Art and Handcraft in the Woman's Building
of the World's Columbian Exposition

IN THE WOMAN’S BUILDING. 249 event, they must be mentioned on account of the influence they had on their surroundings. In the beginning of the sixteenth century the handsome and intelligent Helen Glinsky was known for the power she had over her husband, Grand Duke Vassili, father of Jolin IV. A liappy period in tlie reign of this cruel monarch, surnamed “ The Terrible,” is due to the influence of Anastasia Romanovna, one of his seven wives. His son Theodor s wife, Jrina Godounova, was extolled by all foreign travelers and ambassadors who came to Moscow, for lier charms and beauty and her wise and loving dealings with her husband, who lacked strength both in mind and body. In the second half of the seventeenth century, the family of the boyar Artamon Matveieff was one of the most cultivated in Moscow. In this house Tsar Alexis (the second of the present reigning- family of Romanoffs), who was a widowsi at this time, met the young Nathalie Kirilovna Narishkine, liis hosts ward. The handsome girl captivated the sovereign’s heart, became liis wife, and mother of Peter the Great. By his first wife Alexis had a daughter who was certainly one of the most remarkable figures of her time. She was intelligent and devoted to literature, encouraged dramatic art, and composed some tragedies, which unfortunately are lost. During the minority of her*brothers, John and Peter, the Princess Sophia ruled the king- dom in their name. Foreign, ambassadors who were received in state at the Muscovite court were strongly impressed by the sight øf two royal boys sitting’ on a, doublG-ssated. tin one, and obeying’ the whisper of a female voice coming from behind a curtain. Her political wisdom and popularity among the people and the army were such that Peter, at a later period, considered her of such dan- gerous importance that slie was captured, relegated to a monastery, and forced to take the veil. The first years of the last century mark the turning-point in our women’s social life. Among" the inno\ ations that 1 etci the Great imposed on the society of the newly rising St. Petersburg were the so-called “ assemblies, or evening paities, held at court, where ladies were obliged to be present, much. to the annoyance of the grumbling partisans of “ olden times.” After Peter the Great's death, in 1725, his widow, Oatliaiin© I., was th© flist of a series of women who sat on tli© imperial throne, intei itipted only b\ the short reigns of Peter II. and Peter III. These empresses were Ann, Duchess of Cotirland, Peter the Great’s niece; Elizabeth, his daughter; and lastly, Catharine II. the Great.