What did Catherine the Great Look Like?
One of my favorite historical figures is Catherine the Great - a minor princess from the Holy Roman Empire with a grand vision, who overthrew her own husband to become Russia’s longest reigning female monarch. But her portraits all show a slightly different face. Which one is true? What did Catherine the Great really look like? For a full history and portrait analysis, watch the video here.
We have many stunning portraits of Catherine, from the time she was very young, until nearly the end of her life.
But you have to be careful when looking for portraits of the Empress that you’re looking at an original - there are only a few portraits that were made from life, and the rest are copies of these originals. You’ll see her portraits organized into “types” - collections of copies in the same pose that vary slightly in features.
An example of one of these “Types” - the original shown at the above was painted by Alexander Roslin in 1776, and then was copied and distributed throughout the empire. You can see that not every artist faithfully copied the original, adding their own touches.
One of these types - the Rokotov Type - was Catherine’s favorite - stemming from an original coronation portrait by Fedor Rokotov, in profile view. Catherine loved her roman profile - she called this portrait her favorite because it resembled the roman coins of antiquity.
Image I used for my re-creation - painted from life by Vigilius Eriksen when Catherine was in her mid 30s.
She was reigning during the time that images of not just a powerful, but also an enlightened monarch, were becoming popular. It was important to show not just grandeur, but intelligence and sophistication as well, which was accomplished with the profile view.
I also really love this state portrait of Catherine painted from life by Vigilius Eriksen - of Catherine in her mid-thirties, which I’ve used for her re-creation.
Catherine was a very short woman - only about five feet tall, with natural dark hair and bright blue eyes. While she wasn’t considered particularly beautiful, she was considered very attractive - with her intelligence, passion, and charm. She was often really low key in real life outside of her portraits, preferring simple clothing and hair.
I love that she always looks confident, happy, and even slightly amused in her portraits, since most royal portraits look somewhere between neutral and miserable. I find her just a very likeable character.
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