NIKOLAI NIKOLAEVICH (THE YOUNGER, 1856-1929), GRAND DUKE, AUTOGRAPH Photographic portrait. 1925

Autograph inscription on the front of the photograph: ‘Uncle Nikolai, 1925’. Gelatin silver print. Mount: 16.2 x 12 cm; photograph: 10 x 6.6 cm. Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich of Russia, known as ‘the Younger’ (1856-1929) to distinguish him from his father, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich ‘the Elder’ (1831-1891), was a Russian general, Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Army in 1914-1915 and subsequently Commander-in-Chief of the Caucasian Army. He was the grandson of Nicholas I and the uncle of Emperor Nicholas II. After the Revolution he went into exile in France, where he died in Antibes in 1929. Provenance: from the personal collection of Ferdinand Thormeyer (1858-1944), Swiss teacher, tutor and adviser to the children of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. For three years Thormeyer was tutor to Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and Grand Duke George Alexandrovich, teaching them French language and literature. He later became tutor to Xenia, Michael and Olga. After the Revolution of 1917, only Xenia and Olga continued to write to Thormeyer.