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

After the completion of the main construction work in Versailles, at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, Andre Le Nôtre launched vigorous activity for 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 the streets and squares linked into a single whole will become a criterion for assessing the perfection of the city plan and the skill of the city planner for many years to come. 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 creation 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, the 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 the Patriotic War of 1812, new priorities appear 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 the 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 imperial greatness and the 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.

Solemnity and majestic pomposity were especially highly valued in the bright interior decoration of palaces and public buildings; 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 most clearly manifested itself 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 are 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 embodiment in the architectural ensembles of Paris, such as 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 with the classical ensembles of Paris (St. Petersburg or its suburbs).

3. Compare the design of the interior decoration (interiors) of the Francis I Gallery 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 paintings-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 architecture of Western European classicism"; "Napoleonic Empire in the architecture of France"; "Versailles and Peterhof: experience 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"; "Concorde Square - a new stage in the development of urban planning ideas of classicism"; “The harsh 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. Everyday life 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.

The history of the Renaissance begins in Still this period is called the Renaissance. The Renaissance changed into culture and became the forerunner of the culture of the New Age. And the Renaissance ended in the XVI-XVII centuries, since in each state it has its own start and end date.

Some general information

Representatives of the Renaissance are Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio. They became the first poets who began to express lofty images and thoughts in a frank, common language. This innovation was received with a bang and spread to other countries.

Renaissance and art

The features of the Renaissance is that the human body has become the main source of inspiration and the subject of research for the artists of this time. Thus, emphasis was placed on the similarity of sculpture and painting with reality. The main features of the art of the Renaissance period include radiance, refined brushwork, the play of shadow and light, thoroughness in the process of work and complex compositions. For Renaissance artists, images from the Bible and myths were the main ones.

The resemblance of a real person to his image on a particular canvas was so close that the fictional character seemed alive. This cannot be said about the art of the 20th century.

The Renaissance (its main trends are briefly outlined above) perceived the human body as an endless beginning. Scientists and artists regularly improved their skills and knowledge by studying the bodies of individuals. At that time, the prevailing opinion was that man was created in the likeness and image of God. This statement reflected physical perfection. The main and important objects of Renaissance art were the gods.

Nature and beauty of the human body

Renaissance art paid great attention to nature. A characteristic element of the landscapes was a varied and lush vegetation. The skies of a blue-blue hue, which were pierced by the sun's rays that penetrated the clouds of white, were a magnificent backdrop for the soaring creatures. Renaissance art revered the beauty of the human body. This feature was manifested in the refined elements of the muscles and body. Difficult poses, facial expressions and gestures, a well-coordinated and clear color palette are characteristic of the work of sculptors and sculptors of the Renaissance period. These include Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and others.

The problem of creating an ideal city, despite today's relevance, was especially acute in the distant era of the Renaissance (XIV - XVI centuries). This theme, through the prism of the philosophy of anthropocentrism, becomes the leading one in the art of urban planning of this period. A man with his needs for happiness, love, luxury, comfort, convenience, with his thoughts and ideas, becomes the measure of that time, a symbol of the resurgent ancient spirit, called to sing of this very Man with a capital letter. He moves the creative thought of the Renaissance to the search for unique, sometimes utopian, architectural and philosophical solutions to the problem of the formation of the city. The last one starts to play new role, it is perceived as a closed whole interconnected space, fenced off and different from nature, where the whole life of a person passes.

In this space, both physical and aesthetic needs and desires of a person should be fully taken into account, such aspects of human stay in the city as comfort and safety should be fully thought out. The new firearms made the medieval stone fortifications defenseless. This predetermined, for example, the appearance of walls with earthen bastions along the perimeter of cities and determined, it would seem, a bizarre star-shaped line of city fortifications. A general revivalist idea of ​​the "ideal city" is being formed - the city that is most convenient and safe for living. In a word, such trends are not alien to the modern architect, but the Renaissance then marked a new frontier, a new breath of life in the mind of the creator, establishing certain unknowns. earlier criteria, standards and stereotypes, the consequences of which are felt in the search for an ideal city today.

The first studies in this vein were carried out by Mark Vitruvius (second half of the 1st century BC), an architect and engineer in the army of Julius Caesar, - in his treatise Ten Books on Architecture, Vitruvius posed the problem of the golden mean between theory and practice, described the basic concepts of aesthetics, the proportionality of the building and the person, for the first time in history he investigated the problem of musical acoustics of premises.

Vitruvius himself did not leave an image of the ideal city, but this was done by many researchers and successors of his ideas, from which, as is often noted, the Renaissance itself began.

But arguments about the ideal city, its concepts originate in the treatises of ancient Greek philosophers - so, for a second, it is worth turning to an era somewhat earlier than we are considering - to antiquity.

Sfortsinda - typical houses arch. Filarete (drawing by Leonardo da Vinci)

The centuries-old process of building city-states in the capital of Ancient Greece, Athens, was summed up in the writings of the two largest philosophers of antiquity: Plato (428 - 348 BC) and Aristotle (384 - 322 BC).

Thus, the idealist philosopher Plato, associated with the aristocratic circles of his time, was an adherent of a rigidly regulated state structure, not without reason he also owned a story about the mythical country of Atlantis, ruled by a king and archons. In the interpretation of Plato, Atlantis was the historical prototype of that ideal city-state, which he discussed in his works “The State” and “Laws”.

Returning to the Renaissance, let's say about Leon Batista Alberti - the first true theorist of urban planning in the history of mankind, who describes in detail "how to make a city", starting from the choice of a place and ending with its internal structure. Alberti wrote that “beauty is a strict proportionate harmony of all parts united by what they belong to, such that nothing can be added, subtracted, or changed without making it worse.” In fact, Alberti was the first to proclaim the basic principles of the Renaissance urban ensemble, linking the ancient sense of proportion with a rationalistic principle. new era. The given ratio of the height of the building to the space located in front of it (from 1:3 to 1:6), the consistency of the architectural scales of the main and secondary buildings, the balance of the composition and the absence of dissonant contrasts - these are the aesthetic principles of Renaissance urban planners.

Alberti in his treatise "Ten books on architecture" draws an ideal city, beautiful in terms of rational planning and the appearance of buildings, streets, squares. The entire living environment of a person is arranged here in such a way that it meets the needs of the individual, family, and society as a whole.

Bernardo Gambarelli (Rosselino), picking up already existing ideas, contributes to the development of the vision of an ideal city, which resulted in the city of Pienza (1459), which actually exists to this day, incorporating elements of many projects that have remained on paper or in creative the intentions of the creators. This city is good example the transformation of the medieval settlement of Corsignano into an ideal Renaissance city with straight streets and a regular layout.

Antonio di Pietro Averlino (Filarete) (c. 1400 - c. 1469) in his treatise gives an idea of ​​​​the ideal city of Sforzinda.

The city was an octagonal star in plan, formed by the intersection at an angle of 45 ° of two equal squares with a side of 3.5 km. In the ledges of the star there were eight round towers, and in the "pockets" - eight city gates. The gates and towers were connected to the center by radial streets, some of which were shipping channels. In the central part of the city, on a hill, there was the main square, rectangular in plan, on the short sides of which the prince's palace and the city cathedral were to be located, and on the long sides - judicial and city institutions.

In the center of the square there was a pond and a watchtower. Two others adjoined the main square, with the houses of the most eminent residents of the city. Sixteen more squares were located at the intersection of the radial streets with the ring street: eight shopping squares and eight for parish centers and churches.

Pienza was not the only realized city in Italy that embodied the principles of the "ideal" planning. Italy itself at that time was not a united state, as we know it now, it consisted of many separate independent republics and duchies. At the head of each such area was a noble family. Of course, every ruler wanted to have in his state a model of an “ideal” city, which would allow him to be considered an educated and progressive Renaissance person. Therefore, in 1492, the representative of the D Este dynasty, Duke Ercole I, decided to rebuild one of the main cities of his duchy - Ferrara.

The restructuring was entrusted to the architect Biagio Rossetti. He was distinguished by a breadth of views, as well as a love of innovation, which manifested itself in almost all of his works. He thoroughly studied the old layout of the city and came to an interesting solution. If before him architects either demolished old buildings or built from scratch, then Biagio decided to build a new city on top of the old one. Thus, he simultaneously embodied the concept of the Renaissance city with its straight streets and open spaces and emphasized the integrity and self-sufficiency of the medieval city. The main innovation of the architect was a different use of spaces. He did not obey all the laws of regular urban planning, which suggested open squares and wide streets. Instead, since the medieval part of the city was left intact, Biagio plays on opposites: he alternates main roads with narrow streets, bright squares with dark dead ends, large ducal houses with low houses of ordinary inhabitants. Moreover, these elements do not contradict each other at all: the reverse perspective is combined with the straight one, and the running lines and growing volumes do not contradict each other.

The Venetian scholar and scholar of architecture Daniele Barbaro (1514-1570) devoted most of his life to the study of the treatise of Vitruvius, which resulted in his book entitled "Ten books on the architecture of Vitruvius with a commentary by Daniele Barbaro", written in 1556. In this book the attitude to ancient architecture was reflected not only by the author himself, but also by most architects of the 16th century. Daniele Barbaro throughout his life thoroughly studied the treatise and tried to recreate the scheme of the ideal city, which would reflect the ideas of Vetruvius and his concepts that complement his vision.

Somewhat earlier, the Renaissance architect Cesare Cesarino published his commentary on the Ten Books of Architecture in 1521 with numerous illustrations, including theoretical diagrams of an ideal city.

Among the many such theorists of the XVI century. Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) occupied a special place. In his treatise Four Books on Architecture (Italian: Quattro Libri deHArchitettura), published in 1570, Palladio did not single out a special section on the city, but his entire work was essentially devoted to this particular topic. He said that "the city is nothing but a certain big house, and vice versa, the house is a kind of small town.

Putting an equal sign between a residential building and a city, Palladio thereby emphasized the integrity of the urban organism and the interconnectedness of its spatial elements. He reflects on the integrity of the urban organism and the relationship of its spatial elements. About the urban ensemble, he writes: "Beauty is the result of a beautiful form and the correspondence of the whole to parts, parts to each other and also parts to the whole." A prominent place in the treatise is given to the interior of buildings, their dimensions and proportions. Palladio is trying to organically connect the outer space of the streets with the interior of houses and courtyards.

At the end of the XVI century. during the siege of cities, artillery weapons with explosive shells began to be used. This forced city planners to reconsider the nature of city fortifications. The fortress walls and towers were replaced by earthen bastions, which, being carried forward beyond the city boundaries, were capable of both repelling enemy attacks and conducting flanking fire on the enemy approaching the city. Based on this, there was no need to protect the city gates, which from now on have turned from powerful defense centers into the main entrances to the city. These innovations in the form of various star-shaped bizarre forms are reflected in the projects of the ideal cities of Buonayuto Lorini, Antonio Lupicini, Francesco di George Martini, Girolamo Maggi, Giovanni Bellucci, Fra Giocondo, Francesco de Marchi, Daniel Speckle, Jacques Perret, Albrecht Dürer, Vicenzo Scamozzi , George Vasari Jr. and etc.

And the fortified city of Palmanova can rightly be considered the culmination of the fortification architecture of the Renaissance, the plan of which, according to the plan of the architect Vicenzo Scamozzi, has the shape of a nine-pointed star, and the streets radiate from the square located in the center. The territory of the city was surrounded by twelve bastions, and each of the bastions was planned in such a way as to protect the neighboring ones, and had four city gates, from which there were two main streets intersecting at right angles. At their intersection was the main square, which overlooked the palace, cathedral, university and city institutions. Two trading squares adjoined the main square from the west and east, the exchange square was located in the north, and the square for hay and firewood trade was located in the south. The territory of the city was crossed by a river, and closer to its periphery there were eight parish churches. The layout of the city was regular. The fortress was surrounded by a moat.

In the engineering environment of the Renaissance, questions of composition, harmony, beauty, and proportion are diligently studied. In these ideal constructions, the planning of the city is characterized by rationalism, geometric clarity, centric composition and harmony between the whole and the parts. And, finally, what distinguishes the architecture of the Renaissance from other eras is the person standing in the center, at the basis of all these constructions. Many more names and names of cities can serve as examples. Survived Urbino with its grandiose Ducal Palace, "a city in the form of a palazzo", created by the architect Luciano Laurana for Duke Federico da Montefeltro, Terradel Sole ("City of the Sun"), Vigevano in Lombardy, Valletta (capital of Malta). As for the latter, this majestic walled city grew on the waterless, steep cliffs of the Mount Sciberras peninsula, rising between the two deep harbors of Marsamxett and Grand Harbour. Founded in 1566, Valletta was completely built, along with impressive bastions, forts and a cathedral, in an astonishingly short time - 15 years.

General ideas, concepts of the Renaissance flowed far beyond the turn of the 17th century and splashed out in a stormy stream, embracing subsequent generations of architects and engineering figures.

Even the example of many modern architectural projects shows the influence of the Renaissance, which for several centuries has not lost its idea of ​​humanity and the primacy of human comfort. Simplicity, convenience, "accessibility" of the city for the inhabitant in all sorts of variable devices can be found in many works, and each following them in their own way, architects and researchers, all as one, nevertheless stepped along the paved road already paved by the masters of the Renaissance.

Not all examples of “ideal cities” were considered in the article, the origins of which date back to us from the depths of the era of the beautiful Renaissance - in some, the emphasis is on the convenience and ergonomics of being a civilian, in others on the maximum efficiency of defensive operations; but in all the examples we observe a tireless craving for improvement, for achieving results, we see confident steps towards the convenience and comfort of a person. Ideas, concepts, to some extent, the aspirations of the Renaissance flowed far beyond the turn of the 17th century and splashed out in a stormy stream, embracing subsequent generations of architects and engineering figures.

And the example of modern architects clearly shows the influence of the concepts of the Renaissance figures, somewhat modified, but not losing their idea of ​​humanity and the primacy of human comfort in urban planning projects. Simplicity, convenience, "accessibility" of the city for the resident in all sorts of variable devices can be found in many other works, implemented and by no means - remained on paper. Each following their own path, architects and researchers, all as one, nevertheless stepped along the paved road already paved by the masters of the Renaissance, following the immortally relevant and alluring light of the idea of ​​rebirth, the rebirth of the human soul, and the main steps in this direction were taken in distant XIV century.

The concepts of the ideal city of the Renaissance, for all their utopia and impossibility from a pragmatic point of view of a person, especially a modern one, do not cease completely in their splendor or at least partially, elements periodically creep into the work of romantic architects, striving not so much for perfection in their difficult creative craft, how much to perfection in an environment more complex and unpredictable than parchment and perspective - to the unattainable perfection of the human soul and consciousness.

Palmanova - Cathedral

In the Renaissance, architects gradually formed an attitude towards the structure as part of the whole, which must be able to link with the surrounding space, be able to find a contrasting mutually beneficial combination of diverse structures. The culture of urban planning of the Renaissance took shape gradually and in various ensembles - in Piazza San Marco in Venice, in the ensemble of the Educational House of the Silkworm Workshop, architect. Brunelleschi and others. Great importance won back the use of arcades and colonnades along the streets, which gave the urban development noticeable features of commonality (Uffizi Street in Florence, architect Vasari).

A significant contribution to the formation of examples of an architectural ensemble isCapitol Square in Rome,designed by Michelangelo. The opening of the square to the city while simultaneously subordinating the space of the square to the main building is a new feature introduced by Michelangelo into the architecture of urban ensembles.

Gradually, in the understanding of architects, the idea of ​​the city as a single whole, in which all parts are interconnected, matured. The new firearms made the medieval stone fortifications defenseless. This predetermined the appearance of walls with earthen walls along the perimeter of cities.bastionsand determined the star shape of the line of city fortifications. Cities of this type appear in the 2/3 of the 16th century. A renaissance idea is being formed"ideal city"the most convenient city to live in.

In the organization of the urban area, Renaissance architects followed 3 main principles:
1. class settlement (for the noble - the central and best parts of the city);
2. professional-group resettlement of the rest of the population (artisans of related professions are nearby);
3. division of the city territory into residential, industrial, commercial and public complexes.
The layout of "ideal cities" must necessarily be regular or radial-circular, but the choice of layout should be determined by natural conditions: relief, body of water, river, winds, etc.

Palma Nuova, 1593

Usually in the center of the city there was a main public square with a castle or with a town hall and a church in the middle. Trade or cult areas of district significance in radial cities were located at the intersection of radial streets with one of the ring highways of the city.
These projects also included significant improvement - greening the streets, creating channels for rainwater runoff and sewerage. The houses had to have certain ratios of height and distance between them for the best insolation and ventilation.
Despite their utopian nature, the theoretical developments of the "ideal cities" of the Renaissance had some influence on the practice of urban planning, especially when building small fortifications in a short time(Valetta, Palma Nuova, Granmichele- to. 16-17 centuries).

Introduction

Renaissance as a new worldview and a new artistic style emerged 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 surrounding architectural environment.

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 for liberation human personality from spiritual constraint, a thirst for knowledge of the world and the person himself and, as a result of this, a craving for secular forms public 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. The 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. Thanks to the successful location of the cathedral on a hill and its high height (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 the palaces of the 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 are still saved traditional motifs: 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 contributes to organic connection facade with 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. Period High Renaissance

The period of the High Renaissance covers the end of the XV - the first half of the XVI V. By this time, due to the movement of the main trade routes from the Mediterranean to Atlantic Ocean Italy is experiencing a well-known economic downturn and contraction 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 Renaissance contrast (between architectural characteristic appearance 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 - Roman Doric and Tuscan - are widely used, and a finely designed arcade on columns gives way to a more monumental order arcade. . In general, the compositions of the High Renaissance acquire great 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 such grandiose in design, the Renaissance ensemble was masterfully used compositional techniques ancient Roman forums. papal residence was supposed to connect 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 period 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 northern cities 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 for expression in art. inner strength their heroes, their unresolved conflict peace of mind, titanic efforts in the fight. 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 subsequently picked up in the architecture of the Italian Baroque. To the largest architectural work Michelangelo refers to the completion after the death of Bramante of Peter's Cathedral in Rome. 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 in its external outlines descends in ledges down the mountainside, creating difficult game open, semi-open and closed spaces located in various levels. The composition is influenced by the ancient Roman forums and courts of the Vatican.

Outstanding masters 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 classical school Renaissance - 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. Trying to keep clean classical principles, Palladio relies on the rich experience he acquired 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 the 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– 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 cherishes in architecture appeals not so much to a scrupulous analysis of individual parts of an object, but to its synthetic, holistic 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 for a long time developed in an inextricable 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, the 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 of 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 is the first to erect an 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.