Grigory Potemkin - Personality and Reputation

Personality and Reputation

Potemkin "exuded both menace and welcome"; he was arrogant, demanding of his courtiers and very changeable in his moods but also fascinating, warm and kind. It was generally agreed among his female companions that he was "amply endowed with 'sex appeal'". Louis Philippe, comte de Ségur described him as "colossal like Russia", "an inconceivable mixture of grandeur and pettiness, laziness and activity, bravery and timidity, ambition and insouciance". The internal contrast was evident throughout his life: he frequented both church and numerous orgies, for example. In Ségur's view, onlookers had a tendency to unjustly attribute to Catherine alone the successes of the period and to Potemkin the failures. An eccentric workaholic, Potemkin was vain and a great lover of jewelry (a taste he did not always remember to pay for), but he disliked sycophancy and was sensitive about his appearance, particularly his lost eye. He only agreed to having portraits made of him twice, in 1784 and again in 1791, both times by Johann Baptist von Lampi and from an angle which disguised his injury.

Potemkin was also an intellectual. The Prince of Ligne noted that Potemkin had "natural abilities an excellent memory". He was interested in history and generally knowledgeable. Potemkin loved the classical music of the period, as well as opera. He liked all food, both peasant and fine; particular favorites included roast beef and potatoes, and his anglophilia meant that English gardens were prepared wherever he went. A practical politician, his political ideas were "quintessentially Russian", and he believed in the superiority of the Tsarist autocracy (he once described the French revolutionaries as "a pack of madmen"). Potemkin's habits included biting his nails, to the point where he developed hangnail. One evening, at the height of his power, Potemkin declared to his dinner guests:

Everything I have ever wanted, I have... I wanted high rank, I have it; I wanted medals, I have them; I loved gambling, I have lost vast sums; I liked giving parties, I've given magnificent ones; I enjoy building houses, I've raised palaces; I liked buying estates, I have many; I adore diamonds and beautiful things – no individual in Europe owns rarer or more exquisite stones. In a word, all my passions have been sated. I am entirely happy!

Ultimately Potemkin proved a controversial figure. Criticisms include "laziness, corruption, debauchery, indecision, extravagance, falsification, military incompetence and disinformation on a vast scale" but supporters hold that only "the sybaritism and extravagance... are truly justified", stressing Potemkin's "intelligence, force of personality, spectacular vision, courage, generosity and great achievements". Though not a military genius, he was "seriously able" in military matters. Potemkin's contemporary Ségur was quick to criticise, writing that "nobody thought out a plan more swiftly, carried it out more slowly and abandoned it more easily". Another contemporary, the Scotsman Sir John Sinclair, added that Potemkin had "great abilities" but was ultimately a "worthless and dangerous character". Russian opponents such as Semyon Vorontsov agreed: the Prince had "lots of intelligence, intrigue and credit" but lacked "knowledge, application and virtue".