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Bartolomeo Rastrelli, architect: biography, work. Smolny Cathedral, Winter Palace, Stroganov Palace
Architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli is the creator of many delightful, beautiful structures. Its palaces and cult buildings amaze with its solemnity and grandeur, pride and royalty. And this is not surprising. After all, Bartolomeo Rastrelli, whose biography interests many modern amateurs of architecture, created and created for the emperors.
Briefly about childhood
Born Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli in Paris, in the family of the talented and famous Italian sculptor Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli. This happened in the distant 1700, when France was ruled by Louis XIV. The king greatly valued his court sculptor, so the childhood of little Francesco passed in contentment and carelessness.
The boy grew very inquisitive and diligent. He liked to do something with his own hands, liked to imitate his father and hone his skills.
Moving to Russia
After the death of the "King of the Sun", Carlo Rastrelli received an invitation from the Russian court for a three-year work in the Northern Kingdom. At that time it was usual for talented masters to go to work in Russia, so Rastrelli Sr., without thinking twice, gathered his family and went to St. Petersburg.
The capital welcomed the foreigners favorably. The family settled in their own house, enjoyed respect and honor. Peter I, busy with the arrangement of the new city, treated the talented artisans graciously and attentively. He, seeing their skill and skill, supplied specialists with orders, followed by a good, truly royal reward.
Beginning of creativity
From a young age, Bartolomeo Rastrelli engaged in serious architectural work under the guidance and supervision of his father. For example, he participated in the completion of some of the palaces of Prince Menshikov - the energetic and power-hungry companion of Emperor Peter.
The first relatively independent work of Bartolomeo Rastrelli (by the way, in Russia the young architect was called Bartholomew Varfolomeyevich) was the construction of a three-story palace made of natural stone for the most brilliant prince, statesman and scholar Dmitry Kantemir.
The architect did not endow his first construction with some distinctive features and properties. No, the palace was built in accordance with the generally recognized style of Peter I, it was inherent in the volume completeness, clarity of the divisions and flatness of the facades. His own style Rastrelli will choose a little later.
In 1720, the novice architect made several trips to France and Italy several times to get acquainted with the new fashion trends and trends in the building arts.
Political coup
In the early 1930s, at the dawn of the reign of Anna Ioannovna, Rastrelli the father decided to establish relations with the new empress and went to her to an audience, taking with him his son and sketching drafts.
The young queen, inclined to pomposity and sophistication, favorably received the talented architects and had the honor to work on the construction of her own palace. So the young architect had the opportunity to excel in front of the empress. All his projects were approved and implemented.
Winter Palace
With the coming to power of Anna Ioannovna, the gifted architect begins the work of his whole life - he is instructed to complete the main royal palace in St. Petersburg. What does Bartolomeo Rastrelli do? The Winter Palace, built in the early 1700s, seemed small and ordinary to the Empress, so she happily approved the grand design of the inspired architect, according to which it was necessary to buy out four neighboring houses and erect a magnificent building complex in their place.
In a few years the construction was completed, and before the eyes of the citizens of St. Petersburg was a solid four-story building, facing its facades on the Neva and containing almost seventy ceremonial halls and more than a hundred bedrooms, as well as a theater, a gallery, a chapel and many office and guard rooms.
The palace was skilfully and richly decorated, had round rustic columns and sculptures of the pediment, and the whole first floor of the house was occupied by huge galleries with arches.
It is noteworthy that Rastrelli had to re-do the Winter Palace. It happened twenty years later, in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna.
The new empress found the main residence of the Romanovs dirty and not corresponding to their status. She wanted to increase the building in height and length. To do this, it was necessary to demolish the building, and in its place to build a new, more appropriate for receiving foreign ministers and holding festive celebrations.
What is remarkable about the structure of the new Winter Palace, erected under the supervision of Bartolomeo Rastrelli? The building numbered one and a half thousand rooms and occupied an area equal to sixty thousand cubic meters.
The palace, which has the form of a huge rectangle, had an internal parade block and a massive, beautifully decorated facade, which was equipped with widely spaced columns and spacious windows, all kinds of window frames and numerous vases and statues placed above the parapets.
It is noteworthy that the modern view of the Winter Palace, also called the Hermitage, almost completely corresponds to the last project of the great architect.
Architect for Biron
In 1730, Bartolomeo Rastrelli began to closely associate with Biron - a favorite of Anna Ioannovna. Under the protection of the uncrowned emperor, the architect becomes the royal architect of the incumbent empress. By the way, Elizaveta Petrovna, fifteen years later, came to power with the help of the palace coup, also used the services of Rastrelli as an ober-architect.
For Biron, the architect designs and implements projects for the construction of the Mitava and Rundale palaces. Here the master creates large-scale buildings, gravitating toward a closed structure, where the dominant element is an elongated central building.
With each new drawing, Bartolomeo Rastrelli's art develops and improves, lines and techniques become more plastic and more bold.
Work on restructuring. Anichkov Palace
With the arrival of the next bishop, the talented architect began to receive interesting and amazing orders, one of which was the end of construction on the embankment of the Fontanka River, started by the architect Zemtsov.
Work on restructuring. Peterhof
The next order of Rastrelli was the reorganization of Peterhof.
Elizabeth Petrovna wholeheartedly wanted to improve and enrich the residence of her deceased father. To do this, she ordered to preserve the appearance of the building in the style of Peter and the atmosphere of that time, but ordered to give the building a modern grandeur and scale.
Bartolomeo Rastrelli succeeded in expanding and modifying the palace complex, leaving his expressive central building practically unchanged. On each side he built the buildings and erected new pavilions, combining them with colorful galleries, and also built the third floor and developed a picturesque park system.
The most effective element of the Peterhof interior is a square parade hall with a two-colored staircase, decorated with luxurious finishes.
Here everything is present - expensive gilding of objects and elegant painting of walls, as well as stucco molding, woodcarving and forging.
Work on restructuring. Tsarskoe Selo
Another important building project that needed to be remodeled was the summer royal residence in Tsarskoe Selo. Her Empress considered too old-fashioned and small.
What changes needed to be made in order to improve the Catherine Palace? Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, in order to satisfy the desires of the Empress, performs perestroika in the style of the Russian Baroque, sparing neither money nor any other means. The decoration of facades and statues takes more than one hundred kilograms of gold.
In the process of reorganization, the architect moved the front staircase to the south-west side of the palace, exposing the length of the parade halls adjoining one another; Deepened the cavities of the windows, forming a rich play of light and shade; Decorated the facades with stucco and sculpture, decorating them in a soft blue and rich gold color. All this gave the beloved Empress's palace a festive solemn appearance and a rich emotional expression.
New projects
However, the architectural works of Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli did not just restructure other people's projects. The architect created his own talented and original drawings, along which he built luxurious and solemn buildings. One of such structures was the Smolny Cathedral. Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli executed it in the magnificent and pretentious style of the Elizabethan baroque, adorned with luccarnas and pediments and painted in a soft light blue color.
The complex of the cult building was executed in an unusual and special way. The cathedral is five-domed, but only one dome (having the largest size) directly refers to the temple, the four others are bell towers.
Another talented creation of the architect is the Stroganov Palace. Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli combined three buildings into one common facade, in the center of which he installed a portico with the coat of arms, and also carried out a large front staircase decorated with rich stucco molding and gilded forged rails, and a spacious gallery decorated with gilded sculpture and huge mirrors.
Inside the building there was a grand hall with an area of one hundred and twenty-eight square meters.
Sunset creativity
With the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, the pompous and expensive baroque style has sunk into oblivion, and therefore Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli was out of work. He was succeeded by new masters more knowledgeable in contemporary art. Having no orders and experiencing financial difficulties, the aging architect decides to ask for a vacation and goes to Italy, supposedly for treatment.
Here the architect is intensively looking for customers, but he does not succeed. In parallel, the talented Rastrelli learns that Empress Catherine uses the services of another architect. So the great Italian gets a sad resignation and a decent pension of a thousand rubles.
Together with his family (the architect had a beloved wife and two children) Rastrelli left Russia. On the way, he meets his former patron Biron and goes to his home, in order to rebuild and improve the Courland property of the former regent of the Russian Empire.
It is said that the last work of a talented master was the project of the Church of St. Simeon and St. Anne, which was presented to a gifted craftsman personally by Count Panin with a request for a reward of twelve thousand rubles. However, the count did not deem it necessary to respond to the application of Rastrelli, although he built the church in accordance with the drawings after the death of the architect.
Last days
The last years before his death, the great architect spent in oblivion and loneliness. World art no longer required his new creations, no one asked him about new projects and buildings. Sadly and dejectedly passed his days a talented master. Particularly sad was his existence after the death of his wife.
Historians and art critics do not know the exact date of Rastrelli's demise to the end. Presumably, he died in March-April 1771. The place of his burial is still unknown.
However, after him remained a huge, priceless and luxurious heritage - his great creations, passed through centuries and tribulations. They still cause admiration and delight from tourists from all over the world.
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