Species diversity of the French quarter masters’ art in Petersburg: to the question about parameters of the creative activity of the French art colony under Peter the First

The article is the first comprehensive study of the specific characteristics of art created by the masters of the French Quarter (“Frantsuzskaya Sloboda”) in Petersburg under Peter the Great; it analyzes the participation of the French in the organization and execution of decorative works. By the method of structural systematization applied to the array of data on creative projects carried out by the masters of the French Quarter, it was found that these masters, regardless of their original specialization, in Russia were more realized as decorators. Masters of French Quarter made an extraordinary contribution to the development of monumental and decorative sculpture, as well as landscape sculpture in Russia, monumental and decorative painting, interior architecture and landscape design. French artists had no rivals in the workload and in the diversity of species characteristics of decorative arts and crafts. However, in their importance and influence in the architecture of buildings, they were much inferior to the architects of the German and Italian branches of the Rossica.