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Vasily Bazhenov ( March 12, 1737 - August 13, 1799)
Vasily Bazhenov
( March 12, 1737 - August 13, 1799) |
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Art Work
| Name: |
Vasily Bazhenov |
| Gender: |
Male |
| Place of Birth: |
Dolskoye, Kaluzhskaya Province |
| Nationality: |
Russian |
| Birth: |
March 12, 1737 |
| Death: |
August 13, 1799 |
| Website: |
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| Past Auctions: |
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Quick Facts
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Architect |
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Biography
| From his earliest childhood he lived in Moscow, where his father was a minor cleric in one of the Kremlin churches. He studied painting in Moscow under the important architect Dmitry Ukhtomsky, who accepted him into his school of architecture in 1751 and had him enrolled for classes in fine arts and languages at Moscow University in 1754. As one of the most gifted students he was transferred in 1758 to the St Petersburg Academy of Arts. As its curriculum was not then complete, he studied for two years with Savva Ivanovich Chevakinsky (1713-74/80) during the latters construction of the naval church of St Nicholas, and with the Academys president, Aleksandr Filippovich Kokorinov (1726-72).In 1760 Bazhenov was sent on a travelling scholarship to study under Charles de Wailly in Paris, where he became acquainted with a wide circle involved in the theoretical disciplines and the study of architecture. He created his own version of a plan for the Hotel des Invalides and a model of the Louvre, grasping the distinctive character of the nascent French Neo-classicism. As a foreigner he was not entitled to the Prix de Rome upon graduation from the Academie Royale d'Architecture in 1762 and received only a diploma. He nevertheless spent two years in Italy (1762-4) as a postgraduate of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts and was the first Russian to become a member of the academies of Rome, Florence and Bologna.Bazhenovs first schemes after his return to Russia in 1764 included a design (unexecuted) for an Institute for Daughters of the Nobility, which Empress Catherine II proposed to add to the Smolny Convent. In his design, a large central hall was framed symmetrically by rooms of varied shapes, while externally a two-storey rusticated base supported a giant order of coupled columns, which were also grouped at intervals to articulate the composition. The influence of the east front of the Louvre is palpable.In order to secure the title of professor of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg, Bazhenov produced a design for a pleasure house (1765), a palace and park in Yekaterinhof involving a system of buildings subordinate to the main house, a vast amphitheatre for spectators, obelisks with the coats of arms of Russian towns and a statue of Glory as a symbol of Russias greatness. The engineering and technical designs for a drainage system to prevent the River Neva flooding still exist. The plan was not accepted, however, and he was awarded the title of academician but not of professor.In 1767 Bazhenov was seconded as architect to the Department of Artillery in Moscow to reinstate the decrepit buildings of the Kremlin. Exceeding the terms of his contract, he drew up a grandiose plan (1768-75) for rebuilding the whole Kremlin and the adjoining land. The palace would take in the Kremlin hill, covering a huge area: the centre of the composition was to be an oval plaza with four rostra, bounded by a colonnade. Three of the citys main roads would converge on the plaza through the Kremlins gate-towers, and the ancient buildings would be seen through arches that pierced the colonnades. The Empress approved the plan, and foundations were laid in 1773, but work soon stopped as money ran out, and ideological objections were raised to the violation of the centuries-old supremacy of the Kremlin ensembles Cathedral Square. A scale model of the palace reveals that the design, like that for the Smolny, featured a giant order of columns on a high rusticated base. There was a wealth of sculptural decoration.In 1776 Bazhenov began the construction of a palace, outbuildings and various follies at Tsaritsyno, near Moscow, to a commission from the Empress. In contrast to the classicist style he had used hitherto, the Tsaritsyno ensemble was planned as Gothic Revival. It was distinguished by intricacy of form and the combination of red brick with white stone carved details and polychrome ceramic appointments. Instead of the symmetrical layout usual in the 18th century, he used a picturesque composition comprising separate buildings open to view on all sides. The common scale of the structures, the distances between them, the harmonious blending with the landscape and the carefully planned modular system enabled the ensemble to be perceived as an artistic whole, as may be seen from the draft overall plan on which the geometric grid is marked. This example of early Romanticism was almost finished by 1786. Catherine, however, did not like the arrangement of twin palaces for herself and the Grand Duke Paul (later Emperor of Russia, reg 1796-1801) or its pavilion-like appearance with masonic symbols in the decor. Her distrust of Bazhenovs intimacy with Nikolai Ivanovich Nivikov (1744-1818), a protagonist of the Enlightenment, and Aleksandr Nikolayevich Radishchev (1749-1802), a supporter of revolutionary ideas, combined with a growing preference for Neo-classical architecture, led to Bazhenovs dismissal from the construction of Tsaritsyno and the demolition, at Catherines command, of many of its buildings. (For an illustration of Bazhenovs Gothic Revival bridge at Tsaritsyno. In Moscow Bazhenov created one of the most perfect works of Russian Neo-classicism, the Pashkov House (1784-6; now the old building of the Russian Library). The generally well-proportioned structure, which is not overshadowed by the proximity of the Kremlins towers, is distinguished by the masterly execution of its overall plan, the loftiness of its composition, its light and airy silhouette and the coordination and refined beauty of its details.Bazhenov was most prolific in the 1780s and 1790s. Following his own inclination, he employed the architectural orders for his town buildings, but for those in their natural country settings he had recourse to the romanticism of Russian Gothick. In 1792, at the instance of Grand Duke Paul, he drew up plans for the Mikhaylovsky Castle (the Engineers Castle), St Petersburg, a four-square building with rounded external angles and an octagonal central courtyard. The main (south) facade has a stone centrepiece with paired Ionic columns on a rusticated base supporting a pediment. The other facades are stucco on brick, painted a deep salmon red, with each elevation treated differently. The building is sited at the junction of the Moyka and Fontanka canals; two further canals (now filled in) were dug on the other sides to create a completely moated castle. The building was completed in 1797, although certain changes were introduced by Vincenzo Brenna owing to Bazhenovs illness. In 1799 Bazhenov was appointed vice-president of the Imperial Academy of Arts, for the reorganization of which he produced a plan that demonstrated his progressive views. He also proposed a programme for the publication of Russian architectural plans from the end of the 18th century. |
Samples of Work
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