What is the ideal city in the art of the Italian Renaissance. pre-revival
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 arm. 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, dedicated to 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, perfect city had to reflect all the needs of a person, answer all his humanistic requests. And this is not accidental, because the leading philosophical thought in the Renaissance there was an 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 subordinated geometric shapes and drawn along the line. 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.
Sergey Khromov
Although not a single ideal city was embodied in stone, their ideas found life in real cities of the Renaissance...
Five centuries separate us from the period when architects first addressed the issues of rebuilding the city. And these same questions are acute for us today: how to create new cities? How to rebuild the old ones - to fit separate ensembles into them or demolish and rebuild everything? And most importantly - what idea to lay in a new city?
The masters of the Renaissance embodied those ideas that had already sounded in ancient culture and philosophy: the ideas of humanism, the harmony of nature and man. People again turn to Plato's dream of an ideal state and an ideal city. The new image of the city is born first as an image, as a formula, as an idea, which is a bold claim for the future - like many other inventions of the Italian Quattrocento.
The construction of the theory of the city was closely connected with the study of the heritage of antiquity and, above all, the entire treatise "Ten Books on Architecture" by Mark Vitruvius (second half of the 1st century BC), an architect and engineer in the army of Julius Caesar. This treatise was discovered in 1427 in one of the abbeys. The authority of Vitruvius was emphasized by Alberti, Palladio, Vasari. The greatest connoisseur of Vitruvius was Daniele Barbaro, who in 1565 published his treatise with his commentaries. In a work dedicated to Emperor Augustus, Vitruvius summarized the experience of architecture and urban planning in Greece and Rome. He considered the already classic questions selection of a favorable area for the founding of the city, placement of the main city squares and streets, typology of buildings. From an aesthetic point of view, Vitruvius advised adherence to ordination (following architectural orders), reasonable planning, observing the uniformity of rhythm and order, symmetry and proportionality, conformity of form to purpose and distribution of resources. |
In the urban planning of the Renaissance, theory and practice develop in parallel. New buildings are being built and old ones are being rebuilt, architectural ensembles are being formed and at the same time treatises are being written on architecture, planning and fortification of cities. Among them are the famous works of Alberti and Palladio, schemes of the ideal cities of Filarete, Scamozzi and others. The idea of the authors is far ahead of the needs of practical construction: they describe not finished projects, according to which you can plan a specific city, and a graphically depicted idea, the concept of the city. Reasoning about the location of the city from the point of view of economy, hygiene, defense, aesthetics is given. Searches are being made for optimal plans for residential areas and urban centers, gardens and parks. Questions of composition, harmony, beauty, proportion are 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 heart of all these constructions. Attention to the human personality was so great that even architectural structures were likened to the human body as a standard of perfect proportions and beauty.
Theory
In the 50s of the XV century. The treatise "Ten Books on Architecture" by Leon Alberti appears. It was, in essence, the first theoretical work of the new era on this topic. It deals with many issues of urban planning, ranging from site selection and city planning to building typology and decor. Of particular interest are his arguments about beauty. 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 the rationalistic beginning of a 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.
The ideal city excited many great people of the era. Thought about him and Leonardo da Vinci. His idea was to create a two-level city: the upper level was intended for pedestrian and surface roads, and the lower one was for tunnels and canals connected with the basements of houses, through which freight transport moves. Known for his plans for the reconstruction of Milan and Florence, as well as the project of a spindle city.
Another prominent city theorist was Andrea Palladio. In his treatise "Four Books on Architecture" he reflects on the integrity of the urban organism and the relationship of its spatial elements. He says that "a city is nothing but a kind of big house, and vice versa, a house is a kind of small city." 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.
Near the end of the 16th century. many theorists were attracted by the issues of retail space and fortifications. So, Giorgio Vasari Jr. in his ideal city pays a lot of attention to the development of squares, shopping arcades, loggias, palazzos. And in the projects of Vicenzo Scamozzi and Buanayuto Lorrini, issues of fortification art occupy a significant place. This was a response to the order of the time - with the invention of explosive shells, the fortress walls and towers were replaced by earthen bastions, taken out of the city boundaries, and the city began to resemble a multi-beam star in its outlines. These ideas were embodied in the actually built fortress of Palmanova, the creation of which is attributed to Scamozzi.
Practice
Although not a single ideal city was embodied in stone, with the exception of small fortress cities, many of the principles of its construction were embodied in reality already in the 16th century. At that time, in Italy and other countries, straight wide streets were laid, connecting important elements of the urban ensemble, new squares were created, old ones were rebuilt, and later parks and palace ensembles with a regular structure appeared.
| Ideal City by Antonio Filarete 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 protrusions 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 rectangular square, 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 radial streets with the ring street: eight shopping and eight for parish centers and churches. |
Despite the fact that the art of the Renaissance was sufficiently opposed to the art of the Middle Ages, it easily and organically fit into medieval cities. In his practical activities Renaissance architects used the principle of "building the new without destroying the old". They managed to create surprisingly harmonious ensembles not only from buildings of the same style, as can be seen in the squares of Annuziata in Florence (designed by Filippo Brunelleschi) and the Capitol in Rome (designed by Michelangelo), but also to combine buildings from different times into one composition. So, on the square of St. Mark in Venice, medieval buildings are combined into an architectural and spatial ensemble with new buildings of the 16th century. And in Florence, from Piazza della Signoria with the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Street, designed by Giorgio Vasari, harmoniously follows. Moreover, the ensemble of the Florentine Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Brunelleschi's reconstruction) perfectly combines three architectural styles at once: Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance.
The city of the Middle Ages and the city of the Renaissance
The ideal city of the Renaissance appeared as a kind of protest against the Middle Ages, expressed in the development of ancient urban planning principles. Unlike the medieval city, which was perceived as a kind, albeit imperfect, likeness of the "Heavenly Jerusalem", the embodiment of not a human, but a divine plan, the city of the Renaissance was created by a human creator. Man did not just copy what already existed, he created something more perfect and did it in accordance with the "divine mathematics". The city of the Renaissance was created for man and had to correspond to the earthly world order, its real social, political and everyday structure.
The medieval city is surrounded by powerful walls, fenced off from the world, its houses are more like fortresses with a few loopholes. The city of the Renaissance is open, it does not defend itself from the outside world, it controls it, subjugates it. The walls of buildings, delimiting, unite the spaces of streets and squares with courtyards and rooms. They are permeable - they have many openings, arcades, colonnades, driveways, windows.
If the medieval city is the placement of architectural volumes, then the city of the Renaissance is to a greater extent the distribution of architectural spaces. The center of the new city is not the building of the cathedral or the town hall, but the free space of the main square, open both up and to the sides. They enter the building and exit out onto the street and the square. And if the medieval city is compositionally drawn to its center - it is centripetal, then the city of the Renaissance is centrifugal - it is directed to the outside world.
| Plato's ideal city In plan, the central part of the city was an alternation of water and earth rings. The outer water ring was connected to the sea by a channel 50 stadia long (1 stadia - ca. 193 m). The earthen rings separating the water rings had underground channels near the bridges adapted for the passage of ships. The largest water ring in circumference was three stadia wide, as was the earthen one following it; the next two rings, water and earth, were two stades wide; finally, the water ring encircling the island located in the middle was a stadia wide. |
The medieval city follows the natural landscape, using it for its own purposes. The city of the Renaissance is rather a work of art, a "geometry game". The architect modifies the terrain by superimposing a geometric grid of drawn spaces on it. Such a city has a clear shape: a circle, a square, an octagon, a star; even the rivers are straightened in it.
The medieval city is vertical. Here everything is directed upwards, to the heavens - distant and inaccessible. The city of the Renaissance is horizontal, the main thing here is perspective, aspiration into the distance, towards new horizons. For a medieval person, the path to Heaven is an ascension, achievable through repentance and humility, renunciation of everything earthly. For the people of the Renaissance, this is an ascent through gaining their own experience and comprehending the Divine laws.
The dream of an ideal city gave impetus to the creative searches of many architects not only of the Renaissance, but also of later times, it led and illuminated the path to harmony and beauty. The ideal city always exists inside the real city, as different from it as the world of thought from the world of facts, as the world of imagination from the world of fantasy. And if you know how to dream the way the masters of the Renaissance did, then you can see this city - the City of the Sun, the City of Gold.
The original article is on the site of the magazine "New Acropolis".
The appearance of the term "Renaissance" (Renaissance, Renaissance) falls on the XVI century. Wrote about renaissance"art of Italy - the first historiographer of Italian art, a great painter, author of the famous "Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (1550) - Giorgio Vasari.
This concept originates in the basis of the widespread at that time historical concept, according to which the era of the Middle Ages was characterized by constant barbarism, ignorance, which followed the fall of the great civilization of the classical archaic.
If we talk about the period of the Middle Ages as some kind of simple in the development of culture, then it is necessary to take into account the assumptions of historians of that time about art. It was believed that art, which in the old days flourished in the ancient world, finds its first revival to a new existence precisely in their time.
Spring/ Sandro Botticelli
In the initial awareness, the term "revival" was interpreted not so much as the name of the entire era, but rather exact time(usually the beginning of the XIV century) the emergence of new art. Only after a certain period did this concept acquire a broader interpretation and began to designate in Italy and other countries the era of the formation and flourishing of a culture opposed to feudalism.
Now the Middle Ages is not considered a break in the history of the artistic culture of Europe. In the last century, a thorough study of the art of the Middle Ages began, which has greatly intensified in the last half century. It led to his reassessment and even showed that renaissance art owes a lot to the Middle Ages.
But one should not talk about the Renaissance as a trivial continuation of the Middle Ages. Some modern Western European historians have made attempts to blur the line between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but have not found confirmation in historical facts. In fact, the analysis of Renaissance cultural monuments indicates the rejection of most of the basic beliefs of the feudal worldview.
Allegory of love and time/ Agnola Bronzino
Medieval asceticism and insight to everything worldly is being replaced by an insatiable interest in the real world with the grandeur and beauty of nature and, of course, in man. Belief in superpowers human mind as the highest criterion of truth, led to the precarious position of the untouchable primacy of theology over science, so characteristic of the Middle Ages. The subordination of the human personality to ecclesiastical and feudal authorities is replaced by the principle of the free development of individuality.
Members of the newly minted secular intelligentsia paid all attention to the human aspects as opposed to the divine and called themselves humanists (from the concept of the time of Cicero "studia hmnanitatis", meaning the study of everything connected with human nature and his spiritual world). This term is a reflection of a new attitude to reality, the anthropocentrism of the culture of the Renaissance.
A wide range for creative impulses was opened during the period of the first heroic onslaught on the feudal world. The people of this era have already renounced the networks of the past, but have not yet found new ones. They believed that their possibilities were endless. It was from this that the birth of optimism, which is so characteristic of Renaissance culture.
sleeping venus/ Giorgione
Cheerful character and endless faith in life gave rise to faith in the limitlessness of possibilities for the mind and the possibility of developing the personality harmoniously and without barriers.
renaissance art in many respects it contrasts with the medieval. European artistic culture gets its development in the formation of realism. This leaves its mark both on the spread of images of a secular nature, the development of landscapes and portraits, close to the genre interpretation of sometimes religious subjects, and on the radical renewal of an entire artistic organization.
Medieval art was based on the idea of the hierarchical structure of the universe, the culmination of which was outside the circle of earthly existence, which occupied one of the last places in this hierarchy. There was a depreciation of earthly real connections and phenomena in time with space, since the main task of art was the visual embodiment of the scale of values created by theology.
In the Renaissance, the speculative art system dies away, and in its place comes a system based on knowledge and an objective image of the world that is presented to man. That is why one of the main tasks of Renaissance artists was the question of reflecting space.
In the 15th century this question was comprehended everywhere, with the only difference that the north of Europe (the Netherlands) went to the objective construction of space in stages due to empirical observations, and the foundation of Italy in the first half of the century was based on geometry and optics.
David/ Donatello
This assumption, which gives the possibility of constructing a three-dimensional image on a plane, which would be oriented to the viewer, taking into account his point of view, served as a victory over the concept of the Middle Ages. The visual representation of a person shows the anthropocentric orientation of the new artistic culture.
The culture of the Renaissance clearly demonstrates the characteristic connection between science and art. A special role was assigned to the cognitive principle in order to depict the world and man fairly truthfully. Of course, the search for support for artists in science led to the stimulation of the development of science itself. In the Renaissance, many artists-scientists appeared, headed by Leonardo da Vinci.
New approaches to art also dictated a new manner of depicting the human figure and conveying actions. The former idea of the Middle Ages about the canonicity of gestures, facial expressions and permissible arbitrariness in proportions did not correspond to an objective view of the world around us.
For the works of the Renaissance, human behavior is inherent, subject not to rituals or canons, but to psychological conditioning and the development of actions. Artists are trying to bring the proportions of the figures closer to reality. They go to this in different ways, so in the northern countries of Europe this happens empirically, and in Italy the study of real forms takes place in conjunction with the knowledge of the monuments of classical antiquity (the north of Europe is attached only later).
The ideals of humanism permeate renaissance art, creating the image of a beautiful, harmoniously developed person. For Renaissance art are characteristic: titanism of passions, characters and heroics.
Renaissance masters create images that embody the proud awareness of their powers, the infinity human capabilities in the field of creativity and true faith in the freedom of his will. Many creations of Renaissance art are consonant with this expression of the famous Italian humanism Pico della Mirandola: “Oh, the wondrous and sublime purpose of a person who is given to achieve what he aspires to and be what he wants.”
Leda and the Swan/ Leonardo da Vinci
If the determination for the nature of fine arts to a greater extent was the desire to display reality truthfully, then the appeal to the classical tradition played an important role in the formation of new architectural forms. This consisted not only in recreating the ancient order system and renouncing Gothic configurations, but also in classical proportionality, the anthropocentric nature of the new architecture and in the design of centric buildings in temple architecture, where the interior space was easily visible.
In the field of civil architecture, a lot of new creations were created. So, in the Renaissance, multi-storey city public buildings: town halls, universities, houses of merchant guilds, educational houses, warehouses, markets, warehouses receive more elegant decoration. A type of city palace appears, or otherwise a palazzo - the home of a wealthy burgher, as well as a kind of country villa. New systems of facade decoration are being formed, a new constructive system of a brick building is being developed (preserved in European construction until the 20th century), combining brick and wooden floors. Urban planning problems are being solved in a new way, urban centers are being reconstructed.
The new architectural style was brought to life with the help of advanced craft building techniques prepared by the Middle Ages. Basically, Renaissance architects were directly involved in the design of the building, directing its implementation in reality. As a rule, they also had a number of other specialties related to architecture, such as: sculptor, painter, sometimes decorator. The combination of skills contributed to the growth of the artistic quality of the structures.
Compared with the Middle Ages, when the main customers of the works were large feudal lords and the church, now the circle of customers is expanding with a change in the social composition. Guild associations of artisans, merchant guilds and even private individuals (nobility, burghers), along with the church, quite often give orders to artists.
The social status of the artist also changes. Despite the fact that artists are in search and enter the workshops, they often receive awards and high honors, occupy seats in city councils and carry out diplomatic missions.
There is an evolution of a person's attitude to the fine arts. If earlier it was on the level of the craft, now it is on a par with the sciences, and works of art for the first time are beginning to be considered as the result of spiritual creative activity.
Last Judgment/ Michelangelo
The emergence of new techniques and forms of art is provoked by the expansion of demand and the growth in the number of secular customers. Monumental forms are accompanied by easel: painting on canvas or wood, wood sculpture, majolica, bronze, terracotta. The ever-growing demand for works of art led to the appearance of engravings on wood and metal - the most inexpensive and most popular form of art. This technique, for the first time, allowed to reproduce images in a large number of copies.
One of the main features of the Italian Renaissance is the widespread use of the traditions of the ancient heritage that do not die in the Mediterranean region. Here, interest in classical antiquity appeared very early - even in the works of Italian Proto-Renaissance artists from Piccolo and Giovanni Pisano to Ambrogio Lorsnzetti.
The study of antiquity in the 15th century becomes one of the key tasks of humanistic studies. There is a significant expansion of information about the culture of the ancient world. In the libraries of old monasteries, many manuscripts of previously unknown works of ancient authors were found. The search for works of art made it possible to discover many ancient statues, reliefs, and eventually frescoes of Ancient Rome. They were constantly studied by artists. Examples include the surviving news of a trip to Rome by Donatello and Brunelleschi to measure and sketch monuments of ancient Roman architecture and sculpture, the works of Leon Battista Alberti, about the study by Raphael of newly discovered reliefs and painting, the way young Michelangelo copied antique sculpture. The art of Italy was enriched (due to the constant appeal to antiquity) with a mass of techniques, motifs, and forms new for that time, at the same time giving a touch of heroic idealization, which was completely absent in the works of the artists of Northern Europe.
There was another main feature of the Italian Renaissance - its rationality. Many Italian artists worked on the formation of the scientific foundations of art. Thus, in the circle of Brunelleschi, Masaccio and Donatello, the theory of linear perspective was formed, which was then set forth in the treatise of 1436 by Leon Battista Alberti "The Book of Painting". A large number of artists participated in the development of the theory of perspective, in particular Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca, who wrote the treatise On the Picturesque Perspective in 1484-1487. It is in it, finally, that attempts to apply mathematical theory to the construction of the human figure are visible.
It is also worth noting other cities and regions of Italy that played a prominent role in the development of art: in the XIV century - Siena, in the XV century - Umbrcia, Padua, Venice, Ferrara. In the 16th century, the variety of local schools withered away (the only exception is original Venice), and for a certain period the leading artistic forces of the country concentrated in Rome.
Differences in the formation and development of the art of individual regions of Italy do not interfere with the creation and subordination of a general pattern, which allows us to outline the main stages of development Italian Renaissance. Modern art history divides the history of the Italian Renaissance into four stages: the Proto-Renaissance (the end of the 13th - the first half of the 14th century), the Early Renaissance (the 15th century), the High Renaissance (the end of the 15th - the first three decades of the 16th century) and the Late Renaissance (the middle and second half of the 16th century) .
Italian Renaissance (25:24)
A wonderful film by Vladimir Ptashchenko, released as part of the Masterpieces of the Hermitage series
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 of composition.
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 |
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| 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 |
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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 the city's shopping center.
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.
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| 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 |
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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 ensembles went in the direction of their increasing isolation from public life cities, 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).
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One of the most wonderful examples architectural ensemble not only in 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. Renaissance ensembles scattered throughout the area ancient capital, much later were 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 these 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 the new historical conditions, bring to life a reasonable redevelopment of cities. 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 the art of the new era. Being one of the most important types of social activity, 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 successful development 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 the visual 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 meet the needs of the reorganization of cities and rested on scientific and technical achievements and aesthetic views of his 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 planning theories and projects of ideal cities of 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 until 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. Of no less importance during this period was the decision aesthetic problems and architectural and spatial organization of both the whole 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).
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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 Marchi are clearly influenced by previous eras, or rather, they retain the character of the building that prevails in the cities of the Renaissance, inherited from the Middle Ages - narrow, multi-storey buildings with the upper floors brought 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 about houses, streets and squares, Alberti repeatedly mentioned that they should be coordinated with each other both in size and in their appearance. 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 with arcades with complex arched passages at their intersections, which, in addition to being functional (shelter from rain and the scorching sun), had purely artistic significance. 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 expedient, arguing that the shape of the city is a derivative of the size of the territory they occupy (than smaller 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 the peripheral areas (Ammanati), the new system of building the center (Lupicini, Lorini), the careful development of the drawing of defensive structures and the general plan (Maggi, Lorini, Vasari), etc. Gradually, with the loss of a broad approach to development functional and artistic tasks in urban planning science and practice, professional decline is also brewing, which was reflected in aesthetic formalism and the 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 timeframe.
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. Her general form indicates that specific natural conditions, the tasks 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 intersections, but in the form of a rational, economical scheme, significantly corrected 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).
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| 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.
Before every bastion and entrance gate twelve squares were designed, and at the intersection of the third ring highway with radial streets that do not go 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
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, so the ancient era was again 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 nature.
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 the gospel scenes, created images of 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. He presented the gospel stories 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 coherent story, a whole story about the complex inner life heroes. 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 the famous masters of the Renaissance -
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)
In formation secular culture Early Renaissance played a huge role in antiquity. 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 beautiful works early Renaissance - a statue of David.
According to 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 in such a short life he left a mark in art that 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, the 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 was painted on a poplar board in egg tempera - obviously, by this time the artist had not yet mastered the secrets of oil painting, in the technique of which his later works would be painted.
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).
