About author
Abstract. It fell upon her to live in the era when the “red claws” of the Fate with senseless rage tormented millions of people, leaving them no slightest chance of normal life. Тhе Fate deprived someone of life, took away relatives of others, condemned still others to poverty and squalor. Her Fate always told fortunes. The young years were filled with love affairs, secular pleasures, political adventures and success in high society. In December 1916, the Fate opened the vacancy for Marianna von Derfelden to become the finishing touch – cherry on top – at the eve of the new Russian Troubles and, in this guise, to keep her name on the pages of History. In terrible years of the revolution, her life sparkled with artistic creativity and was adorned with a close acquaintance with the new Russian culture and its first-magnitude stars. She has left the Soviet Russia in time and could fully enjoy “The Decline of the West” and its rich pre-war cultural life. Three years before the outbreak of the World War II, she safely moved to the New World, where she lived tastefully during the next four decades. And after Marianna Erikovna’s death, her beautiful portrait became the pearl of the collection in one of the best provincial museums in Russia.
Keywords: Marianne Erikovna von Derfelden, Arkhangelsk Museum of Fine Arts, Yury Pavlovich Annenkov, Russian Revolution, Romanovs.