Carlo received versatile training in arts, which included work with bronze and jewelry, as well as drawing, casting and architecture design.

Rastrelli moved with his wife, a Spanish noblewoman, to Rome and then to Paris, where she gave birth to their son Francesco Bartolomeo.

[2] Rastrelli's duties included the design of palaces, gardens, fountains, theatrical decorations, stamps for minting coins and medals, as well as monuments, using various materials such as rocks, metals and wax.

However, he soon started experiencing a strong competition from Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond, an architect who also moved to Russia in 1716, and focused on sculpture.

His first significant work was bust of Alexander Menshikov, which he completed by the end of 1716 using lead (currently in a private collection in Paris), and in 1717 cast in bronze.

[3][2] In the 1720s he worked on the Grand Cascade and Samson Fountain in Peterhof Palace and on a triumphal pillar commemorating the Great Northern War.

[4] After Peter's death in 1725, Rastrelli made another face mask, as well as molds of his hands and feet; he also accurately measured his body.

According to records of A. K. Nartov, a mechanic and personal turner of Peter, it was decorated by Catherine and her maids, which is consistent with the examination results of the 1960s.