ALEXANDER II: (1818-1881) Emperor of Russia 1855-81. Assassinated.

A very fine signed sepia cabinet photograph, the image depicting the Emperor in a formal head and shoulders pose wearing his military uniform and medals. Photograph by Levitsky and bearing his imprint to the lower mount. Signed ('Alexandre') in bold, dark fountain pen ink to a clear area at the base of the image and dated 1876 in his hand. EXThe present photograph was signed in a significant year of the Emperor's life. The third of his four children with his mistress Princess Catherine Dolgorukov, Boris Alexandrovich Yurievsky, was born on 23rd February 1876 (and died a few months later on 11th April 1876). The Emperor appears prominently in the opening two chapters of Jules Verne's Michael Strogoff (published in 1876; see also lot 78) Alexander II sets the book's plot in motion and sends its eponymous protagonist on the dangerous and vital mission which would occupy the rest of the novel. Verne presents the Emperor in a very positive light, as an enlightened yet firm ruler, dealing confidently and decisively with a rebellion.Alexander II's most important act as Emperor was the emancipation of Russia's serfs in 1861, for which he earned the title Alexander the Liberator.