Arkhitektory Tsarskogo Sela. Ot Rastrelli do Danini (Architects of Tsarskoe Selo. From Rastrelli to Danini)
St. Petersburg: Tsarskoe Selo / Avrora, 2010. Sewn cl. The favorite residence of the Romanov dynasty, Tsarskoe Selo demonstrated to Russia and the whole of Europe the glamorous lifestyle and the enormous might of the Russian Imperial court. Active here were all court architects, and each one left his own inimitable trace in the local topography. The role and way of their participation varied to some extent, being largely dependent upon the wishes and personal attitude of the residence owners. But be it as it may, their work has finally resulted in the creation of what is today known as the Tsarskoe Selo ensemble. The chief designers and architects working at Tsarskoe Selo in the eighteenth century — Rastrelli, Cameron, the Neelovs, Rinaldi, Quarenghi — and those who continued to sustain and alter the ensemble artistically in the nineteenth — Heste, Stasov, Menelas, Monighetti, Vidov, Velten and Danini — created a masterpiece of world culture. The authors describe the novelty of the architects' building techniques, the aesthetic decisions that shaped the architecture and garden layout in successive periods beginning with the baroque of the mid eighteenth century. The authors also provide biographical information on the architects, many invited from Western Europe, and their patrons in the Russian imperial family, for whom the atmosphere of “Kaiser ruhe” (royal repose) informed their commissions. The book publishes unique corpus of illustrations: photographs new and archival, paintings, watercolors, and prints, which together present the buildings as a whole, plans and designs, interiors, garden and park design. 301 pp., 31 cm, 320 color illus., Rus. Item #2211
ISBN: 9785730008373
Price: $112.00