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Angelo Nonni (fl. late 18th century)
Descrizione degli spettacoli, e feste datesi in Venezia [Description of the Spectacles and Festivities Given in
Venice]
Venice: V. Formaleoni, 1782
NYPL, Spencer Collection
In an attempt to allay her Prussophile son’s anger
over Russia’s broken alliance with Prussia, Catherine
the Great sent the Grand Duke Paul and his wife to tour
France and the northern Italian lands controlled by Russia’s
new ally, the Habsburgs. In January 1782, the visitors – traveling
anonymously as the “Count and Countess of the North” – were
honored with a grand spectacle in Venice’s Piazza
San Marco, complete with festival carriages. The trip
provided the tsarevich and his cultivated consort an
opportunity to acquire many fine and decorative art objects
for his palaces.
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