Catherine II, Empress of Russia
- Object:
- Place of origin:
- Date:
- Artist/Maker:
Shubin, Fedot Ivanovich, born 1740 - died 1805 (sculptor)
- Materials and Techniques:
- Credit Line:
Presented in memory of Mrs. Syrie Maugham by a group of friends.
- Museum number:
- Gallery location:
- Download image
Fedot Ivanovich Shubin (1740-1805), né Shubnoi, the sculptor of this bust of Catherine the Great, was the son of a fisherman from the White Sea coast, Russia. Having produced carvings in bone and mother-of-pearl as a child, he went to St. Petersburg in 1759 and studied there at the Imperial Academy 1761-67 under Nicholas-François Gillet (1712-91). He then moved to Paris where, thanks to a recommendation from Diderot, a friend of Dmitry Golitsyn, Russian Ambassador, he studied under the famous sculptor Pigalle, 1767-70. He worked in Rome 1770-72, and briefly with Nollekens in London in 1773.
Shubin was the pre-eminent Russian Neoclassical sculptor and this portrait bust is similar in style to Neoclassical portrait busts created elsewhere, and particularly in France. He executed free-standing sculptures, architectural decoration, and most notably portrait busts of Russia's aristocracy including members of the Golitzyn family who are reputed to have owned this bust. Shubin also carved a celebrated full-length marble of Catherine the Legislator, 1789, now in the Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
This highly finished bust, of 1771, with its combination of formality with a lively smile, has been copied in bronze and biscuit porcelain. It remains an iconic image of Catherine the Great, who embraced the style of Neoclassicism in major building projects as well as collecting.
Physical description
The head of the Empress is turned slightly to the left. She wears a diadem and a laurel wreath. Her hair, which falls in ringlets to her bare shoulders, is coiled and bound with ribbon behind. Inscribed at the back in Russian characters:
Place of Origin
Rome, Italy (made)
Date
1771 (made)
Artist/maker
Shubin, Fedot Ivanovich, born 1740 - died 1805 (sculptor)
Materials and Techniques
Marble
Marks and inscriptions
[inscription is Russian letters] 'Executed in Rome 1771, F.I. Shubin'
Dimensions
Height: 660 mm, Width: 330 mm, Depth: 30 cm, Depth: 270 mm
Object history note
According to Sergei Golitsyn in his memoirs published in 2008, this bust was buried in the grounds of the family's Petrovskoye estate by his uncle, Alexander Vladimirovich, in 1917, presumably for safe-keeping. It was subsequently sold by his valet to a Frenchman in one of the 'torgsin' or shops which appeared in Moscow after the revolution, where all manner of treasures and possessions of former aristocrats were sold off to foreigners in exchange for foreign currency.
Its early history is unknown, but according to one account it was commissioned by Count Andrew Shuvalov and according to another it was given to Catherine II by Shuvalov. It passed to the Galitzine collection at Petrovskoye. After the Russian Revolution it was owned by Voldemar Wehrlin, who bought it from the Galitzine family in Paris (who believed the bust was presented by Shubin to Catherine II, who subsequently gave it to Shuvalov). It was purchased from Wehrlin by the Victoria and Albert Museum with contributions from the friends of the late Mrs Syrie Maugham, 1964.
Historical significance: The bust is the earliest known work by Shubin. One of his most sensitive portraits, the bust is presumably executed from a painting.
Descriptive line
Bust, marble, of Catherine II of Russia, by Fedot Ivanovich Shubin, Russian (executed in Rome), 1771
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
S. Golitsyn, Memoirs of a Survivor, the Golitsyn Family in Stalin's Russia (Reportage Press, 2008), p. 393
Lazareva, O.P. Ruskii skul'ptor Fedot Shubin Moscow, 1965
Isakov, S.K. Fedot Shubin, Moscow, 1938
Mozgovaya, E., The Class of Sculpture in teh Academy of Arts in the Eighteenth Century, 1999, fig. 49
Exhibition History
Princely Treasures: European Masterpieces 1600-1800 from the V&A (Art Gallery of Western Australia 24/09/2011-09/01/2012)
Princely Treasures: European Masterpieces 1600-1800 from the V&A (National Museum of Korea (Seoul) 02/05/2011-28/08/2011)
The Genius of Wedgwood (Victoria and Albert Museum 08/06/1995-17/09/1995)
Houghton Hall - The Prime Minister, the Empress and the Heritage (Castle Museum, Norwich 12/10/1996-20/04/1997)
Portraits Publique - Portraits Privés (Grand Palais 02/10/2006-09/01/2007)
Production Note
Shubin is Russian, bust executed in Rome
Materials
Marble
Techniques
Carved
Subjects depicted
Catherine (II, Empress of Russia)
Categories
Portraits; Royalty; Sculpture
Collection code
SCP
