Tamara Talbot Rice (19 June 1904 – 24 September 1993) was a Russian then English art historian, writing on

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, and

Central Asian art Central Asian art is visual art created in Central Asia, in areas corresponding to modern Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and parts of modern Mongolia, China and Russia. The art of ...

. Talbot Rice was born Elena Abelson, to Louisa Elizabeth ("Lifa") Vilenkin and Israel Boris Abelevich Abelson, the latter a businessman and member of the Czar's financial administration.

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

was her godfather. Elena lived a privileged childhood in

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

, initially attending Tagantzeva Girls' School. The

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

prompted her family to move to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, and she completed her schooling, first at

Cheltenham Ladies' College Cheltenham Ladies' College is an independent boarding and day school for girls aged 11 to 18 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Consistently ranked as one of the top all-girls' schools nationally, the school was established in 1853 to pr ...

and then at

St Hugh's College, Oxford St Hugh's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford. It is located on a site on St Margaret's Road, to the north of the city centre. It was founded in 1886 by Elizabeth Wordsworth as a women's college, and accepte ...

. In 1927 she married the English art historian

David Talbot Rice David Talbot Rice (11 July 1903 in Rugby – 12 March 1972 in Cheltenham) was an English archaeologist and art historian. He has been described variously as a "gentleman academic" and an "amateur" art historian, though such remarks are no ...

, and spent much time travelling abroad with him on archaeological digs; they both published under the surname ''Talbot Rice'', but are often referred to as "Talbot-Rice" or "Rice". She was a close friend of

Evelyn Waugh Arthur Evelyn St. John Waugh (; 28 October 1903 – 10 April 1966) was an English writer of novels, biographies, and travel books; he was also a prolific journalist and book reviewer. His most famous works include the early satires ''Decli ...

and formed part of the '

Brideshead Revisited ''Brideshead Revisited: The Sacred & Profane Memories of Captain Charles Ryder'' is a novel by English writer Evelyn Waugh, first published in 1945. It follows, from the 1920s to the early 1940s, the life and romances of the protagonist Charles ...

Circle'. She died in 1993 and was buried next to her husband in the churchyard of St Andrew's, Coln Rogers.

Publications (selected)

* 1959: ''Icons'', London: Batchworth Press (revised edition 1960). * 1963: ''A Concise History of Russian Art'', ' The World of Art Library' series. London: Thames and Hudson. * 1965: ''

Ancient Arts of Central Asia ''Ancient Arts of Central Asia'' is a 1965 illustrated monograph by Russian-born English art historian Tamara Talbot Rice, published by Thames & Hudson as part of their ' World of Art Library' series. Synopsis Under the name of Central Asi ...

'', 'The World of Art Library' series. London: Thames and Hudson. * 1970: ''Elizabeth, Empress of Russia'', London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Talbot Rice, Tamara 1904 births 1993 deaths Russian art historians English art historians Russian women historians Women art historians 20th-century English historians Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom Alumni of St Hugh's College, Oxford Historians of Byzantine art Women Byzantinists Women medievalists 20th-century British women writers