Serene Prince Grigory Potemkin of Taurida

The display will contain more than 200 items from the stocks of the State Hermitage: paintings, prints, manuscripts, books, costumes, weapons and pieces of applied art that tell about the Serene Prince’s foremost achievements in domestic and foreign policy, and also in the military sphere, about his personal life and relationship with Empress Catherine II. Some of the exhibits are being shown for the first time after restoration. A special role is assigned to memorial articles from the personal collections of Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin and Catherine the Great.

The paintings will include a portrait of Potemkin made by Mikhail Gavrilovich Biriukov, a student of the Imperial Academy of Art, that is being presented to the public for the first time. It was acquired by the State Hermitage from a private collection in early 2024.

The items making up the display are connected with various aspects of the Serene Prince’s personal life and public activities. The exhibits tell of his family, his student years at Moscow University, as well as his part in the palace coup of 1762 that began his ascent to the pinnacle of power. Witnesses to Potemkin’s activities as a statesman are the grand gilded armchair created specially for him as president of the Collegium of War, examples of the uniform that he introduced in the Russian army, products of plants and factories that belonged to him or were under his patronage.

Potemkin contributed greatly to Russia’s victorious wars against the Ottoman Empire, the annexation of the Crimea, the construction of new towns and cities in Novorossiya – “New Russia”, and the creation of the Black Sea fleet. This topic is reflected by works of fine art, trophy weapons and banners, and also articles relating to the famous Taurida Voyage or Crimean Journey that Catherine II made in 1787. Also on display are a uniform and other items that belonged to the greatest of Russian military commanders, Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov.

Grigory Potemkin was one of the wealthiest grandees of Catherine the Great’s reign, the owner of some splendid art collections and palaces. The exhibition features views of the Serene Prince’s residences, works from his art collections, and articles reflecting his lifestyle and enthusiasms. Some unique musical mechanisms that belonged to him have survived in the Hermitage, including the celebrated Peacock Clock. These can be heard and seen thanks to a video that will be playing in one of the halls of the exhibition space.

For many years Potemkin remained not only the lover, but also the most devoted friend and ally of Catherine the Great. In the exhibition relations between them are illustrated by cameos and intaglios, pieces of jewellery and the works of Oriental craftspeople created in honour of Potemkin at the Empress’s behest or else received from him as gifts. Also on show are items from the famed Cameo Service that Catherine II commissioned for her beloved. The design of the display is accompanied by extracts from the personal correspondence between the Serene Prince and Empress.

A film telling about the life of this outstanding statesman has been prepared for the exhibition, as well as an illustrated scholarly catalogue in Russian – Svetleishii kniaz’ Grigorii Aleksandrovich Potemkin-Tavricheskii (Slavia publishing house, 2024).

The exhibition curators are Natalia Yuryevna Bakhareva and Ivan Alexandrovich Garmanov, both senior researchers in the State Hermitage’s Department of the History of Russian Culture.