The exhibition “Catherine I – Heiress to the Causes of Peter the Great” has been prepared by the State Hermitage on the initiative of the Yekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts specially for the 300th anniversary of the foundation of the city of Yekaterinburg.
France. 1717
France. 1717
18th century
1st quarter of the 18th century
The large-scale project has been implemented with the support of the Saint Catherine Foundation. It represents the first attempt to use unique items from the Hermitage to tell about the life and activities of the Russian Empress in whose honour the city of Yekaterinburg was named. In the summer of 1723, Major General Georg Wilhelm (or Vilim Ivanovich) de Gennin, an associate of Peter the Great, wrote in a letter to the Empress Consort: “I have established a fort and [metal] works, venturing to name them, until a decree [is issued], Katerinburg, and ordered that the works be called Katerinburgskiye in commemoration of Your Majesty’s most glorious name.”
Catherine (her Russian name was Yekaterina Alexeyevna) was for more than two decades the inseparable companion of the great Russian reformer Peter I. From 1703 his wartime mistress, from 1712 his wedded wife, and from 1724 his Empress and co-ruler, she knew how to provide her crowned spouse with a feeling of cosy family life even when on campaign. The freshly made sovereign lady with a rich experience of life evidently had quick wits, business acumen, and the ability to get along with people of the most diverse backgrounds. In the most difficult moments she acted as a reliable pillar of strength for her husband. It is no mere chance that on 24 November 1714, in commemoration of his wife’s services during the Pruth Campaign, Peter founded a special female order of chivalry in honour of Saint Catherine. The exhibition includes a copper relief by Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli depicting the Pruth Campaign, as well as a needlework badge of the Order of Saint Catherine.
Altogether the exhibition will present around 150 items connected with the life of Catherine and her circle: paintings, graphic works, applied art and scientific devices from the State Hermitage. The majority of them come from two memorial complexes – the Cabinet of Peter the Great in the Kunstkammer and the Gallery of Peter I in the Hermitage.
Specially for the 300th anniversary project, a complex restoration was carried out on the portrait of Catherine painted in 1717 by the artist Jean-Marc Nattier (1685–1766). The Hermitage is also showing for the first time a gift from Mikhail Karesalov, the head of SIBUR, a portrait of Peter I, made in his own lifetime, in 1711, by the artist Yan Kupetsky (1667–1740). A special feature of the exhibition, greeting visitors at the entrance to the hall, will be the sumptuous carriage from 1724 in which Peter and Catherine rode during excursions around the suburban residence of Peterhof.
While preparing works for display, the restorers came upon a piece of Peter the Great’s own handwriting. In 1724 the Tsar used ivory and ebony to produce a chandelier for the Church of Saints Peter and Paul in Olonets. On a sheet of ivory inside it he himself wrote: “These offerings as a mark of gratitude to the Lord God for healing waters were made on the 14th day of March 1724. Peter”. The following day, 15 March 1724, the Tsar departed for Moscow to prepare for his wife’s coronation. That event is illustrated in the exhibition by prints from the time as well as carved ivory objects. The dynastic theme found reflection in the Genealogical Tree of the Russian rulers. Although compiled in the early 19th century, it provides the opportunity to attentively examine the succession of the country’s rulers from Prince Rurik onwards. Thanks to Peter the Great, Catherine I also appears in that tree.
Pieces of furniture and interior decoration from the period allow us to picture how the tastes of the high nobility had changed in comparison with the previous era. An amber casket presented to Peter by the King of Prussia, an agate bowl that was a gift from Anna Ioannovna, then ruler of Courland, on the occasion of the birth of a male heir, carved cameos with a goblet presented by the Danish King, items from the personal jewellery of Empress Catherine I are all things that have not only memorial, but also high artistic value. Antonio Tarsia’s marble sculptures of Jupiter and Juno, purchased in Venice in 1718, are leaving the walls of the Hermitage for the first time to appear in the anniversary exhibition.
On becoming head of the Russian State after Peter the Great's death in 1725 (for just two years, admittedly), Catherine continued her late husband’s undertakings. Her reign saw the first awards of the Order of Alexander Nevsky that had been conceived in Peter’s lifetime. In 1724 Peter signed a decree on the establishment of an “academy of sciences and curious arts” in Russia. Catherine considered the realization of that intention one of her most important tasks. The exhibition will include scientific instruments and devices, notably a French-made telescope.
The concluding part of the display presents some unique numismatic material – copper coins made in Yekaterinburg during Catherine I’s reign. A key exhibit connected with the 300th anniversary of Yekaterinburg will be a small square tray from 1723 – “The first fruit from pure copper” – presented by Gennin, the founder of the Yekaterinburg metallurgical works, to Emperor Peter the Great.
The authors of the concept are Natalia Yuryevna Guseva, Candidate of Art Studies, deputy head of the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture, and Sergei Alexeyevich Nilov, head of the Winter Palace of Peter I sector within that department.
The curator of the exhibition is Sergei Alexeyevich Nilov.
A scholarly illustrated catalogue is in preparation for the exhibition. The texts are by Natalia Guseva, Sergei Nilov and Nikolai Onegin. Two booklets in Russian have been produced for the exhibition: one on Peter the Great’s memorial carriage and Nicolas Pineau’s work in Russia, written by Natalia Guseva and Sergei Nilov the other about the commemorative copper tray of 1723 with a text by Grigory Yastrebinsky, senior researcher in the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture.
The exhibition “Catherine I – Heiress to the Causes of Peter the Great” (12+) will run from 29 November 2023 to 24 March 2024 in the Hermitage–Ural Centre at 11, Ulitsa Vainera in Yekaterinburg.
Opening hours for the exhibition: Tuesday to Sunday 11:00 am to 8:00 pm (ticket office closes at 7:30). Closed on Mondays. Ticket prices: 300 roubles –full; 100 roubles – concessionary (pensioners, school pupils)
