Catherine ii of russia biography of martin
•
Catherine the Great
Catherine II was the empress of Russia from månad 25, 1761, until her death on November 17, 1796. Known as Catherine the Great, she was the longest-reining empress of Russia. Catherine’s greatest accomplishments include establishing educational reform, championing the arts, and extending Russia’s borders in the largest territorial gain since Ivan the Terrible.
Catherine was born on May 2, 1729, as Sophie Friederike Auguste. She grew up in Stettin, Poland, as a minor German princess. Upon request of the Russian Empress Elizabeth, Sophie traveled to Russia to meet the Grand Duke of Russia, Peter. The two were quickly engaged, and Sophie changed her name to Catherine. The Grand Duke Peter and Catherine were married on August 21, 1745, making her the grand duchess of Russia.
After their son Paul was born, Catherine’s husband passed away under suspicious circumstances. Catherine II assumed the throne on månad 25, 1761. What followed was decades of expansion
•
Catherine II (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
Crop your artwork:
Scan your QR code:
Gratefully built with ACNLPatternTool
Russian
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue inGallery 553
The Empress is wearing the star of the Order of Saint Vladimir, which she instituted in 1782 to mark the twentieth anniversary of her reign.
Use your arrow keys to navigate the tabs below, and your tab key to choose an item
Title:Catherine II (1729–1796), Empress of Russia
Date:second half 18th century
Culture:Russian
Medium:Verre églomisé
Dimensions:Overall (sight): 5 1/4 × 3 3/4 in. (13.3 × 9.5 cm)
Classification:Glass-Painted
Credit Line:Bequest of Mary Martin, 1938
Object Number:38.145.32
Inscription: Above head: E II intertwined and surmounted by a crown (E[katerina] II)
Mary Martin (until 1938; bequeathed to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Celebrating Saint Petersburg," June 11, 2003–January 25, 2004.
The Met's Libraries and Research
•
Great Catherine: The Life of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia - Softcover
Synopsis
From the moment the fourteen-year-old Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst agreed to marry the heir to the Russian throne, she was mired in a quicksand of intrigue. Precociously intelligent, self-confident, and attractive but with a stubborn, wayward streak, Sophia withstood a degree of emotional battering that would have broken a weaker spirit until at last she emerged, triumphant over her many enemies, as Empress Catherine II of Russia.
Her achievements as empress were prodigious. She brought vast new lands under Russian rule. She raised the prestige of Russia in Europe. She began the process of imposing legal and political order on the chaos she inherited from her predecessors. Yet few historical figures have been so enthusiastically vilified as Catherine the Great. Whispers that she had ordered her husband's murder grew to murmurs that she was an immoral woman and finally to shouts that she