Antonio Rinaldi (

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

, 25 August 1709 –

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 10 April 1794) was an Italian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, trained by

Luigi Vanvitelli Luigi Vanvitelli (; 12 May 1700 – 1 March 1773), known in Dutch as (), was an Italian architect and painter. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made an ea ...

, who worked mainly in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Life

In 1751, during a trip to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, he was summoned by hetman

Kirill Razumovsky Count Kirill Grigoryevich Razumovsky or Razumovski (also known as ''Cyril Razumovski''; ; ; Oleksander Ohloblyn. Rozumovsky, Kyrylo'. Encyclopedia of Ukraine – ) was a Russian statesman of Ukrainian Cossack origin who served as the last ...

to decorate his residences in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

. To this early period belong the Resurrection cathedral in Pochep near

Bryansk Bryansk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Bryansk Oblast, Russia, situated on the Desna (river), Desna River, southwest of Moscow. It has a population of 379,152 at the 2021 census. Bryans ...

and the Catherine Cathedral in Yamburg, now Kingisepp near

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

(''illustrated, right''), where Rinaldi successfully expressed the domed, centrally-planned form required by traditional Russian Orthodox practice in a confident Italian Late Baroque vocabulary. His first important secular commission was the Novoznamenka chateau of Chancellor Woronzow. In 1754, he was appointed chief architect of the ''young court'', i.e., the future Peter III and

Catherine II Catherine II. (born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst; 2 May 172917 November 1796), most commonly known as Catherine the Great, was the reigning empress of Russia from 1762 to 1796. She came to power after overthrowing her husband, Peter III ...

, who resided at Oranienbaum. In that town he executed his best-known

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

designs: the Palace of Peter III (1758–60), the sumptuously decorated Chinese Palace (1762–68), and the Ice-Sliding Pavilion (1762–74). In the 1770s, Rinaldi served as the main architect of

Count Orlov The House of Orlov () is the name of a Russian nobility, Russian noble family which produced several distinguished statesmen, scientists, diplomats, and soldiers. The family first gained distinction in the 18th century through the achieveme ...

, who was Catherine's prime favourite and the most powerful man in the country. During this period he built two grandiose Neoclassical residences, namely the

Marble Palace The Marble Palace () is one of the first Neoclassical palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is situated between the Field of Mars and Palace Quay, slightly to the east from New Michael Palace. Design and pre-1917 owners The palace was bu ...

on the

Palace Embankment The Palace Embankment or Palace Quay (Russian: Дворцовая набережная, Dvortsovaya naberezhnaya) is a street along the Neva River in Central Saint Petersburg which contains the complex of the Hermitage Museum buildings (includin ...

in St Petersburg and the roomy

Gatchina Gatchina (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Gatchinsky District in Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It lies south-south-west of St. Petersburg, along the E95 highway which links Saint Petersburg and Pskov. Population: It was pr ...

Castle, which was subsequently acquired for

Emperor Paul Paul I (; – ) was Emperor of Russia from 1796 until his assassination in 1801. Paul remained overshadowed by his mother, Catherine the Great, for most of his life. He adopted the laws of succession to the Russian throne—rules that lasted ...

and partly remodeled. He also designed for Orlov several monuments in

Tsarskoe Selo Tsarskoye Selo (, , ) was the town containing a former residence of the Russian imperial family and visiting nobility, located south from the center of Saint Petersburg. The residence now forms part of the town of Pushkin. Tsarskoye Selo forms ...

, notably the Orlov Gates, Kagul Obelisk and the Chesma Column. He completed the work started by

Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe Jean-Baptiste Michel Vallin de la Mothe (1729 – 7 May 1800) was a French architect whose major career was spent in St. Petersburg, where he became court architect to Catherine II. His students were Ivan Starov and Vasily Bazhenov. Biogra ...

on the Catholic Church of St. Catherine. Rinaldi's last works represent a continuous transition from the dazzling

rococo Rococo, less commonly Roccoco ( , ; or ), also known as Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and dramatic style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpte ...

of interiors to the reserved and clear-cut treatment of facades characteristic of

Neoclassicism Neoclassicism, also spelled Neo-classicism, emerged as a Western cultural movement in the decorative arts, decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that drew inspiration from the art and culture of classical antiq ...

. These include two St Petersburg cathedrals, one dedicated to St Isaac the Dalmatian and subsequently demolished to make way for the present Empire-style structure, and the other, dedicated to Prince Vladimir and still standing. In 1784, the old master resigned his posts on account of bad health and returned to Italy. He died in

in 1794.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rinaldi, Antonio 1794 deaths 18th-century Italian architects Italian Baroque architects 18th-century architects from the Russian Empire Italian expatriates in Russia Culture in Saint Petersburg 18th century in Saint Petersburg 1710 births Rococo architects Bolshoi Theatre, Saint Petersburg people