Quarenghi, Giacomo

QUARENGHI, GIACOMO. - Architect, b. in 1744 at Valle Imagna (Bergamo), d. in 1817 at St. Petersburg. His father and his grandfather were painters. He first studied painting and in Rome was a pupil of Raphael Mengs. He turned to architecture when he came under the very strong influence of Palladio. He devoted himself to the study of classical antiquities and came to elaborate a style of his own, sober but powerful.

In 1771 Q. rebuilt the church of S. Scolastica, at Subiaco. In 1779 he went to Russia in the service of Catherine II, becoming her official architect. He never afterward left that court. Subsequently he worked for Paul I and for Alexander I. He carried on his activity especially at St. Petersburg, where his principal works were the English Palace, the Hermitage Theatre (1782-85), inspired by that of Vicenza, the Academy of Sciences, the State Bank (1783-88), the Exchange, the chapel of the Knights of Malta (1798-1800), the Palace of the Smolny Institute (1806-1808). At Tsarskoye Selo he built the Alexander Palace (1792-96). He also built many palaces for private individuals.

In his buildings Q. adopted the fundamental principles of Palladian art both in the solution of the plans and in the clear distribution of balanced masses, both in the exteriors and in the interiors. An excellent draughtsman and colorist, he carved a deep furrow in Russian architecture and civilization, helping to instill in the spirit of Russian architects a taste for the nobility of proportions, for an austere and refined conception of style.

Maria Gibellino Krasceninnicova