The Collecting Activity of Catherine II in Eighteenth-Century Russia

Avlonitou profiles Catherine the Great as a collector, demonstrating how Catherine’s collecting activity may be seen as a parameter of political action in the context of the empress’s ‘enlightened despotism’. She considers how the personality of Catherine the Great influenced the creation of her collection, and how the latter influenced Catherine the Great herself. Looking closely at the contents of her collection, Avlonitou examines Catherine’s collecting practice and organizational strategies in relation to the larger collecting world of the period. Finally, she demonstrates how Catherine’s collecting served as a catalyst for the transformation and widening of the aesthetic patterns of her nation.