GLEB BOTKIN (Finnish/American, 1900-1969). GRAND DUCHESS ANASTASIA'S HIDE-AWAY HOUSE, UNTERLENGENHARDT, SCHWARZWALD, signed illegibly lower left. Watercolor. Framed, sight: 7 1/2 in. x 11 1/4 in.
Together with:
SKETCHBOOK OF PENCIL DRAWINGS AND ADDITIONAL WATERCOLORS, including interior and exterior views of Anastasia's house. Also a LIMITED-EDITON PRINT OF DOORN HOUSE, where Suzanna de Graff, who claimed to be Alexandra, lived. Estimate $500-700
Gleb Botkin was a childhood friend to the Grand Duchess Anastasia. His family was intimate with that of Czar Nicholas II, as his father, Eugene Botkin, was court physician and was killed with the imperial family at Ekaterinaburg. Botkin later became the most loyal supporter of Anna Anderson and helped her throughout her life in her effort to gain affirmation of her claim to be the Grand Duchess Anastastia.
Anna Anderson was given the hide-away house in the Black Forest Region of Germany, depicted in the watercolor, by friends after trials in Hamburg seeking title to the Romanov inheritance.
PROVENANCE: Collection of Alexis Milukoff Estate of James Blair Lovell, Washington, DC
