VYRUBOVA (TANEYEVA) A.A. (1884-1964), AUTOGRAPH Autograph letter addressed to Uncle Alexei [Count Alexei Nikolaevich Ignatiev (1874-1948)].

N.p., n.d. 1 p. 27.5 x 21.5 cm. She asks him to pass a letter on to Princess Olga Paley (1865-1929) and gives news of her mother’s health. Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova (née Taneyeva; 1884-1964) was the closest friend of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and a memoirist. She knew Grigory Rasputin well. RASPUTIN G.E. (1869-1916) Postcard ‘Rasputin so svoimi rasputnitsami’ [Rasputin with His Female Followers]. Moscow: ‘Ideal’ photographic studio, 1914-1916. 8.5 x 13 cm. In good condition. Studio stamp on the reverse. Reproduction of a rare photograph which caused a great stir in high society when it appeared. From the memoirs of A.A. Vyrubova: ‘There is a photograph that was reproduced in Russia as well as in Europe and America. It shows Rasputin sitting like an oracle among the aristocratic ladies of his ‘harem’ and seems to confirm the enormous influence he allegedly had in court circles. […] I can explain this picture, since I myself appear in it. In the early days only those people came to Grigory Efimovich who, like Their Majesties, sought explanations of various religious questions; after early Mass in some monastery, having received Holy Communion, the faithful gathered around him to listen to his talks, and I, always ‘seeking’ a religious mood and consolation after the endless intrigues and malice of court life, listened with interest to the extraordinary talks of a man who was not at all learned but who spoke in such a way that even learned professors and priests found it interesting to listen to him’. (Taneyeva (Vyrubova) A.A. Pages of My Life. Moscow, 2000, pp. 141-142).