Baroque style in Russia. Representatives of the Baroque in Russia

This bizarre, and sometimes strange style, dominating in the architecture and art of Europe from the end of the sixteenth to the middle of the eighteenth century, was established in the era of intensive creation of states on a national basis. He was closely associated with the church and aristocratic circles. The style of baroque glorified and propagated their power. Therefore, for him in the first place is characterized by splendor, grandiosity and a pathetic attachment to spectacular spectacles. In this style, illusory and reality are combined, there are strong contrasts of scales and rhythms, as well as textures and materials, shadow and light.

Description of baroque

As soon as they did not call this style at first: strange, prone to excess, ridiculous, pretentious, unnatural ... These characteristics sounded like derision in the era of his birth. And all because baroque did not correspond to the then canons of ancient art and architecture.

But gradually architecture began to acquire new priorities and quality. Baroque originated in Italy. It was this country at that time was the center of culture, from where this style began its triumphal march across Europe. And in every state the Baroque acquired its national characteristics.

The architecture of the Baroque, in Russia, including, in the first place, is striking in its scale and complexity. It is characterized by an abundance of complex, as a rule, curvilinear forms, large-scale colonnades. On the facades of buildings of that time and in their interiors there is an abundance of sculptures. There are also multilevel domes with complex shapes. A striking example of Baroque architecture can be called the Cathedral of St. Peter in the Vatican. Distinctive details of the style are the atlantes, caryatids, supporting vaults and playing the role of a column, as well as mascarons - sculptural ornaments in the form of a human head or muzzle of an animal in the full face.

It is in architecture, according to experts, baroque was represented in all its diversity and completeness. All architects who create their work in this style, it is difficult to list. They are the Italians Bernini, Maderna and Borromini, Pole Jan Glaubitz and many others. In Russia, the architect, whose creations can be considered Baroque, is considered primarily by B. Rastrelli. It must be said that in our country it developed along a special path.

The birth of the Russian Baroque

The beginning of the eighteenth century in Russia was marked by the largest events. As a result of the successfully completed Northern War and numerous Petrine reforms, the country began to develop both culturally and economically. The emergence of St. Petersburg was also an important event, it marked the beginning of a new stage in the history of not only our, but also world architecture. It is from this that the baroque spread in the architecture of the 18th century began, in fact. In Russia not only domestic but also architects from Western Europe gathered to build the capital and its suburbs. The solution of the grandiose tasks of town-planning was carried out on the basis of the traditions of Russian architecture.

Western European trends

Nevertheless St. Petersburg architecture of the times of Peter the Great, and this is the first quarter of the eighteenth century, although it turned out to be truly national, corresponding to local peculiarities, at the same time reflected the results of mastering many styles of Western European construction. There was a kind of monolithic and very organic alloy of our and foreign architectural styles. Thus began the era of baroque in Russia.

At the same time, the process of assimilation and creative processing of Western European styles, in fact, was born in the fifteenth century, when the Italians arrived in Moscow under Ivan III. In the second half of the seventeenth century, the influence of foreigners intensified when decorative columns and entablature, pediments, platbands and sculptural motifs gradually began to spread in Russian architecture.

Baroque style in Russia

In our country, he could not be confirmed for a long time. Despite the fact that critics overthrew classicism in architecture, they nevertheless saw no alternative to "columns and domes". The merits of neo-Gothic and "neo-Renaissance" were vehemently discussed, but the term "baroque" in Russia was avoided. The famous architect Briullov during a trip to Italy was outraged by the "corrupted taste" and the absurdity of Borromini's creations.

And only in the eighties of the nineteenth century the researcher of ancient Russian architecture N. Sultanov introduced the term "Russian baroque". In Russia, they denoted the pre-Petrine architecture of the seventeenth century. Since then, a stable concept has emerged, according to which the first phase of this style was formed in 1640.

According to Likhachev, baroque in Russia took over certain features of the Renaissance, which could not fully manifest itself. Nevertheless, the term "Russian baroque" in Russia and generally in the world is not accepted by all specialists. Therefore, it is considered conditional, and the name is quoted.

Formally, in terms of its qualities, this style is close to Mannerism. There are several stages in it: "Naryshkin", "Golitsyn", "Peter's Baroque in Russia" (18th century, first quarter) and "mature", referring to Elizabethan times. The latter style is most vividly embodied in the works of F. Rastrelli the Younger in many buildings of St. Petersburg.

Naryshkin, or Moscow baroque

By this style is meant a group of temples built by this famous boyar clan. Naryshkinsky style of baroque in Russia is represented by such works of architecture of the late seventeenth - early eighteenth centuries as the churches in Fili and Troitsky-Lykov, in Ubora and Dubrovitsy, and also the Assumption erected on Maroseyka.

Specialists call it to some extent its subsequent stage, in which transformed forms from Western European architecture, such as orders with their elements, decorative motifs of baroque origin, etc., appeared.

Features Naryshkin style in architecture

It arose at a critical moment for our architecture. It was then that the Russian patriarchal style began to gradually penetrate the trends from Europe. From the architecture of the sixteenth century it is distinguished by vertical piercing energy, which slides along the edges on the walls and throws out magnificent curly waves.

For the buildings of this era of Russian architecture is characterized by a mixture of contradictory trends, in buildings there is a heterogeneity of structures and decorative finishes. In the buildings of the Naryshkin Baroque in Russia, especially in Moscow, there are obvious features of European Mannerism and echoes of Gothic, there is little from the Renaissance and Romanticism, and all this merges with the traditions of wooden and ancient Russian stone architecture.

Golitsyn style

Gradually the development of baroque in Russia began. In place of Naryshkinsky in Moscow's architecture came a different style - Golitsyn, which is considered transitional. His heyday came in the first decade of the eighteenth century, and influence continued until the middle of the same century.

The first buildings erected in this baroque style in Russia are the churches in Dubovitsy, Perov, Volynsky, Lavrentievsky monastery in Kaluga. In contrast to the "Naryshkin", in the decorative decoration of "Golitsyn" buildings more purely baroque elements are used. However, their constructive solutions, compositions of isolated volumes and the closed nature of the arrays are closer to the European Renaissance. The clarity of the plan with the simplicity of forms combined with rich interior decoration is associated with many baroque monuments in Russia with classical examples of ancient Russian architecture. This is especially evident in the later buildings - the church of Peter and Paul in Moscow, as well as in Troekurov and Yakimanka.

Stroganov style

This stylistic direction of Russian architecture of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries is characteristic of buildings built by the order of a well-known industrialist, in whose honor it was named.

From the more radical monuments of the Moscow Baroque era, the Stroganovs differ in the preservation of the five-headed silhouette that is traditional for Russian churches, which is decorated with a magnificent baroque décor, as if fashioned from hand. These include the Kazan in Ustyuzhna, Smolensk in the village of Gordeevka, Christmas in Nizhny Novgorod and many other churches, as well as the Vvedensky Cathedral, built in Solvychegodsk.

Petrovsky Baroque

This term is applied by historians of art to the architectural style, which was approved by Peter I and was widely used in St. Petersburg. Restricted by a conventional framework, he focused more on the samples of Swedish, German and Dutch architects. The architecture of the baroque in Russia from the times of the Great Reformer was in many respects eclectic buildings, with a preference for classicism and Gothic antiquity. To reduce the diversity of decisions of Petrine architects to this style is possible only with a share of conventionality.

The architecture of this time is characterized by the simplicity of volumetric constructions, there are many clear divisions and restraint of decoration, often a flat interpretation of the facades is also observed. Unlike the Naryshkin Baroque in Russia, Peter's represents a decisive rejection of Byzantine traditions, which dominated our architects for nearly seven centuries. However, there is a difference from the Golitsyn style, inspired directly by Italian or Austrian samples.

Bright representatives

An invaluable role in the formation of baroque in Russia was played not only by Russian, but also by many well-known foreign architects. One of the representatives of the western school working in our country is Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, the son of an Italian sculptor who served at the court of King Louis XIV. Judging by the words of his biographers, he acquired his building experience in Russia. Being a very gifted artist, Rastrelli managed to prove himself to be an expert architect and to occupy a very high place at the court, having received the post of "chief architect". His work in 1740-1750 reached its apogee.

Other vivid baroque representatives in Russia are A. V. Kvasov who designed and built the Great Palace of Tsarskoe Selo before the restructuring carried out by Rastrelli. His works include the Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was not preserved on the Haymarket Square. Not less famous architects of the Russian Baroque era are P. Trezzini, A. Vista and, of course, the bright foreign representative of this style, Antonio Rinaldi , who worked in Russia from 1760 to 1770 . The latter, in its early buildings still under the influence of the "aging" baroque, later passed to the classicism, which in our country was just beginning. However, it is impossible to say unequivocally that Rinaldi is the representative of this early style.

Buildings of the Russian Baroque era

The well-known creation of Rastrelli is the ensemble of the Smolny monastery, built in 1748-1764 in St. Petersburg. It was created in the Russian traditions of similar ensembles belonging to the previous centuries. No less famous are the palaces of the two Elizabethan nobles - S.Stroganov and M.Vorontsov - located in the Northern capital. However, the first place among the works of Rastrelli is, of course, the Winter Palace, which was erected for eight years. It was completed in 1762. It was here that the talent of this architect manifested itself to the highest degree. Among other masterpieces of baroque - the Grand Palace in Tsarskoe Selo and many others. All of them very vividly characterize the style that prevailed in the middle of the eighteenth century in Russia. Evolution of creativity of the remarkable architect P. Trezzini is emphasized by the Fedorov church, located in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. Today, there is much controversy over who owns the eponymous cathedral built on Vladimirskaya Square. However, many are inclined to the fact that it was not an unknown master, namely P. Trezzini, who, as if vying with Rastrelli, created this amazing beauty church at the end of 1760. I must say that, unfortunately, many of the buildings belonging to this architect were subsequently rebuilt or simply disappeared.

He did not lag behind his colleagues Rinaldi, who created several Orthodox churches, combining many elements of baroque. In particular, it is the St. Andrew's Cathedral with its five-domed domes and a high multi-tiered bell tower, the Bottle house located in the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Chinese and Marble palaces. The latter is considered unique in Russian architecture.