The Realm of Dobrada: The Legacies of Maria Fedorovna's Grand Tour in Pavlovsk Park

Abstract

The gardens surrounding Pavlovsk Palace just outside of St Petersburg at the turn of the nineteenth century were recognised by contemporaries as the most visually appealing in the Russian Empire. This status was largely due to the efforts of its patron from 1777 to 1828, Maria Fedorovna. During this period, she was daughter-in-law to Tsarina Catherine II, wife of Tsar Paul I, and mother to Tsars Alexander I and Nicolas I. Her tenuous status as a non-ruling monarch did not prevent her from achieving a position of significant power at the Russian court. This dissertation uncovers Maria Fedorovna’s ability to influence her immediate family, Russian nobility, bourgeoisie and foreign diplomats during this period, a time when Russia was at the centre of many European events. Maria Fedorovna's manipulation of Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I has been downplayed in history to date and the use of Pavlovsk Park as the main tool in achieving relevance and influence has been overlooked. Maria Fedorovna’s patronage of Pavlovsk was shaped by her biography, gifts, travel and financial arrangements. Catherine II’s presenting of Pavlovsk to the Grand Duke and Duchess upon the birth of their first son, Alexander, compounded with her later gift of Gatchina to the Grand Duke, meant that Pavlovsk became essentially the focus of Maria Fedorovna’s artistic activities. The experience of the Grand Tour taught the Grand Duchess the expressive power of garden design and provided her with a lifetime of ideas to implement in the Park. These travels also provided the impetus and opportunity for her to build networks with other plant collectors. In 1795 and 1814 Maria Fedorovna was the recipient of unprecedented diplomatic botanical gifts from Britain containing new plants, delivered fully grown and transplanted into glasshouses at Pavlovsk. The collections that she developed around these gifts contributed to her becoming a significant patron of botany. In 1801 Alexander I endowed his mother, the Dowager Empress with a generous yearly pension to spend on her garden and other needs. Maria Fedorovna took advantage of each of these opportunities to turn Pavlovsk into a place that combined aesthetic beauty with utility in dealing with powerful people. The Grand Tour was a major source of inspiration for her decisions of patronage and directions in design. Maria Fedorovna turned Pavlovsk into a memory device to recall her travels, however, when implementing the designs based on the Grand Tour she modified them to make them either more Russian or more appropriate for expressing her views. By implementing these ideas she was able to maintain her relevance at court by successfully appealing to people in power. Through Maria Fedorovna’s patronage, Pavlovsk Park acquired connotations of diplomatic success, morality, charity, and the autobiographical representation of one of the most dynamic and successful non-ruling monarchs of the Russian Empire.