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Portrait of Catherine II
Russian School, copy after Alexander Roslin
Circa 1796
Oil on Canvas
Tsarskoe Selo Museum-Preserve
Inv. Nos. ED-796-X,

Born Princess Sohia of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine married Grand Duke Peter, nephew of the Empress Elizabeth, and moved to the court of Russia to find herself caught in intrigue. Ultimately, with the help of her guard's regiments, and her friend Princess Dashkova, Catherine engineered the assassination of her husband and the coup d'etat which placed her on the throne.

This painting was a wedding gift to Catherine's grandson, Alexander I, on the occasion of her presentation of the Alexander Palace to him in 1796.