Catherine the Great (1729–1796)

Catherine II, known as Catherine the Great (1729–1796), was empress of Russia from 1762. She consolidated Russian rule within the empire and expanded its frontiers. Catherine is considered a representative of enlightened absolutism. The esteem in which contemporaries held her is reflected in the caption "O dea certe" ("O goddess surely"), Virgil, Aeneid I, 328.

J. Miller, Catherine II, Czarine of Russia, engraving, date unknown. Source: Wellcome Library, London, http://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0011250.html, Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0 Deed), http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.