PRINCESS MARIA MAKSUTOVA

Maria Vladimirovna Alexsandrovich was born in 1845. She was the daughter of a former Governor-General of Irkutsk, East Siberia and Ataman (Commander) of the Transbaikal Cossack Host. Irkutsk, connected to Moscow by road, became a major center for social and intellectual life after many Russian nobles, artists, and officers were exiled to Siberia following the Decembrist Revolt in 1825. In 1864, Maria married Prince Dmitry Petrovich Maksutov (1832-1889). Prince Maksutov was born to a family of Tartar descent. By the age of eight, he entered the Naval Academy in St. Petersburg. He rose to prominence in the Russian Imperial Navy, and in1858, Prince Maksutov received his appointment as Assistant Chief Manager of the Russian American colonies in Alaska, headquartered in Sitka. Following the death of his first wife, Adelaide Ivanovna Bushman, he traveled back to St. Petersburg, Russia in 1863 where he received his promotion to Chief Manager. As all Chief Managers had to be married, Prince Maksutov took Maria as his bride before returning to Sitka in 1864.

As the Chief Manager’s wife, Princess Makutova had responsibilities similar to that of the First Lady of the United States. She acted as a representative of the Russian Imperial Crown and assisted her husband in receiving dignitaries and visitors. She helped to care for Prince Maksutov’s three children from his first marriage, and had two more children of her own while in Sitka. Reports of Princess Makutova remark on her energy, elegance, education and rare intelligence. She spoke fluent English and was the center of Sitka’s society. In 1867, the Alaska Treaty of Cession ceded Russia’s Alaskan colonies to the United States of America. Although both Prince and Princess Maksutov disagreed with the transfer of Alaska to the United States, both carried out their duties and oversaw the formal transfer ceremony in Sitka on October 18, 1867. First-hand accounts of the event report that Princess Maksutova wept. The following January, Princess Maksutova and the children departed Sitka on the USS Resaca. Prince Maksutov would remain in Sitka for another year as Russian consul, helping to oversee the sale and transfer of property and goods and the emigration of Russian citizens. Back in Russia, the Maksutovs met with financial difficulties and declared bankruptcy in 1879. In 1881, Princess Maksutova died at the age of thirty-six.

Princess Maria Maksoutoff [Maksutov], 1867. Courtesy of Alaska State Library, Photograph by the Bradley & Rulofson studio of San Francisco, California, ASL-P297-252.

PRINCESS MARIA MAKSUTOVA ENSEMBLE

Princess Maksutov, wife of Alaska’s last Russian Governor, 1864. Courtesy of Alaska State Library, photograph by the Sitka View & Portrait Co., ASL-P297-113.

The Sitka History Museum will work with fabricators to create for exhibition a replica of Princess Maksutov’s dress shown in this 1864 photo taken by the Sitka View & Portrait Company. (Note: Sitka’s name derives from the Tlingit place name, Sheet’ka. Although the Russian American Company formally called Sitka “New Archangel,” it was informally referred to as Sitka well before the Alaska Treaty of Cession in 1867.) As the photo was taken in 1864, it is likely that the dress was purchased prior to the Maksutov’s arrival in Sitka as a part of Maria’s trousseau (the clothes, household linen, and other belongings collected by a bride for her marriage). It is possible that the dress is of French design. Paris was, and continues to be, an important center for clothing design. Styles throughout the 1860s were also influenced by British Victorian Period culture. In this photo, we can see that the silhouette of the skirt reflects the beginning of the transition away from a bell shape and to a flatter front and elongated rear, which is consistent with the 1864 date of the photo. Further research was conducted to gain a better understanding of popular clothing colors, trim colors, and fabric types.

UNDERGARMENTS

Just because visitor’s will not see Princess Maksutov’s undergarments when they visit the museum does not mean that they did not play a very important role in women’s fashion in the 1860s. The shape of Victorian Period (1837-1901) fashion for women came to be characterized by corsets and crinolines. Women’s dresses featured low, pinched waists and full skirts. Undergarments included a chemise, drawers, a corset, and one or more petticoats. A chemise was often made of cotton or linen, had short sleeves, and fell to the knees or lower. Drawers went under the chemise and were also of cotton or linen. They were knee length and commonly trimmed in lace or tucking. Flannel drawers might be worn in winter. The corset was worn over the chemise and drawers. Camisoles, or corset covers, of linen or cotton fit snuggly over the corset. Stockings, most likely white, could be made of cotton, silk, or wool. As the fashion favored increasingly fuller skirts, more and more petticoats were needed, causing issues for women with regards to weight, heat, and hygiene. This led to the invention of the crinoline. The first crinoline was made of horsehair and linen and had little in common with the steel hoop crinolines that became popular in the latter half of the century.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Drawers (below) Date: 1863 Medium: cotton Chemise (right) Date: 1860-1865 Medium: cotton

Crinolines

Sometime around 1856 or 1857, the crinoline was introduced. It was constructed of a series of flexible steel hoops that increased in size down the body, resulting in the well-known bell-shape. A single cotton or linen petticoat would be worn over the crinoline in summer, often replaced by one or more wool petticoats during the winter months.

Victoria and Albert Museum London Object: Cage crinoline Place of origin: Great Britain Date: 1860-1865 Materials: Spring steel, woven wool, linen, lined with cotton, and brass Dimensions: Diameter: 93 cm, Height: 80 cm waist to hem, straight down, Circumference: 235 cm round bottom, Circumference: 14 in

LACMA Los Angeles, California Woman's Bustle Cage Crinoline Culture: England Date: 1862-1870 Crinoline shown with corset, chemise and white stockings

Fashion plate, from Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine, 1865.

Crinolines to Bustles

L'Élégance Parisienne - November, 1874

By 1862, the popular bell-shape of the crinoline began to change. Profiles became flatter in the front, with crinolines projecting behind, suggestive of the bustle that would become popular in the 1870s.

1860s Dresses in Museum Collections

Note: Light-colored dresses were sought after to gain a better understanding of popular colors. Special emphasis was placed on identifying light dresses with dark trim, similar to the one

worn by Princess Maksutova in the 1864 photograph.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Designer: Emile Pingat (French, active 1860–96) Date: ca. 1864 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Designer: Emile Pingat (French, active 1860–96) Date: 1866–68 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: 1860-1864 Culture: British Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1865 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1860-1865 Culture: American Medium: silk, mother-of-pearl

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: 1860–61 Culture: French

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1862 Culture: American Medium: cotton and wool

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1865 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Hallwyl Museum Stockholm Designer: Aspen Date: ca. 1865

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Designer: Charles Frederick Worth (French (born England), Bourne 1825–1895 Paris) Date: 1862–65 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Designer: Emile Pingat (French, active 1860–96) Date: ca. 1860 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1866 Culture: British Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: 1867–68 Culture: French Medium: cotton

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Evening dress Date: ca. 1867 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Designer: Depret (French) Date: 1867–69 Culture: French Medium: piña cloth, silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: 1865–70 Culture: probably French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: 1865–67 Culture: French Medium: silk, cotton

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1862 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date:ca. 1864 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: 1862–63 Culture: French Medium: silk

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: 1865–70 Culture: French Medium: Linen

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1865 Culture: British Medium: cotton and wool

Chicago History Museum Designer: Worth & Bobergh Date: 1861 Culture: French Medium: silk, lace

Kent State Museum Date: 1860s Culture: American Medium: silk taffeta, satin

Museum of Fine Arts Boston French ca. 1865 Satin & Chiffon

The Metropolitan Museum of Art New York Date: ca. 1862-64 Culture: American Medium: cotton

North Carolina Museum of History Raleigh Date: ca. late 1850s-early 1860 Culture: American

CONCLUSIONS Light peach, pink, cream, and white are dominant colors among the light-colored dresses surveyed in museum collections, especially when paired with dark trim. With regard to trim, the color black occurred frequently with light colors and appears in a variety of material types. As historical research had suggested, many of the dresses came from French designers and silk was the dominant fabric utilized in their construction.

1860s Fashion Plates

Note: With the knowledge that the replica dress would be shown against a black and white photograph of the interior of the Russian American

Company’s Chief Manager’s residence at Sitka, and a white or cream dress with black trim would not create enough contrast, fashion plates were

examined with a preference towards peach and pink dresses. Once again, images of dresses with dark trim were favored.

Godey’s, 1860s

Godey’s, 1864

Le Moniteur de la Mode, 1860

Godey’s, 1864

Le Moniteur de la Mode, 1860

Le Moniteur de la Mode, 1862

Le Follet, 1863

Les Modes Parisiennes, 1864

Magasin des Demoiselles, 1864

CONCLUSIONS Light peach and pink dresses with black details appear frequently in 1860s fashion plates. Pantone color systems were then used to find colors similar to the pink dress in the Godey’s July 1864 fashion plate and the light peach of the 1864 Emile Pingat dress held in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Those colors were compared to the dark green color of Prince Maksutov’s uniform (see Prince Maksutov ensemble report), and light peach was selected as the preferred color for the replica of Princess Maksutov’s 1864 dress.

HAIR Women’s hair was often parted in the

middle and drawn back over the ears into a bun, braids, or ringlets, like Princess Maksutova.

HAIR BOW Black satin hair bow with circular

medallion in the center.

Selected Sources Condra, Jill (ed) 2008 The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Clothing Through World History: 1801- Present. Greenwood Publishing Group, Westport, Connecticut and London. Johnstone, Lucy 2016 Corsets & Crinolines in Victorian Fashion. Victoria and Albert Museum.

Accessed 6/15/2017. http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/corsets- and-crinolines-in-victorian-fashion/

Gernsheim, Alison 2013 Victorian and Edwardian Fashion: A Photographic Survey. Dover Publications, Inc., New York. Olian, JoAnne (ed) 2012 80 Godey’s Full-Color Fashion Plates: 1838-1880. Dover Publications, Inc., New York.