The architectural heritage of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Bartolomeo Rastrelli, architect: biography, works

02.11.2019

100 great architects Samin Dmitry

FRANCESCO BARTOLOMEO RASTELLI (1700-1771)

FRANCESCO BARTOLOMEO RASTELLI

Among the glorious cohort of architects who created the unique appearance of St. Petersburg, a special place is occupied by the Italian Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, or, as he was also called in the Russian manner, Bartholomew Varfolomeevich. He lived a long and certainly interesting life. He spent forty-eight years in Russia. Arriving in St. Petersburg as a young man, a student of his father, Rastrelli achieved all the honors possible for an architect, and died retired and in modest prosperity.

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was born in Paris in 1700 in the family of the famous architect and sculptor Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli and a Spanish noblewoman. Things were not going very well for Bartolomeo Carlo, there were few orders, so at the end of 1715 he gladly accepted an offer from the Russian ambassador to go to Russia for three years to serve Peter I. Already in February 1716, Carlo Rastrelli arrived in St. Petersburg with a sixteen-year-old son - his closest assistant. Francesco Bartolomeo found himself in his youth at a huge construction site of the new Russian capital, which was growing with amazing speed on the islands of the Neva delta. Rastrelli never saw anything like this grandiose construction either in his homeland or in other countries. Western Europe, and nowhere in the world at that time was there any construction even remotely similar in scale and boldness of design to the development of St. Petersburg.

The first order that Bartolomeo Carlo receives is the arrangement of the Strelna manor, the creation there of a magnificent park with canals and water cascades. The father instructs his son Francesco to make a model for the future ensemble. Thus began the creative path of the future great architect on Russian soil.

The young architect’s first independent work in St. Petersburg was the construction from 1721 to 1727 of a palace on Millionnaya Street for the Moldavian ruler Antioch Cantemir. As researchers of Francesco’s work note, this was still student work. Nevertheless, the student’s talent was felt in the arrangement of the volumes. Between 1727 and 1730, Rastrelli created a project for a stone Palace with a garden for Prince Ivan Dolgoruky and a project for a new Arsenal building in Moscow. In 1730, Rastrelli began building a wooden palace in the Moscow Kremlin, which was later moved to a new royal residence on the banks of the Yauza.

The development of the architect's talent was facilitated not only by his dedication and passion for work both in the workshop and on the construction site, but also by communication with truly great architects. Zemtsov, Trezzini, as well as Gaetano Claveri, who later became famous for his creations in Dresden at the Royal Court of Augustus, often visited the house of Rastrelli Sr. on First Beregovaya Street.

Rastrelli's talent as a skilled architect truly revealed itself during the reign of Anna Ioannovna. Rastrelli received his first order from the all-powerful favorite of the Empress Biron in the spring of 1732: to build a spacious and comfortable arena on the vacant lot between Nevsky and Bolshaya Morskaya. He successfully copes with this task. In the autumn of 1734, Biron again called upon the architect to entrust him with the construction of a castle in Courland in Ruenthal. The day the foundation of the palace was laid - May 24, 1736 - became a holiday for the architect.

Acquaintance with the drawings according to which the construction of the palace was carried out does not reveal that the young Rastrelli directly borrowed the techniques and methods of architects of the older generation. This is a feature of Rastrelli’s talent, who, perceiving other people’s discoveries with his ardent imagination, created his own creation, unlike anything else and unique.

But, as experts in Rastrelli’s work note, the Ruenthal Palace is still the creation of a student, but a student becoming a master: future magnificent solutions are visible in the details and strokes.

After the coup of 1740, which was carried out by Minich in favor of Anna Leopoldovna, mother of John VI, Rastrelli was ordered to stop all work in Courland and urgently report to St. Petersburg. Minich, who had now become the first minister, received the architect kindly and instructed him to build the Russian Versailles in the Summer Garden for the new ruler Anna Leopoldovna. Rastrelli realized that the court needed a talented architect just as much as an experienced, good jeweler or singer.

At the end of February 1741, Rastrelli prepared a project for the new Summer Palace, and in June of the same year, its foundation stone took place in a solemn ceremony.

In November 1741, another palace coup took place, which brought the daughter of Peter I, Elizaveta Petrovna, to the royal throne. At first, the new reign for Rastrelli did not bode well. For the first two months, no one remembered him. Then he was demanded to explain why he was listed as chief architect. In addition to all the troubles, a verbal order followed: not to give any orders to the Italian. Zemtsov, who knew Rastrelli well and tried in every possible way to attract him to work, began to run all architectural affairs.

Two years passed in such uncertainty. Since Elizaveta Petrovna longed to have her own luxurious palaces, she was forced to turn to Rastrelli. In the spring of 1744, she instructs him to complete the construction and interior decoration of the Summer Palace, and a few months later - to continue the construction of the Anichkov Palace, begun by Zemtsov. In addition, the Empress adds another three hundred rubles to his salary, and now it amounts to one and a half thousand rubles.

This is how Elizaveta Petrovna appreciated the architect’s merits for the creation of the Summer Palace - the Empress’s first own house, built specifically for her. Unfortunately, this Summer Palace stood only until 1797, when Paul I ordered the construction of the Mikhailovsky Castle on the site of the Summer Palace.

Rastrelli was very demanding of himself in his work and demanded the same from his assistants. Rastrelli apparently did not have much pity for people. The living conditions and family circumstances of the assistants were of little concern to the chief architect. The only criterion is the speed, clarity and quality of execution of the assigned work. The ambitious, selfish and hot-tempered chief architect was probably not so easy to work with. One could expect scandals and mutual insults, but the Italian’s endless play of imagination, talent, and love of life attracted and captivated him. To this day, not a single complaint from architects against Rastrelli has been found in the archives, not a single investigation into a squabble or quarrel. This means that they worked in agreement, enthusiastically, helping and even creatively enriching each other.

And he quarreled with officials, with court servants. Frantic, angry, offensive. I couldn't stand clerical slackers. Being extremely active, he could simultaneously conduct several cases in parallel.

Here, for example, is a list of Rastrelli’s works for 1748 - the project and drawings for the decoration of the premises of the Peterhof Palace, the development of the project for the Smolny Monastery, the construction of a palace in the village of Perovo near Moscow, the project for the construction of St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kiev, the completion of the construction of the Anichkov Palace, the design for the decoration of its chambers, furniture, the design of the iconostasis of the Transfiguration Cathedral in St. Petersburg, decorations for banquet tables of festive imperial dinners, the construction of a large palace for Marshal Shepelev.

Sometimes such workload led Rastrelli to some miscalculations. In particular, Rastrelli’s unsuccessful decisions during the construction of the Kyiv temple in honor of St. Andrew the First-Called (1744-1752) are known. Researchers believe that Rastrelli's St. Andrew's Church is a search for a solution, an idea for a future cathedral, then embodied in the Smolny Monastery.

In 1749, Elizaveta Petrovna issued a decree on the construction of the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg and entrusted it to Rastrelli. The most significant part of the Smolny Monastery ensemble is the cathedral. Rastrelli implemented the plan of the cathedral in the form of a square with projections on two opposite sides - eastern (altar) and western ( main entrance). The interior space of the cathedral is divided very clearly, it is easily visible, there are no unexpected illusory-spatial effects in it, which the architects of Italian temple buildings of the Baroque era were so fond of resorting to. It can be argued in this sense that the plan of the Smolny Cathedral bears the stamp of the realistic thinking of its author, who gravitated towards clear and precise constructions, always shunning the techniques of illusion, spatial “deception” of the viewer. However, the movement that fills Rastrelli’s composition differs significantly from the notorious “dynamism” of the temple buildings of the Italian Baroque.

Rastrelli did not have to finish the cathedral building: in 1757 construction (started in 1748) was suspended due to the Seven Years' War. Despite the incompleteness of construction, the Smolny Monastery, not only in concept, but also in execution, remains one of Rastrelli’s most significant and integral works, one of the remarkable architectural ensembles of the 18th century.

Another significant work of Rastrelli in the field of religious architecture is the rotunda of the Cathedral of the Resurrection Monastery near Moscow (“New Jerusalem”). Having preserved the general compositional scheme of the old cathedral in the form of a rotunda of three arcades placed one on top of the other and a high tent in the shape of a truncated cone, Rastrelli gave this building an extraordinary architectural originality. However, the most remarkable feature of the cathedral's architecture is the one-of-a-kind composition of the hipped roof. The huge cone is cut along its entire circumference by three tiers of frequently placed openings, brought out in the form of peculiar “dormer” windows, so that the entire outer surface of the high tent is entirely dotted with attic projections.

While working on the construction of the Smolny Monastery in December 1745, Rastrelli received a new order from Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to begin construction of the Upper Chambers in Peterhof.

After a trip to Peterhof and a thorough study of the condition of the palace, Rastrelli presented his project to the queen, which was approved in March 1746. But the architect himself was dissatisfied with this project, and after some time he invited the empress to build new stone outbuildings with galleries and domes. After dismantling the wooden buildings of the palace, it became clear that a complete reconstruction of the dilapidated palace was necessary.

It was then that Rastrelli’s idea was born - to dismantle the wings and galleries of the palace, built by N. Michetti, preserve the existing Peterhof ensemble, make the Peterhof Palace the center of the new building, build new galleries with two wings and erect two new buildings. Rastrelli's final project was approved on April 7, 1747.

The architect completed all major work on the reconstruction of the Great Peterhof Palace in three years. Rastrelli also completed interior decorative projects. This took another five years of work.

On June 15, 1752, Elizaveta Petrovna held a reception for the first time in the renovated Peterhof Palace. The courtiers and invited guests who attended were delighted with the external splendor and interior decoration of the palace.

For the construction of the palace in Peterhof, which the Empress, by the way, was very pleased with, Rastrelli did not receive any reward. Some researchers explain this by the machinations of Elizabeth Petrovna’s favorite Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov, the first minister. He is known to have been a fan of Rococo art. Maybe that’s why he commissioned S.I. to build his palace. Chevakinsky, although it was Rastrelli who built all the palaces for noble nobles. In addition, having created the Academy of Arts in 1757, Shuvalov did not order the chief architect to be admitted to its membership, which, of course, was somewhat strange.

But Peterhof Palace served as a preparation for a much more significant and integral work of the architect - the Great (Catherine) Palace of Tsarskoye Selo.

Rastrelli's work in Tsarskoe Selo began in 1748. Initially, they consisted mainly of alterations to the old palace. In 1752, Rastrelli began a new reconstruction of the entire building. The Catherine Palace of Tsarskoye Selo is one of the most grandiose palace compositions of the 18th century. In terms of its scale, the integrity of its spatial structure, the unity of façade motifs and interior decoration, and the unusual saturation of architectural forms with plasticity and color, this work by Rastrelli is a one-of-a-kind phenomenon.

The general plan of the Catherine Palace is based on the same type of gallery block as the basis of the palace in Peterhof, but here this block took on much larger dimensions. The principle of “regularity,” correctness, and clarity of architectural composition was clearly expressed in the strictly rectilinear plan of the Catherine Palace, in its simple and clear spatial scheme.

Rastrelli is very characteristic of the composition of the palace in the form of a single volume, without sharply highlighting individual parts of the building and its central axis. The rhythm of the facade is determined not so much by volumetric divisions as by the powerful relief of columns alternating with window openings. The facade walls of the galleries turn into a continuous colonnade, in which huge windows occupy almost the entire space between the columns. This combination of transparency with massiveness, this combination of a wall permeated with light with a wall protruding in the form of a powerful base and columns of a colossal order is a characteristic feature of the composition of the Catherine Palace.

In my own way interior decoration The Catherine Palace was undoubtedly one of the most remarkable palace buildings in the world.

A remarkable architectural monument, the creation of Rastrelli’s hands is Winter Palace. The palace had predecessors: two wooden and four stone. It is absolutely known that Rastrelli built the fifth Winter Palace together with his father.

On February 16, 1753, Elizaveta Petrovna issued a decree on the construction of a new Winter Palace. However, more than a year passed before the fourth project of the Winter Palace was finally approved. Rastrelli had to put a lot of effort, spend time and nerves to convince the queen to build not just a palace, but to create an ensemble in which the palace, although the main one, was still part of this ensemble. According to Rastrelli's plan, the Winter Palace is being built on Palace Meadow. The square in front of the palace will be surrounded by a gallery with a wide gap opposite it.

In July 1754, Elizaveta Petrovna issued a personal decree on the start of construction, while the Empress expected a period of two years. The chief architect himself, taking into account all factors, realistically estimates the construction to take five years. This is how it actually happened. In the autumn of 1759, the palace building was just put under the roof. Exterior finishing has begun. Sketches of simple decorations were prepared by the chief architect’s assistants, and more complex ones by Rastrelli himself.

By this time, Rastrelli was overcome by illness. The years have taken their toll. At the end of 1760, the chief architect also suffered setbacks. The construction of Gostiny Dvor, which began according to his design in 1758, was suddenly stopped. Formally, this was explained by a shortage of workers. After all, the construction of both the Winter Palace and the Smolny Monastery was underway at the same time. The real reason was the merchants’ rejection of Rastrelli’s project. They did not need a haven for wise men and philosophers, as it turned out according to Rastrelli, but a convenient, practical place for trade. Soon, on May 25, 1761, Shuvalov achieved the signing of a decree on the construction of Gostiny Dvor according to the Wallen-Delamot project.

For Rastrelli it was a heavy blow. For the first time in many years, his art was so openly neglected. The first, but quite formidable signal of the future resignation of the chief architect sounded. Rastrelli did not notice how public opinion and tastes at court began to be shaped by new people who had a low opinion of the Baroque style.

On December 25, 1761, Elizaveta Petrovna died without ever moving to the Winter Palace. The new Emperor Peter III ordered the palace to be quickly finished military-style by April 6, 1762. Surprisingly, in such a short period of time they managed to finish about a hundred rooms, a theater, a church and a gallery.

Not a single European palace of that time can equal the Winter Palace in terms of impressiveness and grandeur. The palace is the pinnacle of the Russian Baroque of the mid-18th century, its completion and the beginning of the end. It was in the Winter Palace that Rastrelli perfected the compositional and architectural techniques that he had used in all previous years. The use of numerous columns, powerful pediments, complicated platbands - everything contributes to the creation of a three-dimensional space and saturates the facade with such dynamic force that its further injection threatens to become static. At the same time, the Winter Palace is geometrically clear in its plan. And all its four facades, external and courtyard, are designed in a single architectural manner. And in this combination of a given rigor and dynamics pumped to the limit, a certain inconsistency is felt, a hidden and, perhaps, not fully realized struggle of the new artistic worldview with Baroque traditions, which the chief architect could not overcome.

Paradoxical as it may seem, it was Peter III who was the only one of all the sovereigns and empresses under whom Rastrelli worked who awarded the architect for his work. He awarded Rastrelli the rank of major general and the Order of St. Anne. This was the last favor of fortune for the Italian.

On June 28, 1762, Catherine II came to power. From that time on, clouds began to gather over Rastrelli's head. They stopped giving him orders, believing that his Baroque style had become unfashionable. The chief architect asked to be given leave, and on August 10, 1762, Catherine II signed a corresponding decree. Rastrelli and his family go to his homeland, Italy. A year later he returns with the secret hope that he will return to work again. But during his absence the situation worsened. Rastrelli learns, in particular, that the architect Wallen-Delamot is remodeling the inner chambers of the Winter Palace. He submits his resignation. On October 23, 1763, Catherine II decided to dismiss the chief architect Francesco Bartolomeo de Rastrelli and assign him a pension of one thousand rubles a year.

In 1764, Rastrelli went to Mitava, the capital of Courland, to his old patron and well-wisher Ernst Johann Biron to complete and decorate the palace he had once begun. He worked for almost a year in Mitau and Ruenthal. But soon the son of Ernst Johann Biron, Peter, who now managed all affairs, made it clear that he wanted to take on the young architect. This meant nothing more than a polite refusal of Rastrelli's services. He, however, at the same time tried to offer his services to the Prussian King Frederick II. However, Rastrelli's baroque palaces were not part of the plans of the practical king, who was only interested in finance, politics and military affairs. On February 13, 1767, Rastrelli's wife died. He lived with her for over thirty years. In February 1769, Rastrelli again went to Italy with a commercial goal - to buy paintings by Italian painters there in order to then resell them in St. Petersburg. At least in this way he could afford to exist for some time without worrying about his daily bread. There is no news of how successful this commercial action was, but something else is known - Rastrelli’s request to be accepted as a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts was granted on January 9, 1771. Seventy-nine days later, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli died.

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The formation and development of secular sculpture in Russia is associated with the work of Rastrelli Sr. Rastrelli Jr. left a rich architectural heritage.

Thanks to the sculptor Carlo Rastrelli, new types of sculpture appeared for Russian art: an equestrian monument, sculptural groups. Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli had no sculptor students; only Russian apprentices worked with him and learned from him. But he did have one student - his son, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli.

Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1675-1744)

Italian sculptor Carlo Rastrelli worked in the Baroque style. He was also a metal foundry worker and a trained architect. He lived and worked in Rome, but at the invitation of Peter I in 1716 he arrived in Russia to cast cannons, as well as for artwork to decorate the new Russian capital. And he stayed in Russia forever. Soon after his arrival in St. Petersburg, Rastrelli began work on the first monument in Russia - the equestrian sculpture of Peter I. But this monument took a very long time to be created, several decades, and in the meantime Carlo Rastrelli took up sculpture. And the first work was a bust of A. D. Menshikov in bronze.

Carlo Rastrelli. Bust of A.D. Menshikov (1716-1717). State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)
HELL. Menshikov- an associate of Peter I. This portrait, kept by Menshikov’s descendants, was seen by the artist V.I. Surikov. In his painting “Menshikov in Berezovo” he borrowed many of Menshikov’s characteristic features from this portrait of Rastrelli.

The bust of Peter I by B. K. Rastrelli is one of the most significant works of Russian sculpture of the 18th century. The character of Peter I is clearly visible in it: intelligence, energy, will. The work is considered completely reliable, because Rastrelli used a wax cast of Peter's face, taken in 1719. The bust was cast in 1723, but only 6 years later the engraver Semange completed work on chasing the details of the clothing.

Carlo Rastrelli. Bronze bust of Peter I. State Hermitage Museum (St. Petersburg)

By 1747, the bronze equestrian monument of Peter I in front of the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg was finally completed, although the sculptor Carlo Rastrelli made a model of the monument during the life of Peter I. For about 50 years, different places for installing the monument were considered. And all this time he himself remained under a wooden canopy near the Trinity Bridge.
The monument was finally erected on a pedestal only in 1800. The pedestal was made according to a drawing by the Russian architect Fyodor Volkov. The granite pedestal is lined with Olonets marble in white, pink and greenish shades and decorated with two bronze bas-reliefs: “Battle of Poltava” and “Battle of Gangut”, as well as an allegorical composition with trophies. The bas-reliefs were executed by sculptors I. I. Terebenev, V. I. Demut-Malinovsky, I. E. Moiseev under the direction of M. I. Kozlovsky. By order of Emperor Paul I, the inscription “For great-grandfather - great-grandson” was made on the pedestal.

Carlo Rastrelli. Monument to Peter the Great near Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg
Another wonderful work by Carlo Rastrelli is a group sculpture.

Carlo Rastrelli “Anna Ioannovna with a Little Little Arab” (1741). State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg)
In 1741-3174. Rastrelli made ceremonial medallions with chest-length portraits of Emperor Peter I and his daughter, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. Initially they were cast in tin, but later they were often replicated in bronze, cast iron and painted papier-mâché.

Carlo Rastrelli. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna (1740s). Tin. Moscow Kremlin Museums
But, as we remember, Rastrelli Sr. was an architect by training. He participated in the design of the Strelninsky Palace for Peter the Great. They had already begun to dig canals and plant trees under his leadership in the park, but the architect J.-B. arrived in Russia. Leblond with his project, and the tsar liked his project better, so further work was carried out without Rastrelli’s participation. The French architect and master of landscape architecture Jean-Baptiste Leblond was the chief architect of St. Petersburg from 1716 until his death in 1719.

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771)

Lucas Conrad Pfandzelt. Portrait of Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli
Francesco Rastrelli is a Russian architect of Italian origin, academician of architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1771). The most prominent representative of the so-called Elizabethan Baroque. He is the author of the most famous monuments Petersburg and its environs. Art critics believe that Rastrelli Jr. owes his successful career to his father. Francesco Rastrelli built the Winter Palace, Smolny Cathedral, and the Great Palaces in Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo. Francesco's son Bartolomeo Rastrelli (Joseph Yakov) died of cholera very young, and the creative Rastrelli dynasty was interrupted.
So, Francesco received his initial professional education under the guidance of his father, then traveled to Europe several times to study. His first early works were not distinguished by originality and were in line with Peter the Great's Baroque. In the early 1740s, Francesco Rastrelli became the chief architect of Empress Anna Ioannovna, and then of her successor Elizabeth. He is looking for his own style: he travels to Moscow twice and gets acquainted with traditional Russian architecture.
The period of the architect's creative heyday began with the construction of a wooden summer palace for Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg (not preserved). From 1747 to 1752 he worked on the Great Palace in Peterhof.

Grand Palace (Peterhof)

The central part of the southern facade of the palace. Architect Francesco Rastrelli

The building was almost completely destroyed during the Second World War and restored in 1952. The palace has approximately 30 rooms, including richly decorated state rooms, plastered to resemble marble, with painted ceilings, inlaid parquet and gilded walls.

Main staircase. Allegories of Summer and Spring
The dance hall was created in 1751-1752. and completely preserved Rastrelli's plan. The abundance of mirrors creates the effect of multiplied space.

Dance hall

The decoration is dominated by gilded wood carvings. The ornamental pattern of inlaid parquet made of maple, walnut, light and dark oak complements the interior.

Picture hall
In 1747, Rastrelli created a sketch of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv. The cathedral was built by Russian architect I.F. Michurin.

St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv
In 1752-1757 Francesco Rastrelli rebuilt the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkin)

Winter Palace

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Winter Palace
This palace building (the fifth) was designed and built in 1754-1762. Francesco Rastrelli in the Elizabethan Baroque style with elements of French Rococo in the interiors. Since Soviet times, the main exhibition of the State Hermitage has been housed within the walls of the palace.
The building has about 1,500 rooms. The total area of the palace is about 60,000 m². Elizaveta Petrovna did not live to see the completion of construction, which was accepted by Peter III in 1762. By this time, the finishing of the facades was completed, but many interior spaces weren't ready yet. In the summer of 1762, Peter III was overthrown from the throne, and the construction of the Winter Palace was completed under Catherine II. She removed Rastrelli from his work. The interior decoration of the palace was carried out by the architects Yu. M. Felten, J. B. Vallin-Delamot and A. Rinaldi under the direction of I. I. Betsky, Catherine's personal secretary.

Smolny Monastery

The Smolny Monastery was built under the personal supervision of Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, who wished to retire here at the end of her life. The project was created by Francesco Rastrelli.
The monastery complex was to include a temple with house churches and a high bell tower, as well as an institute for girls from noble families.
In 1764, Catherine II established an institute for noble maidens at the monastery.
The outbreak of war with Prussia prevented construction - there were not enough funds. Construction progressed slowly. In 1797 the monastery was abolished. The cathedral of the former monastery was completed by the architect Vasily Stasov only in 1835.
On October 24, 1763, by imperial decree, Francesco Rastrelli was dismissed “due to old age and poor health.” At the beginning of August 1764, he and his family left St. Petersburg.
The date of death and burial place of Rastrelli are unknown. There is an assumption that he died in Courland, in Mitau (now Jelgava), and was buried next to his wife Maria near the Reformed Church. His grave was destroyed during World War II.
According to the design of Francesco Rastrelli, the Mitava (or Jelgava) Palace, the largest baroque palace in the Baltic states, was built in Mitau. It was built as a ceremonial city residence of the Dukes of Courland and Semigallia in their capital Mitau.

Mitava (Jelgava) Palace
The Mitavsky Palace is not considered one of Rastrelli’s artistic successes due to the monotony of the facade design, the absence of a palace park, etc.
Since 1961, the building has housed the Latvian University of Agriculture.

The architect Francesco Rastrelli was also an outstanding civil engineer. He understood perfectly well how it was necessary to erect buildings on soft soils in the conditions of St. Petersburg.
In the religious buildings of B.F. Rastrelli combined elements of European Baroque, which he acquired in his youth during trips to Europe, with Russian architectural traditions.
In total, 12 Rastrelli buildings have survived: Rundāle Palace (present-day Latvia), Mitavsky Palace, Great Peterhof Palace and the Church of the Great Peterhof Palace, St. Andrew's Church (Kyiv), Smolny Cathedral (St. Petersburg), Vorontsov Palace(St. Petersburg), Grand Catherine Palace, Grotto Pavilion (Tsarskoe Selo), Hermitage Pavilion (Tsarskoe Selo), Royal Palace(Kyiv), Stroganov Palace (St. Petersburg), Winter Palace.

Vorontsov Palace. Architect Francesco Rastrelli (Baroque style)
Unfortunately, for various reasons, not all of Carlo Rastrelli’s works have survived: 6 buildings have been lost.

I'm thinking about what to come back here with. There are now ten photo travelers per megabyte, so everyone has long been gorging themselves on travel reports. I offer those who are a little more interested in architecture a new idea. Let's post architectural graphics here - projects, plans, measurements. There is clearly a lack of this material on Russian architecture on the Internet. Graphics have been published a lot, but not everyone has these particular books, or, better said, there are some, but not others. It would be nice to collect such an online collection of beautiful drawings. In concept, any architecture is always better than its implementation, it is more imaginative and more expensive. And then everything is as usual. depends on the budget. It makes sense to create a visual series of architectural graphics, which would include not only those buildings that have been built, but also those plans that remain on paper. Something here has often been posted on this topic, but in fragments or in addition to photographs of monuments or stories about their history. I propose to introduce a special genre of posts into the community - a selection of architectural graphics on any topic. It can be by author, it can be by building or complex. Or something else. Naturally, they will be shared in hundreds of shares, and that’s good. Let the Internet be filled with high-quality and in-demand content, otherwise there is not a fountain of such materials yet.

Let's start with Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771) . The main figure of the Russian Baroque, the court architect of two empresses, Anna Ioannovna and especially Elizabeth, for whom he built all her luxurious palaces. Rastrelli's drawings are now kept in various collections, and much has been published. Of the Russian collections, the largest are in the Museum of the History of St. Petersburg and the Hermitage. From foreign ones - in the People's Library in Warsaw and the Vienna Albertina. Scans of varying quality from literature about Rastrelli’s work and museum catalogues.

Graphics of the early period of the 1730s. Palace of the Duke of Courland Biron in Rundale, founded in 1736, completed and completed after the Duke returned from exile in 1762. The tower with passage to the inner courtyard was never built.

Plan of the entire palace and park ensemble in Rundale

Second Biron Palace(and in terms of status even the first) since 1738 it was built in the capital of Courland Mitava, present-day Jelgava. The palace was unlucky; it was never finished off with all its pomp, and what was there was repeatedly burned in fires. Now there is an agricultural academy there.

Further drawings wooden Summer Palace of Elizabeth, which was built in 1741-1744 and dismantled by order of Paul I to make way for his Mikhailovsky Castle (in which the emperor was killed).

Moscow Elizabeth Palace, also wooden, in Perov, which then belonged to the Empress’s favorite Alexei Razumovsky. The palace also has not existed for a long time.

Another Moscow imperial palace, in the village of Pokrovskoye. It has been preserved, although rebuilt beyond recognition as an almshouse, and is located on Gastello Street.

Srednerogatsky Palace of Elizabeth, on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, built in 1751-1754. Recently demolished. in 1971.

One of the early options for restructuring and expansion Great Peterhof Palace, 1746.

Below are design drawings for the reconstruction of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. 1749-1756.

And the last of the Elizabethan residences - Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, 1753-1762

Next are Rastrelli's interiors, mainly for the Winter and Catherine Palaces. In general, there are few Rastrelli interiors left, and most of those are restoration remodels after war destruction. In Winter, almost everything was redone under Catherine in classicism, and then burned down in a big fire in 1837 and was partially recreated by Stasov, such as the Jordan Staircase.

Rastrelli's stoves are like independent architectural forms, either church bell towers or park pavilions.

Triumphal niche for Elizabeth's throne.

Hermitage Pavilion in Tsarskoe Selo. 1748 Excellently preserved and recently restored.

The Grotto Pavilion is also for Tsarskoye Selo. 1749-1761. Preserved, but partially lost decoration

Monbijou hunting pavilion in Tsarskoye Selo. 1754, reconstruction of the original building of S.I. Chevakinsky. Then Adam Menelas rebuilt the pavilion again, resulting in it becoming the Arsenal on the edge of the park. Now abandoned, but still standing. First version of the project.

Second final version

Roller coaster in Tsarskoe Selo, built in 1754. Dismantled due to disrepair in 1795.

Orthodox Church in Mitau(Jelgava), rebuilt beyond recognition at the end of the 19th century

Recreation Project rotunda tent in New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow. The project was implemented under the leadership of Karl Blank. Destroyed during the war, it is now being rebuilt for the second time.

Smolny Voskresensky Novodevichy Convent In Petersburg. Laid down in 1748. An early project where the corner bell towers of the cathedral are widely spaced, and a completely different bell tower than the one that they ultimately decided to build. This project influenced the appearance of the bell tower of the cathedral complex in Kostroma, built by Vorotilov. And that, in turn, influenced the spread of the characteristic type of bell towers with a recognizable curved ending throughout the Kostroma province and neighboring Volga territories.

Plan for this project option

Side façade of the approved design option Smolny Cathedral. But during construction, they decided to connect the chapters together, which was done.

Section of the cathedral. You can see how Rastrelli intended the interior. His plan was never fully realized. Elizabeth died, and Catherine was not going to continue the costly construction in accordance with the project. The interior was made much more modest and in a different era, according to Stasov’s design.

Also, the tall 140-meter high Bell tower, the top of which transparently hinted at the bell tower of Ivan the Great in the Moscow Kremlin.

Among Rastrelli's projects there is such an original drawing churches triangular configuration. The project is close to similar designs for triangular churches (usually dedicated to the Holy Trinity), common in the Italian and German Baroque. It is unknown for which place this particular drawing was intended. It was never implemented.

Rastrelli’s plan was not fully realized either. Gostiny Dvor in St. Petersburg on Nevsky Prospekt, 1757. Due to cost savings, Elizabeth handed over the construction to J.B., who arrived from France. Vallin-Delamot, who greatly expanded Rastrelli's project, abandoning all the magnificent details of the Baroque. The drawing shows how Rastrelli wanted the clock tower above the central entrance to the building to look.

This is how he was, the chief architect of Her Majesty’s Court, Count Rastrelli of the Italian nation...

Rastrelli's projects included in the selection were published in books:
Denisov Yu, Petrov A. Architect Rastrelli. Materials for the study of creativity. L., 1963
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Architectural projects from the collection of the State Museum of History of St. Petersburg. Catalog. St. Petersburg, 2000
Three centuries of Russian estate. Painting, graphics, photography. Fine chronicle of the 17th - early 20th centuries. Album catalog. M., 2004
Empress Elizaveta Petrovna and Tsarskoe Selo. St. Petersburg, 2010
Lancmanis Imants. Jelgavas pils. 2006

Italian by origin, Rastrelli expressed Russian culture of the mid-18th century most fully and vividly in his work. Russian art owes its brilliant flourishing palace ensembles. Rastrelli transformed St. Petersburg from a port city and a fortified city into a city.

The splendor of the palace was supposed to reflect not only the splendor of the royal court, but also the glory of the empire. Rastrelli himself wrote about this second task: “The structure of the stone Winter Palace is being built for the sole glory of All-Russian glory” (1759).

Rastrelli created, in the full sense of the word, a national Russian style in architecture, which has no direct analogies in the West.
It is still unclear whether Rastrelli studied, and if so, where he studied. His father, a foundry worker and sculptor, gave his son the basics of an architectural education. Further, architectural historians disagree as to where he continued his education: in France, Italy or Germany. The dispute has not been resolved precisely because Rastrelli’s work shows the architect’s familiarity with all the architectural achievements of contemporary Europe. The main feature of Rastrelli's buildings is the combination of physicality in the understanding of volumes (typical of southern Germany) with the rigidity of rectilinear plans (reminiscent of French). Rococco appears in Rastrelli only in small architectural forms.

Rastrelli's first major work was the Third Winter Palace, built for Anna Ioannovna (1733 - 1736) - buildings forming a courtyard around it. This palace has not survived, oh appearance can only be judged by the engravings of M.I. Makhaeva.

The wooden Summer Palace was built by order of Anna Leopoldovna; During construction (1741-1744) a revolution took place, and Elizaveta Petrovna became its owner. It was huge palace complex, built under the influence of Versailles, with a wide, large park area with a large green area, baths. In the center there were swings, slides, and carousels. The structure of the latter is unusual: rotating benches were placed around a large tree, and a gazebo was hidden in the crown, into which one climbed up a spiral.

The palace was constantly being completed according to the wishes of the queen, who was very fond of the Summer Palace. The ensemble was built to, on the one hand, create the distance necessary for the palace, separating it from the noise of the city and from the “mean” people (according to the terminology of that time), and on the other, open the palace for receptions of the nobility and foreign ambassadors.

On September 20, 1754, the future Emperor Paul I was born within the walls of the palace. After the death of the queen, the palace was still used: the conclusion of peace with Prussia was celebrated here. In the throne room, Catherine II receives congratulations from foreign ambassadors on the occasion of her accession to the throne. However, over time, the owner begins to give preference to other summer residences, especially Tsarskoe Selo, and the building is falling into disrepair. First, he is given residence to G. Orlov, then to G. Potemkin. A catastrophic flood in September 1777 destroyed the fountain system of the Summer Garden. The fashion passed, and the water cannons were not restored, but the unnecessary Rastrelli was dismantled. By order of Paul I, in February 1796, “due to its disrepair” (the complex was less than 60 years old), the Elizabethan dwelling was demolished and the construction of Mikhailovsky (Engineering) began.

Rastrelli applies the same principle of estate composition in other buildings: in the Anichkov Palace, which he completed after the death of Zemtsov, in the Bestuzhev Palace on Stone Island(1743 - 1745), in the Vorontsov Palace (1746 - 1750). The Vorontsov Palace has been preserved, and it is possible to get an idea from it and the Peterhof Great Palace about the stucco decoration that Rastrelli used in the early and middle stages of his work. There is still no pomp of the Winter Palace here. Only the middle parts are covered, which emphasizes the pure decorativeness of the pediment. The pediment is given additional decorativeness, thanks to which the play of chiaroscuro is enriched.

In 1752, Elizaveta Petrovna commissioned Rastrelli to rebuild the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace (Great Catherine Palace), because she considered the existing building too cramped, and in four years a magnificent palace with a 325-meter height was built. Rastrelli ensured that the vertical and horizontal divisions of the façade were strongly protruding above the first floor and connecting the second floor with the upper one. For this palace, Rastrelli uses a lot of sculptural modeling, which the plaster adopted in St. Petersburg construction allowed him. supported by columns and framed, sculptural windows at the top, under the cornice, are intertwined into a continuous wave-forming ribbon. Initially, all sculptural decorations were gilded.

Rastrelli was characterized by the continuation of the old Russian tradition of two-color painting of buildings: most often he used azure, pale pistachio and pale orange tones for the walls. Gilding added additional splendor to the traditional two-tone coloring.

In the palace buildings, Rastrelli used all the same techniques as when decorating the palace buildings, with the only difference being that the role of cupids there was played by cherubs. richly decorated with twisted columns, broken pediments and many statues.

(1743-1754) of octagonal shape has survived to this day almost completely devoid of sculpture. The richest - bunches of columns with small ones, complex ones, sculpture - all this was designed to make the maximum impression on the beholder.
The Stroganov House and the Fourth Winter Palace are not, but urban buildings of a rectangular type with a courtyard. Unlike the Stroganov House, where there was enough plastic decoration of the facade, the huge building of the Winter Palace required more complex work.

The four facades of the Winter Palace are magnificent and majestic: Rastrelli did not forget that they should be visible from a great distance. To create a variety of stretched facades and at the same time subordinate them to a single center, Rastrelli collects columns in bunches, placing them through each window, and then places them through 2-3 windows. This creates a complex rhythm. Masks decorating

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RASTELLI, BARTOLOMEO FRANCESCO (Bartolomey Varfolomeevich) (Rastrelli, Bartolomeo Francesco) (1700–1771), architect, the largest representative of Baroque architecture in Russia.

Born in Paris, in the family of the Italian sculptor BARTOLOMEO CARLO RASTELLI.
In 1716, together with his father, who was invited to Russian service, he came to St. Petersburg. In 1725–1730 he studied abroad, most likely in Italy.

The young architect’s first independent work (before that he had completed a project for the park development of the Strelna manor entrusted to his father) was the house of the Moldavian ruler A. Cantemir in St. Petersburg (1721–1727). Appointed in 1730 as the court architect of Empress Anna Ivanovna, he designed for her a wooden palace on the banks of the Yauza (Annengof in Lefortovo; not preserved), as well as a new one, the so-called. third Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (1732–1736). In 1736–1740 he built palaces for Count Biron in Rundale (Ruentale) and Mitava (Jelgava) in Courland (now Latvia). The most significant among Rastrelli's early works was the wooden Summer Palace in St. Petersburg (main works 1741–1744), which was subsequently dismantled during the construction of the Engineering Castle.

Summer Palace of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in St. Petersburg. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli. 1742-1744

All these buildings are characterized by a very restrained baroque style with fairly flat facades and a moderate use of sculpture; Without departing too far from the architecture of Peter the Great's time in the sense of moderate decoration, Rastrelli at the same time preserves and even enhances (especially in the Summer Palace) its inherent spatial scope. His ability to think spatially and spatially, in a wide landscape, was facilitated by his gift as a graphic artist (Rastrelli’s drawings and sketches belong to the masterpieces of European architectural drawing of the 18th century).

Rundāle Palace is a baroque palace complex in Latvia. Built in the 1730s

Winter residence of the Duke of Kurzeme and Zemgale E.I. Biron in Mitava (modern Jelgava)

The highest flowering of the master's creativity comes in the middle of the century. In 1745–1757, he led the reconstruction of the royal residences in Peterhof (now Petrodvorets) and Tsarskoe Selo (now Pushkin). Having connected the previous buildings into integral ensembles, he unites them with a common rhythm using facades of enormous length and internal ceremonial enfilades, to which the entire layout is subordinated - according to the “gallery-block” principle. In Peterhof, the architect transformed and significantly enlarged the Grand Palace, re-creating almost the entire interior decoration. The Tsarskoe Selo Grand Palace, also practically created anew, is particularly grandiose and splendid; Baroque here reaches its utmost plastic splendor in the complex alternation of columns, window openings, sculptures and architectural decoration; A major role, which is generally typical for the master’s work, is played by the coloring of the walls (in this case, intense turquoise).

Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo

In all cases, the striking luxury of the interior design (with an abundance of mirrors, gilded carvings, decorative paintings, etc.) is combined with an extraordinary - and at the same time thoughtful - scale. Sophistication and scale merge together in the arrangement of the main entrances to buildings and park areas (in Tsarskoye Selo Park, Rastrelli, in particular, completed the Hermitage pavilion begun by S.I. Chevakinsky and built the Grotto). In 1754–1762, according to Rastrelli’s designs, a new Winter Palace was erected, which also amazes with the union of picturesque luxury of façade plasticity and general silhouette with the logical rigor of the layout, visibly subordinating the vast urban area.

Vorontsov Palace in St. Petersburg F.B. Rastrelli. 1749-1757

Among Rastrelli's other works are the Vorontsovsky (1749–1757) and Stroganovsky (1752–1754) palaces in St. Petersburg.

Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospekt, 19 in St. Petersburg

In addition to palace architecture, the master radically updated Russian church architecture: in 1747–1750 he created a project for recreating the collapsed tent of the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow (later decorating the interior of the cathedral with rich stucco decoration), as well as a project for St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Kyiv, which was built in 1748–1767 conducted by I.F. Michurin.

St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv

The largest of his church buildings, as well as his last great work, was the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg (1748–1764) with residential buildings and churches arranged in an ensemble around the central Resurrection Cathedral; the latter, like St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv, is centric in plan, combining Western Baroque innovations with traditional Russian five-domes.

Cathedral of the Smolny Monastery F.B. Rastrelli. 1748-1764

With the coming to power of Catherine II, the fashion for baroque went away, and the Smolny Monastery, although already established as an ensemble, remained unfinished (in particular, the giant bell tower planned by Rastrelli was not erected).

Design model of the Smolny Monastery. Master J. Lorenz. 1750-1756

Having ceased receiving orders, the master retired from the post of chief architect in 1763. In 1764 he decorated the Bironovsky palaces in Mitau and Ruenthal. In 1762 and 1767 he traveled to Italy in the hope of improving his affairs (including by exporting paintings by Italian artists for sale in Russia).

Rastrelli died in St. Petersburg in 1771.

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Architect F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Architect F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756. the Amber Room

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. 1752-1756. Western façade

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoye Selo Eastern facade. central part

East façade

Atlanta

Grotto (Morning Hall) in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli

Grotto (Morning Hall) From the south-east side

Hermitage in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. M.G. Zemtsov, S.I. Chevakinsky, F.B. Rastrelli. 1743-1753

Hermitage in Tsarskoe Selo. 1743-1753. View from the southeast side

Catherine (Grand) Palace 1752-1756. East façade

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756. Eastern façade. central part

Catherine (Great) Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. Arch. F.B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756. Entrance gate

View of the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoe Selo from the front courtyard and circumferences. Engraving by P.A. Artemyeva, E.T. Vnukov and N. Chelnakov from the original by M.I. Makhaeva. 1761