Petrine Art, Under Tsar Peter the Great 26/09/2023, 10:35

Petrine Art
Russian Architecture, Sculpture, Painting Under Tsar Peter the Great
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Petrine Art (c.1686-1725)

Contents

• Introduction
• Petrine Architecture (c.1686-1760)
• Petrine Sculpture
• Rastrelli the Elder
• Portrait Busts
• Petrine Painting
• Andrew Matveev
• John Nikitin
"The Bronze Horseman" (1766-78)
St Petersburg. A monument to Tsar • Petrine Engraving and Book Illustration
Peter The Great by the French artist
Etienne Maurice Falconet (1716-1791).

Introduction

The Winter Palace, St Petersburg.
Designed 1754-62 by Francesco
Bartolomeo Rastrelli the Younger.
HOW FINE ART EVOLVED
For details of periods/movements,
see: History of Art.
For chronological details,
see: History of Art Timeline.
Russia's greatest Tsar, Peter the Great (ruled 1686-1725) succeeded in giving
a huge boost to Russian art despite enormous military concerns. He placed
great significance on fine art, including - most obviously - architecture, as well
as painting (including book painting), sculpture and various forms of
printmaking. He also paid a stipend to numerous Russian artists to acquire the
necessary skills in arts academies outside Russia. He intended to establish a
specialist art department in the Russian Academy of Sciences, but death
intervened. The basic aesthetics of Petrine art under Peter the Great was the
creation of a more modern culture, combining Western ideas and Russian
traditionalism. Overall, it encompassed a wide range of secular as well as
religious art - a significant change from the official principles and canons of
Russian medieval painting exemplified by the Novgorod school of icon painting
(c.1100-1500) and the Moscow school of painting (1500-1700), in which
Christian art was the dominant genre.

GREATEST ICONOGRAPHERS
For Russian icon painters, see:
Theophanes the Greek
Founder of Novgorodian school.
Andrei Rublev
Russia's greatest icon painter.
Dionysius (c.1440-1502)
Early member of the Moscow school.
Medieval Artists (1100-1400)
Icon painters, muralists, sculptors.

Petrine Architecture (c.1686-1760)

Peter's love of architecture, inherited from both the Narishkins and the
Romanovs, is commemorated in his immense legacy - the city of St Petersburg
- "the Venice of the North", a project which embodied his entire cultural and
political philosophy. No building in the city was erected without his approval of

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its architectural design and, to lessen the risk of fire, most structures were to
be in stone or brick. All his palaces were constructed within sight of the sea,
while detailed attention was paid to their gardens which were filled with
classical stone sculpture. Sadly, much of the architecture built or conceived by
Peter and his immediate successors was destroyed during the 20th century.

Petrine Architects

All the foremost architects of Peter's reign, except for Michael Zemtsov
(1688-1743) who became Overseer of Imperial Palaces, were foreigners -
mostly French, Italian and German. They included:

• Domenico Trezzini (1670-1734)

Italian architect who designed the stone church in the St Peter and Paul
fortress, and the church in the important Alexandro-Nevskaya Lavra
monastery.
• Andreas Schluter (1664-1714)
German architect and sculptor, and proponent of Petrine Baroque who designed
the facade of the Summer Palace. Personally responsible for few buildings but
highly influential. See also: German Baroque Art (1550-1750).
• Gottfried Schadel (1680-1752)
German architect who built the Oranienbaum Palace, outside St Petersburg,
and the bell-tower for the Monastery of the Caves, Kiev.
• Jean-Baptiste Leblond (1679-1719)
Eminent French architect and pupil of the great Lenotre. Designed the Summer
Gardens in St Petersburg, and responsible for redesigning the Great Palace at
Peterhof.
• Niccolo Michetti (1675-1758)
Italian architect Michetti who built the Ekaterinenhof Palace at Reval, and the
Strelna Palace in St Petersburg.
• Georg Johann Mattarnovi (1679-1714)
German architect who altered the Winter Palace and built the first St Isaac
Cathedral.

• Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli the Younger (1700-1771)

Son of the sculptor/architect Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli, he began under Peter
but flourished under Empress Elizabeth (1741-61). Also undertook many
commissions from nobles including Prince Vorontsov, Count Stroganov and
Prince Razumoski. Was responsible for the style known as Russian Baroque - a
form of Baroque architecture which also incorporated features from Rococo and
Neoclassical architecture. In St Petersburg, Rastrelli designed the Summer
Palace (1741), Vorontsov Palace (1744-5), the Winter Palace (1754-62),
Smolny Cathedral (1748-57) and Stroganov Palace (1753). He also did the
architectural design for several buildings close to the city, including the
Summer Palace (1741) and Tsarskoe Selo (Pushkino) (1750s). Other buildings
include the Mitava Palace and the Annenhof Palace at Lefortovo.

Rastrelli's followers were so numerous and his style remained dominant over so
long a period that he established in Russia a distinct school of architecture.
Some of the most eminent Russian architects who worked in his manner
included: S.I.Chevakinski (1713-83), A.V.Kvassov (dates unknown),
A.F.Kokorinov (1726-72), and Prince D.V.Ukhtomski (1718-80). It was
Ukhtomski who, in 1749, established in Moscow one of the earliest of Russia's
architectural colleges which numbered among its pupils: V.I.Bazhenov (1737-
99), M.F.Kazakov (1737-1813), and I.E.Starov (1743-1808).

Petrine Sculpture

Peter was one of the great 18th century art collectors. He acquired objects of
every type from furniture to 17th Century Dutch painting, from precious jewels

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to such curiosities as the amber slabs which he bought from the King of
Prussia, and which Rastrelli used at a later date as panelling at Tsarskoe Selo.
He also collected Russian sculpture. Himself no mean carpenter, Peter was
especially fond of wood carving, and sponsored the collection of statues, both
ancient and modern, for his parks and gardens. It is, however, surprising to
find that he never appears to have made any serious efforts to develop the art
of sculpture in Russia, and that he owed the services of the only great sculptor
of his reign to a deception of which he was the victim.

Count Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli the Elder (1675-1744)

This sculptor is generally referred to as Rastrelli the elder, in contrast to his

son, Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-71), who became one of Russia's greatest
architects. A Venetian by birth, Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli arrived in St.
Petersburg from Paris in 1716 to work as an architect. He reverted to his
original occupation of sculptor only after Leblond had convinced Peter, none can
now say whether with justice, that Rastrelli's plans for Peterhof and Strelna
were impracticable and that he was insufficiently qualified to be in charge of
any building enterprise.

The sculptures which Rastrelli had produced in the West had been greatly
admired, but his Russian works are by far his finest. The vigour and strength
shown in his Petersburg statues are absent in his earlier ones, and this new
forcefulness must be attributed to the effect which Russia and her remarkable
Tsar had upon him. The result was something so new and spirited that it
justifies Rastrelli's classification as a Russian rather than a Western artist.

On Rastrelli's arrival Peter was still so absorbed in his gardens and parks that
their embellishment became Rastrelli's main task. A good deal of his time was,
as a result, devoted to producing garden ornaments and bronze fountain-
heads. All are characterized by their great size, their fineness of proportion and
by their delicate yet very deep modelling, which - produced so marked an
interplay of light and shade that it has rarely been paralleled in garden
sculpture.

Portrait Busts

In spite of the decorative quality of most of his work, Rastrelli excelled in

portraiture, and his portrait busts are remarkable for their concern with and
their understanding of psychology. In addition, they show the greatest
technical mastery and the closest faithfulness to the living model. The
importance which Rastrelli attached to exactitude in portraiture is borne out by
the fact that he succeeded in taking a mask of the Tsar during his lifetime,
instead of waiting, as was customary, until after death.

Two of Rastrelli's portraits of Peter have survived. The better known is a bronze
bust dated to 1724, the other is an equestrian statue. In both the details of the
Tsar's dress are carefully indicated, in the bust the exquisite lace of the ruffles
contrasting strikingly with the satin of the ribbons of the Tsar's orders and the
softness of the fur-edged cape. In both, Peter's haughty pose conforms to that
attitude rendered so fashionable by Louis XIV that the early eighteenth century
considered it essential in every royal likeness. This artificiality is, however,
belied in each of Rastrelli's sculptures by the extraordinary vitality and
characterful expression of the face. The great French sculptor, Etienne Maurice
Falconet (1716-91), was so overwhelmed by the animation and sincerity of the
bust that he copied the head, both as regards its pose and its expression, in
the superb equestrian statue of Peter which he executed at Catherine II's
command, and which now stands in the Admiralty Square in Leningrad.

Rastrelli's bust of Prince Menshikov is equally convincing, and succeeds just as

well in combining decorative detail with truthfulness and psychological
understanding. It helps us to realize that there was much in the character of

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this self-made man to account for the tragic vicissitudes of his life.

Rastrelli's fourth major work is a figure of the Empress Anne with her
blackamoor in attendance. Here again the luxury of Petersburgian Court life is
admirably indicated by the grouping of the figures and the magnificence of the
Tsarina's clothes. Her coarse features and insensitive mind are presented in
startling contrast with this material sophistication, and the figure affords a
striking example of the way in which art may amplify or illuminate written
history.

Petrine Painting

Although sculptures were rare in Peter's day, portrait paintings had already
become completely established. Many remained primitive, but as a whole the
art of painting had shaken itself free from the traditions of icon-painting, and
had become frankly naturalistic. The portraits produced at Court were mostly
by eminent foreigners. Two Russian names, however, stand out even at this
early date, Matveev and Nikitin, and their work does not compare too badly
with that of some of the foreigners employed by Peter. Both these men
benefited from a Western schooling in art, which was not enjoyed by the
numerous artists who worked outside St. Petersburg. The work of practically all
of these remained unsigned.

Andrew Matveev

Andrew Matveev (1701-1739) was sent by Peter to Holland in 1716. As he

returned to Russia only two years after the Tsar's death - that is to say, in 1727
- he is often classed as an artist of Peter II's reign, but, since the latter Tsar
had little influence on art; and since Marveev's battle pictures and other works
of history painting, as well as his mural painting, bears the imprint of Peter the
Great's taste, he really belongs to the great reformer's age. His portrait art is
quite accomplished, though it is his sincerity which gives him his greatest
appeal. This quality is especially to the fore in his portrait of himself and his
wife, which has something of the charm of an early Gainsborough about it. In
addition to his portraits, he was, unlike most later westernized Russian
painters, also responsible for a number of icons. His comparatively early death
robbed Russia of a very promising painter.

John Nikitin

John Nikitin (1690-1741), the second outstanding Russian painter of the

period, was a more complex character. He studied in Italy from 1716 to 1720,
and his skill and talent were so evident even during his studentship that Peter
wished him to paint the King of Saxony's portrait in order to prove that Russian
Old Masters were not always inferior to every Western artist. This proposal
does not, unfortunately, appear to have been realized. Under his fashionable
veneer, and notwithstanding his great success, Nikitin remained a sincere and
truth-seeking artist, and the portraits of even his most fashionable sitters have
an intimate quality which goes far to enhance the value of his pictures. Yet in
the 1730s, disregarding his popularity, he permitted himself to doubt whether
naturalism could be justified on ethical grounds. By no means sure of himself in
the unaccustomed surroundings Peter had created, Nikitin pathetically joined a
group of people opposed to Russia's westernization, and insisted on painting
only in the style of seventeenth-century icons. This incurred the Empress Ann's
displeasure, but Nikitin remained adamant, and was as a result exiled to
Siberia. Elizabeth proved more understanding; on ascending the throne she
pardoned the poor truth-seeker, and Nikitin set out for St. Petersburg only to
die before reaching the capital. For more, see: Russian Painting: 18th Century.

Petrine Engraving and Book Illustration

A large number of artists employed by Peter were involved in engraving, mostly

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engaged on drawing maps and illustrating books. In addition to the illustration

required by the text, these artists lavishly embellished the volumes on which
they worked with decorative devices such as cartouches, ribbons, garlands of
flowers, allegorical figures, emblems and fine lettering. These are invariably
delightful, and for sheer design they can rank with the finest printmaking and
graphic products of contemporary Europe.

Chemesov, Skorodumov and Utkin were the three leading engravers of the
period. The impact of their work upon the peasants led to the production of the
lubki, the Russian equivalent of England's chap-books. These illustrations are
likewise delightfully virile and decorative. They were block printed on single
leaflets and, together with the icon, formed the only pictorial decoration in a
Russian cottage. More important, however, than the appearance of the lubki is
the fact that these engravers laid the foundations for Russia's superb graphic
art, which reached its finest level only at the turn of the last century. From then
on Russian books, whether of pre- or post-revolutionary date, take an
outstanding place, and their vignettes, chapter-heads, tail-pieces and end-
papers set a standard which is unsurpassed in Europe in so far as the quality of
the design is concerned. See also: Russian Painting (19th Century).

Examples of Petrine sculture and painting can be viewed in some of the very
best art museums in Russia, including the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg.

• For more artworks commissioned by Romanov Tsars, see: Fabergé Easter Eggs.
• For information about painting and sculpture, see: Homepage.

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