Charles Cameron (architect) - Arrival in Russia

Arrival in Russia

Catherine's tastes in architecture evolved from Rococo and Gothic Revival architecture in the first decade of her reign to emerging Neoclassicism in the 1780s. She leaned to French variety of neoclassicism (Clerisseau, Ledoux) mixed with ancient Roman motifs. Catherine, perhaps the first of European monarchs, realized that the emerging style had the potential to become a definitive form of imperial art. She spared no expense in hiring foreign architects and craftsmen trained in the neoclassical manner. She instructed Baron Melchior Grimm, her European agent in matters of art and antiques, to hire Italian architects because "the Frenchmen we have here know too much and build dreadful houses - because they know too much." These Italians, Giacomo Quarenghi and relatively unknown Giacomo Trombara, arrived in Russia after Cameron.

Cameron arrived in Russia in 1779, also invited by Catherine's agents. Exact details of Cameron's hire remain vague, but on August 23, 1779 an enthusiastic Catherine wrote to Grimm that "At present I am very taken with Mr. Cameron, a Scot by nationality and a Jacobite, great draughtsman, well versed in antique monuments and well known for his book on the Baths of Rome. At the moment we are making a garden with him on a terrace..." Catherine also wrote that Cameron was raised at the Roman court of the Pretender and that he was a nephew of Jenny Campbell, reflecting a new "romanticized" persona that Cameron assumed in Russia. Cameron settled first in Chernyshev House in Saint Petersburg but soon moved to his own house in Tsarskoye Selo; it was later taken from him by emperor Paul.

Cameron, a Londoner, had no practical experience in landscaping prior to 1779. Peter Hayden suggested that Cameron learned the trade from his father-in-law, John Bush (or Busch) who worked in Tsarskoye Selo since 1771.