Cats of the Russian Empire (PHOTOS)

1.A girl with a cat, Shadrinsk, Kurgan Region, 1885 - 1890.

Taking photographs in the late 19th century was fashionable and expensive. Usually, you can see family portraits on the photos of those years. As a rule, in the center of the pictures are the main members of the family on chairs, with children and other family members standing next to them. But, in this photo, there is just a reclining cat with a girl, probably from a noble or landowner family.

This photo was taken in Nikolai Pribylev’s photo studio in the provincial town of Shadrinsk.

2. Portrait of a girl with a cat, Mogilev Province, 1890s.

3. A photographer's niece with a cat, Murom, 1890s.

In addition to professional photographers, there were also amateurs who photographed literally everything. One of the most famous such people in Murom was Ivan Myazdrikov (1854-1931), who, after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, became a meteorologist.

4. Portrait of children, 1900s.

5. Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna with a kitten, 1910s.

In the family of Tsar Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia, was also very fond of animals. In the last years of his reign, he and his family had five cats and three dogs.

6. Tsesarevich Alexei with his cat Kotka and cocker spaniel Joy, 1915.

Alexei Nikolaevich's favorite cat was a Siamese cat named Kotka, with whom he almost never parted. The cat was given to the tsesarevich by Major-General Vladimir Voyeikov, the commandant of the palace and a great admirer of this breed. However, the King of Siam himself gave Siamese cats to Nicholas II at the end of the 19th century. 

7. Ballerina Anna Pavlova with a cat, 1911.

8. Vera Smirnova with pets in her arms, Tashkent, 1906-1910.

9. Tatiana Polenova, the youngest daughter of geologist Boris Polenov, with a kitten. Kostroma Province, Pavlovskoye Estate, 1903.

10. A woman with a kitten, 1900s.

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