Lending

"In the Russian Style" is a remarkable book. The genuinely stunning content refocuses on the extravagance and grandeur of Tsarist Russia, Faberge, Palaces, and fur-piled Troikas. My most personal memory is that the Editor's position was the first 9-5 job Mrs.Onassis had taken after relocating to NYC from Washington, DC. At that time, she began to re-enter the public forum from which she had removed herself after all the tragedies that she and her family had to endure. ( )

Imperial Russia emerged as a Great Power 1700-1900. The six sovereigns of the period were exuberant on a scale that surpasses "extravagance". Edited by Onassis with attention to the lives of women of all classes, although the subject tends to the achievements and transgressions of the lords. Many quotations and materials drawn from literature, artists, writers. Abundant photographs, être en noir et blanc, with descriptions.

Mme de Stael is quoted, noting: "The boldness, the imagination of the Russians knows no bounds; with them everything is colossal rather than proportionate; daring rather than deliberate; and if the target is not hit, it is because it has been overshot."

Onassis collected this material from public and private collections, and her research included visits to the great museums and palaces while the Soviet Union was still in power.