Meanwhile, when Paul and Maria were in Europe, Cameron began displaying signs of aversion to their interference with his work. Court intermediaries suppressed the conflict for a while, but by 1785 Maria herself grew tired of Cameron's alleged inefficiency and warned him, through Count Kuchelbecker, that he will not see any new commissions. Cameron's influence faded, influence of his assistants, including Brenna, rose, powered in part by the Italians' assertive, self-confident behaviour. Aspiring Brenna was caught in the middle of "battle of the palaces", an expensive ideological contest between Catherine and Paul "hidden from the uninitiated but known to the court". Catherine made the first move, razing Bazhenov's gothic towers of Tsaritsyno Palace. Cameron, dismissed by Paul, was the second casualty. Paul suspected him of carrying out Catherine's orders: Cameron built for him "a markedly private world", not an imperial palace. Brenna, already Paul's trusted servant, was an ideal replacement. According to Lanceray, Paul used Brenna for visualizing his architectural fantasies as early as 1783–1785. Maria also favored Brenna; in 1787 she wrote that she was "fascinated by Brenna's return to work" inherited from Cameron.