Culture of Western Europe in the XVIII century. The main dominants of the culture of the European Enlightenment of the 18th century Western culture of the 18th century
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Introduction
Chapter I The Core Values of the Enlightenment
Chapter II Development of Science in the Age of Enlightenment
Chapter III Stylistic and Genre Features of the Art of the 18th Century
Conclusion
Bibliography
INTRODUCTION
The relevance of studying this topic is directly related to the significance of the period under consideration for the development of cultural studies.
European culture of the XVII-XIX centuries. It is customary to combine the culture of the New Age with a common concept, which is characterized by the formation and development of the capitalist mode of production.
For the countries of Europe, the beginning of the 17th century. largely marked by the political reaction that occurred as a result of the events of the late XVI century. The peasant war in Germany (1524-1525), which in many ways was a continuation of the popular movement against the Catholic Church, ended in the defeat of the rebels.
The consequence of this was the triumph of feudal power, with its fragmentation, low level of socio-economic and cultural development. In fact, the first bourgeois revolution in Europe was defeated. France is engulfed in religious and civil wars.
The subject of the study is the process of cultural development in Western Europe in the 18th century.
The object of the study is the main achievements of cultural development in Western Europe.
The purpose of this work is the need to characterize the process of cultural development in Western Europe in the XVIII century.
Achieving this goal involves solving a number of the following tasks:
1. Identify the main values of the Enlightenment.
2. Describe the development of science in the Enlightenment.
3. Highlight the main style and genre features of art in the 18th century.
The following methods were used in the work: descriptive, synthesis, analysis, induction, deduction, statistics.
In this work, we mainly used monographic and educational literature. The use of this type of literature allows us to characterize the main achievements in the development of the culture of the 18th century.
ChapterI. Core values of the Enlightenment
Enlightenment is a necessary step in the cultural development of any country that is parting with the feudal way of life. Enlightenment is fundamentally democratic; it is a culture for the people.
It sees its main task in upbringing and education, in familiarizing everyone and everyone with knowledge.
Like any significant cultural and historical era, the Enlightenment formed its ideal and sought to compare it with reality, to implement it as soon as possible and as fully as possible in practice.
Having put forward the idea of personality formation, the educators showed that a person has a mind, spiritual and physical strength. People come into the world equal, with their own needs, interests, the satisfaction of which lies in the establishment of reasonable and fair forms of human community. The minds of enlighteners are excited by the idea of equality: not only before God, but also before laws, before other people.
The idea of the equality of all people before the law, before humanity is the first feature the Age of Enlightenment.
It is not surprising that religion in the form in which it was presented by the church seemed to atheist educators in the heat of the struggle for extremes as the enemy of man. In the eyes of the enlightening deists, God turned into a force that only introduced a certain order into the eternally existing matter. During the Enlightenment, the idea of God as a great mechanic and the world as a huge mechanism became especially popular.
Thanks to the achievements of the natural sciences, the idea arose that the time of miracles and mysteries has passed, that all the secrets of the universe have been revealed, and the Universe and society are subject to logical laws accessible to the human mind. The victory of reason is the second characteristic feature of the era.
The third characteristic feature of the Enlightenment is historical optimism.
The Age of Enlightenment can rightly be called the "golden age of utopia." Enlightenment, first of all, included a belief in the ability to change a person for the better, "rationally" transforming political and social foundations.
A guide for the creators of utopias of the XVIII century. served as the "natural" or "natural" state of society, not knowing private property and oppression, division into classes, not drowning in luxury and not burdened by poverty, not affected by vices, living in accordance with reason, and not "according to artificial" laws. It was an exclusively fictional, speculative type of society, which, according to Rousseau, may never have existed and which, most likely, will never exist in reality.
The Renaissance ideal of a free person acquires the attribute of universality. And responsibility: a person of Enlightenment thinks not only about himself, but also about others, about his place in society. Enlighteners focus on the problem of the best social structure. Enlighteners believed in the possibility of building a harmonious society.
Profound changes in the socio-political and spiritual life of Europe, associated with the emergence and development of bourgeois economic relations, determined the main dominants culture XVIII century.
The main centers of the Enlightenment were England, France, Germany.
From 1689 - the year of the last revolution in England - the Age of Enlightenment begins. It was a glorious era, begun with one revolution and ending with three: industrial in England, political in France, philosophical and aesthetic in Germany. For a hundred years - from 1689 to 1789. - the world has changed. The remnants of feudalism eroded more and more, bourgeois relations, which were finally established after the Great French Revolution, were louder and louder.
The eighteenth century also prepared the way for the dominance of bourgeois culture. The old, feudal ideology was replaced by the time of philosophers, sociologists, economists, writers of the new Age of Enlightenment.
In philosophy, the Enlightenment opposed any metaphysics (the science of supersensible principles and principles of being). It contributed to the development of any kind of rationalism (recognizing reason as the basis of human knowledge and behavior), in science - to the development of natural science, the achievement of which it often uses to justify the scientific legitimacy of views and faith in progress. It is no coincidence that the Enlightenment period itself in some countries was called the names of philosophers. In France, for example, this period was called the age of Voltaire, in Germany - the age of Kant.
In the history of mankind, enlighteners were concerned about global problems:
How did the state come about? When and why did inequality arise? What is progress? And there were just as rational answers to these questions as in those cases when it was a question of the "mechanism" of the universe.
In the field of morality and pedagogy, the Enlightenment preached the ideals of humanity and placed great hopes on the magical power of education.
In the field of politics, jurisprudence and socio-economic life - the liberation of man from unjust bonds, the equality of all people before the law, before humanity. For the first time, the epoch had to resolve in such acute forms the long-known question of the dignity of man. IN different areas activity, it was transformed in different ways, but inevitably led to fundamentally new, innovative in its essence discoveries.
If we talk about art, for example, it is no coincidence that this particular era was so unexpected for itself, but so effectively forced to respond not only to the problem of "art and revolution", but also to the problem of artistic discovery, born in the depths of the emerging new type of consciousness.
The Enlighteners were materialists and idealists, supporters of rationalism, sensationalism (sensations were considered the basis of knowledge and behavior) and even divine providence (they trusted in the will of God). Some of them believed in the inevitable progress of mankind, while others viewed history as a social regression. Hence the peculiarity of the conflict between historical consciousness epoch and the historical knowledge developed by it - the conflict is all the more aggravated, the more thoroughly the epoch itself determined its historical preferences, a special role in the current and future development of mankind. As a current of social thought, the Enlightenment was a kind of unity. It consisted in a special frame of mind, intellectual inclinations and preferences. First of all, these are the goals and ideals of the Enlightenment, such as freedom, well-being and happiness of people, peace, non-violence, religious tolerance, etc., as well as the famous free-thinking, a critical attitude towards authorities of all kinds, rejection of dogmas, including church ones.
The Age of Enlightenment was a major turning point in the spiritual development of Europe, which influenced almost all spheres of socio-political and cultural life. Having debunked the political and legal norms, aesthetic and ethical codes of the old class society, the Enlighteners did a titanic work on creating a positive system of values, addressed primarily to a person, regardless of his social affiliation, which organically entered the blood and flesh of Western civilization.
Enlighteners came from different classes and estates: aristocracy, nobles, clergy, employees, representatives of commercial and industrial circles. The conditions in which they lived were also varied. In each country, the enlightenment movement bore the imprint of national identity.
ChapterII. The development of science in the Age of Enlightenment
France at the beginning of the century is characterized by a significant development of anti-religious tendencies, which became one of the most important aspects of the Enlightenment.
The first and most radical atheistic work that circulated in France in the early 1930s was the “Testament” of the country priest J. Mellier, according to which “everything that your theologians and priests with such ardor and eloquence preach to you about greatness, superiority and the sanctity of the sacraments they force you to worship, everything they tell you with such seriousness about their imaginary miracles, everything they describe to you with such zeal and confidence about heavenly rewards and terrible hellish torments - all this, in essence, nothing but illusions, delusions, deceit, fabrication and swindle ... ".
However, as a rule, such a tough position was not characteristic of the Enlightenment, which until the middle of the XVIII century. based on the principles of deism. This theory recognizes the creation of the world by God, but proceeds from the fact that in the future the Lord ceases to interfere in the affairs of nature and society. The deists, to whom Voltaire, Montesquieu belonged, as well as the later figures of the Enlightenment - Rousseau, Condillac, criticized all common religions and spoke of the need for a "natural religion" aimed at the benefit of reason and man. The "sword that cut off the head of deism" was Immanuel Kant's Critique of Pure Reason.
If in the 17th century leading role mathematics played in science, then in the 18th century biology, physics, geography "catch up" with it.
Science becomes systemic. Rationalism of the 17th century is gradually changing. It gives way to conviction in the possibility and necessity of the development of the mind, the enlightenment of the human personality.
Second half of the 40s. 18th century characterized by the formation of materialistic views.
The works of J. La Mettrie contain statements that thinking person will find neither theoretical grounds nor practical interests for his faith in God. However, he believed that atheism was not subject to distribution among ordinary people and was understood only by a select few, who stood above the rest in intellectual terms.
At the end of the 40s. materialistic views are substantiated in the works of D. Diderot and P. Holbach, who considered atheism necessary and accessible to everyone.
Mechanistic natural science, which dominated until the second half of the 18th century, studied the movement transmitted from one body to another, explaining the beginning of the movement by the actions of God, as, for example, Newton with his theory of "first push".
Voltaire also recognized the existence of some eternal being, which is the cause of all others. Voltaire's deism was the basis for the formation of the views of the materialists of the 30-40s, since he recognized God only as the creation of the world, and later, according to Voltaire, God does not interfere in the affairs of the world. La Mettrie, Diderot, Helvetius, Holbach, whose work coincided with the development of chemistry, geology and biology, received a basis for asserting the development of nature from itself.
By the 60s and 70s. Voltaire also renounces the assertion of the Divine creation of the world, but not the existence of God in general. At the same time, he does not find an answer to such questions as the origin of the world, the location of God.
Diderot initiated the creation of the "Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts", the publication of which lasted from 1751 to 1780.
It became the center that united enlighteners. The book contained information on mathematics, astronomy, geography, described the technology of manufacturing industrial products.
Manufactory is gradually giving way to a more complex organization of labor.
The development of manufactories was characterized by the division of labor down to the simplest operation, which was the impetus for the development of inventive activity. The invention of the "flying" shuttle in weaving, the replacement of the human hand with a mechanism was the beginning of the industrial revolution.
The speeding up of weaving required the creation of a spinning machine, invented by the weaver James Hargreaves. In 1784, Edmund Cartwright gives humanity a mechanical loom. In 1771, an enterprise appeared where the machine was driven by a water wheel. It was no longer a manufactory, but the first factory in which operations were carried out by machines.
In 1784, the mechanic James Watt created a steam engine that could be used regardless of the presence of a river nearby, in contrast to the water wheel. This already marked the transition from manufactory to factory.
The first working steam locomotive was created by self-taught engineer George Stephenson in 1814.
Mass construction railways starts in the 20s. 19th century New materials and energy sources are being used.
Thus, the development of science in the Enlightenment developed in line with the methodology of rationalism.
ChapterIII. Style and genre featuresartXVIIIcentury
Nature was the model of everything good and beautiful for the Enlighteners. Her real cult will be created by sentimentalists in the 60s. XVIII century, but the fascination with naturalness, enthusiastic contemplation of it begins with the Enlightenment itself.
The visible embodiment of the "better worlds" for the people of the Enlightenment were gardens and parks.
The park of the Enlightenment was created for a lofty and noble purpose - as a perfect environment for a perfect person.
Enlightenment parks were not identical with nature. The composition of parks and gardens included libraries, art galleries, museums, theaters, temples dedicated not only to the gods, but also to human feelings - love, friendship, melancholy. All this ensured the implementation of enlightenment ideas about happiness as a “natural state”, about “ natural man”, the main condition of which was a return to nature. Among them, Peterhof (Petrodvorets) stands out, created on the shores of the Gulf of Finland by architects J. Leblon, M. Zemtsov, T. Usov, J. Quarenghi. This magnificent park with its unique palaces and grandiose fountains played an exceptional role in the development of Russian architecture and landscape gardening art and in general in the history of Russian culture.
European art of the 18th century combined two different trends: classicism and romanticism.
Classicism in fine arts, music, literature - this is a style based on following the principles of ancient Greek and Roman art: rationalism, symmetry, purposefulness, restraint and strict compliance of the content with its form.
Romanticism puts at the forefront the imagination, emotionality and creative spirituality of the artist.
The art of the Enlightenment used the old stylistic forms of classicism, reflecting with their help a completely different content. In the art of different countries and peoples, classicism and romanticism sometimes form a kind of synthesis, sometimes they exist in all sorts of combinations and mixtures.
An important new beginning in the art of the 18th century was the emergence of trends that did not have their own stylistic form and did not feel the need to develop it. Such a culturological trend was, first of all, sentimentalism (from the French feeling), which fully reflected the enlightenment ideas about the original purity and kindness of human nature, which are lost along with the distance of society from nature.
Practically on the territory of almost all of Europe, there is an invasion of the secular principle into the religious painting of those countries where it used to play a major role - Italy, Austria, Germany. Genre painting sometimes tends to take the lead. Instead of a ceremonial portrait - an intimate portrait, in landscape painting - a mood landscape.
In the first half of the 18th century, Rococo became the leading trend in French art. All Rococo art is built on asymmetry, which creates a sense of unease - a playful, mocking, artsy, teasing feeling. It is no coincidence that the term "rococo" comes from the French "rocaille" - literally a diamond and shell decoration. Plots - only love, erotic, beloved heroines - nymphs, bacchantes, Diana, Venus, making their endless "triumphs" and "toilets".
Francois Boucher (1703-1770) became a prominent representative of the French Rococo. "The first artist of the king", as he was officially called, the director of the Academy, Boucher was a true son of his age, who knew how to do everything himself: panels for hotels, paintings for rich houses and palaces, cardboard for the tapestry manufactory, theatrical scenery, book illustrations, drawings of fans , wallpapers, mantelpieces, carriages, sketches of costumes, etc. Typical plots of his canvases are "The Triumph of Venus" or "The Toilet of Venus", "Venus with Cupid", "Diana's Bathing".
Antoine Watteau (1684-1721) - French painter, turned to images of contemporary life. Watteau's deep reflections on the essence of truly high art are reflected in his canvases. The decor, the sophistication of Watteau's works served as the basis of Rococo as style direction, and his poetic discoveries were continued by the painters of the realistic direction of the middle of the 18th century.
In line with new aesthetic ideas in art, the work of Jean Baptiste Simon Chardin (1699-1779), an artist who essentially created a new pictorial system, is developing. Chardin began with a still life, painted kitchen items: boilers, pots, tanks, then moved on to genre painting: “Prayer before dinner”, “Laundress”, and from it to a portrait.
French sculpture of the 18th century goes through the same stages as painting. These are predominantly rocaille forms in the first half of the century and the growth classic features- in the second. Features of lightness, freedom, dynamics are visible in the sculpture of Jean Baptiste Pigalle (1714-1785), in his full charm, light rapid movement, immediacy of grace of "Mercury tying a sandal".
Jean Antoine Houdon (1741-1828) - a true historiographer of French society, conveyed the spiritual atmosphere of the era in his sculptural portrait gallery. Houdon's Voltaire is evidence of the high level of French art.
English art of the XVIII century. - the heyday of the national school of painting in England - begins with William Hogarth (1697-1764), painter, graphic artist, art theorist, author of a series of paintings « Career of a prostitute”, “Career of Mota”.
Hogarth was the first painter-enlightener in Europe.
The largest representative of the English school of portraiture Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1888). The mature style of the artist was formed under the influence of Watteau. His portrait images are characterized by spiritual sophistication, spirituality, and poetry. Deep humanity is inherent in his images of peasant children.
Italian painting of the 18th century reached its peak only in Venice. The spirit of Venice was expressed by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696-1770), the last representative of the Baroque in European art, painter, draftsman, engraver. Tiepolo owns monumental fresco cycles, both ecclesiastical and secular.
Venice gave the world fine masters of the veduta - the urban architectural landscape: Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768), famous for the solemn pictures of the life of Venice against the backdrop of its fabulous theatrical architecture; Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), who found inspiration in the simple motifs of the daily life of the city, its sun-drenched courtyards, canals, lagoons, crowded embankments. Guardi created a new type of landscape, marked by poetry, the immediacy of the viewer's impressions.
The eighteenth century also prepared the way for the dominance of bourgeois culture. The time of philosophers, sociologists, economists, and writers has come to replace the old, feudal ideology.
The main literary genre of the Enlightenment is the novel.
The success of the novel, especially significant in England, was prepared by the success of educational journalism.
Enlightenment writers were well aware of how imperfect their modern society was and how vicious a person was, and, nevertheless, they hoped that, like Robinson from the first part of the novel by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), humanity, relying on its own reason and diligence, would ascend to the heights of civilization . But perhaps this hope is illusory, as Jonathan Swift (1667-1754) so clearly testifies in the allegory novel Gulliver's Travels when he sends his hero to the island of intelligent horses. In the pamphlet "The Tale of the Barrel" he created, he laughed heartily at church strife.
Expanding a positive program in their books, the educators also widely presented how a person lives, deceiving and being deceived. moral ideal invariably side by side with satire. In the novel by G. Fielding (1707-1754) "The Story of Tom Jones, a Foundling", a parallel construction of the plot is used, reminiscent of a fairy tale: about good and evil brothers, each of whom, in the end, is rewarded according to his merits.
It was a time of new philosophical convictions, a time when ideas were not only expounded in treatises, but easily migrated to novels, inspired and glorified by poets.
A wide range of educational thought is represented in the work of the English poet and satirist Alexander Pope (1688-1744). His philosophical and didactic poem "Essay on Man" became a textbook of new philosophy for Europe. The publication of its first Russian edition in 1757 was in fact the beginning of the Russian Enlightenment.
IN last decade century, along with classicism in fiction, a new trend is emerging - sentimentalism, which is most fully expressed in the stories of N.M. Karamzin (1766-1826) "Poor Liza" and "Natalia, the boyar's daughter".
At the end of the XVII-XVIII centuries. starts to take shape musical language, which then all of Europe will speak.
The first were Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) and Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759).
Bach - the great German composer and organist, worked in all musical genres except opera. Until now, he is an unsurpassed master of polyphony. Handel, like Bach, used biblical subjects for his works. The most famous are "Saul", "Israel in Egypt", "Messiah". Handel wrote more than 40 operas, he owns organ orchestras, sonatas, suites.
Viennese music had a huge impact on the musical art of Europe. classical school and its most prominent masters Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). The Viennese classics rethought and made all musical genres and forms sound in a new way. Their music is the highest achievement of the era of classicism in the perfection of melodies and forms.
Franz Joseph Haydn, the teacher of Mozart and Beethoven, is called the "father of the symphony". He created over 100 symphonies. Many of them are based on the theme folk songs and dances, which the composer developed with amazing skill. The pinnacle of his work was the "12 London Symphonies", written during the composer's triumphal trips to England in the 90s.
In the 18th century, Haydn wrote many wonderful quartets and clavier sonatas.
He owns over 20 operas, 13 masses, a large number of songs and other compositions. At the end of his career, he created two monumental oratorios - The Creation of the World (1798) and The Seasons (1801), which express the idea of the greatness of the universe and human life. Haydn brought the symphony, quartet, sonata to classical perfection.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote music and played the violin and harpsichord at an age when other children still couldn't write letters. Wolfgang's extraordinary abilities developed under the guidance of his father, the violinist and composer Leopold Mozart. In the operas The Abduction from the Seraglio, The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, magical flute» With amazing skill, Mozart creates diverse and lively human characters, shows life in its contrasts, moving from jokes to deep seriousness, from fun to subtle poetic lyrics.
The same qualities are inherent in his symphonies, sonatas, concertos, quartets, in which he creates the highest classic designs genres. Three symphonies written in 1788 became the peaks of classical symphonism (Mozart wrote about 50 in total). The symphony "E-flat major" (number 39) shows a full of joy, play, merry dance movement human life. In the symphony "G minor" (number 40), the deep lyrical poetry of the movement of the human soul is revealed. Symphony "in C major" (number 41), called "Jupiter" by contemporaries, embraces the whole world with its contrasts and contradictions, affirms the reasonableness and harmony of its structure.
CONCLUSION
The 18th century is characterized by an unprecedented centralization of production, capital, markets, the emergence of powerful monopolies, their expansion at the expense of existing and newly forcibly created colonies, and the redistribution of spheres of influence between states and monopolies.
The consequence of these circumstances was a sharp aggravation of contradictions between various areas of philosophy, ethics, history, and art.
Since the 18th century the power of the bourgeoisie extends in Europe to an increasing number of countries, which expand and strengthen their colonies. In the 19th century the acuteness of socio-economic and political problems increases, which become the subject of consideration of philosophy, are reflected in the theory of art.
A. Schweitzer wrote that the ethical ideals outlined by the Enlightenment and rationalism, when interacting with the real life of society, transformed it. However, since the middle of the XIX century. their influence gradually ceased, because it did not find support in the existing worldview.
Philosophy, ignoring the problems of culture, showed its complete failure, because it did not take into account that the basis of the worldview cannot be only history and natural science.
In the field of art in the second half of the XVIII century. there was a flourishing of the baroque style, which was closely associated with the church and aristocratic culture of that time. It manifested tendencies to glorify life, all the richness of real life. Painting, sculpture, architecture, baroque music glorified and glorified monarchs, the church, and the nobility. The splendor, allegorical intricacy, pathos and theatricality of the Baroque artistic style, the combination of illusion with reality in it, were developed in many cultural monuments, and above all in Italy (the work of the sculptor and architect Bernini, the architect Borromini, etc.). Baroque also spread in Flanders, Spain, Austria, in some regions of Germany, and in Poland. This style manifested itself less noticeably in England and Holland, whose art was closer to genre and everyday realism than the sublimity, excess and conventionality of the Baroque.
A different kind of aesthetic, the opposite artistic means baroque, was canonized in European art and literature by classicism. Closely associated with the culture of the Renaissance, classicism turned to the ancient norms of art as perfect models; rationalistic clarity and rigor were characteristic of it. Classicism legitimized the principles of "ennobled nature", artificial division into genres - "high" (tragedy, ode, epic, historical, mythological and religious painting) and "low" (comedy, satire, fable, genre painting), introducing the law of three unity - place, time, action.
LISTUSEDLITERATURE
1. Kravchenko A. I., Culturology. - 4th ed. - M.: Academic project, Tricksta, 2003.- 496s.
2. Cultural studies. History of world culture. Textbook / Ed. T. F. Kuznetsova.- M .: "Academy", 2003.- 607p.
3. Cultural studies. History of World Culture / Ed. A. N. Markova. - 2nd ed. revised and additional .- M .: UNITI, 2000.- 600s.
4. Polishchuk V.I., Culturology.- M.: Gardariki, 1999.- 446p.
5. Radugin A. A., Culturology.- M.: Center, 2001.- 304 p.
6. Chekalov D. A., Kondratov V. A., History of world culture. Lecture notes.- Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2005.- 352p.
7. Shishova N.V., Akulich T.V., Boyko M.I., History and cultural studies. - 2nd ed. revised and additional .- M .: Logos, 2000.- 456s.
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18th century - last historical stage transition from feudalism to capitalism. The development of culture during this period in all countries Europe passed under the sign ideas of the Enlightenment.
In this century, Germany has developed school of classical German idealist philosophy. In France, the largest detachment of enlighteners was formed, from there the ideas of the Enlightenment spread throughout Europe. In his works (-Persian Letters" and "On the Spirit of Laws") Charles Louis Montesquieu spoke out against unlimited monarchy and feudalism. Voltaire was an outstanding leader of the French Enlightenment. He wrote beautiful literary, philosophical and historical works that expressed hatred of religious fanaticism and the feudal state. The activities of Jean Jacques Rousseau became a new stage in the development of the French Enlightenment. His works contained hatred for the oppressors, criticism of the state system, social inequality.
The fate of French materialism is connected with the names of Denis Diderot, Etienne Bonnot Condillac, Paul Holbach. 50-60s 18th century - flourishing activity of the French materialists. This period is characterized by the simultaneous development of science and technology. Thanks to Adam Smith, political economy becomes a scientific discipline. Science developed rapidly, it was directly related to technology and production. In the XVIII century, literature and music become more significant, gradually they come to the fore among all kinds of arts. Prose is developing as a genre in which the fate of an individual person in the social environment of that time is shown. The genre of the novel, which describes the universal picture of the world, is developing especially fruitfully. At the end of the XVII-XVIII centuries. that musical language begins to take shape, in which all of Europe will then speak. The first were J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel. J. Haydn, W. Mozart, L. van Beethoven had a huge influence on the art of music. Achieved great results theatrical art, dramaturgy, which was realistic and pre-romantic in nature.
A distinctive feature of this time is the study of the main issues of the aesthetics of the theater, the nature of acting. The 18th century is often called the "golden age of the theatre". The greatest playwright P. O. Beaumarchais considered him "a giant who mortally wounds everyone he directs his blows at." The largest playwrights were: R. Sheridan (England), K, Goldoni (Venice ], P. Beaumarchais (France), G. Lessing, I. Goethe (Germany), F. Schiller.
The leading genre of painting of the XVIII century. was a portrait.
Among the artists of this time, Gainsborough, Latour, Houdon, Chardin, Watteau, Guardi can be distinguished. Painting does not reflect the universal fullness of the scope of the spiritual life of a person, as it was before. In different countries, the formation of a new art is uneven. Painting and sculpture in the Rococo style were decorative in nature.
Art of the 18th century ends with the magnificent work of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Cultural heritage of the XVIII century. still amazes with its extraordinary diversity, the richness of genres and styles, the depth of understanding of human passions, the greatest optimism and faith in man and his mind. The Age of Enlightenment is the age of great discoveries and great delusions. It is no coincidence that the end of this era falls on the beginning of the French Revolution. She destroyed the faith of the enlighteners in the "golden age" of non-violent progress. It strengthened the position of critics of his goals and ideals.
No, you will not be oblivious, the century is insane and wise! ..
A.N. Radishchev
In a series of centuries of European history, the 18th century occupies a special place. There were times of more grandiose accomplishments, but there was no era more complete in style, more, so to speak, "whole." The well-known art critic N. Dmitrieva calls it the last century of the domination of aristocratic culture. Hence its refinement and this very “stylishness”, sometimes to the detriment of depth. And at the same time, this is the era of affirmation of new values in the life of Europeans, values that are still alive today and which, in fact, determine the current face of European civilization.
Under the melodic chimes of harpsichords and harps, several revolutions took place simultaneously in the life, heads and hearts of Europeans, of which only two we usually call proper “revolutions”: the Great French Revolution and the War of Independence of the United States of America. Meanwhile, they only put full stops in the sentences that smelled of blood and gunpowder, which Europe diligently wrote throughout the 18th century.
So, first a little about the revolutions.
Revolution on the tables
The main achievement of the "eighteenth century" is that it basically ended the famine in the main countries of Europe. Let the “bread riots” in Paris not really bother us: more often they rebelled because of the lack or high cost of the already familiar white bread. So the frivolous phrase of Marie Antoinette (“If the people have no bread, let them eat cakes”) is somewhat not so frivolous. Yes, interruptions in the supply of bread in big cities happened, however, in terms of absolutely famine, Europe shot back in full at the very beginning of the 18th century, when during a crop failure, even black bread began to be served at the table of Madame Maintenon.
In the 18th century, the European menu changed dramatically. The old triad (bread meat wine) is complemented by new foods: potatoes, corn, spinach, green peas, tea, coffee and chocolate (which are becoming more and more popular delicacies). Yes, and the former three "whales" of the European diet are significantly changing their "face". Since the middle of the 18th century in France, rye bread has been replaced by wheat bread in milk (the famous "French booths" were brought to Europe on their bayonets by Napoleon's soldiers).
With the improvement of animal husbandry, the market for meat is gradually saturated, extremely constrained by the powerful increase in population in the previous three centuries. Of course, for most Europeans, meat is still not available in the most useful form: in the form of corned beef and all sorts of smoked meats. However, with fish it was still more difficult: they said that the poor could only enjoy the aroma of fresh fish.
Finally, the climate and taste preferences determined the characteristics of consumption. alcoholic beverages. The south and southwest of Europe chose wine, the north and northwest beer, and the most dashing and cold northeast , of course, vodka.
The influx of sugar (generally speaking, while very expensive) made it possible to harvest fruits and berries (and vitamins for the winter) for the future. True, at the beginning of the 18th century, jam was still such a rare and valuable product that, for example, the Parisians presented it as a gift to Peter the Great.
All these seemingly purely culinary innovations have made a real revolution. Suffice it to say that Britain, which did not know the shortage of meat products, owes much to this powerful population growth in the 18th century, without which, in fact, the British Empire would not have happened. And the love of American colonists for tea led to their indignation at the rise in duties on tea introduced by English officials (the so-called "Boston Tea Party"). Figuratively speaking, the United States of America was born from a cup of spilled tea.
The revolution on the tables moved forward the development of society. Without it, Europe and North America would not have become the hegemon of the rest of the world in the 19th century.
(By the way, the 18th century came to grips with the laying of the European table, which was greatly facilitated by the production of porcelain, gourmetism instead of gluttony and an increase in hygiene standards. The rules of conduct at the table, dishes and cutlery came to us (at least at the level of embassy and restaurant banquets) from there, from "the eighteenth century").
Revolution in the mind
The 18th century is usually called the Age of Enlightenment, although this word itself is too sluggish and approximately defines the processes that went on in the minds of Europeans between 1700 and 1804 (I indicate the year of I. Kant's death).
European thinkers break with theology and delimit the realm of philosophy proper from natural science. According to the Newtonian mechanistic picture of the world, God is needed only as the one who gave the first impetus to the development of nature, and then the world rolled away from him quite separately.
The 18th century is the century of practitioners, which is why thinkers are not satisfied with empty scholastic speculations. The criterion of truth is experience. Any pathos and rhetoric seem out of place under any circumstances. Dying of cancer, the marquise, whom Rousseau served, emits gases, declares that a woman capable of such a thing will still live, and gives her soul to God, one might say, with a boldly careless smile.
Philosophers admire the perfection of the world (Leibniz) and mercilessly criticize it (encyclopedists), sing praises to reason and the progress of civilization (Voltaire) and declare progress and reason to be enemies of the natural rights of man (Rousseau). But all these theories now, at a distance of years, do not seem mutually exclusive. They all revolve around a person, his ability to understand the world and transform it according to your needs and ideas of "the best".
At the same time, for a very long time, philosophers are convinced that a person is reasonable and good by nature, that only “circumstances” are to blame for his misfortunes. Literacy and potatoes are planted by the monarchs themselves. The general mood of European philosophy of the 18th century can be called "cautious optimism", and its slogan Voltaire's call to everyone "cultivate his own garden."
Alas, the bloody horrors of the French Revolution will force the benevolent delusion of philosophers to be radically reconsidered, but the next century will do this. However, the purely European idea of individual rights will be established then, in the 18th century, will be established as the most basic value.
Revolution in the hearts
The "Age of Reason" would not have taken place in all its splendor without a revolution in the hearts. The person gradually emancipates, realizes his inner world as important and valuable. The emotional life of Europeans is becoming richer and more refined.
Immortal evidence of this was the great music of the 18th century, perhaps one of the highest achievements in the history of mankind.
Wonderful French composer early 18th century J.F. Rameau was the first to formulate the inherently valuable role of music, which was previously considered only an aid to the word. He wrote: “In order to truly enjoy music, we must completely dissolve in it” (quoted from: G. Koenigsberger, p. 248).
The music expressed the emotions of the time much more accurately and more subtly than the censored word, clamped down by conventions. For the educated European, it has become an urgent need. In the libraries of Czech and Austrian castles, musical folders are crowded on the shelves along with books: musical novelties were read here from the leaf, like newspapers, and just as eagerly!
The music of the 18th century is still full of a mass of conventions and given formulas. It was the presence of these common places that allowed composers to be so prolific (over 40 operas by G.F. Handel, more than 200 violin concertos by A. Vivaldi, more than 100 symphonies by I. Haydn!) At the same time, it is still so democratic that it even gives a chance and amateurs: Zh.Zh. Rousseau composes an opera, which is a success at court, and the king himself, terribly out of tune, sings his favorite arietta from there.
The music of the 18th century was closely connected with life and everyday life. Bach hoped that his sacred music could be performed by the choir of parishioners in the church, and the most beloved household dance, the minuet, became an integral part of any symphony until the era of Beethoven.
Every country in the 18th century realized its identity through music. German G.F. Handel brought the magnificent Italian opera seria to foggy London. But the ancient stories seemed to the British public too abstract and lifeless. Virtually no change musical form, Handel proceeds to create oratorios, which, as it were, are the same operas, but only in a concert performance, while they are written to stories from the Bible that the listeners have experienced passionately. And the widest public responds with enthusiasm to this, Handel's spiritual oratorios are becoming a national treasure, their performance is poured into patriotic manifestations.
The result of the musical development of the 18th century is the work of V.A. Mozart. The brilliant Austrian introduces a new theme into music - the theme of the fate of his creator, that is, he introduces the personality of a contemporary with his simple and urgent desires, joys and fears. “In general, Man is a creature of God” thanks to this, in music, it turns into a person of a particular era, acquires the features of a real personality and destiny
Revolution in manners
A strictly hierarchical feudal society always pays special attention to etiquette. It is a means of emphasizing the status (ordered inequality) of social position.
Of course, etiquette continues to dominate relations between people in the 18th century. Ambassadors delay presentation of credentials if papers do not arrive in time to confirm that their nobility dates back to at least the 14th century. Otherwise, during the presentation ceremony in Versailles, the king will not be able to hug and kiss the ambassador's wife, but only greet her! Etiquette dominates the minds of the courtiers to such an extent that some of them in all seriousness assure that the Great French revolution broke out due to the fact that the Comptroller General of Finance Necker appeared before the king in shoes with bows, and not with buckles!
However, the monarchs themselves are already quite tired of all these conventions. Louis XV hides from the bonds of etiquette in the boudoirs of his beloved, Catherine the Great in her Hermitage, and Marie Antoinette cannot swallow a bite at the traditional public royal meal and is sated after, already alone.
The court is opposed by the salon, aristocratic and bourgeois, where the owners and guests communicate briefly. The tone is set by the most august persons. The regent of France, Philippe d'Orléans Jr., proclaims at his orgies: "Everything is forbidden here except pleasure!"
But the ice floe of feudal etiquette is melting slowly and unevenly. Back in 1726, the lackeys of a noble lord can beat with sticks the fashionable author de Voltaire for a daring answer to their master. As early as 1730, the church could refuse to bury the famous actress Adrienne Lecouvreur (despite the fact that she was the mistress of the marshal of France), because during her lifetime she was engaged in the “shameful craft of a hypocrite.”
But twenty years later, in the same France, the status of the artist is changing, the artist will literally force the king to respect his human dignity. And it was like that. Offended by Louis the Fifteenth, the famous master of pastel portrait Latour for a long time refused to perpetuate the Marquise de Pompadour. When she managed to persuade the capricious, the artist undressed in front of her almost to the shirt. During the session, the king entered. “How, madam, you swore to me that we would not be disturbed!” yelled Latour and rushed to collect the crayons. The king and his master barely persuaded the pastel virtuoso to continue the session.
Of course, in a feudal society, everything is determined by rank, not by talent. Mozart writes that at the table of the Salzburg archbishop his place is higher than a lackey, but lower than a cook. But at about this time, already bourgeois England was burying the "actor", the great actor D. Garrick, in Westminster Abbey!
The crisis of feudal society gives rise to a new idea of man. Now the ideal is not a feudal lord or a court noble, but a private person, " a kind person in France, a gentleman in England. By the end of the century in these countries, not nobility, but success, talent and wealth determine the status of an individual in society.
Here is a typical anecdote on the subject. Napoleon hated the composer Cherubini. Once, at a reception in the palace, after the introduction of all those present, the emperor again defiantly inquired about the name of "this gentleman." "Still Cherubini, sire!" The maestro answered him sharply.
In other countries, the emancipation of the individual will take almost half of the next century.
Peter discovers Europe
In the 18th century, another great power, Russia, entered the European political scene. The "presentation" of the new political giant took place in the spring and summer of 1717, when the embassy of the still mysterious, but already slightly Europeanized "Muscovites" visited a number of European capitals.
Alas, neither in Paris nor in Berlin were they fascinated by the Russian heroes, led by Tsar Peter.
And now the details.
At the end of April of that year, the Russians appeared on the French border. Versailles sent one of his most elegant courtiers, the Marquis de Mailly-Nesle, to meet them. The marquis found the Russians, of course, in a tavern, snoring and throwing up. Only Peter spoke with his tongue.
"Culture of Europe in the XVII-XVIII centuries"
1. Spiritual life
In the history of Europe, the 17th century was marked by the triumph of the new baroque style in art and skepticism in the spiritual life of society. After filled with enthusiasm and faith in the abilities of a Renaissance man, comes disappointment, despair and the tragic discord of an individual with the outside world. A man, accustomed since the Middle Ages to feel himself in the center of the universe, suddenly found himself lost on a huge planet, the size of which became known to him. The starry sky overhead ceased to be a reliable dome and turned into a symbol of the boundlessness of space, which beckoned and at the same time repulsed and frightened. Europeans had to rediscover themselves and adapt to the greatly changed world around them.
At the beginning of the 18th century in continental Europe, the skepticism and rationalism of the Baroque was replaced by the Age of Enlightenment and the art of the Rococo. The main idea of the Enlightenment was optimism and a firm belief that humanity can be changed by increasing its education (hence the name of this movement). Enlightenment originated in France, which breathed a sigh of relief after the death of Louis XIV and looked to the future with hope.
A huge role in the dissemination of the ideas of the Enlightenment was played by the secret society of Freemasons - Freemasons. The origin of Freemasonry is still a mystery. The Freemasons themselves consider themselves the successors of the Knights Templar, who survived the massacre at the beginning of the XIV century, whose members founded the first lodge - the secret section. Scientists believe that Masons as a political organization arose at the beginning of the 18th century on the basis of craft unions of builders. Members of Masonic lodges advocated building a new world on the basis of universal equality and fraternity and fought against the Catholic Church, for which they were repeatedly anathematized.
2. Baroque and Rococo art
At the end of the 16th century, mannerism gradually began to give way to baroque, the high style of the established absolute power of monarchs who survived the crisis of Catholicism and defended the right to exist for Protestantism. The highest flowering of baroque fell on the 2nd half of XVII century, when Europe successfully overcame the cataclysms of religious wars.
Baroque architecture was characterized by lavish decorative finishes with many details, multi-color molding, an abundance of gilding, carvings, sculptures, and picturesque plafonds that create the illusion of opening vaults going up. This is the time of the dominance of curves, intricately curved lines flowing into each other, solemn facades of buildings and majestic architectural ensembles. Dominated in painting formal portrait, canvases are filled with allegories and virtuoso decorative compositions.
Despite the dominance of the Baroque, this era was not uniform in terms of style. In France, where the tendencies of strict classicism were strong, they tried to follow antique patterns. In the Netherlands, they were more inclined towards a naturalistic style.
Baroque as a style originated in Italy, from where it was supposed to bring the light of a revived Catholicism to Europe. Lorenzo Bernini was one of the most prominent architects of the Baroque. He was appointed chief architect of St. Paul's Cathedral - the main Catholic church in Rome. According to his project, in 1623-1624, a huge bronze canopy was built over the altar of the cathedral, as a material for which, by order of Pope Urban VIII, the antique roof of the Pantheon was used. Also in 1656-1665, Bernini built a grandiose oval colonnade in front of the facade of the cathedral. In 1658, the architect erected the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale, in 1663-1666 - the "Royal Staircase" in the Vatican. The brilliant skill of Bernini manifested itself in the construction of the famous Roman fountains - the Triton Fountain and the Four Rivers Fountain. In addition to a brilliant architectural gift, Bernini had a brilliant ability as a sculptor. He is the author of the tombs of Pope Urban VIII and Alexander VII in St. Peter's Cathedral, sculptures "David" (1623), "Apollo and Daphne" (1622-1625), numerous busts. In particular, during a trip to France in 1665, Bernini created a bust of Louis XIV.
The main school of painting in Italy of the Baroque era was the Bologna school, founded by three artists: Aodovico Carracci and his cousins Annibale and Agostino. In 1585, they founded a workshop in Bologna, called the "Academy of those who entered the right path", in which they developed the basic principles of baroque painting. In 1597, Annibale and Agostino moved to Rome, where they received an order to paint the gallery of the Palazzo Farnese. According to Carracci, reality is too rough, so it should be ennobled by creating ideal images on the canvas.
Another prominent Italian Baroque artist, Caravaggio Michelangelo, on the contrary, strove for maximum realism. Creating paintings on biblical subjects, the artist specifically tried to make them as democratic and simple as possible. These are his canvases "The Conversion of Saul" (1600-1601), "The Entombment" (1602 - 1604) , "The Death of Mary" (1606). In addition, he turned the still life into independent genre painting.
The Baroque style in Spain turned the 17th century into the "golden age" of the national culture of this country. King Philip IV patronized the painters in every possible way, creating the best conditions for them and generously paying for their work.
the first major Spanish artist Baroque is considered to be Jusepe Ribera, despite the fact that he left for Italy in his youth, where he lived for the rest of his life. His work was influenced by Caravaggio, and the artist tried to make his characters as realistic as possible. Ribera's most famous works are "Saint Jerome" (1626), "The Torment of St. Bartholomew" (1630), "The Lame" (1642).
The greatest painter of Spain of the 17th century was Diego De Silva Velazquez, since 1623 - the court painter of Philip IV. Velázquez's manner was distinguished by underlined Realism, some rigidity of writing and striking truth of life. In his younger years, he created a whole gallery of bright folk types, V mature years, living at court, gave preference to aristocrats, members of the royal family, as well as mythological subjects. These are Bacchus (1628-1629), Venus with a Mirror (1651), Meninas (1656).
The Spanish Baroque had a profound effect on Flanders, where the same style took hold. The pinnacle of the Flemish Baroque was the work of the artist Peter Paul Rubens. Like many other painters, in his youth, Rubens traveled to Italy, where he studied the monuments of antiquity and the work of Renaissance masters. Returning to his homeland, he created the classical image of the monumental baroque altar image - "Exaltation of the Cross" and "Descent from the Cross" (1610-1614). Rubens is characterized by powerful and magnificent human bodies, full of vitality, a large decorative scope. The theme of his paintings were mythological and biblical subjects, historical scenes. He became the creator of the ceremonial baroque portrait. Most famous paintings Rubens are: "The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippus" (1619-1620), "Perseus and Andromeda" (1621), "Bathsheba" (1636), "Fur Coat" (1638).
Rubens' student was the artist Anthony van Dyck, the court painter of Charles I. A successor to the ideas of the Flemish school, Van Dyck worked for a long time in Genoa, Antwerp, and in 1631 moved to London forever. There he became a favorite portrait painter of the royal family and received such a number of orders that he was forced to distribute work among his students, creating something like an artistic manufactory. Portraits belong to his brushes: “Charles I on the hunt” (1633), “ Family portrait» (1621).
In France, where the classical tradition competed with the Baroque, the most prominent representative The national school of painting was Nicolas Poussin. Poussin considered his teachers Raphael and Titian, whose work he studied during a visit to Italy. The artist preferred to depict mythological and biblical scenes using a large number of characters and allegories. Vivid examples classicism were his canvases "The Inspiration of the Poet" (1629-1635), "The Kingdom of Flora" (1632), "The Rape of the Sabine Women" (1633), "Bacchanalia".
The reign of Louis XIV was a whole era in the development of French art. Artists and architects were merged into the Academy of Painting and Sculpture and the Academy of Architecture. They were called upon to glorify the greatness of the "Sun King" and, through joint efforts, based on a compromise between baroque and classicism, created a new trend, which was called the style of Louis XIV. The grandiose palaces and park ensembles were supposed to visually embody the idea of the omnipotence of the absolute monarch and the power of the French nation.
Guided by these principles, the architect Claude Perrault in 1667 began the construction of the eastern facade of the Louvre, the so-called "Colonnade". According to the project of Liberal Bruant and Jules Hardouin-Mansart, the Les Invalides was built - a hostel for war veterans and a cathedral. The pinnacle of French architecture of this era was the construction of Versailles (1668-1689). The construction of the Palace of Versailles and the park ensemble was led by the architects Louis Levo and Jules Hardouin-Mansart. In Versailles, the severity of the lines of the palace building, characteristic of classicism, is combined with the magnificent baroque decoration of the halls. In addition, the park itself, decorated with numerous fountains, is a product of the Baroque style.
Unlike Italy, Spain, England and France, where painters received huge sums of money for their canvases, in Holland artists were paid very little. A good landscape could be bought for a couple of guilders, a good portrait, for example, cost only 60 guilders, and Rembrandt, being at the peak of his fame, received only 1600 guilders for The Night Watch. For comparison, Rubens' fees amounted to tens of thousands of francs. The Dutch masters lived in very modest prosperity, sometimes in poverty in small workshops. Their art reflects everyday life country and was not aimed at glorifying the monarchy or the glory of the Lord, but at revealing the psychology of an ordinary person.
The first great master of the Dutch school of painting was Frans Hals. The vast majority of his paintings are portraits. He had a large workshop, had 12 children who, following their father, became artists, many students, led a bohemian lifestyle, was burdened with numerous debts and died in complete poverty.
The most significant works of early Dutch painting were group portraits by Hals. The customers were members of the guilds who asked to portray them during a feast or meeting. These are the "Officers of the Rifle Company of St. George" (1616), "Arrows of the Guild of St. Adrian in Haarlem" (1627). The art of Hals is devoid of deep concentration and psychological collisions. In his paintings, which reflect the character of the artist himself, people almost always laugh. Hals created a gallery of simple Dutch people, a little rude, but frank in their feelings - "Gypsy", "Malle Babbe", "Boy-fisherman", "Jester".
A student of Hals, the painter Adrian van Ostade worked in domestic genre. His scenes from rural and urban life are imbued with humor and a good-natured grin. Tako you are "Fight", "In a village tavern", "Artist's workshop". Jan van Goyen became a classic of the Dutch landscape, who used the principles of aerial perspective. His best canvas is "View of Dordrecht" (1648).
The second great painter of Holland, whose work is on a par with Hals, was Jan Vermeer of Delft. He preferred everyday lyrical compositions depicting one or two women at home - "Girl reading a letter", "Woman at the window", "Woman trying on a necklace", "Glass of wine", "Lacemaker". Vermeer managed to show the personal life of the townspeople, as well as a person in unity with the environment, with great emotional force. He managed to amazingly truthfully convey the silvery daylight that plays on his canvases with many highlights.
The pinnacle of the Dutch school was the work of Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, with its deep psychologism and unique golden brown hues. Like Hals, Rembrandt experienced a period of popularity, but then went bankrupt and ended his life in appalling poverty.
Rembrandt painted mostly portraits, both individual and group, as well as paintings on mythological and biblical subjects. The artist was a master of chiaroscuro, and his characters seem to be snatched out of the darkness by a ray of light. His canvases "Danaë", "Holy Family", "The Return of the Prodigal Son" are rightfully considered unsurpassed masterpieces. From group portraits the most famous are Doctor Tulip's Anatomy Lesson and Night Watch. Spirituality and amazing emotional depth distinguishes "Portrait of an Old Man in Red".
From Italy, baroque architecture spread not only to the north, but also to the east. After the end of the Thirty Years' War in southern Germany under the leadership of Italian masters Numerous baroque buildings were erected. At the end of the 17th century, their own masters appeared in the German lands, who worked in the Baroque style.
The Prussian architect Andreas Schlüter built the Royal Palace and the arsenal building in Berlin. If Schluter was guided by the Italian sculptor Lorenzo Bernini and French models, then the work of Daniel Peppelman is completely original. According to his project, the famous Zwinger palace complex was erected in Dresden for Augustus II the Strong. Also, by order of August, the architect Peppelman erected the Royal Palace in Grodno.
The spread of the Baroque style in the Commonwealth was caused by the penetration of the Jesuits into the country. The first baroque monument in Belarus and in Europe in general outside of Italy was the Jesuit church built at the end of the 16th century by the Italian architect Bernardoni for Prince Radziwill in Nesvizh. This style reached its true heyday in the 2nd half of the 17th century, when, having acquired national traits, took shape in the Belarusian, or Vilna baroque. Numerous churches and urban developments in Vilna, Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Brest, Slonim, Pinsk, Polotsk Sophia Cathedral rebuilt after the explosion, monasteries in Golypany, Baruny, Berezveche, palace complexes in Nesvizh and Ruzhany were classic examples of Belarusian baroque.
At the end of the 17th century, Baroque penetrated from Belarus to Russia, where it was first called the Naryshkin style. An example of this trend is the Church of the Intercession in Fili and the Church of the Sign in Dubrovitsy. With the beginning of the reforms of Peter I, the baroque finally triumphed in Russian architecture, which was primarily manifested during the construction of St. Petersburg. The pinnacle of baroque development in Russia was the work of the Italian architect Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli. He rebuilt the palaces in Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo, built the complex of the Smolny Monastery and the famous Winter Palace in the capital.
At the beginning of the 18th century, a new style of art, rococo, was born in France. Unlike Baroque, which was exclusively a court style, Rococo was the art of the aristocracy and the upper strata of the bourgeoisie. Now the main goal of the master was not the glorification of anyone or anything, but the convenience and pleasure of a particular person. If the baroque looked high up, then the rococo descended from the heavenly heights to the sinful earth and turned its gaze to the people standing around. Sometimes the Rococo style is called art for art's sake. It would be more correct to call this style art for a person.
Rococo architects began to take care of human comfort. They abandoned the pomposity of majestic Baroque buildings and tried to surround a person with an atmosphere of convenience and grace. Painting also abandoned "great ideas" and became simply beautiful. Freed from the turbulent emotions of the Baroque, the paintings were filled with cold light and subtle halftones. Rococo was perhaps the first almost entirely secular style in the history of European art. Like the philosophy of the Enlightenment, so did Rococo art separate from the church, pushing religious themes far into the background. Henceforth, both painting and architecture were to be light and pleasant. The gallant society of the 18th century was tired of moralizing and preaching, people wanted to enjoy life, getting the most out of it.
The greatest Rococo master was François Boucher, who turned his paintings into decorative panels to decorate the wall. Such are the canvases "The Bathing of Diana", "The Triumph of Venus", "Shepherd's Scene".
Maurice-Kanter Larut was able to create portrait genre rococo. The people depicted in his paintings, in full accordance with the requirements of the century, kindly and gallantly look at the viewer, trying to arouse in him not admiration, but a feeling of sympathy. The true characters of the characters are hidden under the mask of secular courtesy.
The paintings of Honore Fragonard are full of a sincere feeling of the fullness of life, which takes place in carefree enjoyment. An example of this is the canvas "Swing" (1766), "Kiss furtively" (1780).
The rococo style came to Germany in the 30s of the 18th century, and remained in the north, since baroque reigned supreme in the southern German lands until the end of the century.
In 1745, the Prussian architect Georg Knobelsdorff began construction of the Sanssouci Palace and Park Ensemble near Potsdam. Its very name (translated from French as “without worries”) reflected the spirit of the Rococo era. By order of Frederick II, a modest one-story palace was built on the grape terrace. However, quite soon the Rococo was supplanted by the growing strength of classicism.
English art of the 18th century was so peculiar that it defies the classifications accepted in continental Europe. There is a bizarre interweaving of all styles and trends, among which classicism gradually takes the first place.
William Hogarth became the founder of the national English school of painting. In full accordance with the spirit of the English society of that time, he devoted his work to political and social satire. The series of paintings "Mot's Career", "Fashionable Marriage", "Elections" brought true fame to the artist. In order to introduce his work to as many viewers as possible, Hogarth himself made engravings of all his works in oil and distributed them in large numbers.
The artist Joshua Reynolds went down in history as an art theorist, the first president of the Royal (London) Academy of Arts and an outstanding portrait painter. His portraits are filled with the pathos of glorifying the heroes who have become worthy to be imprinted on the canvas forever.
If Reynolds was distinguished by a rational approach to painting, then the work of Thomas Gainsborough was more emotional. His portraits are distinguished by a poetic perception of human nature.
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The 17th century is one of the brightest and most brilliant pages in the history of world artistic culture. This is the time when the ideology of humanism and faith in endless possibilities a sense of the dramatic contradictions of life came to man. On the one hand, a revolutionary upheaval is taking place in natural science, new picture world, new styles appear in art, on the other hand, political conservatism, pessimistic views on society and man prevail.
The era of the 17th century in culture and art is usually called the Baroque era. The formation of a new European culture was associated with a rapidly changing "picture of the world" and the crisis of the ideals of the Italian Renaissance. For the spiritual life of society in the 17th century, great geographical discoveries and natural scientific discoveries were of great importance. The person began to acutely feel the fragility and instability of his position, the contradiction between illusion and reality. The new worldview was refracted in a special way in artistic culture: everything unusual, obscure, ghostly began to seem beautiful, attractive, and clear and simple - boring and uninteresting. This new aesthetics noticeably supplanted the former Renaissance principles of imitation of nature, clarity, balance.
So a new style arose - baroque. Baroque (Italian barocco - “bizarre”, “strange”, “excessive”, port. perola barroca - “pearl of irregular shape” (literally “pearl with vice”) - the slang word of Portuguese sailors to refer to defective pearls of irregular shape has become used in the meaning of "soften, dissolve the contour, make the form softer, more picturesque."
Baroque architecture was characterized by lavish decorative finishes with many details, multi-color molding, an abundance of gilding, carvings, sculptures, and picturesque plafonds that create the illusion of opening vaults going up. This is the time of the dominance of curves, intricately curved lines flowing into each other, solemn facades of buildings and majestic architectural ensembles. The ceremonial portrait dominates in painting, contrast, tension, dynamism of images, the desire for grandeur and pomp, for the combination of reality and illusion are characteristic.
The beginning of the Italian Baroque is associated with the construction of the Roman church of Il Gesu (1575), the facade of which was designed by Giacomo della Porta. She literally “created an era”, becoming an expression of the stylistic trends of the time: the traditional division into 2 floors, semi-columns, niches, statues and the inevitable volutes (curls) at the corners. The first and largest palace building of that era was the Palazzo Quirinale, the summer residence of the popes, erected on the top of the Quirinal Hill.
This trend finds its most striking expression in sculpture in the work of Lorenzo Bernini. His sculpture “David” depicts a moment of rapid movement, a rush towards the giant Goliath, the transition of one movement into another. Bernini does not stop at distorting the face, conveying a painful or blissful expression. In the sculpture "Apollo and Daphne" by Lorenzo Bernini, in a flying movement, the moment of transformation of the young defenseless Daphne, overtaken by the light-footed Apollo, into a laurel was captured. The brilliant skill of Bernini manifested itself in the construction of the famous Roman fountains - "Triton's Fountain" and "Fountain of the Four Rivers".
The next stage of the transformation of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome is associated with the name of Bernini: he designed the square in front of the cathedral, covered galleries-corridors stretched far ahead right from the edges of the facade. The architect created 2 squares - a large elliptical one, framed by columns, and a trapezoid-shaped square directly adjacent to it, bounded on the opposite side by the main facade of the cathedral. At the same time, the space in front of the cathedral was also a city square, decorated with an obelisk in the center of the oval and two fountains.
The Netherlands comes to the fore in the visual arts and, above all, in painting. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), like the great figures of the Renaissance, showed himself in various fields of activity: he was a diplomat, courtier, was awarded the title of nobility, was friends and collaborated with prominent people of the era. Like many other painters, in his youth, Rubens traveled to Italy, where he studied the monuments of antiquity and the work of Renaissance masters. Returning to his homeland, he created the classical image of the monumental baroque altar image - "Exaltation of the Cross" and "Descent from the Cross" (1610-1614). A group of executioners and soldiers put up a large cross with Christ nailed to it. The various poses of the figures, their complex foreshortenings and swollen muscles express the extreme tension of physical forces, this brute power is opposed by the idealized image of Christ. Rubens is characterized by powerful and magnificent human bodies, full of vitality, a large decorative scope. The theme of his paintings were mythological and biblical subjects, historical scenes.
Rubens "Exaltation of the Cross" "Descent from the Cross"
In the painting The Hunt for Lions, the sketch for which is one of the best Rubens pieces in the Hermitage collection, the action is endowed with extraordinary swiftness and passion. Rearing horses, a lion tormenting a falling rider, and hunters striking him have merged into an inseparable group, where unbridled strength and vitality turn into rage.
He willingly refers to the themes of the ancient world. The Hermitage painting "Perseus and Andromeda" (1620-1621), which belongs to the master's masterpieces, gives an example of how freely and realistically he uses images of classical antiquity. The moment is depicted when the mythical hero Perseus, having arrived on his winged horse Pegasus, frees Andromeda chained to a rock. He defeated the dragon that held her captive, and the terrible monster powerlessly opens its mouth at his feet. Fascinated by the beauty of the captive, Perseus approaches her, glory crowns the winner, cupids rush to serve him.
The main theme of Rubens was a man, living and earthly love, one might even say passion. He was committed to the fullness of life, strength, scope, storm of movement. He often depicted nude figures, often a heavy, warm, full-blooded body, filled with the lush color of life and usually highlighted by a light spot on a dark background. So, he writes "Elena Fourman in a fur coat." In the portraits of Rubens, accessories, backgrounds - lush curtains, etc. did not interfere, but rather contributed to the disclosure of the character's character, penetration into his inner world ("Portrait of a chambermaid").
Realist tendencies in painting can be observed in the work of the great Dutch painter Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-1669). The themes of his work are diverse: religious subjects, mythology, history, portraits, genre scenes. The art of Rembrandt was distinguished, first of all, by love for man, humanism, in each work of Rembrandt - an attempt to convey the spiritual evolution of man, the tragic path of knowing life. His heroes are people with contradictory characters and difficult destinies. The artist always studies nature, his model, not limited to depicting common features. Rembrandt entered the history of world painting as a master of self-portrait. From year to year, he portrayed himself either cheerful or sad, then angry or indifferent. The hundred self-portraits he created contain the story of his life, the biography of his soul, the confession of the artist.
The painting “The Return of the Prodigal Son” depicts the final episode of the parable, when the prodigal son returns home, “and while he was still far away, his father saw him and took pity; and, running, fell on his neck and kissed him, ”and his elder righteous brother, who remained with his father, became angry and did not want to enter.
"Danae" is written based on the ancient Greek myth of Danae, the mother of Perseus. When the king of the ancient Greek city of Argos learned about the prophecy, according to which he was destined to die at the hands of the son of Danae, his daughter, he imprisoned her in a dungeon and assigned a maid to her. The god Zeus, however, penetrated Danae in the form of golden rain, after which she gave birth to a son, Perseus.
Classicism dominated France in the 17th century. Classicism (French classicisme, from Latin classicus - exemplary) is an artistic style and aesthetic trend in European art of the 17th-19th centuries. Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. The masters of classicism did not convey in their works the immediate, surrounding life. They portrayed ennobled reality, sought to create ideal images that corresponded to their ideas about the reasonable, heroic and beautiful. The themes of classic art were limited mainly to ancient history, mythology and the Bible, and figurative language and artistic techniques were borrowed from classical ancient art, which, in the view of the masters of classicism, most of all corresponded to the harmonious ideal of the reasonable and the beautiful.
The founder of classicism in French painting was Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665). His works are distinguished by deep ideas, thoughts and feelings. He believed that art should remind a person "of contemplation and wisdom, with the help of which he will be able to remain firm and unshakable in the face of the blows of fate." Within the scenes from ancient mythology and the Bible, Poussin revealed the themes of the modern era. In his works, he strove for majestic calm, noble restraint, balance. His ideal is a hero who maintains imperturbable peace of mind in life's trials, capable of accomplishing a feat. The idea of the transience of life and the inevitability of death often attracted the attention of Poussin and served as the theme of many of his works. The best among them is the painting "The Arcadian Shepherds" (Louvre), made, apparently, in the early 1650s. It depicts four inhabitants of the legendary happy country - Arcadia, who found a tomb among the bushes and parse the words carved on it: "And I was in Arcadia." This accidental find makes the Arcadian shepherds think, reminding them of the inevitability of death. The deep philosophical idea underlying this picture is expressed in a crystal clear and classically rigorous form. The nature of the figures, their statuary and closeness to ancient forms and proportions are indicative of the mature art of the master. The picture is distinguished by an extraordinary integrity of design and execution, and the hidden sadness with which it is imbued gives it a completely peculiar charm. One of the characteristic features of his talent is the ability to reveal the inner world of a person in movement, in gesture, in rhythms.
In the history of French culture, the period from the beginning of the reign of Louis XV to the beginning of the revolution (1789) is called the period of Enlightenment. One of the most important characteristics culture of the Enlightenment is the process of displacement of religious principles of art by secular ones. Secular architecture in the 18th century for the first time takes precedence over church architecture in almost all of Europe.
The social life of the Enlightenment was highly controversial. Enlighteners struggled with the "old order", which then still had real power. Not only the style of artistic creativity, but also the way of life of the royal courts, personifying the "Old Order" of Europe, becomes rococo (from the French "rocaille" - shell). Title conveys main feature of this style is the choice of a complex, refined form and whimsical lines, reminiscent of the silhouette of a shell.
The term "rococo" (or "rocaille") came into use in the middle of the 19th century. Initially, "rocaille" is a way of decorating the interiors of grottoes, fountain bowls, etc. with various fossils that imitate natural (natural) formations. Characteristic features of Rococo are sophistication, great decorative loading of interiors and compositions, graceful ornamental rhythm, great attention to mythology, personal comfort.
Rococo architecture
Unlike Baroque, which was exclusively a court style, Rococo was the art of the aristocracy and the upper strata of the bourgeoisie. Now the main goal of the master was not the glorification of anyone or anything, but the convenience and pleasure of a particular person. Rococo architects began to take care of human comfort. They abandoned the pomposity of majestic Baroque buildings and tried to surround a person with an atmosphere of convenience and grace. Painting also abandoned "great ideas" and became simply beautiful. Freed from the turbulent emotions of the Baroque, the paintings were filled with cold light and subtle halftones. Rococo was perhaps the first almost entirely secular style in the history of European art. Like the philosophy of the Enlightenment, so did Rococo art separate from the church, pushing religious themes far into the background. Henceforth, both painting and architecture were to be light and pleasant. The gallant society of the 18th century was tired of moralizing and preaching, people wanted to enjoy life, getting the most out of it.
Rococo manifested itself not in the external design of buildings, but only in interiors, as well as in the design of books, clothing, furniture and paintings. The Rococo style also expressed itself brilliantly in all branches of artistic and industrial production; with particular success it was used in the manufacture of porcelain, imparting a peculiar elegance to both the form and the ornamentation of its products; thanks to him, this fabrication made a huge step forward in its time and entered into great esteem among art lovers. In addition to porcelain, silver is in fashion. Chocolate bowls, tureens, coffee pots, dishes, plates and more are made. In this century, the culinary art in its modern form is born, including the art of table setting. Rococo furniture is different characteristic features. One of the most striking features is curved lines, curved legs. Furniture becomes lighter and more elegant than before. New pieces of furniture appear: console tables, secretaries, bureaus, chests of drawers, wardrobes. The two most common types of chairs are "Bergere" and "Marquise". Gilded candelabra, clocks, porcelain figurines, tapestries, screens are indispensable elements of the Rococo style. Mirrors and paintings weighing asymmetrically are used in abundance. On sofas and armchairs, use silk pillows and pouffes with plot embroidery. Interesting fact- it was the rococo design style that introduced such an innovation into the interior as an aquarium in the interior.
Rococo interior
The main themes of Rococo painting are the exquisite life of the court aristocracy, "gallant festivities", idyllic pictures of "shepherd's" life against the backdrop of pristine nature. One of the greatest masters of French art of the 18th century was Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), an artist of subtle poetic feeling and great pictorial talent. A dreamy and melancholy master of "gallant festivities", he introduced genuine poetry and depth of feelings into the depiction of the life of secular society, and a shade of some kind of melancholy and dissatisfaction into the interpretation of love scenes and careless amusements. Very often we meet in his paintings the image of a lonely dreamer, melancholy and sad, immersed in thought and removed from the noisy fun, from the vain vanity of the crowd. This is the true hero of Watteau. His works are always covered with lyrical sadness. We will not find in them stormy fun, sharp and sonorous colors. He especially likes to portray ladies and gentlemen walking or having fun against the backdrop of the landscape, in overgrown shady parks, on the banks of ponds and lakes. Such are the two charming paintings of the Dresden Gallery, for example "Society in the Park", where everything is imbued with a subtle lyrical mood, and even marble statues ancient gods seem to look favorably on the lovers.
“Arrival to the island of Cythera”
The most famous Rococo artist was Francois Boucher, who, in addition to painting, worked in all types of decorative and applied arts: he created cardboard for tapestries, drawings for Sevres porcelain, painted fans, performed miniatures and decorative paintings. François Boucher was an artist ideologically associated with aristocratic society during its decline; he captured in his canvases the desire to enjoy all the blessings of life that reigned among the upper classes in the middle of the 18th century. In the work of Bush, mythological plots are widely used, giving rise to the depiction of a naked female and child body. Especially often he writes mythological heroines - at different moments of their love affairs or busy toilet. No less characteristic of Boucher are the so-called pastorals, or shepherd scenes. Passion for pastoral themes, characteristic of the entire era, was a reflection of the then fashionable theories, according to which only naive people living far from civilization, in the bosom of nature, are happy. His shepherds and shepherdesses are elegant and pretty young men and women, slightly costumed and depicted against the backdrop of landscapes. In addition to pastorals and mythological paintings, he painted genre scenes from the life of an aristocratic society, portraits (especially often portraits of the Marquise Pompadour), religious images, usually solved in the same decorative plan (“Rest on the Flight into Egypt”), flowers, ornamental motifs. Boucher had an undeniable talent as a decorator, he knew how to connect his compositions with the solution of interiors.
Rococo fashion
Questions and tasks:
1. Tell us about the aesthetic features of the Baroque style
2. Tell us about the features of Baroque painting using the example of Rubens
3. Tell us about Rembrandt's painting style
4. Why is the Rococo style considered the style of the aristocracy?
5. Make a correspondence tour of Versailles
