Tamara Talbot Rice

Tamara Talbot Rice was a Russian then English art historian, writing on Byzantine, Russian, and Central Asian art. Tamara 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 was her godfather. Elena lived a privileged childhood in St. Petersburg, Russia, initially attending Tagantzeva Girls' School. The Russian Revolution of 1917 prompted her family to move to England, and she completed …