Interiors of the Petrovsky Baroque

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The time of Peter's reforms is an amazing period in the history of Russian arts and crafts. These reforms, no doubt, affected all spheres of the Russian traditional way of life. The need to dramatically change the tastes and habits of an entire people, at least of its high society part, in a period of time equal to one human life, required the introduction of certain regulations, prohibitions, circulars and other restrictive means. It would be more correct to call this historical period - “Time amateurs.

This is a period when the personal tastes and preferences of a certain customer meant for the history of art no less than the taste, education, and experience of the most eminent European artists. The formula of the time: the customer - as a co-author, the artist - as a performer. Such active complicity in the arrangement of his personal environment was distinguished not only by Peter, but also by all noble nobles of that time, by no means well-born boyars. First of all - the Most Serene Prince Menshikov, and, as I. E. Grabar notes, Peter himself did not have a high artistic taste, but his "right hand", with his biography and education, and even more so. Then the circle of high-ranking customers included: Admiral Golovin, Field Marshal Sheremetyev, all the "children of Petrov's nest", the entire newly-made capital courtyard. others. Despite the many prohibitions and regulations that the owner was obliged to comply with when building a new house, he felt completely free in interior design, since there were no clear rules according to which interior decoration should be carried out. The external and internal planning of the Peter's era mansion is organized, in the words of that time, "in the Italian manner." That is, in the form of a three-part mansion. Some researchers say that this "style" came to us from Holland, the aesthetic tastes of which were largely formed under the influence of the Italian Renaissance. However, this type of planning was preferred in almost all European countries. The Russians drew their knowledge of European culture from the practical guides of the 17th and 18th centuries, the influx of which into Russia sharply increased during the time of Peter the Great. Among the most famous are the works of J. and D. Marot, L. Sturm, P. Decker. These manuals contained exemplary designs for plafonds, fireplaces, architectural patterns, parquet drawings, furniture measurements, etc., and so on, and almost never were executed verbatim. That same newly minted nobleman almost always showed imagination and created around himself his own idea of the European interior. It was clear to a person at the beginning of the eighteenth century that it was no longer possible to use the old way, but how about the new? It was difficult for people who grew up in rooms with vaulted ceilings, and sometimes in a simple hut, to immediately unambiguously answer this question of a civilization alien to them. Hence all the eclecticism of Peter's time. Most of the masters of that time were foreigners. At the invitation of Peter, many European specialists, carpenters, upholsterers, carvers, wood turners, carriages, gilders come to Russia. Among others, Nikolai Pino and Michel Folet came. Russian craftsmen mastered foreign samples back in the 17th century, in the Moscow workshop of the Armory. The new capital, which was actively built up with wooden buildings imitating stone ones, was in dire need of skilled carvers, joiners and carpenters. Many specialists from Moscow were transferred to St. Petersburg, and masters from the surrounding provinces were also discharged. More than one and a half thousand people arrived in the new city. In addition, young people were sent abroad. To study the "cabinet business", as there was not enough furniture. The peasant culture was quite conservative, it seemed that no one would specifically pay attention to the transformation of rural life, however, Dutch Renaissance motifs appear in the decoration of a simple interior. Probably thanks to those very simple carvers who returned home after another complex order for "ship carving" Most of the Russian craftsmen traditionally settled on Okhta. So in 1720 the Okhtyan Team, an artel of free carpenters, was founded there. Most of the Russian masters of that time, of course, were unnamed serfs. We can see examples of the skill of Russian carvers in the decoration of the Summer Palace, the Great Peterhof Palace of Peter, the Oranienbaum Palace of Menshikov and other ceremonial apartments of that time. Carving was one of the preferred finishing methods at the time. Wall panels, door and window slopes, cornices, door leaves, railings were covered with artistic carvings. From the materials they liked oak, walnut, plane tree. The tree was tinted and waxed. The matte wood surface was in vogue. The walls were finished with wood panels, painted or gilded leather, cloth, silk, canvas with a printed pattern imitating trellis, sometimes wallpaper. But they did not like wallpaper, they quickly deteriorated from moisture, they could not be removed and stored rolled up like a cloth, so textiles were preferable. Sometimes they used stucco, artificial marble, but at that time it was extremely rare. All this was bright, contrasting and always amazed the Europeans with its originality. They liked to use Dutch tiles in decoration, this product was not cheap, usually stoves or part of the wall were tiled with tiles, but sometimes the Russian breadth of the soul manifested itself, as, for example, in the one-of-a-kind Varvarian chambers, where all walls and vaults were faced with blue tiles.

Along with the usual plank floors, there are parquet, and sometimes even marble. The parquetry of Peter's time is distinguished by a rational and laconic pattern. Usually the patterns were taken from European guidelines. The customer Peter again proved himself by inventing parquet for one of the rooms in Monplaisir. The European lifestyle demanded a European layout. These innovations are especially noticeable in relation to sleeping quarters. The bedroom is the most intimate part of the Russian home. However, in Europe, the bedroom also served as reception apartments, and according to European etiquette was located next to the hallway.

The first European bed appeared in the Moscow house of Prince Golitsyn. In his bedroom there was a bed of "German" work with a canopy, on four pillars. The bed in the bedroom was placed in a special niche, "in the French manner." In St. Petersburg, the arrangement of bedrooms "in French" was promoted by Leblond. Such a technique, with his light hand, became widespread in Russian palaces. Also, certain conveniences were often arranged behind the partition - a special toilet seat. The thing in Russia is absolutely new, since in pre-Petrine Russia the toilet was usually located in a separate annex with a cesspool, or simply used an outboard vessel. The place of traditional chests was taken by dressers and wardrobes, cabinets, which are so popular in Europe. They were decorated using architectural patterns. The surface of such cabinets was also waxed and had a matte texture.

The tables resembled those of the Dutch, on thick legs, tied by a heavy frame with prongs. They often had a very high underframe with drawers. The underframe was decorated with architectural ornaments reminiscent of the details of Russian traditional architecture, vaults, platbands. The countertops had retractable side boards. Tables were often made of ordinary plain wood, then they were painted, usually green. Chairs and armchairs were simple in shape, mostly Dutch and English work. With traditionally high backs. Such chairs were upholstered with cloth or leather with small carnations in the Dutch style. Silk cushions were placed on the wicker seats.

Particularly noteworthy is the enthusiasm for chinoiserie. However, all of Europe was fond of this fashion. Chairs. Slides, cabinets with convex shapes, bent legs in the form of a bird's paw, Chinese motifs on the wallpaper, etc.

The decorative culture of Peter's time is an original phenomenon in its own way. The influence of European and Old Russian culture, as well as the strong will of a certain group of people with no European education and upbringing, various coercive measures and regulations have created a very eclectic, heterogeneous, original one. but still, the style, "in spirit", in time, the style of the "Petrovsky Baroque".

Hypatia Yakovleva.