier. It also provides an overview of the Parisian art market, and studies the development of the couple’s successive residences from Paris to St. Petersburg. For a time in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the significant collection and the palace built to house it were shown to the public as the Museum of French Art and History. Dispersed during the 1920s by the Soviet authorities, the collection is studied here for the first time.
First published in French in 2018, this updated English version includes an additional chapter on Princess Natalie Paley, the couple’s youngest child. She continued her family’s legacy of contributing to culture and the arts well into the twentieth century while living in Paris and the United States, where she was a muse to writers, designers, photographers, and artists.
Wilfried Zeisler is the chief curator at the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Washington DC
Megan J. Martinelli is the curator of Textiles, Apparel, Jewelry, and Accessories at Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens, Washington DC
Table of contents
- Introduction
- A Couple Ahead of Their Time?
- Settling in Paris
- A New Address: The Yusupov Mansion at the Parc des Princes
- At the Heart of the Paris Art Market: Dealers and Clients, Artists and Patrons
- The Mansion and the Collection in 1911
- High Society in Boulogne: A Mix of Daily Life and Ceremony
- From One Place to Another: Receiving, Appearing, and Being Seen
- Rue de la Paix Summed Up in Objects: Countess von Hohenfelsen’s Wardrobe and Jewelry Box
- Return to Grace.
- The Paley Palace at Tsarskoye Selo: A Parisian Palace in the Heart of Russia
- Epilogue
- From Exile to Avant-Garde: The Life of Princess Natalie Paley
- Annexes. Principal works from the collection of the Countess von Hohenfelsen and Grand Duke Paul
- Bibliography
- Index
- Photographic credits
