Catherine the Great: Art for Empire

by Valery Shevchenko, Androsov Sychev, Bagdasarova

History recognizes Catherine the Great's remarkable temperament, political savvy and lavish reign (1762-96). The Empress is also known to have been an avid collector and enlightened patron, interested in everything and leaving nothing to chance, for she believed strongly in the political power of art. This German princess, an immigrant in far off Russia and a Russophile without a drop of Russian blood, took to her adopted homeland with a passion. She aspired to advance Peter the Great's endeavours to raise the country to modern heights. Guided by the finest advisors and demonstrating stunning extravagance, she ostentatiously bought up entire art collections from across Europe, without question becoming the founder of the Hermitage's collections. She commissioned works by pre-eminent artists and craftsmen, and imported not only European art but its culture and skills too, and successfully established Russian academies and factories. Above all, Catherine II showed a preference for classicism at an early age. She took delight in an Antiquity that was nostalgic, decorative, and monumental. Playing with the symbolism of Imperial power, she was a modern Minerva in public, and a fervent disciple of antiquity in private.

Genres: Russia, Royalty

328 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2005

Reviews

[Carolyn Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book that accompanied the 2005 Catherine the Great exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario. A nice balance between beautiful illustrations of works of art collected and commissioned by Catherine the Great and insightful essays about the different facets of her role as patron of arts. The art historians focus on the variety of different art forms in Catherine's collection including paintings, sculpture and cameos, her motives for amassing such a large collection and the question of whether she possessed good taste or was simply a "glutton for art" who bought large collections without considering the merits of the individual works. The essays concerning her patronage of women artists including Elisabeth Vigee LeBrun and Marie-Anne Collot are especially interesting. I would have been interested to read a concluding essay about the expansion of the Hermitage museum's collection after Catherine the Great's reign.