Empress Elizabeth Petrovna

Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia (1709-62), daughter of Peter the Great and his second wife, Empress Catherine I. Used her popularity with the guards to stage a coup in 1741, seizing power from Anna Leopoldovna, who had been serving as regent for her infant son, Tsar Ivan VI. Established a splendid court to match Russia’s image as a rising European power. Founded the first Russian university (in Moscow) and the Academy of Arts, in St. Petersburg, and also built St. Petersburg’s Winter Palace. Did not marry; brought the future Tsar Peter III, her nephew and a grandson of Peter the Great, from Germany and proclaimed him her heir in 1742.

Figure 2.1. Ivan Vishnyakov, Portrait of Elizaveta Petrovna (1709-1762), 1743, oil on canvas, 254.5 x 179.8 cm, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, source: Wikimedia Commons.

1740s

Coronation dress, 1742

Figure 2.2. Maker unknown, Coronation Dress (Bodice, Skirt, Train) of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia, 1742, brocade, silk, silver-gilt braid, Moscow Kremlin Museums, Moscow, Тк-2892/1-3, source: Moscow Kremlin Museums.

1750s

Figure 2.3. Maker unknown, Dress belonging to Elizabeth Petrovna, n.d., State Historical Museum, Moscow, source: Buro.

PREV: House of Romanov

NEXT: House of Ascania (Russia)

←Empress Anna Ioannovna

Empress Catherine II→