"Ideal cities" of the Renaissance. Engineering justification of projects

Classicism in the architecture of Western Europe

Let's leave it to the Italians

Empty tinsel with its fake gloss.

Total meaning is more important but in order to come to him,

We'll have to overcome obstacles and paths,

Follow the marked path strictly:

Sometimes the mind has only one way...

You need to think about the meaning and only then write!

N. Boileau. "Poetic Art".

Translation by V. Lipetskaya

So taught his contemporaries one of the main ideologists of classicism, the poet Nicolas Boileau (1636-1711). The strict rules of classicism were embodied in the tragedies of Corneille and Racine, the comedies of Molière and the satires of La Fontaine, the music of Lully and the painting of Poussin, the architecture and decoration of the palaces and ensembles of Paris...

Classicism was most clearly manifested in the works of architecture, focused on the best achievements of ancient culture - an order system, strict symmetry, a clear proportionality of the parts of the composition and their subordination to the general idea. The "austere style" of classicist architecture seemed to be intended to visually embody its ideal formula of "noble simplicity and calm grandeur." The architectural structures of classicism were dominated by simple and clear forms, a calm harmony of proportions. Preference was given to straight lines, unobtrusive decor, repeating the outline of the object. The simplicity and nobility of the workmanship, practicality and expediency affected everything.

Based on the ideas of Renaissance architects about the "ideal city", the architects of classicism created a new type of grandiose palace and park ensemble, strictly subordinate to a single geometric plan. One of the outstanding architectural structures of this time was the residence of the French kings on the outskirts of Paris - the Palace of Versailles.

"Fairy Dream" of Versailles

Mark Twain, who visited Versailles in the middle of the 19th century.

“I scolded Louis XIV, who spent 200 million dollars on Versailles when people did not have enough for bread, but now I have forgiven him. It's extraordinarily beautiful! You stare, just open your eyes and try to understand that you are on earth and not in the gardens of Eden. And you are almost ready to believe that this is a hoax, just a fabulous dream.

Indeed, the “fairytale dream” of Versailles still amazes with the scale of the regular layout, the magnificent splendor of the facades and the brilliance of the decorative decoration of the interiors. Versailles became a visible embodiment of the grand-official architecture of classicism, expressing the idea of ​​a rationally arranged model of the world.

One hundred hectares of land in an extremely short time (1666-1680) were turned into a piece of paradise intended for the French aristocracy. The architects Louis Leveaux (1612-1670), Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646-1708) and André Le Nôtre(1613-1700). Over the course of a number of years, they rebuilt and changed a lot in its architecture, so that at present it is a complex fusion of several architectural layers, absorbing the characteristic features of classicism.

The center of Versailles is the Grand Palace, to which three converging avenues lead. Located on a certain elevation, the palace occupies a dominant position over the area. Its creators divided the almost half-kilometer length of the facade into a central part and two side wings - risalit, giving it a special solemnity. The facade is represented by three floors. The first one, which plays the role of a massive base, is decorated with rustication on the model of Italian Renaissance palaces-palazzos. On the second, front, there are high arched windows, between which there are Ionic columns and pilasters. The tier crowning the building imparts monumentality to the appearance of the palace: it is shortened and ends with sculptural groups that give the building a special elegance and lightness. The rhythm of windows, pilasters and columns on the façade emphasizes its classical austerity and magnificence. It is no coincidence that Molière said of the Grand Palace of Versailles:

"The artistic decoration of the palace is so in harmony with the perfection that nature gives it that it can be called a magical castle."

The interiors of the Grand Palace are decorated in the Baroque style: they abound with sculptural decorations, rich decor in the form of gilded stucco and carvings, many mirrors and exquisite furniture. The walls and ceilings are covered with colored marble slabs with clear geometric patterns: squares, rectangles and circles. Picturesque panels and tapestries on mythological themes glorify King Louis XIV. Massive bronze chandeliers with gilding complete the impression of wealth and luxury.

The halls of the palace (there are about 700 of them) form endless enfilades and are intended for ceremonial processions, magnificent festivities and masquerade balls. In the largest ceremonial hall of the palace - the Mirror Gallery (73 m long) - the search for new spatial and lighting effects is clearly demonstrated. The windows on one side of the hall were matched by mirrors on the other. Under sunlight or artificial lighting, four hundred mirrors created an exceptional spatial effect, conveying a magical play of reflections.

The decorative compositions of Charles Lebrun (1619-1690) in Versailles and the Louvre were striking in their ceremonial splendor. The “method of depicting passions” proclaimed by him, which involved pompous praise of high-ranking persons, brought the artist a dizzying success. In 1662, he became the king's first painter, and then the director of the royal manufactory of tapestries (hand-woven carpet-pictures, or tapestries) and the head of all decorative work in the Palace of Versailles. In the Mirror Gallery of the Palace, Lebrun painted

a gilded ceiling with many allegorical compositions on mythological themes that glorified the reign of the "Sun King" Louis XIV. Heaped picturesque allegories and attributes, bright colors and decorative effects of the Baroque clearly contrasted with the architecture of classicism.

The king's bedroom is located in the central part of the palace and faces towards rising sun. It was from here that a view of three highways radiating from one point opened, which symbolically reminded of the main center of state power. From the balcony, the view of the king opened up all the beauty of the Versailles park. Its main creator Andre Le Nôtre managed to link together the elements of architecture and gardening art. Unlike landscape (English) parks, which expressed the idea of ​​unity with nature, regular (French) parks subordinated nature to the will and intentions of the artist. The park of Versailles impresses with its clarity and rational organization of space, its drawing is accurately verified by the architect with the help of a compass and ruler.

The alleys of the park are perceived as a continuation of the halls of the palace, each of them ends with a reservoir. Many pools have the correct geometric shape. The smooth water mirrors in the pre-sunset hours reflect the rays of the sun and whimsical shadows cast by bushes and trees trimmed in the shape of a cube, cone, cylinder or ball. Greenery sometimes forms solid, impenetrable walls, sometimes wide galleries, in artificial niches of which sculptural compositions, herms (tetrahedral pillars crowned with a head or bust) and numerous vases with cascades of thin water jets are placed. The allegorical plasticity of the fountains, made by famous masters, is designed to glorify the reign of the absolute monarch. The “Sun King” appeared in them either in the guise of the god Apollo, or Neptune, riding out of the water in a chariot or resting among the nymphs in a cool grotto.

Smooth carpets of lawns amaze with bright and colorful colors with a bizarre flower ornament. In vases (there were about 150 thousand of them) there were fresh flowers, which were changed in such a way that Versailles was in constant bloom at any time of the year. The paths of the park are strewn with colored sand. Some of them were lined with porcelain chips sparkling in the sun. All this splendor and splendor of nature was complemented by the smells of almonds, jasmine, pomegranate and lemon, spreading from greenhouses.

There was nature in this park

As if inanimate;

As if with a lofty sonnet,

They were messing around with the grass.

No dancing, no sweet raspberries,

Le Nôtre and Jean Lully

In gardens and dances of disorder

Couldn't bear it.

The yews froze, as if in a trance,

The bushes lined up,

And curtsied

Learned flowers.

V. Hugo Translation by E. L. Lipetskaya

N. M. Karamzin (1766-1826), who visited Versailles in 1790, spoke about his impressions in the Letters of a Russian Traveler:

“The immensity, the perfect harmony of the parts, the action of the whole: this is what the painter cannot depict with a brush!

Let's go to the gardens, the creation of Le Nôtre, whom the bold genius everywhere placed on the throne of proud Art, and the humble Na-tura, like a poor slave, threw him at his feet ...

So, do not look for Nature in the gardens of Versailles; but here, at every step, Art captivates the eye ... "

architectural ensembles Paris. Empire

After the completion of the main construction work in Versailles, at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, Andre Le Nôtre launched an active work on the redevelopment of Paris. He carried out the breakdown of the Tuileries Park, clearly fixing the central axis on the continuation of the longitudinal axis of the Louvre ensemble. After Le Nôtre, the Louvre was finally rebuilt, Place de la Concorde was created. The great axis of Paris gave a completely different interpretation of the city, which met the requirements of grandeur, grandiosity and splendor. The composition of open urban spaces, the system of architecturally designed streets and squares became the determining factor in the planning of Paris. The clarity of the geometric pattern of streets and squares linked into a single whole on long years will become a criterion for evaluating the perfection of the urban plan and the skill of the urban planner. Many cities around the world will subsequently experience the influence of the classic Parisian model.

A new understanding of the city as an object of architectural influence on a person finds a clear expression in the work on urban ensembles. In the process of their construction, the main and fundamental principles of urban planning of classicism were outlined - free development in space and organic connection with the environment. Overcoming the chaos of urban development, the architects sought to create ensembles designed for a free and unobstructed view.

Renaissance dreams of creating an “ideal city” were embodied in the formation of a new type of square, the boundaries of which were no longer the facades of certain buildings, but the space of streets and quarters adjacent to it, parks or gardens, a river embankment. Architecture seeks to connect in a certain ensemble unity not only directly neighboring buildings, but also very remote points of the city.

Second half of the 18th century and the first third of the 19th century. in France mark a new stage in the development of classicism and its spread in Europe - neoclassicism. After the Great french revolution And Patriotic War In 1812, new priorities appeared in urban planning, consonant with the spirit of their time. They found the most striking expression in the Empire style. It was characterized by the following features: ceremonial pathos of imperial grandeur, monumentality, appeal to the art of imperial Rome and Ancient Egypt, the use of attributes of Roman military history as the main decorative motifs.

The essence of the new artistic style was very accurately conveyed in the significant words of Napoleon Bonaparte:

"I love power, but as an artist ... I love it to extract sounds, chords, harmony from it."

Empire style became the personification of the political power and military glory of Napoleon, served as a kind of manifestation of his cult. The new ideology fully met the political interests and artistic tastes of the new time. Large architectural ensembles of open squares, wide streets and avenues were created everywhere, bridges, monuments and public buildings were erected, demonstrating the imperial grandeur and power of power.

For example, the Austerlitz bridge was reminiscent of the great battle of Napoleon and was built from the stones of the Bastille. At the Place Carruzel was built Triumphal Arch in honor of the victory at Austerlitz. Two squares (Consent and Stars), separated from each other at a considerable distance, were connected by architectural perspectives.

Church of Saint Genevieve, erected by J. J. Soufflot, became the Pantheon - the resting place of the great people of France. One of the most spectacular monuments of that time is the column of the Grand Army on Place Vendôme. Similar to the ancient Roman column of Trajan, it was supposed, according to the plan of the architects J. Gonduin and J. B. Leper, to express the spirit of the New Empire and Napoleon's thirst for greatness.

In the interior bright decoration of palaces and public buildings, solemnity and majestic pomposity were especially highly valued, their decor was often overloaded with military paraphernalia. The dominant motifs were contrasting combinations of colors, elements of Roman and Egyptian ornaments: eagles, griffins, urns, wreaths, torches, grotesques. The Empire style was most clearly manifested in the interiors of the imperial residences of the Louvre and Malmaison.

The era of Napoleon Bonaparte ended by 1815, and very soon they began to actively eradicate its ideology and tastes. From the "disappeared like a dream" Empire, there were works of art in the Empire style, clearly testifying to its former greatness.

Questions and tasks

1. Why Versailles can be attributed to outstanding works?

As urban planning ideas of classicism of the XVIII century. found their practical implementation in the architectural ensembles of Paris, for example, Place de la Concorde? What distinguishes it from the Italian Baroque squares of Rome in the 17th century, such as the Piazza del Popolo (see p. 74)?

2. How did the connection between baroque and classicism find expression? What ideas did classicism inherit from baroque?

3. What are the historical background for the emergence of the Empire style? What new ideas of his time did he seek to express in works of art? What artistic principles does it rely on?

creative workshop

1. Give your classmates a guided tour of Versailles. For its preparation, you can use video materials from the Internet. The parks of Versailles and Peterhof are often compared. What do you think is the basis for such comparisons?

2. Try to compare the image of the “ideal city” of the Renaissance era with the classicist ensembles of Paris (St. Petersburg or its suburbs).

3. Compare the design interior decoration(interiors) of the gallery of Francis I in Fontainebleau and the Mirror Gallery of Versailles.

4. Get acquainted with the paintings of the Russian artist A. N. Benois (1870-1960) from the cycle “Versailles. Walk of the King” (see p. 74). How do they convey the general atmosphere of the court life of the French king Louis XIV? Why can they be considered as peculiar pictures-symbols?

Topics of projects, abstracts or messages

"The Formation of Classicism in French Architecture of the 17th-18th Centuries"; "Versailles as a model of harmony and beauty of the world"; "Walking around Versailles: the connection between the composition of the palace and the layout of the park"; "Masterpieces of the architecture of Western European classicism"; "Napoleonic Empire in the architecture of France"; "Versailles and Peterhof: experience of comparative characteristics"; "Artistic discoveries in the architectural ensembles of Paris"; "The squares of Paris and the development of the principles of regular planning of the city"; "Clarity of composition and balance of volumes of the cathedral of the Invalides in Paris"; “Concord Square is a new stage in the development of urban planning ideas of classicism”; “The severe expressiveness of volumes and the stinginess of the decor of the church of St. Genevieve (Pantheon) by J. Soufflot”; "Features of classicism in the architecture of Western European countries"; "Outstanding architects of Western European classicism".

Books for additional reading

Arkin D. E. Images of architecture and images of sculpture. M., 1990. Kantor A. M. and others. Art of the XVIII century. M., 1977. (Small history of arts).

Classicism and Romanticism: Architecture. Sculpture. Painting. Drawing / ed. R. Toman. M., 2000.

Kozhina E.F. Art of France of the 18th century. L., 1971.

LenotrJ. Daily life of Versailles under the kings. M., 2003.

Miretskaya N. V., Miretskaya E. V., Shakirova I. P. Culture of the Enlightenment. M., 1996.

Watkin D. History of Western European architecture. M., 1999. Fedotova E.D. Napoleonic Empire. M., 2008.

In preparing the material, the text of the textbook “World Artistic Culture. From the 18th century to the present” (Author Danilova G. I.).

The creation of an ideal city tormented scientists and architects from various countries and eras, but the first attempts to design such a city arose in the Renaissance. Although scientists worked at the court of the pharaohs and Roman emperors, whose works were aimed at creating some kind of ideal settlement, in which not only everything would clearly obey the hierarchy, but also in which it would be comfortable to live for both the ruler and the simple artisan. Recall at least Akhetaten, Mohenjodaro or a fantastic project proposed by Stasicrates to Alexander the Great, according to which he proposed to carve a statue of a commander from Mount Athos with a city located on his hand. The only problem was that these settlements either remained on paper or were destroyed. The idea of ​​designing an ideal city came not only to architects, but also to many artists. There are references that Piero della Francesca, and Giorgio Vasari, and Luciano Laurana and many others were engaged in this.

Piero della Francesco was known to his contemporaries primarily as the author of treatises on art. Only three of them have come down to us: "Treatise on the abacus", "Perspective in painting", "Five regular bodies". It was he who first raised the question of creating an ideal city in which everything would be subject to mathematical calculations, promising constructions of clear symmetry. For this reason, many scholars attribute to Pierrot the image "View of an ideal city", which fits perfectly into the principles of the Renaissance.

Leon Battista Alberti came closest to the implementation of such a large-scale project. True, he did not manage to realize his idea in its entirety, but he left behind a large number of drawings and notes, according to which other artists were able to achieve in the future what Leon failed to achieve. In particular, Bernardo Rosselino acted as the executor of many of his projects. But Leon implemented his principles not only in writing, but also on the example of many of the buildings he built. Basically, these are numerous palazzos designed for noble families. The architect reveals his own example of an ideal city in his treatise On Architecture. The scientist wrote this work until the end of his life. It was published posthumously and became the first printed book to reveal the problems of architecture. According to Leon, the ideal city had to reflect all the needs of a person, respond to all his humanistic needs. And this is no coincidence, because the leading philosophical thought in the Renaissance was anthropocentric humanism. The city should be divided into quarters, which would be divided according to a hierarchical principle or according to the type of employment. In the center, on the main square, there is a building where city power would be concentrated, as well as the main cathedral and houses of noble families and city managers. Closer to the outskirts were the houses of merchants and artisans, and the poor lived on the very border. Such an arrangement of buildings, according to the architect, was an obstacle to the emergence of various social unrest, since the houses of the rich would be separated from the dwellings of poor citizens. Another important planning principle is that it had to meet the needs of any category of citizens, so that both the ruler and the clergyman could live comfortably in this city. It was supposed to contain all the buildings, from schools and libraries to markets and thermal baths. The public accessibility of such buildings is also important. Even if we ignore all the ethical and social principles of an ideal city, then external, artistic values ​​remain. The layout had to be regular, according to which the city was divided into clear quarters by straight streets. In general, all architectural structures should be subject to geometric shapes and drawn along a ruler. The squares were either round or rectangular. According to these principles, the old cities, such as Rome, Genoa, Naples, were subjected to partial demolition of the old medieval streets and the construction of new spacious quarters.

In some treatises, a similar remark was found about the leisure of people. It concerned mainly boys. It was proposed to build playgrounds and intersections in the cities of such a type that young people playing would be under the constant supervision of adults who could observe them without hindrance. These precautions were aimed at educating the prudence of young people.

The culture of the Renaissance in many ways provided food for further reflection on the structure of the ideal city. This was especially true for the humanists. According to their worldview, everything should be created for a person, for his comfortable existence. When all these conditions are fulfilled, a person will receive social peace and spiritual happiness. Therefore, in such
society simply a priori cannot have wars or riots. Mankind has been moving towards such a result throughout its existence. Recall at least the famous "Utopia" by Thomas More or "1984" by George Orwell. Works of this kind affected not only functional features, but also thought about the relationships, order and structure of the community that lived in this locality, not necessarily a city, maybe even the world. But these foundations were laid back in the 15th century, so we can safely say that the scientists of the Renaissance were comprehensively educated people of their time.

Introduction

Revival as a new worldview and a new art style originated in Italy at the end of the 14th century. The first urban planning ideas represented the city as an architectural unity according to a predetermined plan. Under the influence of these ideas, instead of narrow and crooked medieval lanes, straight, wider streets built up with large buildings began to appear in Italian cities.

The layout and architecture of squares during the Renaissance took shape in the 15th-16th centuries. in Rome and others major cities Italy.

During this period, several cities were reconstructed here using new principles of urban planning. In most cases, palaces in such cities were located on the central squares, which sometimes represented the beginning of three-beam compositions.

Renaissance cities gradually acquired new features under the influence of social changes. However, due to private ownership of land and backward technology, it was impossible to quickly move from the old city to the new one. In all periods of the Renaissance, the main efforts of urban planners were directed to the development of the city center - the square and the nearest quarters. During the heyday of monarchical states in the XVIII century. the ensembles of the central squares of cities were given exceptional importance as their main decorations. City squares had mostly geometrically correct outlines.

If the architecture of ancient Greek and Roman squares was characterized by columns and porticos, then for the squares of the Renaissance period, arcades became new elements, developing simultaneously with the development of entire systems of squares.

In most medieval cities, decorative greenery was absent. Orchards were grown in the gardens of monasteries; orchards or vineyards of the townspeople were behind the city fortifications. in Paris in the 18th century. alleys, cropped greenery, flower garden parterres appear. However, the parks of palaces and castles were privately owned. Public gardens in most European cities appear only at the end of the 18th century.

Water basins in the Middle Ages, in essence, were an obstacle to the development of the city, dividing its districts, and served for narrow practical purposes. Since the 18th century rivers began to be used as connecting elements of cities, and in favorable conditions - as compositional axes. A vivid example is the wise urban planning use of the Neva and Nevka rivers in St. Petersburg. The construction of bridges and the construction of embankments consolidated this direction in urban planning.

During the medieval period, the skyline of the city was largely defined by the pointed spiers on city administrations, churches and public buildings. The silhouette of the city was defined by many small verticals and a few dominant ones. In connection with the new artistic understanding of the silhouette of the city, high medieval roofs were gradually eliminated, Renaissance buildings were completed with roofs with attics and balustrades.

With the increase in the scale of buildings and new types of coverings, the silhouette of the city is softened by domes of smooth outlines, which have received a dominant role in the panoramas of cities. Their change was greatly influenced by gardens and parks, the trees of which largely hide the buildings.

The architects of the Renaissance used strict means of expression in urban planning: harmonic proportions, the scale of a person as a measure of the architectural environment surrounding him.

The ideological struggle of the emerging Italian bourgeoisie against medieval forms of religion, morality and law resulted in a broad progressive movement - humanism. Humanism was based on civic life-affirming principles: the desire to liberate the human personality from spiritual constraint, the thirst for knowledge of the world and the person himself and, as a result of this, the craving for secular forms of social life, the desire for knowledge of the laws and beauty of nature, for the all-round harmonious improvement of man. . These shifts in worldview led to a revolution in all spheres of spiritual life - art, literature, philosophy, science. In their activities, the humanists largely relied on ancient ideals, often reviving not only the ideas, but also the forms themselves, and the expressive means of ancient works. In this regard, the cultural movement of Italy in the XV-XVI centuries. called the renaissance, or resurrection

The humanistic worldview stimulated the development of the individual, increased its importance in public life. The individual style of the master played an increasing role in the development of art and architecture. The culture of humanism has put forward a whole galaxy of brilliant architects, sculptors, artists, such as Brunellesco, Leonardo da Vinci, Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Palladio and others.

The desire to create an “ideal image of a person”, combined with the search for methods of artistic exploration of the world, led to a kind of cognitive realism of the Renaissance, based on a close union of art with a rapidly developing science. In architecture, the search for "ideal" forms of buildings, based on a complete and complete composition, has become one of its defining trends. Along with the development of new types of civil and religious buildings, the development of architectural thought is going on, there is an urgent need for theoretical generalizations of modern experience, especially historical and, above all, ancient.

Three era periods Italian Renaissance

Renaissance architecture in Italy is divided into three main periods: early, high and late. architectural center Early Renaissance was Tuscany with the main city - Florence. This period covers the second quarter and the middle of the 15th century. The beginning of the Renaissance in architecture is considered to be 1420, when the construction of the dome over the Florentine Cathedral began. Construction achievements, which led to the creation of a huge centric form, have become a kind of symbol of the architecture of the New Age.

1. Early Renaissance period

The early Renaissance in architecture is characterized, first of all, by the forms of buildings created by the famous architect engineer Filippo Brunellesco (first half of the 15th century). In particular, he used a light semicircular instead of a pointed arch in the Orphanage in Florence. Rib vault characteristic of gothic architecture, began to give way to a new design - a modified box vault. However, the lancet forms of the arch still continued to be used until the middle of the 16th century.

One of the outstanding buildings of Brunellesco was the huge dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, which had remained unfinished since the 14th century.

In the form of a large dome created by the architect, an echo of the Gothic lancet arch is noticeable. The span of the dome of this cathedral is large - 42m. The vaults of the dome, made of brick, rest on an octagonal base of logs sheathed with iron sheets. Due to the favorable location of the cathedral on a hill and its high altitude(115m) its upper part, especially the dome, gives solemnity and originality to the architectural panorama of Florence.

Civil architecture occupied a significant place in the architecture of the Italian Renaissance. It primarily includes large city palaces (palazzo), which, in addition to housing, were intended for ceremonial receptions. Medieval palaces, gradually throwing off their harsh Romanesque and Gothic clothes with the help of marble cladding and sculpture, acquired a cheerful look.

The features of the Renaissance facades are huge arched window openings separated by columns, rustication of the first floors with stones, upper slabs, large projection cornices and finely traced details. Unlike austere facades, the architecture of well-lit interiors has a cheerful character.

For the decoration of the facades of palaces early renaissance rustication was often used. Stones for rustication usually had an unworked (chipped) front surface with a cleanly hewn bordering path. The relief of rustication decreased with the increase in the number of floors. Later, the decoration with rustication was preserved only in the processing of socles and at the corners of buildings.

In the XV century. Italian architects often used the Corinthian order. Often there were cases of combining several orders in one building: for the lower floors - a Doric order, and for the upper floors - a composition of capitals, close in proportions and pattern to the Ionic type.

One of the examples of palace architecture of the mid-15th century. in Florence, the three-story Medici-Ricardi Palace, built according to the project of the architect Michelozzo di Bartolomeo in the period 1444-1452, by order of Cosimo Medici, the ruler of Florence, can serve. According to the scheme of the facade of the Medici Palace, hundreds of palaces were later built in other cities.

A further development of the composition of the palace is the palazzo Rucchelai in Florence built in 1446–1451 designed by Leon Battista Alberti (1404–1472). Like the ancient Roman Colosseum, its facade is divided into floors by orders with a transition from the simplest Doric order in the lower tier to the more subtle and rich Corinthian order in the upper one.

The impression of lightening the building upwards, created in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi with the help of rustication of the walls, is expressed here in the form of a tiered system of orders lightening upwards. At the same time, the large crowning cornice is correlated not with the height of the upper tier, but with the height of the building as a whole, which is why the composition acquired the features of completeness and static. In the development of the facade, traditional motifs are still preserved: double arched windows coming from the medieval form of windows, rustication of the walls, the general monumentality of the cloud, etc.

Pazzi Chapel (1430-1443) - a domed building, set in the courtyard of the monastery. In the composition of the facade, an internal structure dissected by an order with the volume of the hall with a dome on sails dominating it was displayed. The colonnade, cut along the axis by an arch and completed by a finely dissected attic, is matched by cartelized pilasters on the inner wall of the loggia, and protruding articulations of arches on the vaulted ceiling.

The correspondence of orders and the repetition of small domes in the loggia and the altar part contribute to the organic connection of the facade with the interior. The walls inside are dissected by flat, but highlighted in color pilasters, which, continuing in the divisions of the vaults, give an idea of ​​the logic of building space, the tectonic system. Developing three-dimensionally, the order emphasizes the unity and subordination of the main parts. The visual "framework" also characterizes the dissection of the dome from the inside, which is somewhat reminiscent of the structure of the Gothic nerve vaults. However, the harmony of order forms and the clarity of the tectonic structure, balance and commensurability with man speak of the triumph of new architectural ideals over the principles of the Middle Ages.

Along with Brunellesco and Michelozzo da Bartolomeo, other masters (Rosselino, Benedetto da Maiano, etc.), whose work was mainly associated with Tuscany and Northern Italy, also played an important role in the development of new architecture. Alberti, who built, in addition to the Palazzo Ruccellai, a number of large structures (the facade of the Church of Santa Maria Novella, the Church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, etc.), completes this period.

2. The period of the High Renaissance

The period of the High Renaissance covers the end of the 15th - the first half of the 16th century. By this time, due to the movement of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean, Italy was experiencing a well-known economic decline and a reduction in industrial production. Often the bourgeoisie bought up land and turned into usurers and landowners. The process of feudalization of the bourgeoisie is accompanied by a general aristocratization of culture, the center of gravity is transferred to the court circle of the nobility: dukes, princes, popes. Rome becomes the center of culture - the residence of the popes, who are often elected from representatives of the humanistically minded aristocracy. Huge building work is underway in Rome. In this undertaking, undertaken by the papal court to raise their own prestige, the humanistic community saw the experience of reviving the greatness of ancient Rome, and with it the greatness of all of Italy. At the court, who ascended the throne in 1503. The humanist of Pope Julius II was the work of the most prominent architects - among them Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo, Antonio da Sangallo and others.

In the architecture of this period, the main features and trends of the Renaissance receive their finished expression. The most perfect centric compositions are created. The type of urban palazzo is finally taking shape, which during this period acquires the features of a building not only private, but also public, and therefore, in a certain area, becomes the prototype of many subsequent public buildings. overcome the characteristic early period Revival contrast (between the architectural characteristics of the external appearance of the palazzo and its courtyard. Under the influence of a more systematic and archaeologically accurate acquaintance with ancient monuments, order compositions become more rigorous: along with Ionic and Corinthian orders, simpler and more monumental orders are widely used - Roman Doric and Tuscan, and a finely designed arcade on columns gives way to a more monumental order arcade.In general, the compositions of the High Renaissance acquire greater significance, rigor and monumentality.The problem of creating a regular urban ensemble is put on a real basis.Country villas are being built as integral architectural complexes.

The most important architect of this period was Donato d'Angelo Bramante (1444-1514). The Cancelleria building attributed to Bramante (the main papal office) in Rome - one of the outstanding palace buildings - is a huge parallelepiped with a rectangular courtyard surrounded by arcades. The harmonious composition of the facades develops the principles laid down in the Palazzo Ruccellai, but the overall rhythmic structure creates a more complex and solemn image. The first floor, treated as a basement, intensified the contrast with a lightweight top. Rhythmically arranged plastic accents created by large openings and platbands framing them acquired great importance in the composition. The rhythm of horizontal articulations became even clearer.

Among the religious buildings of Bramante, a small chapel stands out in the courtyard of the monastery of San Pietro in Montrrio, called Tempietto. (1502) - a building located inside a rather cramped courtyard, which was supposed to be surrounded by a circular arcade in plan.

The chapel is a domed rotunda surrounded by a Roman Doric colonnade. The building is distinguished by the perfection of proportions, the order is interpreted strictly and constructively. In comparison with the centric buildings of the early Renaissance, where linear-planar wall development prevails (Pazzi Chapel), the volume of Tempietto is plastic: its ordered plasticity corresponds to the tectonic integrity of the composition. The contrast between the monolithic core of the rotunda and the colonnade, between the smoothness of the wall and the plasticity of deep niches and pilasters emphasizes the expressiveness of the composition, complete harmony and completeness. Despite its small size, Tempietto gives the impression of monumentality. Already by contemporaries of Bramante, this building was recognized as one of the masterpieces of architecture.

Being the chief architect at the court of Pope Julius II, Bramante from 1505. works to rebuild the Vatican. A grandiose complex of ceremonial buildings and solemn courtyards located at different levels was conceived, subordinate to a single axis, closed by the majestic exedra of the Belvedere. In this, in essence, the first Renaissance ensemble of such grandiose design, the compositional techniques of the ancient Roman forums were masterfully used. The papal residence was supposed to be connected with another grandiose building in Rome - the Cathedral of Peter, for the construction of which the Bramante project was also adopted. The perfection of the centric composition and the grandiose scope of the project of the Cathedral of Peter Bramante give reason to consider this work the pinnacle of the development of Renaissance architecture. However, the project was not destined to be realized in kind: during the life of Bramante, the construction of the cathedral was only begun, which from 1546, 32 years after the death of the architect, was transferred to Michelangelo.

The great artist and architect Rafael Santi took part in the competition for the design of the Peter's Cathedral, as well as in the construction and painting of the Vatican buildings, together with Bramante, who built and painted the famous loggias of the Vatican, which received his name ("Raphael's loggias"), as well as a number of remarkable structures, both in Rome itself and outside it (the construction and painting of the Villa Madama in Rome, the Pandolfini Palace in Florence, etc.).

One of the best students of Bramante - the architect Antonio da Sangallo Jr. - owns the project of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome , to a certain extent completed the evolution of the Renaissance palace.

In the development of its facade, there are no traditional rustication and vertical articulations. On the smooth, brick-plastered surface of the wall, wide horizontal belts running along the entire facade clearly stand out; as if leaning on them, there are windows with embossed architraves in the form of an antique “edicule”. The windows of the first floor, unlike the Florentine palaces, have the same dimensions as the windows of the upper floors. The building was freed from the fortress isolation, still inherent in the palaces of the early Renaissance. In contrast to the palaces of the 15th century, where the courtyard was surrounded by light arched galleries on columns, a monumental order arcade with semi-columns appears here. The order of the gallery is somewhat heavier, acquiring the features of solemnity and representativeness. The narrow passage between the yard and the street has been replaced by an open "vestibule", revealing the prospect of the front yard.

3. Late Renaissance

The late period of the Renaissance is usually considered the middle and the end of the 16th century. At this time, the economic downturn continued in Italy. The role of the feudal nobility and Church Catholic organizations increased. To combat the reformation and all manifestations of an anti-religious spirit, the Inquisition was established. Under these conditions, humanists began to experience persecution. A significant part of them, pursued by the Inquisition, moved to the northern cities of Italy, especially to Venice, which still retained the rights of an independent republic, where the influence of the religious counter-reformation was not so strong. In this regard, during the period of the late Renaissance, the most striking were two schools - the Roman and the Venetian. In Rome, where the ideological pressure of the counter-reformation strongly influenced the development of architecture, along with the development of the principles of the High Renaissance, there is a departure from the classics towards more complex compositions, greater decorativeness, a violation of the clarity of forms, scale and tectonicity. In Venice, despite the partial penetration of new trends into architecture, the classical basis of architectural composition was more preserved.

A prominent representative of the Roman school was the great Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564). In his architectural works, the foundations of a new understanding of form, characteristic of this period, are laid, distinguished by great expression, dynamics and plastic expressiveness. His work, which took place in Rome and Florence, reflected with particular force the search for images capable of expressing the general crisis of humanism and the inner anxiety that the progressive circles of society then experienced before the impending forces of reaction. As a brilliant sculptor and painter, Michelangelo was able to find bright plastic means to express in art the inner strength of his heroes, the unresolved conflict of their spiritual world, the titanic efforts in the struggle. In architectural creativity, this corresponded to the emphasized identification of the plasticity of forms and their intense dynamics. Michelangelo's order often lost its tectonic significance, turning into a means of decorating walls, creating enlarged masses that amaze a person with their scale and plasticity. Boldly violating the architectural principles familiar to the Renaissance, Michelangelo to a certain extent was the founder of a creative manner, which was later picked up in the architecture of the Italian Baroque. The completion of Peter's Cathedral in Rome after Bramante's death belongs to the largest architectural works of Michelangelo. Michelangelo, taking as a basis a centric scheme close to Bramante's plan, introduced new features into its interpretation: he simplified the plan and generalized the interior space, made the supports and walls more massive, and added a portico with a solemn colonnade from the western facade. In the three-dimensional composition, the calm balance and subordination of the spaces of Bramante's project are translated into the emphasized dominance of the main dome and the under-dome space. In the composition of the facades, clarity and simplicity were replaced by more complex and large plastic forms, the walls are dissected by ledges and pilasters of a large Corinthian order with a powerful entablature and a high attic; between the pilasters, window openings, niches and various decorative elements (cornices, corbels, sandriks, statues, etc.) are placed, as it were, squeezed into the piers, giving the walls an almost sculptural plasticity.

In the composition of the Medici Chapel the church of San Lorenzo in Florence (1520), the interior and sculptures made by Michelangelo merged into a single whole. Sculptural and architectural forms are full of inner tension and drama. Their sharp emotional expressiveness prevails over the tectonic basis, the order is interpreted as an element of the artist's general sculptural conception.

One of the outstanding Roman architects of the late Renaissance is also Vignola, the author of the treatise “The Rule of Five Orders of Architecture”. The most significant of his works are the castle of Caprarola and the villa of Pope Julius II. . During the Renaissance, the type of villa undergoes significant development associated with a change in its functional content. Even at the beginning of the XV century. it was a country estate, often surrounded by walls, and sometimes even had defensive towers. By the end of the XV century. the villa becomes a place of country rest for wealthy citizens (Villa Medici near Florence), and from the 16th century. it often becomes the residence of large feudal lords and higher clergy. The villa loses its intimacy and takes on the character of a frontal frontal-axial structure, open to the surrounding nature.

The villa of Pope Julius II is an example of this type. Its strictly axial and rectangular composition descends in ledges down the mountainside, creating a complex play of open, semi-open and closed spaces located at different levels. The composition is influenced by the ancient Roman forums and courts of the Vatican.

The outstanding masters of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance were Sansovino, who built the building of the Library of San Marco in Venice (begun in 1536) - an important component of the remarkable ensemble of the Venetian center, and the most prominent representative of the classical Renaissance school - the architect Palladio.

The activities of Andrea Palladio (1508 - 1580) proceeded mainly in the city of Vicenza, not far from Venice, where he built palace buildings and villas, as well as in Venice, where he built mainly church buildings. His work in a number of buildings was a reaction to the anti-classical tendencies of the late Renaissance. In an effort to preserve the purity of classical principles, Palladio relies on the rich experience he gained in the process of studying the ancient heritage. He is trying to revive not only order forms, but entire elements and even types of buildings of the ancient period. Structurally truthful order portico becomes the main theme of many of his works.

At Villa Rotonda , built near Vicenza (begun in 1551), the master achieved exceptional integrity and harmony of the composition. Located on a hill and clearly visible from a distance, the four facades of the villa with porticos on all sides, together with the dome, form a clear centric composition.

In the center is a round domed hall, from which exits lead under the porticos. Wide portico staircases connect the building with surrounding nature. The centric composition reflects the general aspirations of Renaissance architects for the absolute completeness of the composition, clarity and geometricity of forms, the harmonious connection of individual parts with the whole, and the organic fusion of the building with nature.

But this “ideal” scheme of composition remained single. In the actual construction of numerous villas, Palladio paid more attention to the so-called three-part scheme, consisting of the main volume and one-story order galleries extending from it to the sides, serving to communicate with the services of the estate and organizing the front courtyard in front of the facade of the villa. It was this scheme of a country house that later had numerous followers in the construction of manor palaces.

In contrast to the free development of the volumes of country villas, Palladio's urban palaces usually have an austere and laconic composition with a large-scale and monumental main façade. The architect widely uses a large order, interpreting it as a kind of "column - wall" system. A striking example is the palazzo Capitanio (1576), the walls of which are treated with columns of a large composite order with a powerful, loose entablature. The upper floor, expanded in the form of a superstructure (attic floor), gave the building completeness and monumentality,

Palladio also widely used in his city palaces the two-tier division of facades with orders, as well as an order placed on a high rusticated basement - a technique first used by Bramante and subsequently widely used in classicist architecture.

Conclusion

Modern architecture, when searching for forms of its own stylistic manifestation, does not hide that it uses historical heritage. Most often, she refers to those theoretical concepts and principles of shaping that in the past have achieved the greatest stylistic purity. Sometimes it even seems that everything that the 20th century lived before was returning in a new form and quickly repeating itself again.

Much of what a person values ​​in architecture appeals not so much to a scrupulous analysis of individual parts of an object, but to its synthetic, integral image, to the sphere of emotional perception. This means that architecture is art or, in any case, contains elements of art.

Sometimes architecture is called the mother of the arts, meaning that painting and sculpture developed for a long time in an inseparable organic connection with architecture. The architect and the artist have always had a lot in common in their work, and sometimes they got along well in one person. The ancient Greek sculptor Phidias is rightfully considered one of the creators of the Parthenon. The graceful bell tower of the main cathedral of Florence, Santa Maria del Fiore, was built "according to the drawing" of the great painter Giotto. Michelangelo, who was equally great as an architect, sculptor and painter. Raphael also successfully acted in the architectural field. Their contemporary painter Giorgio Vasari built the Uffizi Street in Florence. Such a synthesis of the talent of the artist and architect was found not only among the titans of the Renaissance, it also marked the new time. Applied artists Englishman William Morris and Belgian Van de Velde made a great contribution to the development modern architecture. Corbusier was a talented painter, and Alexander Vesnin a brilliant theater artist. Soviet artists K. Malevich and L. Lissitzky interestingly experimented with architectural form, and their colleague and contemporary Vladimir Tatlin became the author of the legendary project of the 111 International Tower. The author of the famous project of the Palace of Soviets, architect B. Iofan, is rightfully considered the co-author of the sculpture "Worker and Collective Farm Girl" together with the remarkable Soviet artist Vera Mukhina.

Graphic representation and three-dimensional layout are the main means by which the architect seeks and defends his decisions. The discovery of linear perspective in the Renaissance actively influenced the spatial concept of the architecture of this time. Ultimately, the comprehension of the linear perspective led to the linking of the square, the stairs, the building into a single spatial composition, and after that to the emergence of gigantic architectural ensembles of baroque and high classicism. Many years later, the experiments of cubist artists had a great influence on the development of architectural form creation. They tried to depict an object from different points of view, to achieve its three-dimensional perception by superimposing several images, to expand the possibilities of spatial perception by introducing a fourth dimension - time. This three-dimensional perception served as the starting point for the formal search for modern architecture, which opposed the flat screen of the facade with an intricate play of volumes and planes freely located in space.

Sculpture and painting did not immediately gain independence from architecture. At first they were just elements of an architectural structure. It took more than one century for the painting to separate from the wall or the iconostasis. At the end of the Renaissance, in Piazza della Signoria in Florence, sculptures still timidly crowd around the buildings, as if afraid to completely break with the facades. Michelangelo puts first equestrian statue in the center of Capitoline Square in Rome. The year is 1546. Since then, the monument, monumental sculpture acquires the rights of an independent element of the composition, organizing the urban space. True, the sculptural form still continues to live on the walls of the architectural structure for some time, but these last traces of the “former luxury” gradually disappear from them.

Corbusier affirms this composition of modern architecture with his characteristic certainty: “I do not recognize either sculpture or painting as decoration. I admit that both can evoke deep emotions in the viewer in the same way that music and theater affect you - it all depends on the quality of the work, but I am definitely against decoration. On the other hand, looking at an architectural work, and especially the platform on which it is erected, you see that certain places of the building itself and around it are certain intense mathematical places that turn out to be, as it were, the key to the proportions of the work and its environment. These are the places of the highest intensity, and it is in these places that the architect's definite purpose can be realized - whether in the form of a pool, or a block of stone, or a statue. We can say that in this place all the conditions are combined for a speech to be delivered, the speech of an artist, plastic speech.

At the beginning of the 15th century, there were huge changes in life and culture in Italy. Since the 12th century, the townspeople, merchants and artisans of Italy have waged a heroic struggle against feudal dependence. Developing trade and production, the townspeople gradually got richer, threw off the power of the feudal lords and organized free city-states. These free Italian cities became very powerful. Their citizens were proud of their conquests. The enormous wealth of the independent Italian cities caused them to flourish. The Italian bourgeoisie looked at the world with different eyes, they firmly believed in themselves, in their own strength. They were alien to the desire for suffering, humility, the rejection of all earthly joys that have been preached to them so far. The respect for the earthly person who enjoys the joys of life grew. People began to take an active attitude to life, eagerly explore the world, admire its beauty. During this period, various sciences are born, art develops.

In Italy, many monuments of the art of Ancient Rome have been preserved, therefore ancient era again began to be revered as a model, ancient art became an object of admiration. Imitation of antiquity and gave reason to call this period in art - rebirth which means in French "Renaissance". Of course, this was not a blind, exact repetition of ancient art, it was already new art, but based on ancient models. The Italian Renaissance is divided into 3 stages: VIII - XIV centuries - Pre-Renaissance (Proto-Renaissance or Trecento- with it.); XV century - early Renaissance (Quattrocento); late 15th - early 16th century - high renaissance.

Archaeological excavations were carried out throughout Italy, looking for ancient monuments. The newly discovered statues, coins, utensils, weapons were carefully preserved and collected in museums specially created for this purpose. Artists studied on these samples of antiquity, drew them from life.

Trecento (Pre-Renaissance)

The true beginning of the Renaissance is associated with the name Giotto di Bondone (1266? - 1337). He is considered the founder of Renaissance painting. The Florentine Giotto has made great contributions to the history of art. He was a renewer, the ancestor of all European painting after the Middle Ages. Giotto breathed life into gospel scenes, created images real people, spiritualized, but earthly.

Giotto for the first time creates volumes with the help of chiaroscuro. He likes clean, light colors in cold shades: pinks, pearl grays, pale purples and light lilacs. The people in the frescoes of Giotto are stocky, with a heavy tread. They have large facial features, wide cheekbones, narrow eyes. His man is kind, considerate, serious.

Of the works of Giotto, the frescoes in the temples of Padua are best preserved. Gospel stories he presented here as existing, earthly, real. In these works, he tells about the problems that concern people at all times: about kindness and mutual understanding, deceit and betrayal, about depth, sorrow, meekness, humility and eternal all-consuming maternal love.

Instead of disparate individual figures, as in medieval painting, Giotto managed to create a coherent story, a whole narrative about the complex inner life of the characters. Instead of a conventional golden background Byzantine mosaics, Giotto introduces a landscape background. And if in Byzantine painting the figures, as it were, hovered, hung in space, then the heroes of Giotto's frescoes found solid ground under their feet. Giotto's search for the transfer of space, the plasticity of figures, the expressiveness of movement made his art a whole stage in the Renaissance.

One of famous masters pre-revival -

Simone Martini (1284 - 1344).

In his painting, the features of northern Gothic were preserved: Martini's figures are elongated, and, as a rule, on a golden background. But Martini creates images with the help of chiaroscuro, gives them a natural movement, tries to convey a certain psychological state.

Quattrocento (early Renaissance)

Antiquity played a huge role in the formation of the secular culture of the early Renaissance. The Platonic Academy opens in Florence, the Laurentian library contains the richest collection of ancient manuscripts. The first art museums appear, filled with statues, fragments of ancient architecture, marbles, coins, and ceramics. In the Renaissance, the main centers of the artistic life of Italy stood out - Florence, Rome, Venice.

One of the largest centers, the birthplace of a new, realistic art was Florence. In the 15th century, many famous masters of the Renaissance lived, studied and worked there.

Early Renaissance architecture

The inhabitants of Florence had a high artistic culture, they actively participated in the creation of city monuments, discussed options for the construction of beautiful buildings. Architects abandoned everything that resembled Gothic. Under the influence of antiquity, buildings crowned with a dome began to be considered the most perfect. The model here was the Roman Pantheon.

Florence is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a city-museum. It has preserved its architecture from antiquity almost intact, its most beautiful buildings were mostly built during the Renaissance. Above the red brick roofs of the ancient buildings of Florence rises the huge building of the city's cathedral Santa Maria del Fiore, which is often referred to simply as Florence Cathedral. Its height reaches 107 meters. A magnificent dome, the harmony of which is emphasized by white stone ribs, crowns the cathedral. The dome is striking in size (its diameter is 43 m), it crowns the entire panorama of the city. The cathedral is visible from almost every street in Florence, clearly looming against the sky. This magnificent structure was built by the architect

Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446).

The most magnificent and famous domed building of the Renaissance was St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was built over 100 years. The creators of the original project were architects Bramante and Michelangelo.

Renaissance buildings are decorated with columns, pilasters, lion heads and "putti"(naked babies), plaster wreaths of flowers and fruits, leaves and many details, samples of which were found in the ruins of ancient Roman buildings. Back in fashion semicircular arch. Wealthy people began to build more beautiful and more comfortable houses. Instead of closely pressed to each other houses appeared luxurious palaces - palazzo.

Sculpture of the early Renaissance

In the 15th century, two famous sculptors worked in Florence - Donatello and Verrocchio.Donatello (1386? - 1466)- one of the first sculptors in Italy, who used the experience of ancient art. He created one of the finest works of the early Renaissance - the statue of David.

According to the biblical legend, a simple shepherd, the young man David defeated the giant Goliath, and thereby saved the inhabitants of Judea from enslavement and later became king. David was one of the favorite images of the Renaissance. He is depicted by the sculptor not as a humble saint from the Bible, but as a young hero, winner, defender of his native city. In his sculpture, Donatello sings of man as the ideal of a beautiful heroic personality that arose in the Renaissance. David is crowned with the laurel wreath of the winner. Donatello was not afraid to introduce such a detail as a shepherd's hat - a sign of his simple origin. In the Middle Ages, the church forbade depicting a naked body, considering it a vessel of evil. Donatello was the first master who bravely violated this prohibition. He asserts by this that the human body is beautiful. The statue of David is the first round sculpture in that era.

Another beautiful sculpture by Donatello is also known - a statue of a warrior , commander of Gattamelata. It was the first equestrian monument of the Renaissance. Created 500 years ago, this monument still stands on a high pedestal, decorating the square in the city of Padua. For the first time, not a god, not a saint, not a noble and rich man was immortalized in sculpture, but a noble, brave and formidable warrior with a great soul, who deserved fame for great deeds. Dressed in antique armor, Gattemelata (this is his nickname, meaning "spotted cat") sits on a mighty horse in a calm, majestic pose. The features of the warrior's face emphasize a decisive, firm character.

Andrea Verrocchio (1436 -1488)

The most famous student of Donatello, who created the famous equestrian monument to the condottiere Colleoni, which was placed in Venice on the square near the church of San Giovanni. The main thing that strikes in the monument is the joint energetic movement of the horse and rider. The horse, as it were, rushes beyond the marble pedestal on which the monument is erected. Colleoni, standing up in the stirrups, stretched out, raising his head high, peers into the distance. A grimace of anger and tension froze on his face. In his posture, one feels a huge will, his face resembles a bird of prey. The image is filled with indestructible strength, energy, harsh authority.

Early Renaissance painting

The Renaissance also updated the art of painting. Painters have learned to correctly convey space, light and shadow, natural poses, various human feelings. It was the early Renaissance that was the time of accumulation of this knowledge and skills. The paintings of that time are imbued with light and high spirits. The background is often painted in light colors, while buildings and natural motifs are outlined with sharp lines, pure colors predominate. With naive diligence, all the details of the event are depicted, the characters are most often lined up and separated from the background by clear contours.

The painting of the early Renaissance only strived for perfection, however, thanks to its sincerity, it touches the soul of the viewer.

Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai Guidi, Known by the name Masaccio (1401 - 1428)

He is considered a follower of Giotto and the first master of painting of the early Renaissance. Masaccio lived only 28 years, but for his such short life left a mark in art, which is difficult to overestimate. He managed to complete the revolutionary transformations in painting begun by Giotto. His painting is distinguished by a dark and deep color. The people in the frescoes of Masaccio are much denser and more powerful than in the paintings of the Gothic era.

Masaccio was the first to correctly arrange objects in space, taking into account perspective; he began to depict people according to the laws of anatomy.

He knew how to link figures and landscape into a single action, to convey the life of nature and people in a dramatic and at the same time quite natural way - and this is the great merit of the painter.

This is one of the few easel easel works commissioned by Masaccio in 1426 for the chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa.

The Madonna sits on a throne built strictly according to the laws of Giotto's perspective. Her figure is written with confident and clear strokes, which creates the impression of a sculptural volume. Her face is calm and sad, her detached gaze is directed nowhere. Wrapped in a dark blue cloak, the Virgin Mary holds the Infant in her arms, whose golden figure stands out sharply against a dark background. The deep folds of the cloak allow the artist to play with chiaroscuro, which also creates a special visual effect. The baby eats black grapes - a symbol of communion. Impeccably drawn angels (the artist knew the human anatomy perfectly) surrounding the Madonna give the picture an additional emotional sound.

The only sash painted by Masaccio for a double-sided triptych. After the early death of the painter, the rest of the work, commissioned by Pope Martin V for the church of Santa Maria in Rome, was completed by the artist Masolino. It depicts two strict, monumentally executed figures of saints dressed in all red. Jerome holds an open book and a model of the basilica, a lion lies at his feet. John the Baptist is depicted in his usual form: he is barefoot and holds a cross in his hand. Both figures impress with anatomical precision and an almost sculptural sense of volume.

Interest in a person, admiration for his beauty were so great in the Renaissance that this led to the emergence of a new genre in painting - the portrait genre.

Pinturicchio (variant of Pinturicchio) (1454 - 1513) (Bernardino di Betto di Biagio)

A native of Perugia in Italy. For some time he painted miniatures, helped Pietro Perugino decorate the Sistine Chapel in Rome with frescoes. Gained experience in the most complex form of decorative and monumental wall painting. A few years later, Pinturicchio became an independent muralist. He worked on frescoes in the Borgia apartments in the Vatican. He made wall paintings in the library of the cathedral in Siena.

The artist not only conveys a portrait resemblance, but seeks to reveal the inner state of a person. Before us is a teenage boy, dressed in a strict pink town dress, with a small blue cap on his head. Brown hair falls to the shoulders, framing a delicate face, the attentive look of brown eyes is thoughtful, a little anxious. Behind the boy is an Umbrian landscape with thin trees, a silvery river, a sky turning pink on the horizon. The spring tenderness of nature, as an echo of the character of the hero, is in harmony with the poetry and charm of the hero.

The image of the boy is given in the foreground, large and occupies almost the entire plane of the picture, and the landscape is painted in the background and very small. This creates the impression of the significance of man, his dominance over the surrounding nature, asserts that man is the most beautiful creation on earth.

Here is presented the solemn departure of Cardinal Kapranik to the Basel Cathedral, which lasted almost 18 years, from 1431 to 1449, first in Basel, and then in Lausanne. The young Piccolomini was also in the retinue of the cardinal. In an elegant frame of a semicircular arch, a group of horsemen is presented, accompanied by pages and servants. The event is not so real and reliable, but chivalrously refined, almost fantastic. In the foreground, a beautiful rider on a white horse, in a luxurious dress and hat, turning his head, looks at the viewer - this is Aeneas Silvio. With pleasure the artist writes rich clothes, beautiful horses in velvet blankets. The elongated proportions of the figures, slightly mannered movements, slight tilts of the head are close to the court ideal. The life of Pope Pius II was full of bright events, and Pinturicchio spoke about the meetings of the Pope with the King of Scotland, with Emperor Frederick III.

Filippo Lippi (1406 - 1469)

There were legends about Lippi's life. He himself was a monk, but left the monastery, became a wandering artist, abducted a nun from the monastery and died poisoned by the relatives of a young woman with whom he fell in love at an advanced age.

He painted images of the Madonna and Child, filled with living human feelings and experiences. In his paintings, he depicted many details: household items, environment, so his religious subjects were similar to secular paintings.

Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 - 1494)

He painted not only religious subjects, but also scenes from the life of the Florentine nobility, their wealth and luxury, portraits of noble people.

Before us is the wife of a wealthy Florentine, a friend of the artist. In this not very beautiful, luxuriously dressed young woman, the artist expressed calmness, a moment of stillness and silence. The expression on the woman's face is cold, indifferent to everything, it seems that she foresees her imminent death: soon after painting the portrait, she will die. The woman is depicted in profile, which is typical for many portraits of that time.

Piero della Francesca (1415/1416 - 1492)

One of the most significant names in Italian painting of the 15th century. He completed numerous transformations in the methods of constructing the perspective of a picturesque space.

The picture is painted on a poplar board with egg tempera - obviously, by this time the artist had not yet mastered the secrets oil painting, in the technique of which his later works will be written.

The artist captured the manifestation of the mystery of the Holy Trinity at the time of the Baptism of Christ. The white dove, spreading its wings over the head of Christ, symbolizes the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Savior. The figures of Christ, John the Baptist and the angels standing next to them are painted in restrained colors.
His frescoes are solemn, sublime and majestic. Francesca believed in the high destiny of man and in his works people always do wonderful things. He used subtle, gentle transitions of colors. Francesca was the first to paint en plein air (in the air).

Urban planning and the city as an object of special study attracted the interest of many leading architects. Less significant is considered to be the contribution of Italy to the field of practical urban planning. By the beginning of the XV century. the city-communes of Central and Northern Italy were already long-established architectural organisms. In addition, the republics and tyrannies of the 15th and 16th centuries. (excluding the largest ones - like Florence, Milan, Venice and, of course, papal Rome) did not have sufficient funds to create new large ensembles, especially since all attention continued to be paid to the construction or completion of cathedrals, as the main religious center of the city. Few integral urban developments, such as the center of Pienza, combine new trends with medieval building traditions.

Nevertheless, the generally accepted point of view somewhat underestimates the changes that took place in the XV-XVI centuries. in Italian cities. Along with attempts to theoretically comprehend what has already been practically done in the field of urban planning, one can also note attempts to put into practice the existing theoretical urban planning ideas. Thus, for example, a new district was built in Ferrara with a regular street network; an attempt to simultaneously create an integral urban organism was made in the cities of Bari, Terra del Sole, Castro, and also in some others.

If in the Middle Ages the architectural appearance of the city was formed in the process of creativity and construction activities of the entire population of the city, then in the Renaissance, urban construction more and more reflected the aspirations of individual customers and architects.

With the growing influence of the richest families, their personal requirements and tastes increasingly affected the architectural appearance of the city as a whole. Of great importance in the construction of palaces, villas, churches, tombs, loggias was the desire to either perpetuate and glorify oneself, or competition in wealth and splendor with neighbors (Gonzaga - d'Este, d'Este - Sforza, etc.) and the invariable desire live luxuriously. Along with this, customers showed a certain concern for the improvement of the city, allocating funds for the reconstruction of its ensembles, for the construction of public buildings, fountains, etc.

A significant part of the palace and temple construction fell during the years of the economic crisis associated with the loss of the eastern markets and was carried out at the expense of the wealth already collected, which appeared during the period of the decline of the craft and trade in unproductive capital. The most famous and famous architects, artists, sculptors were involved in the construction, who received large funds for the implementation of the work entrusted to them and could, by satisfying the personal requirements of customers, show their creative individuality to a greater extent.

That is why the Italian cities of the Renaissance are rich in original, dissimilar architectural ensembles. However, being works of the same era with well-established aesthetic views, these ensembles were based on general principles compositions.

The new requirements for the volumetric and spatial organization of the city and its elements rested on a meaningful, critical perception of medieval traditions, on the study of monuments and compositions of antiquity. The main criteria were the clarity of spatial organization, the logical combination of the main and the secondary, the proportional unity of structures and spaces surrounding them, the interconnection of individual spaces, and all this on a scale commensurate with a person. new culture of the Renaissance, at first slightly, and then more and more actively penetrated into urban planning. The medieval city, which was the basis of the cities of the Renaissance, could not be significantly modified, therefore, only reconstruction work was carried out on its territory, separate public and private buildings were built, which sometimes required some planning work; the growth of the city, which slowed down somewhat in the 16th century, usually came at the expense of expanding its territory.

The Renaissance did not introduce obvious changes in the planning of cities, but significantly changed their volumetric and spatial appearance, solving a number of urban planning problems in a new way.

Fig.1. Ferrara. Schematic plan of the city: 1 - Castle d'Este; 2 - Ariosto Square; 3 - Carthusian monastery; 4 - Church of Santa Maria Nuova degli Aldigieri; 5 - Church of San Giuliano; c - Church of San Benedetto; 7 - Church of San Francesco; 8 - Palazzo dei Diamanti; 9 - cathedral

Fig.2. Verona. Schematic plan of the city: 1 - Church of San Zeno; 2 - Church of San Bernardino; 3 - area of ​​hospitals and Fort San Spirito; 4 - Gran Guardia Vecchia; 5 - Castello Vecchio; 6 - Palazzo Malfatti; 7 - area delle Erbe; 8 - Piazza dei Signori; 9 - Santa Anastasia Square; 10 - cathedral; 11 - bishop's palace; 12 - antique amphitheater; 13 - the palace of Pompeii; 14 - Palazzo Bevilacqua

One of the first examples of a new layout at the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. Ferrara can serve (Fig. 1). Its northern part was built up according to the project of Biagio Rossetti (mentioned 1465-1516). The main lines of the new street network connected the entrance gates of the fortifications he built. The intersections of the streets were punctuated by palaces (Palazzo dei Diamanti, etc.) and churches erected by the same architect or under his direct supervision. The medieval center with the castle d'Este surrounded by a moat, the Palazzo del Comune and other buildings of the 12th-15th centuries, as well as the adjacent trade and craft part of the city, remained untouched. The new part of the city, built up at the direction of d'Este with houses of a certain number of storeys, received a more secular, aristocratic character, and its straight wide streets with Renaissance palaces and churches gave Ferrara a different look from the medieval city. No wonder Burckhardt wrote that Ferrara is the first modern city in Europe.

But even without the planning of new areas, the builders of the Renaissance with the greatest art used all the elements of improvement and small architectural forms of the city, from canals to arcades, fountains and paving ( A characteristic example, dating back to the 15th century, is a well in the cathedral square in Pienza; in the 16th century the role of the fountain in ensembles becomes more complicated (for example, the fountains installed by Vignola in Rome, Viterbo and in the villas located in their vicinity ) - for the general improvement and aesthetic enrichment of the architectural appearance of even tiny towns or individual ensembles. In a number of cities, such as Milan, Rome, the streets were straightened and widened.

Canals were built not only for irrigating fields, but also in cities (for defense, transport, water supply, flood protection, for production - washing wool, etc.), where they constituted a well-planned system (Milan), often including dams and locks, and associated with urban defensive structures (Verona, Mantua, Bologna, Livorno, etc., Fig. 2, 3, 5, 21).

Street arcades, which were also found in the Middle Ages, sometimes stretched along entire streets (Bologna, Fig. 4) or along the sides of the square (Florence, Vigevano, Fig. 7).

The Renaissance has left us wonderful urban complexes and ensembles, which can be divided into two main groups: ensembles that have developed historically (they belong mainly to the 15th century), and ensembles created at a time or over a number of construction periods, but according to the plan of one architect , sometimes completely completed in the Renaissance (mostly in the 16th century).

A remarkable example of ensembles of the first group is the ensemble of Piazza San Marco and Piazzetta in Venice.

In the first half of the XV century. parts of the Doge's Palazzo were built, overlooking both the Piazzetta and the Canal San Marco. By the beginning of the same century, the marble paving of Piazza San Marco dates back, which later combined it with the Piazzetta. At the beginning of the XVI century. the reconstruction work of the city's central square attracted the most prominent architects: Bartolomeo Bon increased the height of the campanile from 60 to 100 m and crowned it with a tent covering; Pietro Lombardo and others are building the Old Procurations and the clock tower; in 1529, the stalls are removed from the Piazzetta, which opens up a view of the lagoon and the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore. The Piazzetta plays an important role as a spatial transition from the vastness of the lagoon to the central square, emphasizing its size and compositional significance in the structure of the city. Then Sansovino expands the square to the south, placing the building of the Library he built on the Piazzetta, 10 meters from the campanile, and builds at the foot of the Loggetta tower. By the end of the XVI century. Scamozzi erects New Procurations. However, the western side of the square was completed only at the beginning of the 19th century.

The development of Piazza San Marco on the shores of the lagoon at the mouth of the Grand Canal is due both functionally - the convenience of delivering goods to the site of the main Venetian fairs and the disembarkation of guests of honor in front of the palace and the cathedral - and artistically: the main, front square of the city solemnly opens to those approaching from the sea and is as if the reception hall of the city; Like the ensemble of squares of ancient Miletus, the Piazza San Marco showed the arrivals how rich and beautiful the capital of the Venetian Republic was.

A new attitude to the construction as part of the whole, the ability to connect buildings with the surrounding space and find a contrasting, mutually beneficial combination of diverse structures led to the creation of one of the best ensembles not only of the Renaissance, but also of world architecture.

The high architectural culture of Venice also manifested itself in the gradually emerging ensembles of Piazza Santi Giovanni e Paolo (with the Colleoni monument by Verrocchio) and shopping center cities.

Piazza della Signoria in Florence, as well as the complex of central squares in Bologna, where interesting town-planning traditions had developed by that time, can serve as an example of the consistent development of the ensemble.

Fig.5. Bologna. Schematic plan of the city: 1 - Malpighi area; 2 - Ravenyan Square; 3 - Piazza Maggiore; 4 - area of ​​Neptune; 5 - Arcijinnacio Square; 6 - Church of San Petronio; 7 - Palazzo Publico; 8 - Palazzo Legata; 9 - Palazzo del Podesta; 10 - portico dei Banki; 11 - Palazzo dei Notai; 12 - Palazzo Arciginnasio; 13 - Palazzo del Re Enzo; 14 - Mercantia; 15 - Isolani palaces; 16 - Church of San Giacomo; 17 - casa Grassi; 18- Palazzo Fava; 19 - Palazzo Armorini; 20-Collegio di Spagna; 21 - Palazzo Bevilacqua; 22 - Palazzo Tanari

The layout of Bologna has preserved the imprints of its centuries-old history (Fig. 5). The city center dates back to the time of the Roman military camp. The radially diverging streets of the eastern and western regions grew in the Middle Ages, connecting the ancient gates (not preserved) with the gates of the new (XIV century) fortifications.

The early development of guild production of fine dark red bricks and terracotta building details, and the spread of arcades along the sides of many streets (they were built before the 15th century), gave the city buildings a noticeable commonality. These features also developed in the Renaissance, when the City Council paid great attention to construction (see the model projects of houses for the suburbs developed by decision of the Council, with primitive porticos that were supposed to fold into street arcades - Fig. 6).

Piazza Maggiore, located in the heart of the old city, with the huge castle-like Palazzo Publico overlooking it, uniting a number of public buildings of the medieval commune, and the cathedral - during the 15th and 16th centuries. received an organic connection with the main street through Neptune Square (the fountain that gave it its name was built by G. da Bologna in the 16th century) and significantly changed its appearance in the spirit of the new style: in the 15th century. Fioravante worked here, rebuilt the Palazzo del Podesta, and in the 16th century. - Vignola, uniting the buildings on the eastern side of the square with a common facade with a monumental arcade (portico dei Banki).

The second group of ensembles, completely subordinate to a single compositional design, includes mainly architectural complexes of the 16th and subsequent centuries.

Piazza Santissima Annunziata in Florence, despite the uniform nature of its development, is an example of an ensemble of an intermediate type, since it was not conceived by one master. However, the simple, light and at the same time monumental arcade of the Brunellesco Orphanage (1419-1444) determined the appearance of the square; a similar arcade was repeated on the west side in front of the monastery of Servi di Maria (Sangallo the Elder and Baccio d'Agnolo, 1517-1525). The later portico in front of the Church of Santissima Annunziata (Giovanni Caccini, 1599-1601) above the two lateral ones and together with the equestrian monument of Ferdinand I (G. da Bologna, 1608) and fountains (1629) testifies to a new trend in building ensembles: emphasize the role of the church and identify the dominant compositional axis.

With the accumulation of wealth, the most influential representatives of the young bourgeoisie sought to earn the recognition of their fellow citizens by decorating their hometown, and at the same time express their power through architecture, building magnificent palaces for themselves, but also donating money for the reconstruction and even complete rebuilding of their parish church, and then building other buildings in the parish. So, for example, peculiar groups of buildings arose around the palaces of the Medici and Rucellai in Florence; the first included, in addition to the palace, the church of San Lorenzo with a chapel - the tomb of the Medici and the Laurenzian library, the second consisted of the Rucellai palace with a loggia opposite it and the Rucellai chapel in the church of San Pancrazio.

From the erection of a group of buildings of this kind, there was only one step left to the creation, at the expense of the "father of the city", of a whole ensemble decorating the native city.

An example of such a reconstruction is the Fabriano Center, where Pope Nicholas V moved with his entourage during the plague in Rome. Fabriano's reconstruction was entrusted in 1451 to Bernardo Rosselino. Without changing the configuration of the central square, which still remained closed in medieval times, Rosselino is trying to streamline its development somewhat, enclosing the sides with porticos. The framing of the square with galleries, focusing the attention of the audience on the stern Palazzo Podestà crowned with battlements, indicates that this ancient civil building remains the main one on it, despite the arrival of the pope in the city. The reconstruction of the Fabriano Center is one of the first urban planning attempts of the Renaissance to organize the space of the square according to the principle of regularity.

Another example of a one-time reconstruction of the central square and the whole city is Pienza, where only a part of the work envisaged by the same Bernardo Rosselino was carried out.

Pienza Square, with a clear division of the buildings located there, into main and secondary ones, with a regular outline and a deliberate expansion of the territory of the square towards the cathedral to create free space around it, with patterned paving separating the actual trapezoidal square from the street running along it, with carefully thoughtful color scheme of all the buildings framing the square, is one of the most characteristic and widely known ensembles of the 15th century.

An interesting example is the regular building of the square in Vigevano (1493-1494). The square on which the cathedral stands and the main entrance to the Sforza Castle was located was surrounded by a continuous arcade, over which stretched a single facade, decorated with paintings and colored terracotta (Fig. 7).

The further development of the ensembles went in the direction of increasing their isolation from the public life of the city, since each of them was subordinated to a particular task and solved with a pronounced individuality, separating it from the environment. 16th century squares were no longer public squares of the commune cities of the early Renaissance, intended for parade processions and holidays. Despite the complexity of the spatial compositions, the far-open perspectives, they primarily played the role of an open vestibule in front of the main building. As in the Middle Ages, although with a different spatial organization and compositional methods of construction, the square was again subordinated to the building - the leading building of the ensemble.

Among the first ensembles of the 16th century, in which the compositional techniques outlined earlier were consciously applied in single concept, include the Belvedere complex in the papal Vatican, then the square in front of the Farnese Palace in Rome (the ensemble's plan included an unrealized bridge over the Tiber), the Roman Capitol and the complex of the expanded Pitti Palace with the Boboli Gardens in Florence.

The rectangular Piazza Farnese, completed in the middle of the 16th century, as well as the palace, begun by Antonio de Sangallo the Younger and completed by Michelangelo, are entirely subordinate to the principle of axial construction, which has not yet been completed in the Santissima Annunziata ensemble.

Three short parallel streets from Campo di Fiori lead to Piazza Farnese, the middle of which is wider than the side ones, which, as it were, predetermines the symmetry of the ensemble. The portal of the Farnese Palace coincides with the axis of the garden portal and the center of the rear loggia. The composition of the ensemble was completed by the setting of two fountains (Vignola took bronze baths from the baths of Caracalla for them), placed symmetrically to the main entrance and somewhat shifted to the eastern side of the square. Such an arrangement of fountains, as it were, frees up space in front of the palace, turning the town square into a kind of atrium in front of the residence of a powerful family (cf. the central square in Vigevano).

One of the most remarkable examples of an architectural ensemble not only of the 16th century. in Italy, but also in all world architecture, is the Capitol Square in Rome, created according to the plan of Michelangelo and expressing the socio-historical significance of this place (Fig. 9).

The central location of the Palace of the Senators with its tower and double staircase, the trapezoidal shape of the square and the ramp leading to it, the symmetry of the side palaces, finally, the paving pattern of the square and the central location of the equestrian sculpture - all this strengthened the significance of the main building and the dominant axis of the ensemble, emphasized the importance and the self-sufficient position of this square in the city, from which a wide view of Rome spread out at the foot of the hill opened. The disclosure of one side of the square, its clearly expressed orientation towards the city, while simultaneously subordinating the space of the square to the main building - this is a new feature introduced by Michelangelo into the architecture of urban ensembles.

The works that significantly modified Rome, resurrecting it from the ruins of the Middle Ages, had a significant impact on the architecture of Italy and all of Europe. The ensembles of the Renaissance, scattered throughout the territory of the ancient capital, were much later covered by the city and included as its elements in a single system, but they were the backbone that determined the further architectural and spatial organization of Rome as a whole.

The ruins of the ancient city predetermined the scale and monumentality of the laid streets and buildings of the leading ensembles. The architects studied and mastered the principles of regular antique town-planning compositions. New ways in urban planning were based on a conscious search for better, more convenient and rational layouts, on reasonable reconstructions of old buildings, on a thoughtful synthesis of fine arts and architecture (Fig. 9, 10).

The outstanding architects of the Renaissance - Brunellesco, Alberti, Rosselino, Leonardo da Vinci, Bramante, Michelangelo - conceived a series of grandiose transformations of cities. Here are some of those projects.

In 1445, by the anniversary of 1450, significant work was scheduled in Rome to reconstruct the Borgo area. The authors of the project (Rosselino and, possibly, Alberti) apparently provided for defense facilities and the improvement of the city, the reconstruction of the Borgo quarters and a number of churches. But the project demanded a lot of money and remained unfulfilled.

Leonardo da Vinci witnessed the misfortune that befell Milan - the plague of 1484-1485, which killed more than 50 thousand inhabitants. The spread of the disease was facilitated by overcrowding, overcrowding and unsanitary conditions of the city. The architect proposed a new layout of Milan within the expandable city walls, where only important citizens were to remain, obliged to rebuild their possessions. At the same time, according to Leonardo, twenty smaller cities with 30,000 inhabitants and 5,000 houses each should have been founded near Milan. Leonardo considered it necessary: ​​"To separate this huge crowd of people who, like sheep in a herd, spread a bad smell and are fertile ground for epidemics and death." Leonardo's sketches included roads on two levels, viaducts on the approaches from the countryside, an extensive network of canals that ensured a constant supply of fresh water to cities, and much more (Fig. 11).

In the same years, Leonardo da Vinci worked on a plan for the reconstruction, or rather, the radical restructuring of Florence, enclosing it in a regular decahedron of walls and laying along its diameter, using a river, a grandiose canal, equal in width to the Arno (Fig. 12). The design of this canal, which included a number of dams and smaller diversion channels that served to flush all the streets of the city, was clearly utopian in nature. Despite the social (estate) settlement proposed by Leonardo in the city, the architect sought to create healthy and comfortable living conditions for all the inhabitants of Florence.

After a fire that destroyed the market near the Rialto Bridge in Venice in 1514, Fra Giocondo created a project for the reconstruction of this area. The quadrangular island, framed by canals, had a quadrangular shape and was to be built up along the perimeter with two-story shops. In the center was a square with four arched gates on the sides. The centrality of the composition was emphasized by the church of San Matteo placed in the middle.

Fra Giocondo's proposals from the town-planning point of view were interesting and new, but remained unfulfilled.

Michelangelo, defending the freedom of his beloved Florence and wanting, apparently, to preserve the spirit of democracy, so inherent in it earlier, proposed a project for the reconstruction of its center. In all likelihood, the public centers of antiquity, which were the peristyles of the policy, served as the prototype for the new square.

Michelangelo intended to surround the Piazza della Signoria with galleries hiding all the previously built palaces, chambers of commerce, guild and workshop houses and emphasizing the grandeur of the Signoria palace with their uniformity. The gigantic scale of the loggia dei Lanzi, which was supposed to serve as a motif for the arcade of these galleries, and the monumental arched ceilings of the streets overlooking the square, corresponded to the scope of the Roman forums. The dukes of Florence did not need such restructuring, more important was the construction of the Uffizi with transitions from the administration of the duchy - the Palazzo Vecchio - to the personal quarters of the rulers - the Pitti Palace. The project of the great master was also not implemented.

The above examples of projects, as well as the work carried out, indicate that a new idea of ​​the city as a whole was gradually maturing: a whole in which all parts are interconnected. The concept of the city developed in parallel with the emergence of the idea of ​​a centralized state, of autocracy, which could in new historical conditions to carry out reasonable urban redevelopment. In the development of urban planning, the specificity of the Renaissance culture was clearly expressed, where art and science were inextricably soldered together, which predetermined the realism of art. new era. As one of the most important types social activities, urban planning required significant scientific, technical and specific artistic knowledge from the architects of the Renaissance. The redevelopment of cities was largely associated with the changed combat technique, the introduction of firearms and artillery, which forced the rebuilding of the defensive structures of almost all medieval cities. A simple belt of walls, which usually followed the terrain, was replaced by walls with bastions, which determined the star-shaped perimeter of the city walls.

Cities of this type appear starting from the second third of the 16th century, and testify to the successful development of theoretical thought.

The contribution of the masters of the Italian Renaissance to the theory of urban planning is very significant. Despite the unavoidable utopianism in the formulation of these problems under the then conditions, they were nevertheless developed with great courage and completeness in all treatises and theoretical documents of the 15th century, not to mention urban fantasies in fine arts. Such are the treatises of Filarete, Alberti, Francesco di Giorgio Martini and even Polifilo's fantastic novel Hypnerotomachia (published in 1499) with their schemes of an ideal city; such are the numerous notes and drawings of Leonardo da Vinci.

The Renaissance treatises on architecture and urban planning proceeded from the need to satisfy the needs of urban reorganization and rested on the scientific and technical achievements and aesthetic views of their time, as well as on the study of the newly discovered works of ancient thinkers, primarily Vitruvius.

Vitruvius considered the planning and development of cities in terms of amenities, health and beauty, which was consistent with the new views of the Renaissance.

The implemented reconstructions and unrealized projects of urban transformations also stimulated the development of urban planning science. However, the difficulties of fundamental transformations in the already established cities of Italy gave urban theories a utopian character.

Urban theories and projects ideal cities The Renaissance can be divided into two main stages: from 1450 to 1550 (from Alberti to Pietro Cataneo), when the problems of urban planning were considered very broadly and comprehensively, and from 1550 to 1615 (from Bartolomeo Ammanati to Vincenzo Scamozzi), when questions of defense and at the same time aesthetics began to prevail.

Treatises and projects of cities in the first period paid much attention to the selection of areas for the location of cities, the tasks of their general reorganization: the resettlement of residents along professional and social lines, planning, improvement and development. Equally important in this period was the solution of aesthetic problems and the architectural and spatial organization of both the entire city as a whole and its elements. Gradually, by the end of the 15th century, all greater value devoted to issues of general defense and the construction of fortifications.

Reasonable and convincing judgments about the choice of the location of cities were completely inapplicable in practice, for new cities were rarely built, moreover, in places predetermined by economic development or strategy.

The treatises of architects and their projects express the new worldview of the era that gave birth to them, where the main thing is caring for a person, but a chosen, noble and rich person. The class stratification of Renaissance society accordingly gave rise to a science that served the benefit of the propertied class. For the resettlement of the "noble" the best areas of the ideal city were assigned.

The second principle of the organization of the urban area is the professional-group settlement of the rest of the population, which indicates a significant influence of medieval traditions on the judgments of architects of the 15th century. Artisans of related professions had to live in close proximity to each other, and their residence was determined by the "nobility" of their craft or profession. Merchants, money changers, jewelers, usurers could live in the central area near the main square; shipbuilders and cable workers had the right to settle only in the outer quarters of the city, behind the ring street; masons, blacksmiths, saddlers, etc. were to be built near the entrance gates to the city. Artisans, necessary for all segments of the population, such as hairdressers, pharmacists, tailors, had to be evenly settled throughout the city.

The third principle of the organization of the city was the distribution of the territory into residential, industrial, commercial, public complexes. They provided for their reasonable connection with each other, and sometimes a combination, for the most complete service of the city as a whole and the use of its economic and natural data. This is the project of the ideal city of Filarete - "Sforzinda".

The planning of cities, according to the theorists of urban planning, had to be necessarily regular. Sometimes the authors chose a radial-circular (Filarete, F. di Giorgio Martini, Fra Giocondo, Antonio da Sangallo Jr., Francesco de Marchi, Fig. 13), sometimes orthogonal (Martini, Marchi, Fig. 14), and a number of authors proposed projects , combining both systems (Peruzzi, Pietro Cataneo). However, the choice of layout was usually not a purely formal, mechanical event, since most authors determined it primarily by natural conditions: terrain, the presence of water bodies, a river, prevailing winds, etc. (Fig. 15).

Usually, the main public square was located in the center of the city, first with the castle, and later with the town hall and the cathedral in the middle. Trade, religious areas of district significance in radial cities were located at the intersection of radial streets with one of the ring or bypass highways of the city (Fig. 16).

The territory of the city had to be landscaped, according to the architects who created these projects. The overcrowding and unsanitary conditions of medieval cities, the spread of epidemics that destroyed thousands of citizens, made us think about the reorganization of buildings, about basic water supply and cleanliness in the city, about its maximum recovery, at least within the city walls. The authors of theories and projects proposed to defuse the buildings, to straighten the streets, to lay canals along the main ones, recommended to green the streets, squares and embankments in every possible way.

So, in the imaginary “Sforzinda” of Filarete, the streets had to have a slope to the outskirts of the city for rainwater runoff and flushing with water from the reservoir in the city center. Navigation channels were provided along the eight main radial streets and around the squares, which ensured the silence of the central part of the city, where the entry of wheeled vehicles was to be prohibited. The radial streets had to be landscaped, while the main ones (25 m wide) were framed by galleries along the canals.

The urban ideas of Leonardo da Vinci, expressed in his numerous sketches, speak of an exceptionally broad and bold approach to the problems of the city and at the same time point to specific technical solutions to these problems. So, he established the ratio of the height of buildings and the gaps between them for the best insolation and ventilation, developed streets with traffic at different levels (moreover, the upper ones - illuminated by the sun and free from traffic - were intended for the "rich").

Antonio da Sangallo the Younger in his project proposed a perimeter development of quarters with a well-ventilated landscaped inner space. Here, apparently, the ideas of improvement and improvement of the urban territory, expressed by Leonardo da Vinci, were developed.

Sketches of houses in the ideal city of Francesco de Marcha are clearly influenced by previous eras, or rather, retain the character of the building that prevails in the cities of the Renaissance, inherited from the Middle Ages - narrow, multi-story houses with the upper floors moved forward (see Fig. 16).

Along with the indicated functional and utilitarian problems, architects of the 15th and early 16th centuries had a considerable place in the projects of ideal cities. are also occupied by aesthetic questions of the volume-spatial organization of the city. In the treatises, the authors repeatedly return to the fact that the city should be decorated with beautiful streets, squares and individual buildings.

Speaking of houses, streets and squares, Alberti mentioned more than once that they should be both in size and in their own way. appearance agreed with each other. F. di Giorgio Martini wrote that all parts of the city should be organized prudently, that they should be in relation to each other, similar to parts of the human body.

The streets of ideal cities were often framed by arcades with complex arched passages at their intersections, which, in addition to being functional (shelter from rain and the scorching sun), had a clean artistic value. This is evidenced by the proposals of Alberti, the project of an oval city and the central rectangular square of the city by F. de Marchi and others (see Fig. 14).

From the end of the 15th century, the technique of the centric composition of cities (Fra Giocondo) gradually gained more and more importance in the work of architects who worked on the schemes of ideal cities. The idea of ​​the city as a single organism, subject to a common plan, by the 16th century. dominates the theory of urban planning.

An example of such a solution is the ideal city of Peruzzi, surrounded by two walls and built according to a radial scheme, with a peculiarly designed bypass highway in the shape of a square. Defensive towers, located both in the corners and in the center of the composition, enhance the centrality of the location not only of the main building, but of the entire city as a whole.

The picture of the ideal city of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, with its star-shaped walls and radial streets with a common ring-shaped highway, resembles the city of Filarete. However, the round square with a round building in the center is a further development of the ideas of the predecessors of Antonio da Sangallo Jr. and, as it were, continues the idea of ​​a centric composition in relation to the city. This was neither in the radial city of Filaret (the center is a complex of asymmetrically located rectangular squares), nor in the radial and serpentine cities of Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

The last representative of the Renaissance theorists, who comprehensively covered all issues of urban planning, was Pietro Cataneo, a well-known builder of fortifications, who from 1554 began to publish his treatise on architecture in parts. Cataneo lists five basic conditions that, in his opinion, must be considered in the design and construction of the city: climate, fertility, convenience, growth and the best defense. From the point of view of defense, the author of the treatise considers polygonal cities to be the most appropriate, arguing that the shape of the city is a derivative of the size of the territory they occupy (the smaller the city, the simpler its configuration). However, the inner space of the city, regardless of its external configuration, Cataneo composes of rectangular and square residential blocks. The idea of ​​\u200b\u200bautocracy also dominates him: for the ruler of the city, Cataneo provided for the creation of a calm and well-protected castle, both from internal and external enemies.

Since the middle of the XVI century. issues of urban planning and ideal cities were no longer the subject of special works, but were covered in treatises on general issues of architecture. In these treatises, already known methods of planning and volumetric composition vary. In the second half of the XVI century. the purely external side of the design of the project and the drawing of details become almost an end in itself (Buonayuto Lorini, Vasari). Sometimes only individual elements of the city were developed without taking into account its general scheme (Ammanati). The same tendencies are outlined by the middle of the 16th century. and in the practice of urban planning.

Palladio's treatise on architecture (1570) is the last theoretical work of the 15th century, which contains many interesting and profound judgments also about urban planning. Just like Alberti, Palladio did not leave behind a project of an ideal city, and in his treatise he only expresses wishes about how the streets should be planned and built up, what the squares of the city should be like and what impression its individual buildings and ensembles should make.

The last representatives of the Italian urban theorists were Vasari the Younger and Scamozzi.

Giorgio Vasari the Younger, when creating his city project (1598), put aesthetic tasks at the forefront. In its general plan, the principles of regularity and strict symmetry stand out in relief (Fig. 17).

At the beginning of the XVII century. (1615) Vincenzo Scamozzi turned to the design of ideal cities. It can be assumed that when designing the city, unlike Vasari, he proceeded from fortification considerations. The author regulates to some extent both the settlement of the city and its trade and craft organization. However, the layout of Scamozzi is still mechanistic, not organically connected either with the shape of the dodecagonal plan or with the scheme of defensive structures. This is just a beautifully drawn outline of the master plan. The ratio of the sizes of the areas, each separately and in comparison with each other, was not found. The drawing lacks the fine proportioning that Vasari has in his project. The squares of the city of Scamozzi are too large, due to which the whole scheme loses its scale, against which Palladio warned, saying that the square in the city should not be too spacious. It should be noted that in the town of Sabbioneta, in the planning and development of which Scamozzi, on behalf of Gonzago, took an active part, the scale of the streets and squares was chosen very convincingly. Scamozzi adheres to the same method of composition of the central square, which was outlined by Lupicini and Lorini. He does not build it up, but places the main buildings on the territory of the quarters adjacent to the square, so that they face the square with their main facades. Such a technique is typical of the Renaissance and it is legitimized by urban theorists and in the schemes of ideal cities.

During the period of general economic decline and social crisis in the mid-16th century. secondary issues begin to prevail in urban planning theory. A comprehensive consideration of the problems of the city is gradually leaving the field of view of the masters. They solved particular issues: the composition of peripheral areas (Ammanati), new system development of the center (Lupicini, Lorini), careful development of the design of defensive structures and the general plan (Maggi, Lorini, Vasari), etc. Gradually, with the loss of a broad approach to the development of functional and artistic tasks in urban science and practice, professional decline is also brewing, expressed in aesthetic formalism and arbitrariness of some planning decisions.

The theoretical teachings of the Renaissance on urban planning, despite their utopian nature, nevertheless had some influence on the practice of urban planning. It was especially noticeable during the construction of fortifications in small port and border towns-fortresses, which were built in Italy in the 16th and even in the 17th centuries. within an extremely short time frame.

Almost all the most prominent architects of this period took part in the construction of these fortresses: Giuliano and Antonio da Sangallo the Elder, Sanmicheli, Michelangelo and many others. Among the many fortresses erected by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, the city of Castro by Lake Bolsena, built in 1534-1546, should be noted. by order of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese). Sangallo designed and implemented the entire city, highlighting and placing especially the palaces of the pope and his entourage, public buildings with spacious galleries, a church, a mint. For the rest, according to Vasari, he also managed to create sufficient amenities. Castro was destroyed in 1649 and is known mainly from the master's sketches.

The centric composition of ideal cities was not ignored by architects who created large architectural complexes, where the residence of the feudal lord was to dominate. So the town of Caprarola was created by Vignola, in fact - only the approach to the Farnese Palace. Narrow streets, low houses, small churches - as if at the foot of the magnificent castle of Farnese. The crampedness and modesty of the town emphasize the grandeur and monumentality of the palace. This logically simple scheme expresses with the utmost clarity the intention of the author, who managed to show the main and the secondary on the contrasting combination, so common in the architecture of the Renaissance.

Almost simultaneously in Malta, which belonged to the Order of the Knights of Malta since 1530, the Italians built the fortified city of La Valletta, founded in honor of the victory over the Turks (1566). The city was founded on a cape washed by bays deeply cut into the territory of the island and protected by forts framing the entrances to the harbor. From the point of view of defense, the territory of the city was chosen in the highest degree reasonably. The belt of fortifications consisted of powerful walls and high bastions, surrounded by deep moats carved into the rock on which the city rested. In the defensive structures, exits directly to the sea were arranged, and an artificial inner harbor was created in the northeastern part, enclosed in a ring of city walls. The initially conceived rectangular plan was not fully implemented, since the city had a rocky foundation, which made it difficult to trace the streets and build the houses themselves (Fig. 18).

From the northeast to the southwest, the city was cut through by the main longitudinal street running from the main mainland gate to the square in front of the citadel of Valletta. Parallel to this main highway, three more longitudinal streets were symmetrically laid on both sides, intersected by transverse streets located perpendicular to the main ones; they were not passable, as they were stairs carved into the rock. The layout of the streets was made in such a way that from the longitudinal highways it was possible to observe from each intersection along four streets intersecting at right angles the appearance of the enemy, that is, one of the basic principles underlying the design of ideal cities was fully observed here, in particular expressed by Alberti.

The geometric rigidity of the plan was softened by the complex form of defensive structures and the placement of a number of small blocks, the size of which depended on the free space in the peripheral areas of the city, due to the complexity of the coastal relief and the location of the city walls. Valletta was almost simultaneously built up with very similar residential buildings of equal height, with a small number of windows in the form of loopholes. The building went along the perimeter of the quarters, and the rest of the territory of the residential blocks was landscaped. Corner houses necessarily had residential towers, equipped with defensive platforms, where a supply of stones and other means of protection against the enemy breaking into the city was stored.

In fact, Valletta was one of the first, almost completely realized ideal cities of the Renaissance. Its general appearance indicates that the specific natural conditions, the objectives of a specific strategy, convenient communication with harbors, and many other conditions directly dictated by life, made it necessary to build a city not in the form of an abstract scheme with a bizarre pattern of squares and crossroads, but in the form of a rational, economical scheme, significantly adjusted by the requirements of reality in the process of construction.

In 1564 Bernardo Buontalenti built on the northern border of the Romagna (near Forlì) the fortified city of Terra del Sole, an example of the realization of an ideal Renaissance city with a regular plan. The outlines of fortifications, the plan of the city itself, the location of the center are close to the drawings of Cataneo (Fig. 19).

Bernardo Buontalenti was one of the most prominent urban planners and fortifiers of his time, who managed to comprehensively solve the problem of building a fortified city. His comprehensive view of the city as a single organism is also confirmed by his work in Livorno.

The star-shaped form of the fortress, the bypass channels, the orthogonal layout, the axial construction of the main square, framed by galleries and being the threshold of the cathedral - all this indicates that Livorno is the realization of the ideal city of the Renaissance. Only the presence of a winding line of the coast and the device of the port somewhat violate the geometric correctness of the ideal scheme (Fig. 20, 21).

Fig.22. Left - Palma Nuova, 1595; right - Grammikele (aerial photography)

One of the last ideal cities of the Renaissance realized in nature is the northeastern Venetian fortified city of Palma Nuova. The author of the project is unknown (presumably Lorini or Scamozzi). According to Merian, a 17th-century German geographer, Palma Nuova was founded by the Venetians in 1593 and completed in 1595.

The general plan of the city, surrounded by powerful defensive structures, is a radial diagram of the ideal cities of the Renaissance (Fig. 22) and, according to the drawing, is closest to the Lorini project of 1592.

The plan of Palma Nuova is a nine-corner with eighteen radial streets leading to a ring road located very close to the center; six of them face the main hexagonal square. The skill of the author of the project is evident in the placement of streets, thanks to which the combination of the hexagon of the outer perimeter of the walls and the hexagon of the central square of the city seems completely organic.

Twelve squares were designed in front of each bastion and entrance gate, and at the intersection of the third ring highway with radial streets not leading to the central square, six additional intra-district squares were created.

If the tracing of the streets of Palma Nuova was carried out almost exactly according to the project, then the defensive structures were erected much more powerful than envisaged. The development of the city is not quite regular and very diverse, but this does not violate the internal order inherent in Palma Nuova.

The centricity of the composition is emphasized by the simplest means: the hexagonal square is lined with greenery and had a flagpole in the center instead of the unbuilt main building, on which the axes of all the radial streets facing the square were oriented.

Under the influence of urban planning theories of the Renaissance, the layout of Grammikele in Sicily was created, laid in the form of a hexagon in 1693 (Fig. 22).

In general, the history of Italian urban planning of the 15th-16th centuries, which left us a number of architectural ensembles of world significance and many smaller complexes and urban centers full of unique charm, still presents a rather mixed picture.

Until the second half of the 15th century, while the cities still enjoyed some independence, the traditions of the Middle Ages were strong in urban planning, although the architects tried to give the existing cities a new, usually more regular look.

From the middle of the XV century. Along with the public customer in the person of the city, the individual customer, who has the means, power, individual taste and requirements, is becoming increasingly important. The executor was no longer a workshop, but an architect. Even more than the customer, he had his own individuality, a peculiar talent, a certain creative credo and significant powers from the customer. Therefore, despite greater economic, social and cultural unity than in the Middle Ages, the cities of Italy of that period are very individual and dissimilar.

From the second quarter of the 16th century. With the development of centralized states, with the streamlining of the idea of ​​autocracy, the requirements for the city as an integral organism are more and more clearly outlined.

All this time, in parallel with the practical activities of architects who built only on the orders of seniors, the science of urban planning was developing, expressed, as a rule, in treatises on ideal cities, their fortifications, on the beauty of their composition, and on many other related issues. However, these ideas were not always translated into reality, so urban planning practically developed in two directions: the construction of a number of large ensembles in existing cities and the construction of fortress cities in the most vulnerable territories of individual states and duchies of Italy.

From the very beginning of the Renaissance, each element of the city and the ensemble was thought out in a complex way, not only from the functional, but also from the artistic side.

Simplicity and clarity of spatial organization - rectangular squares, often of multiple ratios, framed by galleries (Carpi, Vigevano, Florence - Piazza Santissima Annunziata); logical selection of the main thing, when, without losing their individuality, all the buildings of the ensemble formed into an integral composition (Pienza, Bologna, Venice); proportional and large-scale uniformity of structures and spaces surrounding them, emphasizing the significance of a particular structure (staging the cathedral in Pienza, a trapezoidal square in front of the cathedral in Venice); division and combination of individual spaces, interconnected and subordinate to each other (the central squares of Bologna, Piazza della Signoria in Florence, Piazzetta, Piazza San Marco in Venice); the widespread use of fountains, sculpture and small forms (columns on the Piazzetta, masts in front of the cathedral and the monument to Colleoni in Venice, the monument to Gattamelate in Padua, the fountain of Neptune in Bologna, the monument of Marcus Aurelius on the Capitol in Rome) - these are the main methods of composition of the architectural ensemble, widely used during the Renaissance in Italy. And, although life did not allow a radical breakdown and restructuring of existing cities, the central ensembles of many of them received a new, truly Renaissance look.

Gradually, the masters of the Renaissance began to strive for uniformity in the development of entire complexes (Florence, Vigevano, Carpi, Venice, Rome) and went further, complicating the architectural and spatial composition and solving the complex problems of including new representative ensembles in the building of the city (Capitol, St. Peter's Cathedral ).

In the second half of the XVI century. a new understanding of the ensemble appeared: it arises around one structure, as a rule, with a symmetrical construction. The simplicity and clarity of the old compositions are gradually replaced by sophisticated methods of architectural and spatial organization. The square is increasingly interpreted as an open vestibule, as a subordinate space, opening up in front of the representative buildings of the feudal nobility or the church. Finally, there is a desire to take into account the movement of the viewer and, accordingly, introduce new elements of dynamic development into the ensemble (Capitol in Rome) - a technique developed already in the next era.

In the urban theories developed by the architects of the Renaissance, changes are also taking place. If in the XV and in the first half of the XVI century. these theories covered the problem of the city comprehensively, then in the second half of the 16th century. the authors focus primarily on particular issues, without losing, however, the idea of ​​the city as a single organism.

We see that the Renaissance gave impetus not only to the development of urban planning ideas, but also to the practical construction of more convenient and healthy cities, prepared cities for a new period of existence, for a period of capitalist development. But the short duration of this era, the rapid economic decline and the intensification of feudal reaction, the establishment of a monarchical regime in a number of areas and foreign conquests interrupted this development.

Chapter “Results of the development of Italian architecture in the 15th-16th centuries”, section “Renaissance architecture in Italy”, encyclopedia “General history of architecture. Volume V. Architecture of Western Europe XV-XVI centuries. Renaissance". Managing editor: V.F. Marcuson. Authors: V.F. Markuzon (Results of the development of architecture), T.N. Kozina (Urban planning, ideal cities), A.I. Opochinskaya (Villas and gardens). Moscow, Stroyizdat, 1967