Bartolommeo Ammannati, (born June 18, 1511, Settignano, near Florence [Italy]died

April 22, 1592, Florence), Italian sculptor and architect whose buildings mark the
transition from the classicizing Renaissance to the more exuberant Baroque style.
Ammannati began his career as a sculptor, carving statues in various Italian cities in the
1530s and 40s. He trained first under Baccio Bandinelli and then under Jacopo Sansovino in
Venice, working with the latter on the Library of St. Mark.
He was called to Rome in 1550 by Pope Julius III on the advice of the architect and art
historian, Giorgio Vasari. Ammannatis most important work there was in collaboration with
Vasari and Giacomo da Vignola on the villa of Pope Julius, the Villa Giulia (begun 1551).
Cosimo de Medici (Cosimo I) brought Ammannati back to Florence in 1555; he was to
spend almost all of his remaining career in service to the Medicis. His first commission was
to finish the Laurentian Library, begun by Michelangelo. Ammannati interpreted a clay model
sent him by Michelangelo in 1558 to produce the especially impressive staircase, leading
from the vestibule into the library proper.
Ammannatis masterpiece in Florence is the Pitti Palace, where, beginning in 1560, he
enlarged the basic structure by Filippo Brunelleschi, designing a courtyard and facade
opening onto the Boboli Gardens, which Ammannati had a part in designing. The facade
overlooking the courtyard is very unusual in its rusticated (rough-hewn) treatment of
successive levels of Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian attached columns. At the Pitti Palace it
provides an appropriately rural yet impressive backdrop for the gardens.
Two other major works by Ammannati in Florence are the Bridge of Santa Trinit (156769;
destroyed 1944, rebuilt 1958), which contains elliptical arches, and the Fountain of Neptune
(156770); the latter, in the Piazza della Signoria, features a colossal marble statue of that
deity. In his old age Ammannati was strongly influenced by the Counter-Reformation
philosophy of the Jesuits. He repudiated his earlier nude sculptures as lustful, and he designed
several austere buildings for the Jesuits.
Wrong above

Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli, (born 1700, Paris, Francedied April 1771, St.
Petersburg, Russia), French-born inventor of an opulent Russian Baroque architecture
that combined elements of Rococo with traditional elements of Russian architecture,
producing multicoloured and decorative ornamentation on all facades.
Of Italian descent, Rastrelli moved to St. Petersburg in 1716 with his father, the sculptor
Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli. During his first five years in Russia, he worked with his father
decorating the interiors of the palaces of the Russian aristocracy. From 1721 he worked
independently as an architect, and he immediately made a name for himself as a master with
a rich imagination.
Over a period of 50 years Rastrelli erected a great number of palaces for Russias rulers and
members of the imperial court. He was in special favour with the empresses Anna I and

Elizabeth I, who were partial to opulent luxury. For Anna he built two palaces in Moscow
(the Winter and Summer Annenhof palaces; neither has survived), the Winter Palace in St.
Petersburg (eventually destroyed by a fire, but later restored by a different architect), and, for
her favourite, Count Ernst Johann Biron, two palaces in Latvia. The empress, pleased with
Rastrellis work, conferred upon him the title of chief court architect.
During the 20-year reign of Elizabeth (174161), Rastrelli built 12 palaces and a number of
cathedrals for her. With her permission he also built elaborate homes for her courtiers. (In St.
Petersburg the Stroganov and Vorontsov palaces have survived.)
From 1747 to 1752 Rastrelli worked on a reconstruction of the palace of Peterhof. The threestory building stretches nearly 1,000 feet (some 300 metres). Situated on the seashore and
surrounded by a great number of fountains, the palacein the words of the director and
painter Alexandre Benoisgave the impression of being the Residence of the Sea King.
From 1749 to 1756 Rastrelli rebuilt the Bolshoi Dvorets (Grand Palace) in Tsarskoye Selo
(now Pushkin) and erected a series of pavilions in its park. The Tsarskoye Selo Palace (now
called the Pushkin Palace) is some 1,000 feet long, noteworthy for the ornamentation of its
facades and interiors and the wealth of its plasticity and colour. The French ambassador,
viewing the palace on the day of its inauguration, commented, There is only one thing
missing here: a suitable case to house a jewel of such magnificence.
In 1748 at the behest of the empress, whothough partial to the joys of life, was also very
religiouswanted in her old age to become a nun, Rastrelli began building the Smolny
Monastery on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. A large two-story square of monastic cells
surrounds a massive inner courtyard, in the centre of which stands a grand five-domed
cathedral. The structures abundant ornamentation makes it appear to have been chiseled out
of a single chunk of stone.
The Winter Palace in St. Petersburg (175462) was the pinnacle of Rastrellis creation. The
three-story building is in the form of a quadrangle: the powerful square expanses are united
with one another at their corners by wide three-storied galleries in which antechambers and
living quarters were located. The abundance of ornament gives the facades a feel of surging
inner power. The palace is the pinnacle of Russian architectural Baroque and the beginning of
its end.
Catherine the Great regarded the Baroque style as crude and favoured Neoclassicism, and she
dismissed Rastrelli from service. Shortly before his death the Russian Academy of Arts
accorded him an honorary membership.

One of the greatest architects active in Russia, Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli was
chiefly responsible for the style of architecture that became known as Russian Baroque,
making him an important contributor to Russian art, as well as one of the great Baroque
architects, of the 18th century. He started as a court artist under Peter the Great (ruled
1682-1725), before being appointed senior court architect in 1730 by Empress Anne. In
this role, Rastrelli directed the campaign of architectural renovation and
construction carried on during the reigns of Anne (1730-40) Elizabeth (1741-62),
Catherine (1762-96) and Alexander I (1801-25), creating an unmistakable style of
Baroque architecture that blends Russian typologies with Renaissance

architecture and later Italian and French Baroque. With the help of several other
Baroque architects and numerous other Russian artists, he achieved powerful
monumental linearity in his designs, as well as extraordinary decorative effects
from the coloured facades of the Summer Palace (1740-44; destroyed), Peterhof
Palace, near St. Petersburg (1747-55), the Smolny Convent and Cathedral (1748-64),
the Catherine Palace at Tsarkoye Selo (1752-56) and the Winter Palace (1754-62). In
addition, his interior designs were famous for their lavish Rococo style, and their
use of mirrors. In the same way that the Palace of Versailles spawned a minirenaissance in the activities of French designers and the French Decorative Arts, so the
design of the royal buildings of St Petersburg stimulated the emergence of a large school
of artisans and master craftsmen: a tradition of Romanov art which culminated in the
exquisite jewellery of the Faberg Easter Eggs. (See also: Russian Painting: 18th
Century.)
Biography
Born in Paris, Bartolomeo Rastrelli was the son of the sculptor and architect Carlo
Bartolomeo Rastrelli. Arriving in Russia at the age of 15, he received his first
architectural commission in 1721, during the era of Petrine Art, when he was invited to
design a palace for Prince Demetre Cantemir of Moldavia. From an early stage, Rastrelli's
aim was to inject Romanov Baroque with the latest Italian motifs. All went well,
and as his works pleased the Russian court, so he rose through the ranks becoming
senior court architect in 1730: a position he retained under the Empresses Anna and
Elizabeth (17301762). In addition those cited above, his main commissions included:
Saint Andrew's Church, Kiev (1748-67), Vorontsov Palace, St. Petersburg (1749-57),
Hermitage Pavilion, Tsarskoe Selo (1749), Mariyinsky Palace, Kiev (begun 1752), and
Stroganov Palace St. Petersburg (1753-54). Other buildings include the Mitava Palace
and the Annenhof Palace at Lefortovo.
Rastrelli's popularity and influence gave him many followers, who formed a distinct
school of architecture called "Russian Baroque". Among them were the Russian
architects: S.I.Chevakinski (1713-83), A.F.Kokorinov (1726-72), Prince Dmitry
Vasilyevich Ukhtomski (17191774), V.I.Bazhenov (1737-99), Matvey
Fyodorovich Kazakov (1737-1813) and I.E.Starov (1743-1808), some of whom
adopted the principles of neoclassical art and entered the service of Empress Catherine
the Great.
Their successor Empress Catherine II (Catherine the Great), however, considered
Baroque architecture to be too old-fashioned. She replaced Rastrelli with the Scottish
architect Charles Cameron (1745-1812), who went on to design a number of buildings
in the more modern style of Neoclassical architecture, including the Pavlovsk Palace
(1782-86) and the Alexander Palace (1812), near St Petersburg. Meanwhile, Rastrelli
was retired to the Duchy of Courland, a coastal region of Latvia, where he was given the
task of completing and decorating several palaces owned by the ducal court, such as
Rundale Palace, Pilsrundale (completed 1767) and Jelgava Palace (completed 1772). Not
long before he died, Rastrelli was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts, St
Petersburg.
Buildings Designed by Bartolomeo Rastrelli
The Catherine Palace (1752-56)
The Catherine Palace is a Rococo palace situated in the former town of Tsarskoye Selo, to
the south-east of St. Petersburg, Russia. Designed around 1717, by the German
architect Johann-Friedrich Braunstein, as a summer residence for Empress Catherine I, it
was extended by architects Mikhail Zemtsov and Andrei Kvasov at the request of
Empress Anna, before her daughter Empress Elizabeth finally turned to Rastrelli and

asked him to demolish the building and replace it with a more grandiose and flamboyant
Rococo structure. His new building dazzled courtiers and Ambassadors alike.
The Peterhof Palace (1747-55)
Located in Saint Petersburg and forming a series of palaces and gardens - sometimes
referred to as the "Russian Versailles" - the Peterhof Palace was built by Peter the Great
and later extended by Rastrelli, who added wings, and redesigned part of the gardens
and fountains.
The Smolny Convent and Cathedral (1748-64)
The Smolny Convent of the Resurrection (Voskresensky), situated close to the River
Neva, St Petersburg, consists of a Russian Orthodox cathedral surrounded by a complex
of monastic buildings. Originally built for Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great, who
opted to become a nun after being refused the succession to the throne. As it happened,
however, her successor Tsar Ivan VI was overthrown in 1741, and Elizabeth succeeded,
although work on the convent continued at her behest. The convent's cathedral is
regarded as one of Rastrelli's greatest works. The cathedral's planned bell-tower would
have made the cathedral the tallest building in Russia, but Elizabeth's death prevented
its completion. It wasn't until 1835 that the building was finally completed. The nearby
Smolny Institute, an important historical building, is named after the convent.
The Winter Palace (1754-62)
The official Saint Petersburg residence of the Russian Tsars (1732-1917), the
monumental green-and-white Winter Palace was designed by many different architects,
most notably Rastrelli, who used a style known as "Russian" or "Elizabethan" Baroque.
Shaped like an elongated rectangle, its main facade stretches for 250 metres. The
building contains an estimated 1,500 rooms, 1,780 doors, 950 windows and 120
staircases. It later became a symbol of the 1917 Russian Revolution.
Other major buildings designed by Rastrelli include:
-

Summer Palace (1740-44; destroyed)

Saint Andrew's Church, Kiev (1748-67)
Hermitage Pavilion, Tsarskoe Selo (1749)
Vorontsov Palace, St. Petersburg (1749-57)
Mariyinsky Palace, Kiev (begun 1752)
Stroganov Palace St. Petersburg (1753-54)

Other Leading Baroque Architects

In addition to those architects cited above, the best known Baroque designers included:
Austria/Germany
Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach (1656-1723)
Jakob Prandtauer (1660-1726)
Johann Dientzenhofer (1663-1726)
Andreas Schluter (1664-1714)
Balthasar Neumann (1687-1753)
Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach (1693-1742)
Hans Georg Wenzeslaus von Knobelsdorff (1699-1753)
See: German Baroque Art (c.1550-1750) and German Baroque Artists.
Bohemia/Czech
The Dientzenhofer Family of architects (1643-1744)
Jakub Auguston (1668-1735)
Jan Blazej Santini Aichel (1677-1723)

Britain
Sir Christopher Wren (1632-1723)
Sir John Vanbrugh (1664-1726)
France
Louis Le Vau (1612-70)
Andre Le Notre (1613-1700)
Jules Hardouin Mansart (1646-1708)
See: French Baroque Artists.
Italy
Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507-73)
Pietro da Cortona (1596-1669)
Bernini (1598-1680)
Francesco Borromini (1599-1667)
See also: Italian Baroque Artists.