Chapter “The Art of Russia. Architecture". Section "Art of the 18th century". General history of arts. Volume IV. Art of the 17th-18th centuries. Author: I.M. Schmidt; under the general editorship of Yu.D. Kolpinsky and E.I. Rotenberg (Moscow, Art State Publishing House, 1963)
The eighteenth century is the time of the remarkable flourishing of Russian architecture. Continuing; on the one hand, their national traditions, Russian masters during this period began to actively master the experience of contemporary Western European architecture, reworking its principles in relation to the specific historical needs and conditions of their country. They have enriched world architecture in many ways, introducing unique features into its development.
For Russian architecture of the 18th century. characteristic is the decisive predominance of secular architecture over religious architecture, the breadth of urban planning plans and decisions. A new capital was erected - Petersburg, as the state strengthened, the old cities expanded and rebuilt.
The decrees of Peter I contained specific instructions regarding architecture and construction. So, by his special order, it was ordered to display the facades of newly built buildings on the red line of streets, while in ancient Russian cities houses were often located in the back of courtyards, behind various outbuildings.
For a number of its stylistic features, Russian architecture of the first half of the 18th century. undoubtedly can be compared with the baroque style prevailing in Europe.
However, a direct analogy cannot be drawn here. Russian architecture - especially of Peter's time - had a much greater simplicity of forms than was characteristic of the late baroque style in the West. In its ideological content, it affirmed the patriotic ideas of the greatness of the Russian state.
One of the most remarkable buildings of the early 18th century is the Arsenal building in the Moscow Kremlin (1702-1736; architects Dmitry Ivanov, Mikhail Choglokov and Christophe Conrad). The large length of the building, the calm surface of the walls with sparsely spaced windows, and the solemnly monumental design of the main gate clearly testify to a new direction in architecture. Quite unique is the solution of the Arsenal's small paired windows, which have a semi-circular ending and huge external slopes like deep niches.
New trends also penetrated religious architecture. A striking example of this is the Church of the Archangel Gabriel, better known as the Menshikov Tower. It was built in 1704-1707. in Moscow, on the territory of the estate of A. D. Menshikov near Chistye Prudy, by the architect Ivan Petrovich Zarudny (died in 1727). Before the fire of 1723 (due to a lightning strike), the Menshikov Tower - like the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, which was built soon - was crowned with a high wooden spire, at the end of which there was a gilded copper figure of the archangel. In terms of height, this church surpassed the Ivan the Great Bell Tower in the Kremlin (The light, elongated dome of this church that exists now in a peculiar form was made already at the beginning of the 19th century. The restoration of the church dates back to 1780.).
The Menshikov Tower is a characteristic of Russian church architecture of the late 17th century. a composition of several tiers - "octagon" on the "four". At the same time, compared with the 17th century. new trends are clearly outlined here and new architectural techniques are used. Particularly bold and innovative was the use of a high spire in the church building, which was then so successfully used by St. Petersburg architects. Zarudny's appeal to the classical methods of the order system is characteristic. In particular, columns with Corinthian capitals, unusual for ancient Russian architecture, were introduced with great artistic tact. And already quite boldly - powerful volutes flanking the main entrance to the temple and giving it a special monumentality, originality and solemnity.
Zarudny also created wooden triumphal gates in Moscow - in honor of the Poltava victory (1709) and the conclusion of the Peace of Nystadt (1721). Since the time of Peter the Great, the erection of triumphal arches has become a frequent occurrence in the history of Russian architecture. Both wooden and permanent (stone) triumphal gates were usually richly decorated with sculpture. These buildings were monuments of the military glory of the Russian people and greatly contributed to the decorative design of the city.
With the greatest clarity and completeness, the new qualities of Russian architecture of the 18th century. appeared in the architecture of St. Petersburg. The new Russian capital was founded in 1703 and was built unusually quickly.
Petersburg is of particular interest from an architectural point of view. It is the only metropolitan city in Europe that originated entirely in the 18th century. In its appearance, not only the original trends, styles and individual talents of architects of the 18th century, but also the progressive principles of urban planning skills of that time, in particular planning, were clearly reflected. In addition to the brilliantly solved "three-beam" planning of the center of St. Petersburg, high urban planning manifested itself in the creation of complete ensembles, in the magnificent development of the embankments. The indissoluble architectural and artistic unity of the city and its waterways from the very beginning was one of the most important virtues and unique beauty of St. Petersburg. The composition of the architectural appearance of St. Petersburg in the first half of the 18th century. mainly associated with the activities of architects D. Trezzini, M. Zemtsov, I. Korobov and P. Eropkin.
Domenico Trezzini (c. 1670-1734) was one of those foreign architects who, having arrived in Russia at the invitation of Peter I, remained here for many years, or even until the end of their lives. The name Trezzini is associated with many buildings of early Petersburg; he owns "exemplary", that is, standard projects of residential buildings, palaces, temples, and various civil structures.
Trezzini did not work alone. A group of Russian architects worked with him, whose role in the creation of a number of structures was extremely responsible. The best and most significant creation of Trezzini is the famous Peter and Paul Cathedral, built in 1712-1733. The building is based on the plan of a three-aisled basilica. The most remarkable part of the cathedral is its bell tower directed upwards. Just like the Menshikov tower of Zarudny in its original form, the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral is crowned with a high spire, completed with the figure of an angel. The proud, light rise of the spire is prepared by all the proportions and architectural forms of the bell tower; a gradual transition from the bell tower itself to the “needle” of the cathedral was thought out. The bell tower of the Peter and Paul Cathedral was conceived and implemented as an architectural dominant in the ensemble of St. Petersburg under construction, as the personification of the greatness of the Russian state, which established its new capital on the shores of the Gulf of Finland.
In 1722-1733. another well-known Trezzini building is being created - the building of the Twelve Collegia. Strongly elongated, the building has twelve sections, each of which is designed as a relatively small but independent house with its own ceiling, pediment and entrance. Trezzini's favorite strict pilasters in this case are used to unite the two upper floors of the building and emphasize the measured, calm rhythm of the divisions of the facade. The proud, rapid rise of the bell tower of the Peter and Paul Fortress Cathedral and the calm length of the building of the Twelve Collegia - these beautiful architectural contrasts were created by Trezzini with the impeccable tact of an outstanding master.
Most of Trezzini's works are characterized by restraint and even rigor in the architectural design of buildings. This is especially noticeable next to the decorative splendor and rich design of the buildings of the mid-18th century.
The activities of Mikhail Grigoryevich Zemtsov (1686-1743), who initially worked for Trezzini and attracted the attention of Peter I with his talent, were diverse. Zemtsov, apparently, participated in all the major works of Trezzini. He completed the construction of the building of the Kunstkamera, begun by architects Georg Johann Mattarnovi and Gaetano Chiaveri, built the churches of Simeon and Anna, St. Isaac of Dalmatsky and a number of other buildings in St. Petersburg.
Peter I attached great importance to the regular development of the city. The well-known French architect Jean-Baptiste Leblon was invited to Russia to develop the master plan for St. Petersburg. However, the general plan of St. Petersburg drawn up by Leblon had a number of very significant shortcomings. The architect did not take into account the natural development of the city, and his plan was largely abstract. Leblon's project was only partially implemented in the planning of the streets of Vasilievsky Island. Russian architects made many significant adjustments to his layout of St. Petersburg.
A prominent urban planner of the early 18th century was the architect Pyotr Mikhailovich Eropkin (c. 1698-1740), who provided a remarkable solution for the three-beam layout of the Admiralty part of St. Petersburg (including Nevsky Prospekt). Carrying out a lot of work in the “Commission on the St. Petersburg Construction” formed in 1737, Eropkin was in charge of the development of other areas of the city. His work was cut short in the most tragic way. The architect was associated with the Volynsky group, which opposed Biron. Among other prominent members of this group, Yeropkin was arrested and in 1740 put to death.
Eropkin is known not only as an architect-practitioner, but also as a theorist. He translated the works of Palladio into Russian, and also began work on the scientific treatise "The Position of the Architectural Expedition". The last work, concerning the main issues of Russian architecture, was not completed by him; after his execution, this work was completed by Zemtsov and I.K. Korobov (1700-1747), the creator of the first stone building of the Admiralty. Topped with a tall thin spire, echoing the spire of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Admiralty Tower built by Korobov in 1732-1738 became one of the most important architectural landmarks of St. Petersburg.
Definition of the architectural style of the first half of the 18th century. usually causes a lot of controversy among researchers of Russian art. Indeed, the style of the first decades of the 18th century. was complex and often very contradictory. In its formation, the Western European Baroque style participated in a somewhat modified and more restrained form; influence of the Dutch architecture also affected. To one degree or another, the influence of the traditions of ancient Russian architecture also made itself felt. A distinctive feature of many of the first buildings in St. Petersburg was the harsh utility and simplicity of architectural forms. The unique originality of Russian architecture in the first decades of the 18th century. lies, however, not in the complex and sometimes contradictory interweaving of architectural styles, but, above all, in the urban scope, in the life-affirming power and grandeur of the buildings erected during this most important period for the Russian nation.
After the death of Peter I (1725), the extensive civil and industrial construction undertaken on his instructions fades into the background. A new period in the development of Russian architecture begins. The best forces of architects were now directed to palace construction, which had taken on an unusual scale. Since about the 1740s. a distinctly expressed style of Russian baroque is affirmed.
In the middle of the 18th century, the extensive activity of Bartholomew Varfolomeevich Rastrelli (1700-1771), the son of the famous sculptor K.-B. Rastrelli. Creativity Rastrelli-son entirely belongs to Russian art. His work reflected the increased power of the Russian Empire, the wealth of the highest court circles, which were the main customers of the magnificent palaces created by Rastrelli and the team led by him.
Of great importance was the activity of Rastrelli in the restructuring of the palace and park ensemble of Peterhof. The place for the palace and the vast garden and park ensemble, which later received the name Peterhof (now Peterhof), was planned in 1704 by Peter I himself. In 1714-1717. Monplaisir and the stone Peterhof Palace were built according to the designs of Andreas Schlüter. In the future, several architects were included in the work, including Jean Baptiste Leblon, the main author of the layout of the park and fountains of Peterhof, and I. Braunstein, the builder of the Marly and Hermitage pavilions.
From the very beginning, the Peterhof Ensemble was conceived as one of the world's largest ensembles of garden and park structures, sculpture and fountains, rivaling Versailles. Magnificent in its integrity, the idea united the Grand Cascade and the grandiose stairways framing it with the Big Grotto in the center and towering over the entire palace into one inseparable whole.
In this case, without touching on the complex issue of authorship and the history of construction, which was carried out after the sudden death of Leblon, it should be noted the installation in 1735 of the sculptural group “Samson tearing the mouth of a lion” (authorship has not been precisely established), which is central in terms of compositional role and ideological design, which completed the first stage of the creation of the largest of the regular park ensembles of the 18th century.
In the 1740s the second stage of construction in Peterhof began, when a grandiose reconstruction of the Great Peterhof Palace was undertaken by the architect Rastrelli. While retaining some restraint in the decision of the old Peterhof Palace, characteristic of the style of Peter the Great, Rastrelli nevertheless significantly strengthened its baroque decoration. This was especially pronounced in the design of the left wing with the church and the right wing (the so-called Corps under the coat of arms) newly attached to the palace. The final of the main stages in the construction of Peterhof dates back to the end of the 18th - the very beginning of the 19th century, when the architect A.N. Voronikhin and a whole galaxy of outstanding masters of Russian sculpture, including Kozlovsky, Martos, Shubin, Shchedrin, Prokofiev, were involved in the work.
In general, Rastrelli's first projects, dating back to the 1730s, are still largely close to the style of Peter the Great's time and do not amaze with that luxury.
and pomposity, which are manifested in his most famous creations - the Grand (Catherine) Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (now Pushkin), the Winter Palace and the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg.
Having started the creation of the Catherine Palace (1752-1756), Rastrelli did not build it entirely anew. In the composition of his grandiose building, he skillfully included the already existing palace buildings of the architects Kvasov and Chevakinsky. Rastrelli united these relatively small buildings, interconnected by one-story galleries, into one majestic building of the new palace, the facade of which reached three hundred meters in length. Low one-story galleries were built on and thereby raised to the total height of the horizontal divisions of the palace, the old side buildings were included in the new building as projecting risalits.
Both inside and outside, Rastrelli's Catherine Palace was notable for its exceptional richness of decorative design, inexhaustible invention and variety of motives. The roof of the palace was gilded, above the balustrade encircling it, there were sculptural (also gilded) figures and decorative compositions. The facade was decorated with mighty figures of Atlanteans and intricate stucco depicting garlands of flowers. The white color of the columns stood out clearly against the blue color of the walls of the building.
The interior space of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace was decided by Rastrelli along the longitudinal axis. The numerous halls of the palace intended for ceremonial receptions formed a solemn beautiful enfilade. The main color combination of interior decoration is gold and white. Abundant gold carvings, images of frolicking cupids, exquisite forms of cartouches and volutes - all this was reflected in the mirrors, and in the evenings, especially on the days of solemn receptions and ceremonies, it was brightly lit by countless candles (This rare beauty palace was barbarously plundered and set on fire by the Germans). -fascist troops during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945 Through the efforts of the masters of Soviet art, the Great Tsarskoye Selo Palace has now been restored as much as possible.).
In 1754-1762. Rastrelli is building another major building - the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, which became the basis of the future Palace Square ensemble.
In contrast to the strongly elongated Tsarskoye Selo Palace, the Winter Palace is designed in terms of a huge closed rectangle. The main entrance to the palace was at that time in the spacious inner front yard.
Given the location of the Winter Palace, Rastrelli designed the facades of the building differently. Thus, the façade facing south, onto the subsequently formed Palace Square, is designed with a strong plastic accentuation of the central part (where the main entrance to the courtyard is located). On the contrary, the façade of the Winter Palace, facing the Neva, is designed in a calmer rhythm of volumes and colonnades, thanks to which the length of the building is better perceived.
Rastrelli's activities were mainly aimed at creating palace structures. But in church architecture, he left an extremely valuable work - the project of the ensemble of the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg. The construction of the Smolny Monastery, begun in 1748, dragged on for many decades and was completed by the architect V.P. Stasov in the first third of the 19th century. In addition, such an important part of the entire ensemble as the nine-tiered bell tower of the cathedral was never completed. In the composition of the five-domed cathedral and a number of general principles for solving the ensemble of the monastery, Rastrelli directly proceeded from the traditions of ancient Russian architecture. At the same time, we see here the characteristic features of the architecture of the mid-18th century: the splendor of architectural forms, the inexhaustible richness of decor.
Among the outstanding creations of Rastrelli are the wonderful Stroganov Palace in St. Petersburg (1750-1754), St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kiev, the Resurrection Cathedral of the New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow, rebuilt according to his project, the wooden two-story Annenhof Palace in Moscow that has not survived to our time and others.
If Rastrelli's activity proceeded mainly in St. Petersburg, then another outstanding Russian architect, Korobov's student Dmitry Vasilievich Ukhtomsky (1719-1775), lived and worked in Moscow. Two remarkable monuments of Russian architecture of the mid-18th century are associated with his name: the bell tower of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra (1740-1770) and the stone Red Gate in Moscow (1753-1757).
By the nature of his work, Ukhtomsky is quite close to Rastrelli. Both the bell tower of the Lavra and the triumphal gates are rich in external design, monumental and festive. A valuable quality of Ukhtomsky is his desire to develop ensemble solutions. And although his most significant plans were not implemented (the project of the ensemble of the Invalid and Hospital Houses in Moscow), progressive trends in Ukhtomsky's work were picked up and developed by his great students - Bazhenov and Kazakov.
A prominent place in the architecture of this period was occupied by the work of Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky (1713-1774/80). A student and successor of Korobov, Chevakinsky participated in the development and implementation of a number of architectural projects in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoye Selo. Chevakinsky's talent was especially fully manifested in the Nikolsky Naval Cathedral he created (St. Petersburg, 1753 - 1762). The slender four-tiered bell tower of the cathedral is wonderfully designed, charming with its festive elegance and impeccable proportions.
Second half of the 18th century marks a new stage in the history of architecture. Like other types of art, Russian architecture testifies to the strengthening of the Russian state and the growth of culture, reflects a new, more sublime idea of \u200b\u200bman. The ideas of civic consciousness proclaimed by the Enlightenment, ideas of an ideal noble state built on reasonable principles, find a peculiar expression in the aesthetics of 18th century classicism, and are reflected in more and more clear, classically restrained forms of architecture.
Starting from the 18th century. and until the middle of the 19th century, Russian architecture occupies one of the leading places in world architecture. Moscow, St. Petersburg and a number of other cities in Russia are enriched at this time with first-class ensembles.
The formation of early Russian classicism in architecture is inextricably linked with the names of A. F. Kokorinov, Wallen Delamotte, A. Rinaldi, Yu. M. Felten.
Alexander Filippovich Kokorinov (1726-1772) was among the direct assistants of one of the most prominent Russian architects of the mid-18th century. Ukhtomsky. As the latest research shows, the young Kokorinov built the palace ensemble glorified by his contemporaries in Petrovsky-Razumovsky (1752-1753), which has survived to this day changed and rebuilt. From the point of view of the architectural style, this ensemble was undoubtedly close to the magnificent palace buildings of the mid-18th century, erected by Rastrelli and Ukhtomsky. New, foreshadowing the style of Russian classicism, was, in particular, the use of a stern Doric order in the design of the entrance gate of the Razumovsky Palace.
Around 1760, Kokorinov began many years of joint work with Wallen Delamotte (1729-1800), who arrived in Russia. Originally from France, Delamotte came from a family of renowned architects, Blondel. The name of Wallen Delamotte is associated with such significant buildings in St. Petersburg as the Great Gostiny Dvor (1761-1785), the plan of which was developed by Rastrelli, and the Small Hermitage (1764-1767). Delamotte's building, known as New Holland, is the building of the Admiralty warehouses, with a subtle harmony of architectural forms, solemnly majestic simplicity, where the arch of simple dark red brick with decorative use of white stone, thrown across the canal, attracts special attention.
Wallin Delamotte participated in the creation of one of the most distinctive buildings of the 18th century. - Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (1764-1788). The austere, monumental building of the Academy, built on Vasilyevsky Island, has become important in the city ensemble. The main façade overlooking the Neva is majestically and calmly resolved. The general design of this building testifies to the predominance of the style of early classicism over baroque elements.
The most striking plan of this building, which, apparently, was mainly developed by Kokorinov. Behind the outwardly calm facades of the building, which occupies an entire city block, hides the most complex internal system of educational, residential and utility rooms, stairs and corridors, courtyards and passages. Particularly noteworthy is the layout of the internal courtyards of the Academy, which included one huge round courtyard in the center and four smaller courtyards, having a rectangular plan, each of which has two rounded corners.
A building close to the art of early classicism is the Marble Palace (1768-1785). Its author was the Yan architect Antonio Rinaldi (c. 1710-1794), who was invited to Russia. In the earlier buildings of Rinaldi, the features of the late baroque and rococo style were clearly manifested (the latter is especially noticeable in the sophisticated decoration of the apartments of the Chinese Palace in Oranienbaum).
Along with large palace and park ensembles, manor architecture is gaining more and more development in Russia. Particularly lively construction of estates unfolded in the second half of the 18th century, when Peter III issued a decree on the release of the nobles from compulsory civil service. The Russian nobles, who dispersed to their ancestral and newly acquired estates, began to intensively build and improve, inviting the most prominent architects for this, and also widely using the labor of talented serf architects. Estate building reached its peak in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The master of early classicism was Yuri Matveyevich Felten (1730-1801), one of the creators of the wonderful Neva embankments associated with the implementation of urban development work in the 1760s-1770s. Closely connected with the ensemble of the Neva embankments is the construction of the Summer Garden lattice, striking in its nobility of its forms, in the design of which Felten participated. Of the structures of Felten, the building of the Old Hermitage should be mentioned.
In the second half of the 18th century lived and worked one of the greatest Russian architects - Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov (1738-1799). Bazhenov was born into the family of a sexton near Moscow, near Maloyaroslavets. At the age of fifteen, Bazhenov was in the artel of painters at the construction of one of the palaces, where the architect Ukhtomsky drew attention to him, who accepted the gifted young man into his "architectural team". After the organization of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, Bazhenov was sent there from Moscow, where he studied at the gymnasium at Moscow University. In 1760, Bazhenov traveled as a pensioner of the Academy abroad, to France and Italy. The outstanding natural talent of the young architect already in those years received high recognition, the twenty-eight-year-old Bazhenov came from abroad with the title of professor of the Roman Academy and the title of academician of the Florentine and Bologna Academies.
Bazhenov's exceptional talent as an architect, his great creative scope, were especially clearly manifested in the project of the Kremlin Palace in Moscow, on which he began to work in 1767, having actually conceived the creation of a new Kremlin ensemble.
According to Bazhenov's project, the Kremlin was to become, in the full sense of the word, the new center of the ancient Russian capital, moreover, most directly connected with the city. Based on this project, Bazhenov even intended to tear down part of the Kremlin wall from the side of the Moscow River and Red Square. Thus, the newly created ensemble of several squares in the Kremlin and, first of all, the new Kremlin Palace would no longer be separated from the city.
The facade of the Bazhenov Kremlin Palace was supposed to face the Moscow River, to which from above, from the Kremlin hill, solemn stairways, decorated with monumental and decorative sculpture, led.
The building of the palace was designed as four-story, with the first two floors having a service purpose, and the third and fourth floors were actually palace apartments with large double-height halls.
In the architectural solution of the Kremlin Palace, new squares, as well as the most significant interior spaces, an exceptionally large role was assigned to the colonnades (mainly of the Ionic and Corinthian orders). In particular, a whole system of colonnades surrounded the main of the squares designed by Bazhenov in the Kremlin. The architect intended to surround this square, which had an oval shape, with buildings with strongly protruding basement parts, forming, as it were, stepped stands for accommodating people.
Extensive preparatory work began; in a specially built house, a wonderful (preserved to this day) model of the future structure was made; carefully developed and designed by Bazhenov, the interior decoration and decoration of the palace ...
A cruel blow awaited the unsuspecting architect: as it turned out later, Catherine II was not going to complete this grandiose construction, it was started by her mainly with the aim of demonstrating the power and wealth of the state during the Russian-Turkish war. Already in 1775, the construction was completely stopped.
In subsequent years, the most important work of Bazhenov was the design and construction of an ensemble in Tsaritsyn near Moscow, which was supposed to be the summer residence of Catherine II. The ensemble in Tsaritsyn is a country estate with an asymmetric arrangement of buildings, executed in an original style, sometimes called “Russian Gothic”, but to a certain extent based on the use of motives of Russian architecture of the 17th century.
It is in the traditions of ancient Russian architecture that Bazhenov gives combinations of red brick walls of Tsaritsyno buildings with white stone details.
The surviving Bazhenov buildings in Tsaritsyn - the Opera House, the Figured Gate, the bridge across the road - give only a partial idea of the general plan. Bazhenov's project was not only not implemented, but even the palace, which he had almost completed, was rejected by the empress who arrived and, on her orders, was demolished.
Bazhenov paid tribute to the emerging pre-romantic tendencies in the project of the Mikhailovsky (Engineering) Castle, which, with some changes, was carried out by the architect V. F. Brenna. Built by order of Paul I in St. Petersburg, the Mikhailovsky Castle (1797-1800) was at that time a structure surrounded, like a fortress, by moats; drawbridges were thrown over them. The tectonic clarity of the general architectural design and, at the same time, the complexity of planning were combined here in a peculiar way.
In most of his projects and constructions, Bazhenov acted as the greatest master of early Russian classicism. A remarkable creation of Bazhenov is the Pashkov House in Moscow (now the old building of the State Library named after V. I. Lenin). This building was built in 1784-1787. A palace-type building, the Pashkov House (named after the name of the first owner) turned out to be so perfect that both from the point of view of the urban ensemble and for its high artistic merits, it took one of the first places among the monuments of Russian architecture.
The main entrance to the building was arranged from the side of the main courtyard, where there were several outbuildings of the palace-estate. Located on a hill rising from Mokhovaya Street, Pashkov's house faces the Kremlin with its main facade. The main architectural array of the palace is its central three-story building, crowned with a light belvedere. On both sides of the building there are two side two-story buildings. The central building of the Pashkov house is decorated with a Corinthian order colonnade that unites the second and third floors. The side pavilions have smooth Ionic columns. The subtle thoughtfulness of the overall composition and all the details gives this structure an extraordinary lightness and at the same time significance, monumentality. The true harmony of the whole, the elegance of the elaboration of details eloquently testify to the genius of its creator.
Another great Russian architect who worked at one time with Bazhenov was Matvei Fedorovich Kazakov (1738-1812). A native of Moscow, Kazakov, even more closely than Bazhenov, connected his creative activity with Moscow architecture. When he was thirteen years old in the school of Ukhtomsky, Kazakov learned the art of architecture in practice. He was neither at the Academy of Arts, nor abroad. From the first half of the 1760s. young Kazakov was already working in Tver, where a number of buildings, both residential and public, were built according to his design.
In 1767, Kazakov was invited by Bazhenov as his direct assistant to design the ensemble of the new Kremlin Palace.
One of the earliest and at the same time the most significant and famous buildings of Kazakov is the Senate building in Moscow (1776-1787). The Senate building (currently housing the Supreme Soviet of the USSR) is located inside the Kremlin near the Arsenal. Triangular in plan (with courtyards), one of its facades faces Red Square. The central compositional node of the building is the Senate Hall, which has a huge domed ceiling for that time, the diameter of which reaches almost 25 m. stucco.
The next well-known creation of Kazakov is the building of Moscow University (1786-1793). This time, Kazakov turned to the widespread plan of the city estate in the form of the letter P. In the center of the building there is an assembly hall in the form of a semi-rotunda with a domed ceiling. The original appearance of the university, built by Kazakov, differs significantly from the external design that D. I. Gilardi gave him, who restored the university after the fire of Moscow in 1812. Doric colonnade, reliefs and a pediment above the portico, aedicules on the ends of the side wings, etc. - all this was not in Kazakov's building. It looked taller and not as developed in front. The main facade of the university in the 18th century. had a more slender and light colonnade of the portico (Ionic order), the walls of the building were divided by blades and panels, the ends of the side wings of the building had Ionic porticos with four pilasters and a pediment.
Just like Bazhenov, Kazakov sometimes turned in his work to the traditions of the architecture of Ancient Rus', for example, in the Petrovsky Palace, built in 1775-1782. Pitcher-shaped columns, arches, window decorations, hanging weights, etc., together with red brick walls and white stone decorations, clearly echoed pre-Petrine architecture.
However, most of Kazakov's church buildings - the Church of Philip the Metropolitan, the Church of the Ascension on Gorokhovskaya Street (now Kazakova Street) in Moscow, the Baryshnikov Mausoleum Church (in the village of Nikolo-Pogorel, Smolensk Region) - were solved not so much in terms of ancient Russian churches, but in the spirit classically solemn secular buildings - the rotunda. A special place among the church buildings of Kazakov is occupied by the church of Cosmas and Damian in Moscow, which is peculiar in its plan.
Sculptural decoration plays an important role in Kazakov's works. A variety of stucco decorations, thematic bas-reliefs, round statues, etc., largely contributed to the high degree of decoration of buildings, their festive solemnity and monumentality. Interest in the synthesis of architecture and sculpture manifested itself in Kazakov's last significant building - the building of the Golitsyn Hospital (now the 1st City Hospital) in Moscow, the construction of which dates back to 1796-1801. Here Kazakov is already close to the architectural principles of classicism of the first third of the 19th century, as evidenced by the calm smooth surface of the wall planes, the composition of the building and its outbuildings stretched along the street, the rigor and restraint of the overall architectural design.
Kazakov made a great contribution to the development of manor architecture and the architecture of a city residential mansion. Such are the house in Petrovsky-Alabin (completed in 1785) and Gubin's beautiful house in Moscow (1790s), which are distinguished by their clear simplicity of composition.
One of the most gifted and illustrious masters of architecture of the second half of the 18th century was Ivan Yegorovich Staroy (1745-1808), whose name is associated with many buildings in St. Petersburg and the provinces. The largest work of Starov, if we talk about the buildings of the master that have come down to us, is the Tauride Palace, built in 1783-1789. In Petersburg.
Even Starov's contemporaries highly valued this palace as meeting the high requirements of genuine art - it is as simple and clear in its design as it is majestic and solemn. According to the decision of the interior, this is not only a residential palace-estate, but also a residence intended for ceremonial receptions, festivities and entertainment. The central part of the palace is highlighted by a dome and a six-columned Roman-Doric portico, located in the depths of the main courtyard, wide open to the outside. The significance of the central part of the building is set off by the low one-story side wings of the palace, the design of which, like the side buildings, is very strict. Solemnly resolved the interior of the palace. Granite and jasper columns located directly opposite the entrance make up the semblance of an internal triumphal arch. From the vestibule, those who entered entered the monumentally decorated domed hall of the palace, and then into the so-called Great Gallery with a solemn colonnade, consisting of thirty-six columns of the Ionic order, placed in two rows on both sides of the hall.
Even after repeated rebuildings and changes inside the Tauride Palace, made in subsequent times, the grandeur of the architect's plan leaves an indelible impression. In the early 1770s. Starov is appointed chief architect of the "Commission on the stone structure of St. Petersburg and Moscow." Under his leadership, planning projects for many Russian cities were also developed.
In addition to Bazhenov, Kazakov and Starov, many other outstanding architects are working in Russia at the same time - both Russian and those who came from abroad. The wide construction opportunities available in Russia attract large foreign craftsmen who did not find such opportunities in their homeland.
Charles Cameron (1740s - 1812), a Scot by origin, was an outstanding master of architecture, especially of palace and park structures.
In 1780-1786. Cameron is building a complex of landscape gardening structures in Tsarskoe Selo, which includes a two-story building of the Cold Baths with Agate Rooms, a hanging garden and, finally, a magnificent open gallery bearing the name of its creator. The Cameron Gallery is one of the architect's most accomplished works. Her extraordinary lightness and elegance of proportions are striking; majestically and peculiarly designed staircase flanked by copies from the ancient statues of Hercules and Flora.
Cameron was a master of interior design. With impeccable taste and sophistication, he develops the decoration of several rooms of the Great Catherine Palace (Catherine II’s bedroom, see illustration, “Snuffbox” cabinet), the Agate Rooms pavilion, as well as Pavlovsk Palace (1782-1786) (Italian and Greek halls, billiard room and others).
Of great value is not only the palace created by Cameron in Pavlovsk, but also the entire garden and park ensemble. In contrast to the more regular planning and development of the famous Peterhof Park, the ensemble in Pavlovsk is the best example of a “natural” park with freely scattered pavilions. In a picturesque landscape, among groves and clearings, near the Slavyanka River curving around the hills, there is a pavilion - the Temple of Friendship, an open rotunda - the Apollo Colonnade, the pavilion of the Three Graces, an obelisk, bridges, etc.
Late 18th century in the architecture of Russia, it already in many respects anticipates the next stage of development - the mature classicism of the first third of the 19th century, also known as the "Russian Empire". New trends are noticeable in the work of Giacomo Quarenghi (1744-1817). Still at home, in Italy, Quarenghi is fond of Palladianism and becomes a zealous champion of classicism. Not finding the proper use of his forces in Italy, Quarenghi came to Russia (1780), where he remained for the rest of his life.
Having started his activity with work in Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo, Quarenghi moved on to the construction of the largest metropolitan buildings. The Hermitage Theater (1783-1787), the building of the Academy of Sciences (1783-1789) and the Assignation Bank (1783-1790) in St. Petersburg, as well as the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (1792-1796) created by him, are strict, classical buildings in their decision , which in many ways already herald the next stage in the development of Russian architecture. Strictly speaking, the creative activity of Quarenghi in Russia is almost equally divided between the 18th and 19th centuries. Of the most famous buildings of Quarenghi of the early 19th century. the hospital building on Liteiny Prospekt, the Anichkov Palace, the Horse Guards Manege and the wooden Narva triumphal gates of 1814 stand out.
The most outstanding creation of Quarenghi of the early 19th century. is the Smolny Institute (1806-1808). In this work, the characteristic features of Quarenghi as a representative of mature classicism in architecture are visible: the desire for large and concise architectural forms, the use of monumental porticos, the emphasis on the powerful basement of the building, processed with large rustication, the utmost clarity and simplicity of planning.
A.I. Venediktov
The largest phenomena of English architecture of the period under consideration belong to the last thirty years of the 17th century. The successor of the classic of English architecture Inigo Jones was Christopher Wren (1632-1723), who remained the leading master of English architecture also throughout the first quarter of the 18th century.
Wren received a very broad education: before he turned entirely to architecture, he studied mathematics and astronomy. Having made a trip to France in 1665, he met Jules Hardouin-Mansart and other French architects and their works, as well as Bernini, who brought the Louvre project to Paris.
After the "Great Fire" of 1666, which destroyed most of London, Wren created a project for a radical redevelopment of the city, which was rejected, however, by the reactionary authorities. At the same time, Wren received the largest commission for the construction of the new St. Paul and to draft a hundred parish churches that had burned down, of which he built more than fifty.
Cathedral of St. Paul in London, built by Wren for thirty-six years (1675-1710), became the greatest religious building of the Protestant world (it is longer than the Cologne Cathedral, the height of the domed part is the Florentine Cathedral of Sanga Maria del Fiore). Roman Catholic Cathedral of St. Peter, built by many architects over more than a century and a half, was, as it were, deliberately opposed to the London Protestant Cathedral, built by one master in one building period, in just three and a half decades. Wren's first project with a centric plan in the form of an equilateral cross with a vestibule was rejected by the conservative clergy. The second, implemented project had a more traditional elongated shape with the main room divided by pillars and arches into three naves and with a spacious domed space at the intersection of the naves with the transept.
Ren's mathematical knowledge was useful to him in the difficult task of erecting a dome, which he solved brilliantly, with a subtle and deep calculation. The design of the triple dome resting on eight pillars is complex and unusual: above the inner brick shell of a hemispherical shape there is a brick truncated cone, which carries the lantern and cross crowning the cathedral, as well as the third, wooden, lead-covered outer shell of the dome.
Spectacular appearance of the cathedral. Two flights of wide steps lead from the west to six pairs of Corinthian columns of the entrance portico, above which there are four more pairs of columns with composite capitals, carrying a pediment with a sculptural group in a tympanum. More modest semi-circular porticoes are placed at both ends of the transept. Slender towers were erected on the sides of the main facade (one for bells, the other for clocks), behind them, above the crossroads of the cathedral, a huge majestic dome rises. The drum of the dome, surrounded by columns, seems especially powerful because every fourth intercolumn of the colonnade (the so-called Stone Gallery) is laid with stone. Above the hemisphere of the dome itself, the second, so-called Golden Gallery, forms a detour around the lantern with a cross. The group of domes and towers towering over London is undoubtedly the most successful part of the cathedral, the main mass of which was difficult to perceive in its entirety, since it remained hidden by disorderly urban development (heavily destroyed by bombing during the Second World War).
Ren's creative individuality is revealed no less vividly in such of him. works such as the London parish churches. The variety and ingenuity of the square, rectangular, oval plans of these buildings, usually small in size, the very configuration of which was often explained by the skillful use of the cramped, inconvenient areas allotted for their construction, is amazing. The architecture of the churches themselves and their bell towers are exceptionally diverse, sometimes close in form to Gothic, sometimes strictly classical. Suffice it to name the domed church of Saint Stephen (1672-1679) or the church of Saint Mary le Bow (1671-1680) with its remarkable beauty of the silhouette of a slender bell tower.
Of Wren's civil works, one of the most brilliant is the new parts of Hampton Court Palace. In 1689-1694. he built buildings around the so-called courtyard with a fountain and a facade overlooking the park. In this original work, the architect showed high skill, strict taste and the ability to efficiently use materials - brick and white Portland stone.
A prolific craftsman, Ren built more than just palaces and churches. They finally developed the plan for the Greenwich Hospital (the original idea of which belongs, apparently, to Inigo Jones), and also built another hospital in Chelsea. He built the Temple area in London, built the town hall in Windsor. In Cambridge, he owns the building of the Trinity College Library (Trinity College), the prototype of which was the library of St. Mark in Venice. In Oxford, where Wren taught astronomy in his youth, he built the so-called Sheldon Theater - a large round room for lectures and reports, in which the motives of the architecture of the ancient Roman theater of Marcellus are used; there he built a library at Queens College and built a courtyard at Trinity College. The motifs of Venetian and Roman architecture used in these buildings received an original interpretation from Wren and entered the history of English architecture as the creation of a national genius.
In residential country and town houses at this time, a type of brick building with white stone trim was created, which became a model for later English construction. Examples are the estates attributed to Wren at Groombridge Place in Kent and the House with Swans (Swan House) in Chichester.
Unlike Inigo Jones, Wren managed to realize almost all of his plans during his long and fruitful career. As a true humanist, Ren worked for education and the people, he built not only churches, but also hospitals, libraries, not only palaces, but also modest residential buildings. Wren followed the path indicated by Jones, but, unlike Jones, who absorbed the spirit of the Renaissance in Italy, in the classicism of Wren, who survived the era of Puritanism, the rational principle is more clearly expressed.
In English architecture of the 18th century. of great importance was the newly awakened passion for the work of Palladio. By 1742, there were already three editions of Palladio's architectural treatise. From the middle of the century, the publication of independent studies on ancient architecture began. Robert Wood in 1753-1757 published a uvrazh dedicated to the ruins of Palmyra and Baalbek, Robert Adam published in 1764 sketches and measurements of Diocletian's palace in Split in Dalmatia. All these publications contributed to the development of the theory of architecture and influenced the architectural practice of that time. New ideas were reflected in major urban developments, for example, in the planning and building of the city of Bath (1725-1780), whose squares are the most complete classicist ensembles in England. The architects of the 18th century were, in most cases, professionals and theorists.
John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) occupies an intermediate position between the multi-talented and educated craftsmen of the 17th century and the narrow specialists of the 18th century. A brilliant officer, a court wit, a fashionable playwright, he remained a gifted dilettante in architecture as well.
His main and largest works are those built in the first years of the 18th century. palaces Howard (1699-1712) and Blenheim (1705-1724).
Already in the first of them, he, trying to combine the Versailles scale with English comfort, struck his contemporaries primarily with the size of his building, the length of which was 200 m, the depth was almost 130 m, the height of the central dome exceeded 70 m. In the even more grandiose Blenheim Palace , built for the famous commander the Duke of Marlborough (259 X 155 m), the architect tried to improve the somewhat clumsy plan of the first building. Observing strict symmetry, he placed two more courtyards on both sides of the huge court d'honneur, which are connected to the main building by galleries decorated with a colonnade. In the external architecture of the Blenheim Palace, neither the heavy portico of the main entrance, nor the triumphal arch of the park facade, nor the corner towers that seem to be built on are pleasing to the eye: the forms here are heavy and rude. The interior of the palace is uncomfortable and uncomfortable. Vanbrugh's tendency towards strict splendor, characteristic of classicism, is quite mechanically combined with superficial splendor ascending to the Baroque. In his architecture, in the words of one of his contemporaries, "heavy in form and lightweight in essence," it is not difficult to detect clear signs of eclecticism.
Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661-1736) was a more modest but more worthy successor to Wren. He led the construction of London churches, of which the most interesting is the church of St. Mary Vulnos (1716-1719) with a facade decorated with rustication and a rectangular bell tower surrounded by columns, completed with two turrets with a balustrade. Hawksmoor worked after his teacher at Oxford, where he built a new building of Queens College with a monumental courtyard facade and a peculiar entrance (1710-1719). Finally, during Wren's lifetime and after his death, Hawksmoor in 1705-1715. continued building the Greenwich Hospital. Located on the banks of the Thames, this one of the most significant monuments of English architecture both in size and artistic merit took its final form under Hawksmoor.
The large hospital complex, where the naval school is now located, consists of four buildings, forming rectangular courtyards with a spacious area between the front buildings, facing the river with porticos of facades. Wide steps, on both sides of which are majestic domed buildings, lead to the second square between the second pair of courtyards. Hawksmoor adequately completed the construction begun by Jones and continued by Wren.
William Kent (1684-1748) was the most prominent English Palladian of the first half of the 18th century. Together with Lord Burlington, who fancied himself an architect, he designed and built the villa at Chiswick (1729), the most successful of the many English versions of the Palladian villa Rotunda. Kent felt more at ease during the construction of Holkham Hall Castle (1734), where four outbuildings (with a chapel, a library, a kitchen and guest rooms) organically connected with the central building open onto the surrounding park. Kent's merit is especially great in landscape art, where he is known as the "father of the modern garden."
The most mature work of the architect is the stingy, orderless facade of the barracks of the Horse Guards Regiment (Horse Guards, 1742-1751) in London.
The architect and architectural theorist James Gibbs (1682-1765) is the most prominent personality in English architecture in the first half of the 18th century. After going through school with Philippe Yuvara in Turin, he also learned Palladio's order and proportional system. The most significant of his buildings, both in scale and in artistic merit, is the so-called Redcliffe Library in Oxford (1737-1749), a centric structure of exceptional originality, consisting of a sixteen-sided base, a cylindrical main part and a dome. The massive rusticated plinth is cut through by large arched door and window openings; the round part is divided by paired three-quarter columns into sixteen piers with two tiers of alternating windows and niches. Above the balustrade, which completes the main cylindrical volume, rises a dome crowned with a lantern. Fully expressing its purpose, the strict and monumental university library undoubtedly occupies one of the first places among the best monuments of English architecture.
The London churches of Gibbs, the construction of which he continued after Wren and Hawksmoor, are also peculiar - the two-story church of St. Mary le Strand (1714-1717) with a semicircular portico of the entrance and a slender bell tower and the church of St. Corinthian portico.
William Chambers (1723-1796) was a consistent representative of Palladianism in England in the second half of the 18th century, when lesser English architects had already abandoned their unsuccessful attempts to adapt the plans of Palladian villas to the conditions of the English climate and the requirements of English comfort.
Chambers summed up the past stage of English architecture in his architectural treatise and his largest building, known as Somerset House in London (1776-1786). This monumental building, built on the arcades of substructures, faces the Strand and the Thames embankment with its rusticated facades (the facade facing the river was completed later, in the 19th century). The premises of Somerset House in 1780 housed the Royal Academy.
The last Palladian, Chambers was the first representative of the academic trend in English architecture.
But Somerset House, especially the façade with the three-arched entrance from the Strand and the stately courtyard of the building, adequately completes a great and brilliant era in the history of English architecture.
Chambers' merits are also indisputable in the field of landscape architecture, where he promoted the English landscape park. After Kent, he worked in Kew Park, where, in addition to the classical pavilions, he built a Chinese pagoda as a tribute to the European fashion for "Chinese" and as a memory of his youthful journey to the Far East.
Robert Adam (1728-1792), another of the most prominent English architects of the second half of the 18th century, is often contrasted with Chambers. While the conservative Chambers was a strict guardian of the Palladian traditions in architecture, Adam, a preacher of "new tastes", was to a certain extent an innovator in English art. Perceiving antiquity in a new way, while paying special attention to decorative motifs, he, in his own words, "revolutionized the ornament." The leading English architects of that time headed by him did a lot to ensure that the new artistic trends he pursued spread from interior decoration (the vestibule of Wardor Castle in Wiltshire, created by architect James Payne, see illustration) can serve as a model) to furniture, fabrics, porcelain.
A characteristic example of Adam's work is Kedleston Hall (1765-1770), built and decorated by him inside according to a Palladian plan drawn up by other architects (with semicircular wings adjacent to the central building). But the largest front rooms of the castle, located along the main axis, undoubtedly belong to Adam. The idea of a large hall, where behind the Corinthian columns made of artificial marble bearing a stucco ceiling, antique statues stand in the niches of the walls, and the salon covered with a dome, the walls of which are dissected by niches and tabernacles, was probably inspired by ancient monuments that Adam got acquainted with during a trip to Dalmatia, where he studied Diocletian's palace in Split. To an even greater extent, the methods of decorating other, smaller rooms - stucco molding of ceilings and walls, decorations for fireplaces - responded to the new refined tastes. The graceful façade of the Boodle Club in London (1765) gives an idea of how Adam decided on the appearance of the building.
The architectural activity of Robert Adam was exceptionally broad. Together with the brothers James, John and William, his permanent employees, he built entire streets, squares, blocks of London. Having overcome the former Palladian isolation, the isolation of the architectural volume, the Adam brothers developed methods for the formation of integral city blocks (mainly residential buildings) on the basis of a single architectural ensemble. Such are Fitzroy Square, the Adelphi quarter, named after the Adam brothers themselves (“adelfos” is Greek for “brother”). As a result of later redevelopment and rebuilding of the city (as well as after aerial bombardments during the Second World War), little has survived from the extensive building activity of the Adam brothers. But the traditions of their art have long retained their significance in English architecture. The already strongly Hellenized style of the Adam brothers found its continuation in the so-called "Greek revival", the beginning of which dates back to the end of the 18th century - a direction not creatively original enough and to a large extent eclectic. This trend reached its full development in English architecture in the first decades of the next, 19th century.
Early 18th century for Russia, it was marked by a breakdown in the usual way of life, a turn towards imitation of Western cultural patterns, which primarily embraced the metropolitan and provincial nobility. Art of Russia since the beginning of the 18th century. becomes secular. Hitherto unknown types and genres of spatial arts appear: engraving, monument, sculptural portrait, landscape architecture, etc. The emergence of new types and genres of art was associated with the need to create drawings and maps of St. Petersburg under construction, to reflect the victories of the Russian army and navy.
A system of vocational training for engravers, sculptors and painters, and architects is emerging. Often, recognized masters invited from abroad act as teachers. Several artistic styles come to Russia from Europe - baroque and rococo, classicism, enlightenment realism, and later - sentimentalism and pre-romanticism. Thus, the artistic processes in Russia are more and more closely connected with the pan-European ones, only folk art remains faithful to traditional models and methods of activity.
The leading artistic style of the first half of the XVIII century. Baroque is becoming in Russia - the style of absolutism, embodying the splendor and power of the Russian autocracy. Russian baroque differed from Western European in its optimistic pathos and positive beginning. The main thing in Russian baroque is the construction of palaces in the new capital of Russia - St. Petersburg.
B.-K. Rastrelli.
Bust of Peter I. 1723-1729
On the cuirass of Peter - relief images of the Battle of Poltava. And also the image of Peter in the attire of the Roman emperors, carving a female figure with a scepter and an orb
In 1706, the Chancellery of City Affairs was established to manage construction work, headed by U.A. Sinyavin. On the left bank of the Neva, the construction of a fortress-shipyard of the Admiralty began.
In 1710-1711. The first Winter Palace of Peter I was built. The two-story building, covered with a high roof, was decorated with a small ornate portal and narrow pilasters. In 1726-1727. architect Dominico Trezzini added two wings to the building and emphasized its center with four columns.
By the end of the 1720s. the image of Petersburg was determined. In 1737, the Commission on St. Petersburg Construction was established, its architectural part was headed by P.M. Eropkin. The commission developed a master plan for the capital, according to which the center was transferred to the Admiralty side. The directions of the three main city highways, diverging from the Admiralty tower, were outlined. I.K. Korobov (1700/1701-1747) proposed to build a seventy-meter stone Admiralty tower with a high gilded spire and a weather vane in the form of a ship.
The entire central region was ordered to be built up only with stone buildings. The predominant type of building of this time was a palace-estate in the capital or in its suburbs.
The heyday of Russian architecture in the middle of the XVIII century. associated with the Baroque style and with the name of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771), who combined in his work the features of the Western European Baroque and the so-called "Naryshkin" incarnation of it. Arriving in St. Petersburg at the age of 16, Rastrelli went abroad twice, starting to work independently during the reign of Anna Ioannovna. His first buildings were the wooden Winter Annenhof Palace in Moscow and the Summer Palace near the Kremlin. Rastrelli built the third Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, combining the houses of Apraksin and Kikin and building two new buildings at the corners from the side of the Admiralty. The facades of the palace, stretching along the Neva for almost 150 m, still retained the features of Peter the Great's baroque, but Rastrelli's hand was already felt in the design of a number of interior rooms - the Throne Hall, the entrance hall and the Theater.
In 1749, Elizabeth issues a decree on the construction of the Smolny Monastery. The construction of the cathedral, begun in 1748, was suspended due to lack of funds. Rastrelli never finished it, but the created building was one of his remarkable creations.
Working on the construction of the Smolny Monastery, Rastrelli receives an order from the Empress to begin work on the reconstruction of the Great Peterhof Palace. The architect was given a condition: to preserve the complex of buildings left from Peter, significantly expanding the palace.
Rastrelli's most perfect creation is the Great, or Catherine's, Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the construction of which was carried out from 1752 to 1757. The construction of the palace, begun earlier, did not satisfy Elizabeth. Rastrelli turned the palace into a huge suite of halls, erected park pavilions in a vast regular garden. The other side of the palace faces a huge courtyard, bounded by one-story buildings. The enfilade of rooms in the central part of the palace had a wonderful finish - gilded wood carvings, ceiling paintings.
In the center of St. Petersburg, Rastrelli erected the fourth Winter Palace. Preserved almost unchanged, the Palace, the pinnacle of Russian baroque, was built in the form of a closed quadrangle with a vast courtyard, its size dominates the surrounding space. Countless columns now gather in groups, especially picturesque at the corners of the building, then part. There are dozens of decorative vases and statues on the roof balustrade. Each facade Rastrelli designed differently. So, the northern facade, facing the Neva, stretches like a more or less even wall, without noticeable ledges. The southern façade overlooking the Palace Square has seven articulations and is the main one. Its center is highlighted by a wide, richly decorated rhizolith cut through by three entrance arches. Of the side facades, the most expressive is the western one, facing the Admiralty. From the interior of the palace, created by Rastrelli, the Jordan Staircase and partly the Great Church have preserved the baroque appearance. After the accession to the throne of Catherine II, Rastrelli stopped receiving orders, the court did not like the Baroque style. October 23, 1763 Catherine decides to dismiss Rastrelli from the post of chief architect. In 1771, he submitted a petition for admission to the Imperial Academy of Sciences, the petition was granted on January 9, 1771. In the same year, Rastrelli dies.
The influence of Rastrelli's work was also strong for self-employed architects. One of these craftsmen was S. I. Chevakinsky (1709/1713 - c. 1780), who built the two-storey St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral.
Associated with the work of the architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771).
Buildings built in this style are characterized by extraordinary splendor and elegance. The walls of palaces and temples are richly decorated with bizarre stucco, sculptures, columns that do not support anything. There are practically no horizontal lines in the architecture. The baroque ideal is a smoothly curved curve. The line of the façade is dynamic: the projections of the buildings are continually replaced by depressions. The unique charm of the Baroque buildings was given by the multi-color coloring: the tops of the columns and the sculpture shone with gilding, and the snow-white columns clearly stood out against the blue, turquoise, yellow or pink surface of the walls.
The interiors of baroque palaces were distinguished by special splendor. The walls of the halls were covered with silk fabric, decorated with mirrors, carved gilded stucco. The floors were finished with parquet with a complex pattern. The ceilings were painted by skilled painters. Crystal chandeliers, exquisite door handles, intricate fireplaces, clocks, vases, luxurious furniture complemented all this magnificence. The palace premises were built in a long row of passage rooms and halls so that the doorways were located along the same axis. Such a layout corresponded to the theme of parade processions, which certainly manifested itself not only in the famous “monarch exits”, but also in all rituals, even dances.
urban planning
During the reign of Catherine, a grandiose urban development program was carried out. New cities were built and old cities were rebuilt. Settlements were founded in the Urals, in Siberia, Novorossia. Petersburg with its regular layout served as a model of urban planning art.
In 1762 was created Commission on the stone structure of St. Petersburg and Moscow. She was supposed not only to deal with the urban planning problems of the two Russian capitals, but also to develop master plans for provincial and district cities. By 1775, the Stone Construction Commission approved plans for 216 cities. It should be noted that when rebuilding old cities, the architects tried to preserve the monuments of ancient Russian architecture: temples, bell towers, fortifications.
In the second half of the XVIII century. the number of public (non-residential) structures erected in cities has increased significantly. Buildings are being built for institutions of city self-government (city dumas, meetings of the nobility, etc.), hospitals, schools, guest yards, public baths, and warehouses. In large cities, in addition to palaces and mansions, the first profitable houses appear in which apartments are rented out.
Classicism
The architectural style is changing: the lush baroque is being replaced by classicism. "Noble simplicity and calm grandeur" - this is how the new style, which was established in Russia at the end of the 18th century, is characterized. It is dominated by straight horizontal and vertical lines. All parts of the buildings are symmetrical, proportional, balanced. Columns not only serve as decoration, but also have a constructive purpose - they support ceilings. Roofs are flattened. Architects prefer to paint the facades of buildings in discreet colors - yellow, coffee, gray, fawn ... material from the site
Representatives in St. Petersburg
The largest architects of classicism in St. Petersburg were Jean-Baptiste Vallin-Delamote(Academy of Arts, Gostiny Dvor on Nevsky Prospekt), Ivan Egorovich Old(Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, Tauride Palace), Charles Cameron(Pavlovsk Palace, Cameron Gallery of Tsarskoye Selo), Giacomo Quarenghi(Hermitage Theatre, Assignation Bank), Nikolai Alexandrovich Lvov(Petersburg Post Office, Nevsky Gates of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Church "Kulich and Easter").
N. A. Lvov (1751 - 1803) was known not only as a talented architect, but also as an outstanding scientist, writer, graphic artist, and musicologist. He created the first art salon (circle), which included outstanding writers, composers, and artists. Lvov was revered as a genius of taste.
Representatives in Moscow
Vasily Ivanovich Bazhenov (1737/1738-1799) (Pashkov's house, the Tsaritsyno palace complex) and Matvey Fedorovich Kazakov (1738-1812/1813) worked in Moscow (the buildings of the Senate in the Kremlin, the Noble Assembly - now the Column Hall of the House of Unions, the Golitsyn Hospital - now 1st Gradskaya).
Pictures (photos, drawings)
Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. Architect F.-B. Rastrelli. 1750-1762
Cathedral of the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg. Architect F.-B. Rastrelli. 1748-1764
The Great Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo near St. Petersburg. Architect F.-B. Rastrelli. 1752-1756
Picture Hall in the Grand Peterhof Palace. Watercolor by L. O. Premazzi. 1855
Enfilade of ceremonial rooms in the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Architect F.-B. Rastrelli. 1750s
Main staircase in the Winter Palace. Architect F.-B. Rastrelli. Watercolor K.A. Ukhtomsky. 19th century
Plan of Petersburg 1776
The building of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Architects A. F. Kokorinov and Jean-Baptiste Vallin-Delamot
Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg. Architect I. E. Staroe
In this article I will talk about the masterpieces of foreign architecture of the XVIII century.
You probably know the names of such remarkable masters as V.I. Bazhenov, M.F. Kazakov, A.F. Kokorinov. Bazhenov, F.I.
The 18th century is the century of the Enlightenment, the century of Voltaire and D. Diderot, J.-J. Rousseau and Ch. Montesquieu. In the 18th century, two completely new styles appeared in art, rococo and baroque. The ROCOCO style originated in France, at the beginning of the 18th century .Translated from French Rococo means "STONE" or "SHELL". Characteristic features of Rococo include sophistication, a large number of different ornaments, avoidance of the real world, immersion in fantasy, a tendency to depict mythological subjects.
ITALY is considered the birthplace of the BAROQUE style. This style appeared at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. Translated from Italian, baroque means "STRANGE", "FANCY". Baroque is characterized by a tendency to excesses, contrast, a desire for pomp and grandeur, a combination of reality and illusion. Baroque is opposed to classicism and rationalism.
A. Rinaldi, C. I. Rossi, B. F. Rastrelli, D. Trezzini are considered the largest architects of the 18th century.
ITALIAN and ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE of the 18th century.
Baroque appeared in Italy after the Renaissance. The Italian Baroque was characterized by the fluidity of complex forms, an abundance of sculptures on the facades of buildings, the complexity of domed forms. Baroque prevailed in art only until the middle of the 18th century. F. Yuvara is considered an architect, a representative of the late Baroque. It was he who created the famous Superga Church and the Madama Palace in Turin. Later he was invited to work in Portugal. F. Yuvara built the Ajuda Palace in Lisbon. residence of the Spanish kings) and the country summer residence of the Spanish king Philip V-Palace of La Granja. Another Italian architect L. Vanvitelli created the famous palace in Caserta. This palace was built in 1752 in the neoclassical style. The architect N. Salvi created the famous fountain di Trevi is the largest in Rome. The fountain was built from 1732 to 1762. The style of the fountain is baroque. The Italian architect A. Galilei built the church of San Giovanni Lateran Cathedral in Rome.
In England, the baroque was not as widespread as in Italy. The key figures of the baroque architecture of England were J. Vanbrugh and N. Hawksmoor.
FRENCH AND PORTUGUESE ARCHITECTURE OF THE 18TH CENTURY.
The Rococo style appeared in France during the time of Philip of Orleans. But Rococo flourished most during the reign of King Louis XV. The most prominent architects of that time were J.-A. Gabriel and J.-J. Soufflot. The most famous creation of the First Royal Architect Gabriel is the Square Concords in Paris. The same square was named after Louis XV. J.-J. Soufflot built the Lyon Opera, the Paris Pantheon and the treasury of the Notre Dame Cathedral. A striking example of the Rococo is the Soubise Hotel in Paris. 1705. In the 1780s. in France, CLASSICISM became widespread. In the middle of the 18th century, theater mania swept Paris. in Paris, the theater "ODEON" was built according to the project of the architects Ch. de Vailly and M.-J. Peyra.
Rococo appeared in Portugal around 1726. One of the most significant buildings in the Portuguese Rococo style is the Queluz Palace, the so-called "Portuguese Versailles".
GERMAN AND AUSTRIAN ARCHITECTURE OF THE XVIII CENTURY.
Baroque in German architecture began to develop a hundred years later than in Italy and France. Since 1725, the French architect F. Cuvillier worked in Munich. The architect worked in the style of a flourishing, juicy and lush rococo. , a representative of the Baroque and Rococo J.B. Neumann created such masterpieces as the Basilica in Gosweinstein, the residence palace in Würzburg, the Catholic Church in Gaibach. The founder of the Dresden Baroque, M.D. Zwinger Palace ("Citadel"). The master of Rococo interiors, the German architect of the XVIII century G. Knobelsdorf built the building of the Opera House in Berlin (1750). Garden of Potsdam (1745-1747)
The Austrian architect I.B. Fischer von Erlach, the founder of the Habsburg Baroque, worked for two countries: Germany and Austria. Fischer's prominent projects are the Schönbrunn Palace, the Catholic Church of Karlskirche and the Winter Palace of Eugene of Savoy. Fischer's younger contemporary was the Austrian architect I. L. von Hildebrandt , who worked in Vienna and Salzburg. Its main buildings are the Mirabell Castle, the Belvedere Palace, the Vienna Palace of Eugene of Savoy.
World artistic culture and art are beautiful and multifaceted. They always fascinate and amaze, with the same force and at all times, whether it be antiquity or pop art.
