Catherine I of Russia

This tapestry is a near copy of a painting by Jean-Marc Nattier dated 1717. Nattier made a portrait of Catherine I of Russia (1683-1727) and one of her husband, Peter the Great, during a stay in Amsterdam. Both paintings are in the Hermitage Museum. In this portrait Catherine I wears the order of Saint Catherine, given to her by her husband at the time of her marriage in 1714.

In 1716, Peter the Great visited the Royal Tapestry Manufactory (The Gobelins Manufactory) in Paris, and recruited several experienced weavers from both Gobelins and Beauvais. Peter founded the Imperial Tapestry Manufactory in St. Petersburg the following year.

The tapestry remained in the Russian royal collection until 1929.

Provenance

Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object.

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia; Princess Olga Valerianovna Paley, 1919, by bequest; Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 6 June, 1929, lot 151 [1]; Alexandre Polovtsoff, 1929, by purchase; Henry Walters by purchase; Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, 1931, by bequest.

[1] "Collection of French Furniture, Objects of Art, and Porcelain formed by her Highness Princess Paley (Widow of the Grand Duke Paul of Russia, Uncle of the late Czar) removed from the Paley Palace, Tsarkoye Selo ... Thursday, June 6, 1929 and the Following Day"