Tsar Alexander II

A carte-de-visite portrait of Tsar Alexander II (1818-1881), Emperor of Russia (reigned 1855-1881).

His reign was marked by a series of reforms that began the modernisation of Russian society and inaugurated a period of social change based on the development of the railways and industrialization. In 1881 Alexander II was assassinated in St. Petersburg by an anarchist’s bomb.

Photographed by William and Daniel Downey of London and Newcastle.