Alexander Lanskoy

[6] Sarah Jaques notes that "Lanskoy had grown up at court as a playmate and schoolmate of Catherine's children—Grand Duke Paul and Alexei Bobrinsky, her son with Gregory Orlov.

[10] Lanskoy's male relatives, which consisted of "his cousins Stepan and Paul, were [promoted] to ensign rank in the Preobrazhensky Guards" with Potemkin's approval, while his sisters, Elizaveta, Advot'ia and Varvara, the first of which was given a house at Saint Petersburg, were appointed maids of honor, married high-ranking husbands at ceremonies in court[3][9] and later "became ladies-of-the-bedchamber.

[16] At age 22,[d] Lanskoy had requested his transfer to a provincial garrison since he "lacked sufficient funds to keep pace with his brother officers" and doing so would entail lower expenses.

[6] After undergoing "a doctor's check and an evening with her new eprouveuse [tester of male capacity], Anna Protasova," and being thirty years her junior, he became Catherine's favorite.

"[8] However, Marie Daniel Bourrée, Baron de Corberon, the French chargé d'affaires in Russia, wrote in September 1780, "'[h]e has just been bought [by Catherine] a library for 10,000 roubles, which he certainly will not read.

[4][29][30][31] He "began to wield great influence in court"[32] and that same year, Jason Smogorzewski appealed fruitlessly to Lanskoy to intercede with Catherine to name a successor to the Ruthenian Catholic Archeparchy of Polotsk–Vitebsk.

"[34] When Catherine wrote to her son Paul and his wife when they both were travelling Western Europe between 1781 and 1782, she made no mention of Lanskoy being with her and her grandsons, even though he was present constantly.

[36] On August 31, 1782, Lanskoy accompanied Catherine, Potemkin and Anna Protasova en route to visit a sick Ivan Betskoy and stopped at the recently unveiled Bronze Horseman.

[37] Later that December, both Lanskoy and Catherine were sick themselves "[having] come down with nasty colds," however, they received the recently elected Marshal of the Nobility of Moscow, Pyotr Sheremetev, and with Potemkin "and a handful [of other] of the empress's intimates [sat] up till late in the evening playing cards, chatting, and reminiscing about the old days.

[42] On the initial occasion, which might have been at Catherine's prompting, Lanskoy tried unsuccessfully to persuade Golitsyn's wife and Sophia's mother on Bentham's behalf by explaining that "the Empress thought they did wrong to oppose the young Countess's inclinations."

[3] Catherine described his convalescence to Grimm, informing him that it "put him in bed for several days, but from which he is completely recovered, although his chest was bruised and he was spitting blood, but thanks to his excellent constitution, he doesn't seem to feel it anymore.

"[49] This coincided with the illness of another friend, Alexander Mihkhailovich Golitsyn, and the birth of her first granddaughter, Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia, the combination of which she considered a bad omen.

This also carried itself onto other's actions, as Potemkin, who was forced to "[delay] his final orders to Suvorov" to develop a Russian presence in Persia, nonetheless, it was cut back and a smaller expedition sent later on.

""[30][52] By March 1782, Harris thought that Lanskoy would not last as favorite, and would be removed,[53] taking as evidence the purchase of a house for him and "the preparation of the usual magnificent leave-taking presents",[54] however, this did not come to be,[53] as it was Catherine's wish that the relationship continue until her death.

[57][56] Additionally, Rounding considers that his delirious request that horses be harnessed to his bed couple with his alleged use of aphrodisiacs, contributed to rumours of Catherine's own death.

[60] Catherine grieved by "[taking] refuge in her apartments, disappearing from public view for months, until she emerged, with Prince Potemkin's help, in September," during which time government activity had ceased.

Then the body was taken "'with due honour' to [Charles] Cameron's new cathedral on the morning of Thursday[,] 27 June and immediately interred in the neighbouring cemetery following a funeral service [which Catherine did not attend][11] conducted by Metropolitan Gavriil.

"[71] There was an additional rumour that the pallbearers died as a consequence of the stench, however, Sebag Montefiore gives credit to Dashkova's allegations of belly bursting since "unburied corpses do tend to swell in the heat.

"[64] In his introduction, Dixon mentions that "[c]orrections to generally accepted dates are largely silent, except where they significantly revise our understanding of the course of events" which included not only Lanskoy's funerals but Empress Elizabeth's as well.

"[77] Additionally, Catherine had a plaque, with Lanskoy's gilded coat of arms above, an inscription that read "What great pleasure for noble souls to see virtue and merit crowned by praise form all", and "a large version of Lebrecht's medal"[75] at the bottom added to an already existing monument on the grounds of the Catherine Park in Tsarkoye Selo, which though originally intended as "an allegory "of virtues and merits" unconnected with any particular person", nonetheless came to be identified with Lanskoy as time progressed.

A malignant fever, joined with the quinsy, carried him off in five days to his grave, and my chambers, formerly so pleasant to me, have become a vacant cavern in which I can scarcely even drift like a shadow.

A sore throat and a raging fever overcame me on the eve of his death.After Lanskoy's death, Catherine "immersed herself in work on her universal etymological dictionary,"[65] which would eventually be published in 1787 under the title Linguarum totius orbis vocabularia comparativa.

[105] Though Lanskoy did not live to see it, his promtping of Catherine "to use native stones from the Urals and Siberia for new gems" led to the establishment of grinding workshops "for cameo arts" at Yekaterinburg and Kolyvan.

"[92] After Lanskoy's death, under Catherine's orders, "the splendid parquet floors from his St. Petersburg residence reinstalled in her new Agate Pavilion [not to be confused with the Amber Room] at Tsarskoe Selo.

He became an ideal companion, accompanying her to concerts and the theater, sitting quietly and listening as she talked, even helping her to design new gardens at Tsarskoe Selo.Alexander Bezborodko, described him as "not of good character,"[17] however, he did recognize him as "compared to the others, he was an angel.

"[8] For her part, Rounding describes him in a manner combining both Massie and Dixon's portrayals:[7] Though by all accounts Alexander Lanskoy was not particularly distinguished or gifted, he made the ideal companion for Catherine at this time [early 1780s], for he was eminently teachable – keen to learn and able to absorb information and what one might term "cultivation' very quickly...He undoubtedly brought her much happiness and stability.

[124] Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov, a contemporary Russian courtier and collector just like Catherine and Lanskoy, authored The Morning of the Curiosity Lover, a direct critique at obsessive collecting portrayed by a Count in the Hermitage.

[130] In Tomoyoshi Murayama's puppet play A Nero in skirts (1927) a character by the name of Semyon Mikhailowitsch Lanskoi[k] is a "flag bearer of the Simbirsk regiment, [who is later promoted to] captain" and is forced to become Catherine's favourite.

"[132] In Andreï Makine's novel A Woman Loved (2013), traces the journey that his protagonist, Russian screenwriter Oleg Erdman, embarks upon to produce a film based on Catherine's life.

""[133] Ivan Korsak describes a fictional Lanskoy in his novel-essay The Last Lover of the Empress as "[f]air[,] husky with clumsy manners and modesty of a teenage girl.