Open AccessTwo Palaces by Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli According to Drafts from Friedrich Bergholtz collection, Stockholm National Museum
Author(s) -
Tatyana Vyatchanina,
G. D. Smirnov
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
vestnik rossijskogo fonda fundamentalʹnyh issledovanij. gumanitarnye i obŝestvennye nauki/vestnik rffi. gumanitarnye i obŝestvennye nauki
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2587-8956
pISSN - 2587-6090
DOI - 10.22204/2587-8956-2020-100-03-106-120
Subject(s) - baroque , art , art history , architecture , visual arts
The article includes the description and analysis of 12 sheets from Bergholtz collection dedicated to two Courland palaces of Duke Ernst Johann von Biron in Mitau and Ruhenthal (nowadays, Latvia — Jelgava and Rundāle, respectively). Designed by Bartolomeo F. Rastrelli, the palaces belong to the finest works of the Russian Baroque architecture of the 1730s. The findings of the study reveal that 7 sheets illustrating the design and the façade of the Ruhenthal palace are practically an exact copy of the original project stored in the collection of the Albertina Museum in Vienna. Two out of five drafts of Mitau palace are also a copy of Viennese drafts, while three sheets of five are a copy of completed projects. Therefore, the most valuable items of Bergholtz collection are three architectural drafts of the façade and lay-outs of two floors of Mitau palace — the only copies of the completed Rastrelli’s project known to science; the original copies are yet to be discovered.