The epoch of Catherine, brilliant in many respects, can rightly be called the “golden age” of the Russian medal - so numerous and varied are the works of medal art that have come down to us of that time. Let's start with the coronation and historical medals.
Coronation medal on the occasion of the accession to the throne of Catherine II
Two months after the June coup (according to the new style, this is July 9, but let's, as in the case of the October Revolution, adhere to the historical naming), which put an end to the 186-day reign of Peter III, his decisive wife, by that time, by an amazing coincidence of circumstances, was widowed, arrived in Moscow for the coronation celebrations.
A special commission, led by the president of the Military Collegium, Prince Nikita Trubetskoy, meanwhile, did a great job in the First See: in the shortest possible time, as many as four triumphal arches were erected on the way of the procession through the city, the pavement was repaired, the facades of houses were put in order, a large-scale was prepared, as they would say. now, a pyrotechnic show.
The festivities, which ended on September 22, according to the old style, in the Kremlin with the imperial crown on Catherine's head, decorated with 58 large and 4878 small diamonds, is described in sufficient detail in the literature, but we are interested in the message that at the Lucullus feast in the Faceted Chamber, guests were handed out coronation medals. Although they were made in a hurry, the execution was quite satisfactory at first glance. On the obverse there is a portrait of Catherine in a crown and mantle with the state emblem.
Legend in a circle:
“B. M. EKATERINA II IMPERAT AND SELF-SUPPORT. VSEROS "(" By the grace of God, Catherine II is the empress and autocrat of All Russia ").
The author of the obverse is the master Timofey Ivanov, as follows from the caption below: "TIF".
The multi-figured reverse fully deserved this magnificent description in the "History of Russia from Ancient Times" by Sergei Solovyov:
“Orthodoxy and the Russian Fatherland, saved by the heroic spirit of Her Majesty from the disasters that threatened them, joyfully raise a shield decorated with oak leaves with the name of Her Majesty, on which the Providence of God imposes the imperial crown, in front of it stands a smoking altar with the image of signs of the spiritual, military and civil rank, on which the Russian Fatherland pours incense in an expression of nationwide prayers and zealous desires for the long life and prosperous state of their all-kind monarch and deliverer."
The inscription above: "FOR THE SALVATION OF FAITH AND FATHERLAND", under the edge below - the date according to the old style. Reverse of the work "S. Yu." - master Samoila Yudin.
Especially noteworthy, of course, is the upper inscription, which mentions the salvation of faith. With the salvation of the Fatherland, everything seems to be clear: Catherine overthrew her own husband, a Prussian puppet, which King Frederick ruled from Berlin through his envoy to Russia, Heinrich Leopold von Goltz. True, this very puppet, shortly before the notorious death from "hemorrhoidal colic", managed to wave two most curious decrees - our historian Nikolai Karamzin called them only "glorious and immortal." Those were manifestos about the liberties of the nobility and about the destruction of the Secret Investigative Affairs of the Chancellery.
However, here is what version of the appearance of the first of the manifestos from the words of the former secretary of the emperor Dmitry Volkov was recorded by the historian Prince Mikhail Shcherbatov in his note "On the Damage of Morals in Russia":
“Peter the Third, in order to hide from Countess Elizaveta Romanovna (Vorontsova, Peter's favorite. - ML) that he would have fun with Novo-brought (Elena Stepanovna Choglokova, later Princess Kurakina), told Volkov in her presence that he had this night with him to convey in the performance of an important matter known to them in the discussion of the improvement of the State. Night came, the Emperor went to have fun with Princess Kurakina, telling Volkov to write what noble legalization by tomorrow, and was locked in an empty room with a Danish dog. Volkov, not knowing either the reason or the intention of the Sovereign, did not know what to write about, but it was necessary to write. But as he was a quick-witted man, he remembered the frequent statements to the Emperor from Count Vorontsov about the liberties of the nobility, and he wrote a manifesto about this. In the morning he was released from prison, and the manifesto was tested and promulgated by the Emperor."
Medal "In commemoration of the accession of Empress Catherine to the throne"
In the manifesto of Catherine on the occasion of her accession to the throne, not a word was said about her husband's merits to the nobility, of course, but the deposed emperor was accused of the fact that “our Greek church was already extremely exposed to its last danger by the change of ancient Orthodoxy in Russia and the adoption of a different faith”. Why is the Lutheran Karl Peter Ulrich, re-baptized, like his insidious wife, into Orthodoxy, quite openly, however, neglecting church rituals, but at the same time immediately after accession stopped the persecution of the Old Believers begun a century ago, under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, could seriously threaten Greek Church”, except for the secularization of monastic lands? In addition, the secularization was calmly continued and successfully completed by his merry widow.
Is it not this hanging question that explains the appearance, five years later, of a new medal, in the creation of which the monarch had already taken a direct part - "In commemoration of the accession of Empress Catherine to the throne." Medalist John Georg Wächter depicted Catherine on the obverse as Minerva, wearing a helmet and cuirass. An owl on a helmet, symbolizing wisdom, was supposed to demonstrate the onset of the era of enlightened absolutism.
A familiar inscription was launched around the circle:
“B. M. EKATERINA II IMPERAT AND SELF-SUPPORT. Vseros.
But on the reverse side, which captures the moment of presenting the crown to Catherine II by Russia in the image of a kneeling woman supported by Saint George (he is easily recognizable by his unchanging spear), there are no more absurd words about the salvation of faith. The replica, as it were, comes from the figure of Providence soaring in the clouds. Pointing to the seated Catherine, Providence addresses Russia:
"SEE YOUR SALVATION."
The medal was issued in large circulation. Some copies, inserted into elegant snuff-boxes, were presented as a gift to the main participants in the coup of 1762, others were used for a long time as a gift to foreigners. The value of the medal, which would not seem to be such a great rarity, is such that the amount paid for it by collectors at British auctions now ranges from 40 to 50 thousand pounds.
Since the creation of the commemorative coronation medal, that is, since 1767, one can speak of the empress's serious hobby for small plastics. Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is the unique collection of glyptics acquired by Catherine from the heirs of the Duke of Orleans and which is the most precious pearl of our already rich masterpieces of the Hermitage.
Somewhat less well-known is another large enterprise of the empress, in which only local forces were involved. By her decree in 1772, Medal Committees were formed initially to create "a history medal from the time of the Emperor Peter the Great". The idea was borrowed from the Academie des inscriptions, established under Louis XIV to invent medals for the events of his reign, but far surpassed the French both in the scope of historical retrospection and in the quality of execution - since that time Russian medals have been valued as works of art far beyond the borders of Russia.
Great imperial crown
The committees are a real state institution, whose task was to prepare for the publication of an album with drawings of old and newly designed medals with historical commentaries to them, as well as minting new products at the Mint. The leadership included the aforementioned Prince Mikhail Shcherbatov, a man of versatile talent, Andrei Nartov, historian and translator, Mikhail Kheraskov, the greatest Russian poet of his time (at least judging on the literary scale by the gigantic volume of his poem "Rossiada"), Jacob Shtelin, an engraver and medalist, as well as a specialist in the fireworks fashionable at that time, and some other remarkable persons.
An album containing 128 drawings of medals (of which 82 were original projects) was prepared two years later, but it remained unpublished (the medals were not produced either), since all the creative forces were eventually transferred to other historical series, including those created according to the projects of the empress herself.
Medal "Vladimir Monomakh"
One of them, to work on which all the best Russian carvers of that time were attracted, including the aforementioned Yudin and Ivanov, was a miniature portrait gallery of Russian princes, starting with the legendary Gostomysl, and the tsars. It is based on Mikhail Lomonosov's “Short Russian Chronicler” and a series of portraits in jasper carved by the Nuremberg master Johann Christoph Dorsch. Each medal has a typical design: on the obverse there is a portrait of a prince or a tsar, his name and title. The legend on the reverse - an indication from the "Chronicler" about how the grand ducal or royal throne was inherited, and the main events of the reign are also listed here. Here is a common example - the Vladimir Monomakh medal.
On the obverse:
"VEL. KN. VLADIMIR VSEVOLODOVICH MONOMAKH "; on the reverse:
“BY ALL REQUEST OF VILLAGES ON VEL. THE PRINCE OF KIEV 1114 G. WEDDING IS A CZAR AND ITSELF. OWNER ALL-RUSSIAN FOR 11 YEARS. LIVED 72 YEARS.
These medal textbooks on Russian history, clearly demonstrating the official Lomonosov idea of the advantages for Russia of autocratic rule, in which our great scientist saw the guarantee of the bliss and prosperity of the homeland, continued to be published throughout the reign of Catherine until her death in 1796. But even later, after the death of each of the monarchs up to Nicholas I, the series was supplemented by their personalized medals. It was completed by the production of three missing medals already today - "Alexander II", "Alexander III" and "Nicholas II".
The St. Petersburg Mint also managed to strike 94 medals dedicated to individual events of the times of Rurik, Oleg, Svyatoslav and Yaropolk (in general, the Notes on Russian History, composed by Ekaterina, contain projects of more than 200 medals). It was not without historical curiosities associated with Catherine's free interpretation of Russian history.
So, on the reverse of the medal "For the victory of Svyatoslav and Olga in the land of the Drevlyansky" is depicted not flaming Iskorosten, set on fire by the cunning and vengeful Olga with the help of innocent sparrows, as the "Tale of Bygone Years" tells us, but, on the contrary, is given the picture is completely peaceful: the princess and her son calmly survey the fields and dwellings of the Drevlyans spread across the river.
Summing up the preliminary result, we can say that the Russian medal art of Catherine's era reached the European level and partially surpassed it. It is no coincidence that the first collectors of Russian medals appeared at that time, among whom was the outstanding sculptor Etienne Falcone, whose name in itself is an indicator of a high artistic level.
Twice, in 1767 and 1790, the richest and most varied collections of silver and bronze medals, now kept in the Florentine Bargello Museum, were sent from St. Petersburg to Vienna as a gift to the Austrian imperial house. And in the library of the University of Edinburgh to this day there are 178 Russian medals donated by the closest associate of Catherine II, Princess Catherine Dashkova.
