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Russian boys skirted garments -- tunics 19th century chronology
Russian Tunics: Chronology--19th Century
Figure 1.-- This CDV shows a serious little Russian boy wearing a belted tunic with shortened sleeves. Notice the bloused shirt sleeves and long pantaloon-like pants. We would have dated the portrait to the 1870s. The dealer suggested the 1890s. We are normally able to date American albumen prints (CDVs and cabinets cards) to a fair degree of accuracy. We are less sure about Russian albumen prints. As this ia a form of folk dress, unlike fasgioinable clothing it is not as useful in dating images. The portrait was taken in Tambov, a city in central Russia south southeast of Moscow. The studio was H.D. Brovkin.
We see fashionable European boys wearing tunics in the early-19th century. We are not sure if this fashion extended to Russia. We believe that serf/peasant boys wore unrelated tunic-like garments. We do begin to see examples in Russia after the introduction of photography at mid-century. A factor in Russia is that peasant dress had some similarity to tunics. We have no information on the early-19th century. We see peasant boys wearing these tunics. We also see formal portraits of boys from affluent families wearing them in the mid-19th century. We notic the Gorchakov boys wearing tunics (1848). We also note the children of Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna in a Roberson portrait (1849). Prince Nicolas wears what looks like a burgandy velvet tunic with long pants. The unidentified boy here, probanly in the 1860s is another example (figure 1). We continue to see Russian boys in the late-19th century wearing tunics. Tsar Alexander III (1881-94) launched a Russification program aimed at the Empire's many minorities. This was the program that caused Jews who were targeted with pogroms to emigrate in large numbers. As part of the Russification effort, there was an associated trend to glorify all things Russian. And the wealthy began for the first time since Peter the Great's reign to wear Russian-styled clothing again. This affected boys' clothing as well. The boy here is a good example (figure 1). We would guess that the portrait was taken in the 1870s before Allexander III became tsar after the assination of his father.
