Quarenghi, Giacomo

Giacomo Quarenghi was born in the village of Rota Fuori near the city of Bergamo in northern Italy. In his youth, he studied painting in Rome under the guidance of Rafael Mengs , then studied architecture . He built a playpen in Monaco and a dining room in the house of Archduke Modena in Vienna ^[3] .

Being 35 years old, in January 1780, Quarenghi came to St. Petersburg at the invitation of Catherine II as "the architect of her Majesty’s court." In the first decade of his stay in Russia, he built the English Palace in Peterhof (1780-1787), a pavilion in Tsarskoye Selo (1782). In St. Petersburg, Quarenghi built the buildings of the Hermitage Theater (1783-1787), the Academy of Sciences (1783-1785), the Assignation Bank (1783-1789), and the Foreign Collegium. He also fulfilled a number of orders of high-ranking nobles, among which the summer palace of Count Bezborodko in St. Petersburg stands out.

Under Paul I, Quarenghi built the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (1792-1796). At the same time, the palace of Count Zavadovsky in Lalichi was designed .

In the first decade of the 19th century, according to Quarenghi's projects, the Horse Guards Arena (1800-1807), the building of the Imperial Cabinet (1803-1806), the Mariinsky Hospital for the Poor (1803-1805), the buildings of the Catherine Institute of Noble Maidens (1804-1807) were built in St. Petersburg and the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens (1806-1808).

The works of Quarenghi are executed in the spirit of Palladianism and the new Italian school with its elegant, noble, but cold and dry style, not quite suitable for the northern countries, where the columns, so beloved by Quarenghi, take away a lot of light, which is already sparingly let out by the nature of the North; but in the buildings of Quarenghi, the taste and harmony of proportions are always noticeable. His works are a typical example of mature classicism in Russian architecture.

At the end of 1810, Quarenghi for the last time left St. Petersburg for Bergamo . In his hometown, a solemn meeting was arranged for him. But already in 1811, Quarenghi hastened to return to Russia. In connection with the preparations for the Napoleonic army’s campaign in Russia, the Italians in the Russian service were ordered to return to Italy; however, Quarenghi refused to comply with this order and was sentenced in absentia to death with confiscation of property.

The last years of the master’s work include the construction of temporary wooden triumphal gates beyond the Narva outpost in honor of the victory over Napoleon .

D. Quarenghi died on March 2, 1817 in St. Petersburg . He was buried in the Catholic site of Volkov’s cemetery , where his grave was considered lost for a long time. In the 1960s the discovery of the Quarenghi grave was announced, after which his ashes were reburied in 1967 at the Lazarevsky cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra ^[4] .

In St. Petersburg

• 1781-1794 - The English Palace in Peterhof (destroyed in 1942)
• 1783-1784 - the estate " Kiryanovo ", the cottage of E. R. Dashkova - 45 Stachek Ave.
• 1782-1784 - Smolensk Church in Pulkovo (destroyed in 1944)
• 1782-1788 - a concert hall in Tsarskoye Selo
• 1783-1785 - Academy of Sciences - University Embankment, 5
• 1783-1787 - Hermitage Theater - Palace Embankment, 32
• 1783-1799 - Assignment Bank - Sadovaya Street, 21
• 1788 - Saltykov House - Palace Embankment, 4
• 1789-1793 - the Yusupov Palace on Sadovaya Street - 50-a Sadovaya Street
• 1790s - Small guest house - Lomonosov street, 2
• 1792-1796 - Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo
• 1798-1800 - Apartment Building Zherebtsova - Palace Embankment, 10
• 1798-1800 - Maltese Chapel - part of the architectural complex of the Vorontsov Palace , attached to the main building of the palace from the garden
• 1800-1801 - Pavlovsk Palace : the living quarters of Empress Maria Fedorovna
• 1804-1807 - Catherine Institute - embankment of the Fontanka River, 36
• 1804-1807 - Horse Guards Manege - Yakubovich Street, 1
• 1806-1808 - Smolny Institute - Smolny passage, 1
• 1814 - wooden Narva triumphal gates (later rebuilt in stone and metal by V.P. Stasov )

In addition to Pulkovo, Quarenghi is sometimes attributed to the similar in appearance Church of Ascension in Fedorovsky Posad and Preobrazhenskaya in Moscow Slavyanka .

In Moscow

• 1780 - restructuring of the Catherine Palace in Lefortovo
• 1786 - shopping malls on Red Square (not preserved)
• 1790-1805 - Old Gostiny Dvor - 3 Varvarka Street
• 1803 - An Acceptable House (revision of a partially completed project).

In other regions

• 1769-76 - Bardu Arundel's Wardura Estate in Wiltshire
• 1780-1790s - construction of a large manor complex of Count P.V. Zavadovsky in Lyalichi (Bryansk region)
• 1786 - Offices in Kharkov on Cathedral Square (not preserved)
• 1791 - Transfiguration Cathedral in Novgorod-Seversky
• 1792 - sarcophagus on the grave of Lieutenant General V.A. Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoymsky in Vyborg
• 1793-1812 - Fair House, Kursk, Root Desert (not preserved)
• 1817 - Riga Victory Column (attributed to one of the last creations of the master).

Based on similarities with typical Palladian designs from Quarenghi albums, he is credited with a number of provincial estates, such as:

• Donaurova's cottage on the bank of Zhernovka (9 Irinovsky Prospekt );
• the palace-estate of Charlotte Karlovna Lieven in Mezotne (Mesotten), Courland (1797-1801);
• Khotensky estate project in the Kharkov province (late 1790s, two outbuildings preserved).

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  Main Altar in Seriate

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  Main Altar in Romano di Lombardy

Among the few works carried out by Quarenghi in Italy is the restoration of the Church of St. Scholastic at the Benedictine Abbey in Subiaco in 1769. Also, according to his projects in Italy, the main altars of parish churches were executed: in honor of the Most Holy Redeemer in Seriate, dates from 1775 and the Assumption of St. Mary and St. James in Romano di Lombardy between 1797 and 1799 ^[5] .

A collection of drawings, letters, private documents and other artifacts (more than 700 items in total) is available at the Angelo Mai Municipal Library in Bergamo. Other collections of papers by Quarenghi are kept in the Milan Museum of Castello Sforzeschi and in the Cabinet of Drawings of the Municipal Art Collection (Gabinetto dei Disegni delle Civiche Raccolte d'Arte) of Milan.

• In memory of the architect named a street in Bergamo and an alley in St. Petersburg .
• In 1967, on the 150th anniversary of his death, a postal art labeled envelope was issued.
• In 1994, on the 250th anniversary of the birth, a postage stamp was issued.
• In 2017, on the 200th anniversary of his death, a postal art labeled envelope with a circulation of 1 million copies was issued ^[6] .

• Grabar I.,. Gvarengi, Giacomo // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. - M. , 1896-1918.
• Korshunova M.F. Giacomo Quarenghi. L .: Lenizdat, 1981.
• Krasheninnikov A.F. Giacomo Quarenghi // Architects of Moscow. - M .: Moscow Worker, 1981. - S. 189-194. - 302 s.
• Mikhailova M. B. On the question of the place of Quarenghi in the architecture of neoclassicism // Giacomo Quarenghi and neoclassicism of the XVIII century: on the 250th anniversary of the architect: Tez.dokl.nauchn.conf. / Ans. ed. M.F. Korshunova . - SPb .: State. The Hermitage , 1994. - S.6-10.
• Pilyavsky V.I. Giacomo Quarenghi. Architect. Painter. L .: Stroyizdat, 1981.
• Taleporovsky V.N. Quarenghi. Materials for the study of creativity. M.-L.: GILSA, 1954.