XTER DECADES OF NEGLECT and disparagement, in the postSoviet era there has been a resurgence of court history concerning Russia. Renewed vitality is reflected in a plethora of publications and in 'blockbuster' international exhibitions, with elaborate catalogues concentrating on the Romanov dynasty and its more renowned representatives. 1 The reputation of Catherine the Great provides a case in point. Denigrated by Soviet scholarship for three quarters of a century, she has now regained favour in Russia. Her cultural patronage was celebrated by a large exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg in 1993 (and earlier in Memphis, Los Angeles, and Dallas); by international scholarly conferences in 1996 on the bicentenary of her death; and by another big exhibition in Moscow at the State Tretiakov Gallery, linked to the city's 850th anniversary in 1997.2 Russian scholars have published both serious and popular works about her and her predecessors, although these have not focused upon the court as an institution or cultural centre.3 Anglo-American