The Empress of Art by Susan Jaques
Summary (from the publisher): This is an art-oriented biograph of the mighty Catherine the Great, who rose from seemingly innocuous beginnings. A German princess who married a decadent and lazy Russian prince, she mobilized support amongst the nobles, playing off of her husband's increasing corruption and abuse of power. She then staged a coup that ended with him being strangled with his own scarf in the halls of the palace, and she being crowned the Empress of Russia. Intelligent and determined, Catherine modeled herself off of her grandfather in-law, Peter the Great, and sought to further modernize and westernize Russia. She felt that the best way to do this was through a ravenous acquisition of art, which Catherine often used as a form of diplomacy with other powers throughout Europe. She was a self-proclaimed "glutton for art" and she would be responsible for the creation of the Hermitage, one of the largest museums in the world, second only to the Louvre. Catherine also spearheaded the further expansion of St. Petersburg, and the magnificent architectural wonder the city became is largely her doing.
Review: This was a fascinating look at Catherine the Great's life from the perspective of her prodigious art collecting. During her long reign, she spent untold fortunes amassing immense collections of art in numerous forms. Types of art/media she invested in included cameos, statues, paintings, architecture, China and serving ware, dramas, operas, balls, glyptics (carved gems), cabinetry, books, prints, and drawings. Catherine felt the best way to honor Russia and to make it into a prestigious country was to fill it with outstanding art collections that rivalled the collections held by anyone else.
Her efforts have led to her legacy as "one of history's greatest patrons of art and architecture, both in scale and quality. Under her patronage, Russia experienced a cultural renaissance the likes of which Europe hadn't seen since the reign of England's Charles I (x). It's difficult to truly grasp the scale of her collections. At the time of her death in 1796, "Russia's imperial art collection boasted some 4,000 Old Master paintings, 10,000 engraved gems, and thousands of decorative objects" (xiv). Everything she did was in excess and to the extreme, such as the silver service she ordered. During that time period, the average silver service was between 200 to 250 items, but Catherine's was 3,000 pieces. "In today's currency, the price tag was over $4.3 million, or an average of $1,440 per piece" (99).
I thought this was a fascinating read and learned a lot. However, just a note that this is very much not a comprehensive biography of Catherine the Great (nor does it profess to be). Because her prodigious collecting didn't start until her reign began, this offers very little besides perfunctory references to her early life. It does talk about her many lovers and her lavish lifestyle and entertaining, but only glosses over her children and her relationship with them. It likely is best for those who already know a bit about her or who are ok not learning a lot of background information.
I really enjoyed this history. Unlike a lot of histories, it has relatively short chapters and felt like an easy, pretty fast read despite its length! Despite having read a dedicated biography of Catherine the Great in the past, I learned so much new information about her through this one with its particular focus. I also really appreciated that the author included several chapters after Catherine's death to detail the fate of her royal line and her many art collections in the decades and centuries after her death.
Stars: 4.5
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