28 Facts About Vincenzo Brenna

Vincenzo Brenna was an Italian architect and painter who was the house architect of Paul I of Russia.

Vincenzo Brenna worked on Pavlovsk Palace and Gatchina palaces, rebuilt Saint Isaac's Cathedral, and most notably created Saint Michael's Castle in Saint Petersburg.

Vincenzo Brenna belonged to an old Ticino family that had split into two branches, stonemasons and painters not later than the last quarter of the 17th century.

Vincenzo Brenna, son of Francesco, was born in 1747 in Florence.

Since 1767 Vincenzo Brenna studied crafts in the Roman workshop of Stefano Pozzi together with his better known contemporary Giacomo Quarenghi.

Vincenzo Brenna himself did not have luck in tangible architecture; instead, commissioned by Lodovico Mirri under auspices of Pope Clement XIII, he surveyed the relics of Rome together with Franciszek Smuglewicz.

Vincenzo Brenna eventually "arrived at a more theatric conception of Antiquity than the Scot," and created architecture radically different from Cameron's.

Vincenzo Brenna followed Potocki to Poland where he prepared two drafts of a church in Ujazdow.

Vincenzo Brenna received commissions to decorate Potocki's palace in Natolin, for which "compensated" himself from his patron's art collection.

Cameron's influence faded, influence of his assistants, including Vincenzo Brenna, rose, powered in part by the Italians' assertive, self-confident behaviour.

In 1794 Vincenzo Brenna was rewarded with a lot of land near to Pavlovsk palace.

In 1793 Vincenzo Brenna designed Connetable Square, modelled after Chateau de Chantilly.

In 1796 Paul launched construction of a military base for his trusted Gatchina troops; the project, led by Vincenzo Brenna, employed Bazhenov, Ivan Starov, Andreyan Zakharov and Nikolay Lvov, architect of the Priory Palace.

At about the same time Vincenzo Brenna expanded the palace itself, completing two square side wings of the palace.

Vincenzo Brenna completed a series of new, at time fantastic, palace drafts reflecting Paul's visions.

Vincenzo Brenna designed and built Pavlovsk residence for grand dukes Alexander and Konstantin.

Vincenzo Brenna wanted to see the castle externally complete by the end of 1797, so work on site, employing up to 6,000 men, continued day at night while all other residents of Saint Petersburg were ordered to sleep after dusk.

Vincenzo Brenna, realizing that existing project management controls will delay completion, demanded elimination of all financial controls and intermediaries between Paul and himself.

Unlike Cameron, Vincenzo Brenna never hesitated to assign less-than-competent artists to "fill the void" and make the schedule; he focused on the whole picture and did not seek perfection in detail.

Vincenzo Brenna married Maria Trauenfeld, whose father was employed by Frederick Eugene, father of empress Maria.

In 1798 they moved to former Trauenfeld residence; Vincenzo Brenna purchased this building one month prior to Paul's murder.

Vincenzo Brenna's unscrupulous handling of state treasury irreparably tarnished his reputation.

Vincenzo Brenna's last building in Saint Petersburg was a wooden theatre commissioned by Antonio Casassi in 1801; in 1832 Carlo Rossi replaced it with present-day Alexandrinsky Theatre building.

Vincenzo Brenna sold his art treasures and in January 1802 tended his resignation to Maria Fyodorovna, the latter granted him annual pension of 3525 roubles.

Vincenzo Brenna applied to Alexander for a raise, and was harshly shown to the door; his pension, awarded on assumption that Vincenzo Brenna would stay in Russia and be available for professional consultancy, was reduced to 2,000 roubles.

Historians agree that Vincenzo Brenna's talent was nowhere near that of his illustrious rivals or his trainee, Carlo Rossi.

Paul was the first emperor of the Romantic era, Vincenzo Brenna was the precursor of Romantic Neoclassicism.

Vincenzo Brenna, played by Alexander Grigoryants, appears in the 2003 Russian film Poor, Poor Pavel featuring Viktor Sukhorukov as Paul and late Oleg Yankovsky as Count Pahlen.