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Endnotes
1
Russian title of the work is II.
2
According to Will and Ariel Durant, Catherine was very interested in classical philosophy, as
well as contemporary philosophy. They write: “We get a measure of the high repute won by the
French philosophes when we see the two ablest rulers of the eighteenth century [one of them
being Catherine] proud to correspond with them, and competing for their praise” (Durant 446-
447). The Durants also mention Catherine’s desire to become an “enlightened despot” (447).
However, it can be suggested that Catherine’s aim to be known as an enlightened monarch could
be related to her position as a foreigner in Russia, representing progressive European thinking in
a country that hadn’t had much exposure to the Enlightenment since Peter the Great and his
efforts.
3
Neoclassicism, as a combination of two very different ages in human history, is a complex
phenomenon. It also could be viewed a combination of antiquity and all the experience that
humankind accumulated in the centuries since those cultures flourished. Rémy Saisselin argues
that neoclassicism was a reaction against rococo and its extensive decoration. Going back to
Greek and Roman styles was also significant because both of those cultures represented historic
milestones of human achievement. The Greeks, for example, were believed to live in harmony
with nature and reason. Therefore, their style was considered to be rational and harmonious at
the same time. The style itself then evolved not just as a copy of classical buildings but as an also
appeal to the general tastes of the eighteenth century public (Saisselin 3). Hawley states that
“[t]he neo-classic style derived its artistic ideas and motifs primarily from two sources—the
Graeco-Roman past and the classicizing tradition which had existed in Western art since the
Renaissance” (Hawley 9). Therefore, it seems that neoclassicism was a culmination of extracting
the best from both antiquity and the Enlightenment, and its execution in the arts relied on much
of the previous experience from the centuries in-between.
4
“Der Name [Frühklassizismus] ist nicht glücklich, allein besser als der des ‘Louisseize’, der nur
für die gleichzeitige Entwicklung Frankreichs berechnet ist, oder gar der des ‘Zopf’” (Schmitz
8).
5
“Batteux hatte behauptet, daß die Nachahmung der antiken Werke bisher als Surrogat für die
Nachahmung der Natur gedient und durch einen Wall von Regeln den unmittelbaren Anschluß
der Neueren an die Natur verhindert habe. Winckelmann verkündet als aus der Natur geschöpfen
Erfahrungssatz, daß die Nachahmung der griechischen Werke ‘mehr als Natur’ und außer ihr für
die Neueren kein Heil sei” (Borinski 203).
6
[…] neben der Hauptentwicklung des Barock und Rokoko immer eine Strömung hergegangen
ist, die die Einhaltung der strengsten Gesetzlichkeit betonte” (Schmitz 340).
7
“In der Schloß- und Landhausarchitektur wirken Anregungen von England […] (Schmitz 344).
Schmitz is referring to the English being the leaders in these areas in Germany specifically,
which is relevant in Catherine’s context as well.
8
The original quote by Catherine is unavailable. The Durants quote K. Waliszewski, who
provides the quote in English in his book The Romance of an Empress: Catherine II of Russia
(349). The book itself, according to the “Translator’s Preface” in the beginning, was written in
French by a Russian author.
9
The original quote by Catherine is also unavailable. Shvidkovsky provides a translation of the
quote that he found in a Russian work entitled Imperial Russian Historical Society: Collected
Papers ( ). However, I could not access that