Born: 1884 Saint Petersburg, Russia
Died: 1954 London, England
Year of Migration to the UK: 1919
Other name/s: Vladimir Golitsyn
Biography
Gallerist and collector, Prince Vladimir Emanuelovich Galitzine was born into an aristocratic family in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire (now Russia) on 17 June 1884. He had three siblings, born to Prince Emanuel Vasilievich Galitzine and his second wife, Ekaterina Nikolaevna Gordeeva. On their father’s side, the siblings were grandchildren to Prince Vasili Sergeevich Galitzine, Emperor Alexander’s assistant and confidant, and Countess Adelaïda Pavlovna Stroganova. Vladimir, along with his older brother Nikolai, lost their parents at a young age and were then brought up by their maternal uncle, Nikolai Gordeev, and his wife Valentina Sergeevna (née Ushakova), who did not have children. Following Gordeev’s death, Sergeevna moved to a convent and bequeathed their estate in Tula to the two brothers. Prince Galitzine earned his degree from the Imperial Lyceum in Moscow in 1907. After graduation, he returned to St. Petersburg, joined the military as a volunteer, and swiftly ascended through the officer ranks. In 1912, Prince Galitzine wed Countess Ekaterina ‘Katia’ Georgievna Carlow and the couple had three sons. As the First World War loomed, he was appointed aide-de-camp to Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich. In June 1919, following the Russian Revolution, Prince Galitzine fled Russia and the Bolsheviks on the British naval ship HMS Grafton. The emigration was organised by his aunt, Princess Helen of Saxe-Altenburg.
Prince Galitzine and family members landed in Taranto, Italy, and stayed in Rome and Paris before settling in England by July 1919. The family first lived in Coulsdon, Surrey, then in Nevern Square, in London before renting Chessington Hall (a Georgian country house) in Surrey in 1921, where they remained for14 years before moving to 131 Croxted Road in West Dulwich, London. The family was naturalised British in 1933. Prince Galitzine played a significant role in London's Russian community. Soon after immigrating, he became known as a leader of the White Russian émigré colony in the capital, assuming the position of Chairman of the Russian Society of Support to Russian Emigrants in England. In 1932, he joined Bishop Nikolai, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church in England, to welcome a revered 600-year-old icon of the Virgin, which was displayed in various churches and private residences, including Prince Galitzine's own home.
Prince Galitzine turned to his passion for art as a means to provide for his family, professionalising his connoisseurship by opening an art and antiques shop in Berkeley Street, Mayfair, London, with an affiliated exhibition space at the same location, the Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery. Queen Mary was often seen at the premises and, in 1928, she acquired a 19th-century artifact, the Terrestrial Globe, crafted in the workshop of Erik Kollin, initial Chief Workmaster for Carl Fabergé. This piece is now held now in the Royal Collection in London. The Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery displayed the work of Russian émigré artists such as Alexander Anichkov, Boris de Heroys, and Vsevolod Sozonov, who had relocated to England, and Constantine Somov, who settled in France. A highlight was the 1931Exhibition of the Russian Group. In 1930, Prince Galitzine exhibited the works of the Welsh painter, Nina Hamnett, known as the Queen of Bohemia, and in 1933 he mounted an exhibition of watercolours by her Imperial Highness the Grand Duchess Olga of Russia. Prince Galitzine himself had an impressive personal collection. In 1930, he donated Gaspar de Crayer’s 17th-century painting St John the Evangelist to Lancing College, a public school in Sussex, where his three sons were educated. In 2023, this piece underwent restoration, handled by two Ukrainian refugee conservation students who were living with a picture restorer in nearby Hove who was a distant relative of Prince Galitzine.
Georgievna Carlow died during the Second World War. Prince Galitzine’s second wife was Mabel Iris (née FitzGeorge) George, a descendant of King George III. Prince Vladimir Emanuelovich Galitzine died in London, England on 15 July 1954 in a nursing home and was buried at Brompton Cemetery. In the UK public domain the British Museum holds a series of 17th-century Chinese woodcut prints from Nanking which previously belonged to Prince Galitzine, while pieces purchased by Queen Mary are held by the Royal Collection Trust, and the National Gallery maintains some of his correspondence.
Related books
- M. B. Piotrovskiĭ and Oleg Neverov, Great Private Collections of Imperial Russia (London: Thames & Hudson, London, 2004)
- Alexandre A. Galitzine, Christine H. Galitzine and Alexander Georgievich Galitzine, The Princes Galitzine: Before 1917 and Afterwards (Washington, D.C.: Galitzine Books, 2002)
Public collections
Related organisations
- Russian Society of Support to Russian Emigrants in England (chairman)
Related web links
- Find a Grave
- Lancing College
- Obituary in The Guardian
- Prince George Galitzine Memorial Library
- The Daily Telegraph
- The Montreal Star
Selected exhibitions
- Exhibition of Early Holy Paintings: Byzantine, Russian, Italian and Later Greek, Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery, London (1935)
- Exhibition of Water Colour Paintings by Her Imperial Highness The Grand Duchess Olga of Russia and by Vsevolod Sozonov (dual exhibition), Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery, London (1933)
- Exhibition of the Russian Group, Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery, London (1931)
- Nina Hamnett, Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery, London (1930)
- Exhibition of Constantine Somov Paintings, Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery, London (1930)
- Chinese Wood Prints, Prince Vladimir Galitzine Gallery, London (1929)
