|
|
|
|
|
|
|
  From Myth to Project. The Influence of
Architects from Italy and Ticino in Russia in the Epoch of Classicism The exhibition in the Nicholas Hall (Hall 191) of the Winter Palace displays some 300 works of art from Russian, Italian and Swiss collections. The exhibition reflects the golden age of Classicism in the architecture of St. Petersburg from 1762 to 1825 during the reigns of Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I. The architectural look of St.Petersburg which took shape at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries was created by masters from a number of different European countries. Among them were the Russian architects Vasily Bazhenov, Ivan Starov, Andrey Voronikhin; the Italians Antonio Rinaldi, Giacomo Quarengi; Vincenzo Brenna; the Frenchmen Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe and Thomas de Thomon; the Scot Charles Cameron; as well as Luiggi Rusca, Tommaso, Domenico and Antonio Adamini and others hailing from the canton of Ticino in so-called Italian Switzerland, which became part of the Swiss Confederation in the beginning of the 19th century. The first section of the exhibition introduces the visitor to the artistic atmosphere that prevailed at the close of the 18th century. It shows portraits of the monarchs and architects as well as works on various subjects taken from antiquity: paintings by Hubert Robert , Giovanni and Paolo Panini; drawings by Charles Louis Clerisseau, Louis Jean Depre, Thomas de Thomon and models of classical monuments. It also features drawings, sketches and fragments of decorations created by Italian artists who worked in Russia: Giuseppe Valeriani, Galli Bibiena, and Carlo Pietro Gonzaga. The second part of the exhibition presents major phases in the development of Russian architecture at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries. Here on display are plans, blueprints and wooden models by the famous architects as well as city views showing palaces and churches that they constructed in Moscow and St. Petersburg. For example, there are the Tauride Palace by architect Ivan Starov; the buildings of the Academy of Sciences, the Assignation Bank and the Hermitage Theatre by architect Giacomo Quarenghi, the Agate Rooms and the Cameron Gallery in Tsarskoye Selo by architect Charles Cameron; the Mikhailovsky Castle by architect Vincenzo Brenna; the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan by architect Andrey Voronokhin; and the Mikhailovsky Palace, Alexandrinsky Theater and ensemble of General Staff buildings by architect Carlo Rossi. The very halls of the Hermitage in the Winter Palace, created according to plans drawn up by Quarenghi, Rossi and Stasov, complete the exhibition. The exhibition is the culmination of lengthy scholarly research by historians of art and architecture from several different countries. They not only managed to find previously unknown drawings and blueprints but also succeeded in organizing a wide-ranging exchange of information about architects who once worked in Russia. The catalogue of the exhibition, which is published both in Russian and Italian, reflects different points of view on the development of Russian architecture. The exhibition has been organized by the State Hermitage in cooperation with the Cantonal Museum and the University of Italian Switzerland in Lugano with additional participation by libraries, museums, archives and also private collections from Russia, Italy and Switzerland. The exhibition enjoys the patronage of the Consulate General of the Republic of Italy and the Honorary Consulate General of the Swiss Confederation in St. Petersburg. |
|
|||||
|
Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
