Snapshots of the Romanovs

Russian imperial family photographs, hand-tinted by the tsar's daughter

Amanda Uren

1915-1916

Anastasia Romanov pulling a face Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Many of these rare pictures of the imperial Romanov family were taken by head of the family and Russia's last tsar himself, Nicholas II. An insatiable photographer, the tsar took great care of his pictures, filing them carefully in numerous albums. He passed down his love for photography to Maria, his third daughter, who was responsible for coloring most of the pictures.Within a year of the last pictures, the Russian Revolution took place. The tsar was forced to abdicate and the family was exiled. In Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918, they were shot on Lenin's orders.

Tsar Nicholas II with daughters (left to right) Maria, Anastasia, Olga and Tatiana Romanov. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Olga Romanov in her bedroom. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Anastasia Romanov with fake teeth. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

An unidentified woman and Olga Romanov (at right). Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Anna Virubova, best friend and confidante of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, and Olga Romanov. Virubova was regarded as very much under the influence of Rasputin. Not permitted by the Bolsheviks to follow the tsar's family into exile, she was first jailed in St. Petersburg and eventually escaped to Finland, were she lived in a convent until her death in the 1960s. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

An unidentified man with Tatiana Romanov. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Maria, Olga and Tatiana Romanov. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Maria, Olga , Alexei, an unidentified woman and Tatiana Romanov. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

The tsar (at left) and family. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

The tsar (second from left) and family. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Olga, Tatiana, Alexei, an unidentified man and Tsar Nicholas II in Rospha, Russia. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Anastasia (at left) and Maria visit wounded WWI soldiers in hospital. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Anastasia and Maria visit wounded soldiers in hospital during World War I. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images

Tsar Nicholas II. Credit: Laski Diffusion/Getty Images