Upwardly noble The future Catherine the Great, Sophie, moved to the ducal castle in Szczecin, Poland, when her father, Prince Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, became governor.

Art writer Jaques (A Love for the Beautiful) portrays Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796), founder of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, as a shrewd investor in this considerate biography of ...

The Great doesn’t pretend to adhere closely to the historical record. Instead, it presents an extravagantly vulgar yet brilliantly humorous portrayal of Catherine II and her era.

Dashkova, Catherine the Great and the Enlightenment Long-simmering tensions at the Russian court came to a boiling point in January 1762, when Peter succeeded his childless aunt, Elizabeth, as the ...