The Empress of Art

by Susan Jaques

Overview

A German princess who married a decadent and lazy Russian prince, Catherine mobilized support amongst the Russian 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 herself 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 believed 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. There are few women in history more fascinating than Catherine the Great, and for the first time, Susan Jaques brings her to life through the prism of art.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681771144
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	04/15/2016
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	46 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Susan Jaques is a journalist specializing in art. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA. She is the author of A Love for the Beautiful: Discovering America's Hidden Art Museums and lives in Los Angeles, California, where she’s a gallery docent at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
Susan Jaques is a journalist specializing in art. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Stanford University and an MBA from UCLA. She is the author of A Love for the Beautiful: Discovering America's Hidden Art Museums and lives in Los Angeles, California, where she's a gallery docent at the J. Paul Getty Museum.

Table of Contents

Introduction ix

Part 1 Extreme Makeover 1

1 This Heavy Thing 3

2 The Brightest Star of the North 10

3 The Ambrosia of Asia 19

4 Collecting Debut 26

5 Building Frenzy 32

6 My Falcon, My Golden Pheasant 39

Part 2 Russia is a European Nation 45

1 A Monument to Peter and to You 47

2 Make Peace with Your Enemy 58

3 My Prodigal Son 66

4 The Saxon Richelieu 71

5 The Earth and Sea Trembled 82

Part 3 War and Love 91

1 Queen of Feasts 93

2 Dressed to "Empress" 103

3 Peace Offerings 112

4 Crozat the Poor 117

5 The Coachman of Europe 125

6 Tiger in the Forest 132

Part 4 Peace and Prosperity 139

1 Sleepless Nights 141

2 Anglomania 148

3 A Crowd and Not a City 156

4 Breaking the Mold 162

5 Brother Gu 171

6 Cateau and the Hermit of Ferney 177

Part 5 A Second Rome 183

1 Cat and Mouse 185

2 Raphaelism 197

3 Sashenka 204

4 Palladio's Shadow 215

5 The Greek Project 221

Part 6 Empire Building 235

1 Mother of the Fatherland 237

2 A Rose without Thorns 244

3 The Master of Neuwied 252

4 An Accidental Michelangelo 259

5 Slings and Arrows 268

6 Baby Hercules 273

Part 7 War and Revolution 281

1 Center Stage 283

2 Cameo Fever 288

3 Russia's Paradise 294

4 Betrayals 303

5 French Madness 309

6 Curtain Call 313

Part 8 Reaction 319

1 Tears and Despair 321

2 A Ticking Clock 326

3 Warsaw's Ours 333

4 Catherine's Library 341

5 Queen of the World 346

6 Joined in Death 351

Part 9 Legacy 363

1 A Son's Revenge 365

2 Art-Loving Grandsons 370

3 The End of the Line 383

4 Raiding the Hermitage 394

5 Preservation 400

Bibliography 407

Endnotes 423

Acknowledgments 449

Index 451

Editorial Reviews

01/25/2016
Art writer Jaques (A Love for the Beautiful) portrays Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796), founder of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as a shrewd investor in this considerate biography of the art-obsessed monarch. The ambitious, German-born empress remains a rich source of material for biographers due to her legendary love life as well as her determination to “put her picture gallery on the map.” Catherine, a voracious reader as well as a supporter of “enlightened despotism,” deftly maneuvered her way out of a loveless marriage and carried out the expansionist mandate of Peter the Great. In an effort to match the art collection of Frederick the Great of Prussia, she engaged advisers such as French philosopher Denis Diderot. With the Parisian art scene heating up in the late 18th century, Catherine bought in bulk, often from the heirs of well-known collectors. Russia’s deep pockets afforded her masses of silver, porcelain, gems, and other objects, much of which she bequeathed to her beloved grandson, Alexander. By 1791 she had outstripped her rivals, and her relentless pursuit of artwork had turned St. Petersburg into a cultural center. The Hermitage marked its 250th anniversary in 2014, and as Jaques shows, it stands as a fitting testimonial to its visionary founder. Color Photos. Agent: Alice Martell, Martell Literary. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Susan Jaques has produced an informative,
accessible guide to the fascinating mosaic of America’s art musems. Chock full of history, beautifully descriptive and always engaging, this work will introduce art loves (and art lovers to be) to many undiscovered riches.

Dewey Blanton

What a wonderful book this is for art lovers of every stripe.

Annalyn Swan

An absorbing account of a fascinating figure and her legacy

Booklist

An absorbing account of a fascinating figure and her legacy

Booklist

02/15/2016
After taking power from her husband in a coup d'etat, Catherine the Great (1729–96) crowned herself with an ornate, newly made jewel-encrusted gold and silver crown valued at one-eighth of the annual Russian state budget. She then embarked on a spare-no-expense pursuit of art over the course of her 34-year reign. Jaques (docent, Getty Museum; A Love for the Beautiful) focuses on how Catherine's prolific art acquisitions transformed Russia into a worldwide cultural powerhouse. As a form of statecraft, Catherine's collecting conveyed authority and sophistication, making her and Russia a force to be reckoned with among nations. She pursued paintings, sculpture, gems, cameos, archaeological finds, silver, porcelain, architecture, and books; these collections form the basis of today's Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Jaques's detailed description of Catherine's passion for art stands on its own as a vivid portrayal of a fascinating ruler, or as an excellent companion to Robert Massie's Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. VERDICT Readers of biography, art history and collecting, Russian history, and 18th-century world history will enjoy this book. Lovers of opulence will drool over Catherine's lifestyle.—Laurie Unger Skinner, Coll. of Lake Cty., Waukegan, IL

Library Journal

2015-12-23
The self-aggrandizing Catherine II (1729-1796) was an obsessive, voracious collector. As art journalist Jaques (A Love for the Beautiful: Discovering America's Hidden Art, 2012) amply shows in this well-researched biography, Catherine amassed paintings, sculpture, books, jewels, furniture, furs, and palaces not because she was an aesthete, but "to legitimize her shaky claim to rule and reinvent herself as Russia's enlightened ruler." Married at 16 to the ineffectual Grand Duke Peter in 1762, with a lover's help, she staged a coup and installed herself as empress. Shortly after, Peter was murdered. Besides legitimizing her claim to rule, Catherine wanted to put Russia on the international stage as a sophisticated, cultivated nation. By 1791, writes the author, her museum at the Hermitage boasted paintings by Europe's major artists, 38,000 books, 10,000 engraved gems, 10,000 drawings, and an extensive natural history collection. She commissioned the best European jewelers to create "rings, earrings, snuffboxes, and exquisite gem flower bouquets." At the Winter Palace, she filled her diamond chamber with tiaras, aigrettes, hairpins, and a 189-carat diamond "the size of an egg," she boasted to her friend Voltaire. Notorious for her spending, she also was infamous for a succession of ever younger lovers, bestowing riches and titles upon them as parting gifts. The longest of her relationships was with Grigori Potemkin, who emerged as her co-ruler, persuading her to annex the Crimea. In addition to augmenting Russia's dominion, the annexation enriched Potemkin with large parcels of land and serfs to toil on them. Jaques notes that Catherine had "drained Russia's treasury" by 1789 but does not explain the next seven years of unceasing spending. Russia's opulence did not fool the visiting Swedish king. "These people are not like those in the rest of Europe," he remarked. "They have the politeness, the brilliance, the grandeur, the wit and the vices, but they do not have the virtues." The author provides a unique perspective on the woman who "transformed Russia from a northern backwater to global superpower." An intriguing biography of a ruler whose ruthlessness encompassed art.

Kirkus Reviews