Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (Italian) / Варфоломей Варфоломеевич Растрелли (Russian) |Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (Father: Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli, a prominent sculptor and architect; Spouse: Baroness Maria Anna von Walles; Children: Elisabetta Caterina, Giuseppe Iacopo, Eleonora)
Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700–1771) was a brilliant Italian-born architect who became the definitive master of Russian imperial architecture in the 18th century. He is celebrated for inventing the opulent “Elizabethan Baroque” style, a majestic synthesis of European Late Baroque, Rococo elements, and traditional Russian architectural motifs, characterized by immense scale, vibrant polychrome facades, and lavish ornamentation.
Born in Paris, Rastrelli was the son of Carlo Bartolomeo Rastrelli, a Florentine sculptor. In 1716, at the age of 16, he moved to Saint Petersburg with his father, who had been invited by Peter the Great to help build the newly established Russian capital. The younger Rastrelli absorbed his father’s training and began his independent career in the 1720s.
His career truly ignited when he was appointed the senior court architect in 1730, a position he held through the reigns of Empress Anna and, most notably, Empress Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s grand vision perfectly matched Rastrelli’s talent for extravagance. Under her patronage, he designed his most globally recognized masterpieces.
Between 1754 and 1762, he constructed the monumental Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, the primary residence of the Russian monarchs, featuring a breathtaking green-and-white facade and over 1,500 rooms. Simultaneously, he expanded the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo (1752–1756), known for its dazzling blue-and-gold exterior and the legendary Amber Room. Other spectacular achievements include the expansion of the Peterhof Palace, the majestic Smolny Convent and Cathedral, and the Stroganov Palace.
Rastrelli’s dominance ended abruptly when Catherine the Great ascended to the throne in 1762. Dismissing his florid Baroque style as outdated and overly extravagant in favor of Neoclassicism, the new empress relieved him of his post. Rastrelli spent his final years in relative obscurity and financial difficulty, returning briefly to Courland (Latvia) to work on the Rundāle and Jelgava palaces he had designed decades earlier. Shortly before his death in 1771, he was granted honorary membership into the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, a late but well-deserved recognition of his legacy.
Active in others filds : Interior Design, Urban Planning.
