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Printed from: http://petersburgcity.com/news/culture/2012/07/16/Ermitag_Edi_160712/ Culture news, 16.07.2012 20:10 Catherine the Great - in Scotland for the first timeAn exhibition called ‘Catherine the Great, Educated and Liberal Monarch’ will be held in Scotland between the 13th of July and the 21st of October. Six hundred works of art associated with the image and life of one of the most famous women in the history of Russia have arrived in Edinburgh from the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. favorites and the luxury of her court became legendary. The exhibition in Edinburgh shows jewellery, dresses and accessories made by the best craftsmen of the time. Even snuff-boxes and perfume bottles are studded with precious stones. Catherine was interested in Chinese art and loved the elegant gold hair clasps that were given to her by the Chinese Emperor. She commissioned first-rate silver and porcelain sets for the dining-rooms of her palaces and she bought large collections of European art to arrange a picture gallery in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. The Imperial Museum was to show the world that Russia had the right to be called a European country and the Russian Empress was well-educated. She bought paintings by Giordano, Rembrandt, Van Dyke and Velasquez. The National Museum of Scotland displays Rubens’ Apotheosis of James I from the Walpole collection bought by Catherine in 1779. This collection belonged to British Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole. It was famous all over Europe and was sought after by many art collectors. However, Sir Walpole’s grandson chose to sell the paintings to Russia. At that time Empress Catherine was already known to be an experienced art collector and an educated woman who corresponded with famous European philosophers and writers and wrote novels and plays herself.
News source: Voice of Russia
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