Neo-Renaissance and Symbolism in the Architecture of the Livadia Palace (1909–1911). Based on Drawings, Sketches, the Article by N.P. Krasnov, and Essays by G.K. Lukomski

Abstract

The Livadia Palace of Nicholas II in the Crimea is an outstanding work of Russian palace and park art of the early 20th century. Meanwhile the aesthetic potential of the monument has not been fully revealed in science. The article is devoted to the question of the artistic style of the palace, which has been raised before, but has not received convincing answers and remains a subject of discussion. The hypothesis of architect N.P. Krasnov developing a special artistic language, combining historicism and neo-renaissance in architecture with the problems of symbolist art is presented.

Several aspects are considered. The choice of style by the author of the project as an appeal to the forms and design of Florentine palaces. The architect's methods of working with examples of the plan of the ancient and Renaissance villa according to the theory of A. Palladio. Artistic concept of imitation in a monumental building the image of "palazzo city". Striving to combine classicist and abstract forms of architecture. Harmony of the palace with nature and coloristic architecture, bringing it closer to symbolist landscape painting. The principle of replacing the old palace with the new palace and its spatial links with the old. Grains of the irrational in the architecture of the new and more perfect palace. Manipulations of time through architecture, and the semantics of the image of the palace as a reflection of the personality of the monarch.

The key textual sources on the architecture of the Livadia Palace, namely the explanatory note by N.P. Krasnov and critical remarks by the art historian G.K. Lukomski are analyzed in detail for the first time.