Now in color: Russian beauties of tsarist times (PHOTOS)

Artist Olga Shirnina nicknamed ‘Klimbim’ on the Russian Internet adds color all kinds of different archive photos: from Romanov family members portraits to portraits of great Russian writers and World War II heroes. In her works, these people seem to revive, become incredibly alive - and sometimes look directly into a viewer’s eyes.

Here are a few select portraits of the most beautiful women of the Russian Empire.

1. Ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya

2. Matilda Kshesinskaya

3. Ballerina Anna Pavlova and her pets

4. Anna Pavlova in the costume of Swan Lake ballet

5. Revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai

6. Singer Anastasia Vyaltseva

7. Ballerina Agrippina Vaganova

8. Countess Sofya Vyazemskaya

9. Writer and translator Elizaveta Kologrivova

10. Ballerina Tamara Karsavina

11. Actress Vera Komissarzhevskaya

12. Revolutionary, journalist and poet Larissa Reissner

13. Silent movie star Vera Kholodnaya

14. A fashionable lady from Tver Region, 1900s

15. A student of the Institute of Noble Maidens in St. Petersburg