Features of the ideal city of the Renaissance. Artistic culture of the Renaissance

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 "Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects "(1550) - Giorgio Vasari.

This concept originates in the basis of the historical concept, widespread at that time, according to which the era of the Middle Ages was characterized by constant barbarism, ignorance, which followed the fall of great civilization 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 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 understanding, the term "revival" was interpreted not so much as the name of the entire era, but the exact time (usually the beginning of the 14th century) of the appearance 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. Subordination human personality ecclesiastical and feudal authorities is replaced by the principle of 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 fades away, and in its place comes a system based on the knowledge and 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 issue was comprehended everywhere, with the only difference that the north of Europe (the Netherlands) was moving towards an 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. To this they go 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 heroism.

Renaissance masters create images that embody the proud awareness of their powers, the limitlessness of human possibilities 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 structural 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 buildings.

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 Italian Renaissance 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. 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 he copied antique sculpture young Michelangelo. 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 people worked on the formation of the scientific foundations of art. Italian artists. Thus, in the circle of Brunelleschi, Masaccio and Donatello, a theory was formed linear perspective, 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

The era of the Renaissance is one of the most important periods in the cultural development of mankind, because it is at this time that the foundations of fundamentally new culture, there is a wealth of ideas, thoughts, symbols that will be actively used by subsequent generations in the future. In the XV century. in Italy, a new image of the city is being born, which is being developed more like a project, a future model than a real architectural embodiment. Of course, in Renaissance Italy they did a lot of beautification of cities: they straightened streets, leveled facades, spent a lot of money on creating pavements, etc. Architects also built new houses, fitting them into empty spaces, or, in rare cases, erected them instead of demolished old ones. buildings. In general, the Italian city in reality remained medieval in its architectural landscape. It was not a period of active urban development, but it was precisely at this time that urban issues began to be recognized as one of the most important areas of cultural construction. Many interesting treatises appeared about what a city is and not only as a political, but also as a sociocultural phenomenon. How does a new city appear in the eyes of the Renaissance humanists, different from the medieval one?

In all their urban planning models, projects and utopias, the city first of all freed itself from its sacred prototype - heavenly Jerusalem, the ark, symbolizing the space of human salvation. In the Renaissance, the idea of ​​an ideal city arose, which was created not according to the divine prototype, but as a result of the individual creative activity of the architect. The famous L. B. Alberti, author of the classic Ten Books on Architecture, claimed that original architectural ideas often come to him at night, when his attention is distracted and he has dreams in which things appear that do not reveal themselves during wakefulness. This secularized description of the creative process is quite different from the classical Christian acts of seeing.

The new city appeared in the works of Italian humanists corresponding not to the heavenly, but to the earthly regulations in its social, political, cultural and domestic purpose. It was built not on the principle of sacred-spatial contraction, but on the basis of a functional, completely secular spatial delimitation, and was divided into spaces of squares, streets, which were grouped around important residential or public buildings. Such a reconstruction, although actually carried out to a certain extent, for example, in Florence, was realized to a greater extent in the visual arts, in the construction of Renaissance paintings and in architectural projects. The Renaissance city symbolized the victory of man over nature, the optimistic belief that the "allocation" of human civilization from nature into its new man-made world had reasonable, harmonious and excellent foundations.

The Renaissance man is a prototype of the civilization of the conquest of space, who completed with his own hands what turned out to be unfinished by the creator. That is why, when planning cities, architects were fond of creating beautiful projects, based on the aesthetic significance of various combinations of geometric shapes, in which it was necessary to place all the buildings necessary for the life of the urban community. Utilitarian considerations faded into the background, and the free aesthetic play of architectural fantasies subjugated the consciousness of the city planners of that time. The idea of ​​free creativity as the basis for the existence of the individual is one of the most important cultural imperatives of the Renaissance. Architectural creativity in this case also embodied this idea, which was expressed in the creation of building projects that looked more like some intricate ornamental fantasies. In practice, these ideas turned out to be implemented primarily in the creation of various types of stone pavements, which were covered with regular-shaped slabs. It was them, as the main innovations, that the townspeople were proud of, calling them "diamond".

The city was originally conceived as an artificial product, opposing the naturalness of the natural world, because, unlike the medieval city, it subjugated and mastered the living space, and did not just fit into the terrain. Therefore, the ideal cities of the Renaissance had a strict geometric shape in the form of a square, cross or octagon. According to the apt expression of I. E. Danilova, the architectural projects of that time were, as it were, superimposed on the terrain from above as a seal of the dominance of the human mind, to which everything is subject. In the era of the New Age, man sought to make the world predictable, reasonable, to get rid of the incomprehensible game of chance or fortune. Thus, L. B. Alberti, in his work “On the Family”, argued that reason plays a much greater role in civil affairs and in human life than fortune. The famous theorist of architecture and urban planning spoke about the need to test and conquer the world, extending the rules of applied mathematics and geometry to it. From this point of view, the Renaissance city was the highest form of conquering the world, space, because urban planning projects involved the reorganization of the natural landscape as a result of imposing a geometric grid of delineated spaces on it. It, unlike the Middle Ages, was an open model, the center of which was not the cathedral, but the free space of the square, which opened from all sides with streets, with views into the distance, beyond the city walls.

Modern specialists In the field of culture, more and more attention is paid to the problems of the spatial organization of Renaissance cities, in particular, the theme of the city square, its genesis and semantics are actively discussed at various international symposiums. R. Barthes wrote: “The city is a fabric consisting not of equivalent elements in which their functions can be listed, but of elements that are significant and insignificant ... In addition, I must note that they are beginning to attach more and more importance to significant emptiness instead of emptiness of meaning. In other words, the elements become more and more significant not in themselves, but depending on their location.

The medieval city, its buildings, the church embodied the phenomenon of closeness, the need to overcome some physical or spiritual barrier, whether it be a cathedral or a palace similar to a small fortress, this is a special space separated from the outside world. Penetration there always symbolized familiarization with some hidden secret. The square, on the other hand, was a symbol of a completely different era: it embodied the idea of ​​openness not only upwards, but also to the sides, through streets, alleys, windows, etc. People always entered the square from an enclosed space. In contrast, any square created the feeling of an instantly opened and open space. City squares, as it were, symbolized the very process of liberation from mystical secrets and embodied openly desacralized space. L. B. Alberti wrote that the most important decoration of cities was given by the position, direction, correspondence, placement of streets and squares.

These ideas were supported by the real practice of the struggle for the liberation of urban spaces from the control of individual family clans, which took place in Florence in the XIV and XV centuries. F. Brunelleschi during this period of time designs three new squares in the city. Tombstones of various noble persons are removed from the squares, markets are rebuilt accordingly. The idea of ​​open space is embodied by L. B. Alberti in relation to the walls. He advises using colonnades as often as possible in order to emphasize the conventionality of the walls as being an obstacle. That is why the arch at Alberti is perceived as the opposite of the locked city gates. The arch is always open, as if it serves as a frame for opening views and thus connects the urban space.

Renaissance urbanization does not imply the closeness and isolation of urban space, but, on the contrary, its distribution outside the city. The aggressive offensive pathos of the "conqueror of nature" is demonstrated by the projects of Francesco di Giorgio Martini. Yu. M. Lotman wrote about this spatial impulse, characteristic of his treatises. Martini fortresses in most cases have the shape of a star, which is bared in all directions by the corners of walls with bastions that are strongly extended outwards. This architectural solution was largely due to the invention of the cannonball. The cannons, which were mounted on bastions far advanced into space, made it possible to actively counteract the enemies, hit them at a great distance and prevent them from reaching the main walls.

Leonardo Bruni, in his laudatory works on Florence, presents us rather than a real city, but an embodied sociocultural doctrine, for he is trying to "correct" the urban layout and describe the location of buildings in a new way. As a result, the Palazzo Signoria turns out to be in the center of the city, from which, as a symbol of urban power, rings of walls, fortifications, etc., wider than in reality, diverge. In this description, Bruni departs from the closed model of a medieval city and tries to embody new idea the idea of ​​urban expansion, which is a kind of symbol of a new era. Florence seizes nearby lands and subjugates vast territories.

Thus, the ideal city in the XV century. is conceived not in a vertical sacralized projection, but in a horizontal socio-cultural space, which is understood not as a sphere of salvation, but as a comfortable living environment. That is why the ideal city is depicted by artists of the 15th century. not as some distant goal, but from within, as a beautiful and harmonious sphere of human life.

However, it is necessary to note certain contradictions that were originally present in the image of the Renaissance city. Despite the fact that during this period magnificent and comfortable dwellings of a new type, created primarily “for the sake of the people”, appeared during this period, the city itself is already beginning to be perceived as a stone cage, which does not allow the development of a free creative human personality. The urban landscape can be perceived as something that contradicts nature, and, as you know, it is nature (both human and non-human) that is the subject of aesthetic admiration for artists, poets and thinkers of that time.

The beginning of the urbanization of the socio-cultural space, even in its primary, rudimentary and enthusiastically perceived forms, already aroused a feeling of ontological loneliness, abandonment in the new, “horizontal” world. In the future, this duality will develop, turning into an acute contradiction of the cultural consciousness of modern times and leading to the emergence of utopian anti-urban scenarios.

We have the largest information base in RuNet, so you can always find similar queries

This topic belongs to:

Culturology

Theory of culture. Culturology in the system of socio-humanitarian knowledge. Basic cultural theories and schools of our time. The dynamics of culture. History of culture. Ancient civilization - the cradle European culture. Culture of the European Middle Ages. Actual problems modern culture. National faces of culture in a globalizing world. Languages ​​and codes of culture.

This material includes sections:

Culture as a condition for the existence and development of society

Culturology as an independent field of knowledge

Concepts of cultural studies, its object, subject, tasks

The structure of cultural knowledge

Methods of cultural research

The unity of historical and logical in the understanding of culture

Ancient ideas about culture

Understanding Culture in the Middle Ages

Comprehension of culture in the European philosophy of modern times

General characteristics of cultural studies of the XX century.

Culturological concept of O. Spengler

Renaissance art in Italy (XIII-XVI centuries).

MATERIALS OF THE RESOURCE http://artclassic.edu.ru WE USED IN COMPILING THE PAGE

Features of the art of the Renaissance in Italy.

The art of the Renaissance arose on the basis of humanism (from the Latin humanus - “human”) - a trend of social thought that originated in the 14th century. in Italy, and then during the second half of the 15th and in the 16th centuries. spread to other European countries. Humanism proclaimed the highest value of man and his good. The followers of this trend believed that every person has the right to freely develop as a person, realizing their abilities. The ideas of humanism were most fully and vividly embodied in art, the main theme of which was a beautiful, harmoniously developed person with unlimited spiritual and creative possibilities. Humanists were inspired by antiquity, which served for them as a source of knowledge and a model of artistic creativity. The great past of Italy, constantly reminding of itself, was perceived at the time as the highest perfection, while the art of the Middle Ages seemed inept and barbaric. The term "revival", which arose in the 16th century, meant the birth of a new art, reviving classical ancient culture. However, the art of the Renaissance owes much to the artistic tradition of the Middle Ages. The old and the new were inextricably linked and confronted. With all the contradictory diversity of its origins, the art of the Renaissance is marked by a deep and fundamental novelty. It laid the foundations of the European culture of modern times. All major art forms - painting and graphics, sculpture, architecture - have changed tremendously.
In architecture, the creatively reworked principles of ancient order system , new types of public buildings emerged. Painting was enriched with a linear and aerial perspective, knowledge of the anatomy and proportions of the human body. Earthly content penetrated the traditional religious themes of works of art. Increased interest in ancient mythology, history, everyday scenes, landscapes, portraits. Along with the monumental wall paintings that adorned architectural structures, a picture appeared; oil painting originated.
Art has not yet ceased to be a craft, but the creative individuality of the artist, whose activities at that time were very diverse, had already taken the first place. The universal talent of the masters of the Renaissance is amazing - they often worked simultaneously in the field of architecture, sculpture and painting, combined their passion for literature, poetry and philosophy with the study of the exact sciences. The concept of a creatively rich, or "Renaissance" personality later became a household word.
In the art of the Renaissance, the paths of scientific and artistic comprehension of the world and man were closely intertwined. Its cognitive meaning was inextricably linked with sublime poetic beauty; in its striving for naturalness, it did not descend to petty everyday life. Art has become a universal spiritual need.
The formation of the Renaissance culture in Italy took place in economically independent cities. In the rise and flourishing of the art of the Renaissance, the Church and the magnificent courts of the uncrowned sovereigns - the ruling wealthy families, who were the largest patrons and customers of works of painting, sculpture and architecture, played an important role. The main centers of Renaissance culture were at first the cities of Florence, Siena, Pisa, then Padua, Ferrara, Genoa, Milan, and later, in the second half of the 15th century, rich merchant Venice. In the XVI century. Rome became the capital of the Italian Renaissance. Since that time, all other centers of culture, except Venice, have lost their former importance.
In the era of the Italian Renaissance, it is customary to distinguish several periods:

Proto-Renaissance (second half of the XIII-XIV centuries),

Early Renaissance (XV century),

High Renaissance (late 15th - first third of the 16th century)

Late Renaissance (last two thirds of the 16th century).

Proto-Renaissance

In Italian culture of the XIII-XIV centuries. Against the backdrop of still strong Byzantine and Gothic traditions, features of a new art began to appear, which would later be called the art of the Renaissance. Therefore, this period of its history was called Proto-Renaissance(from the Greek "protos" - "first", i.e. prepared the onset of the Renaissance). There was no similar transitional period in any of the European countries. In Italy itself, proto-Renaissance art arose and developed only in Tuscany and Rome.
In Italian culture, the features of the old and the new were intertwined. The last poet of the Middle Ages and the first poet of the new era, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), created the Italian literary language. What Dante started was continued by other great Florentines of the 14th century - Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374), the founder of European lyric poetry, and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the founder of the novel (short story) genre in world literature. The pride of the era are the architects and sculptors Niccolo and Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio and the painter Giotto di Bondone .
Architecture
Italian architecture has long followed medieval traditions, which was expressed mainly in the use of a large number of Gothic motifs. At the same time, Italian Gothic itself was very different from the Gothic architecture of northern Europe: it gravitated towards calm large forms, even light, horizontal divisions, wide wall surfaces. In 1296, construction began in Florence Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Arnolfo di Cambio wanted to crown the altar of the cathedral with a huge dome. However, after the death of the architect in 1310, the construction was delayed, it was completed already in the period Early Renaissance. In 1334, according to the design of Giotto, the construction of the bell tower of the cathedral, the so-called campanile, was begun - a slender rectangular tower with horizontal divisions by floors and elegant Gothic windows, the lancet arched form of which was preserved in Italian architecture for a long time.
Among the most famous city palaces is the Palazzo Vecchio (Palazzo della Signoria) in Florence. It is believed that it was built by Arnolfo di Cambio. It is a heavy cube with a high tower, lined with hard stone rustication. The three-storey façade is decorated with paired windows inscribed in semicircular arches, which gives the entire building an impression of restrained austerity. The building defines the appearance of the old city center, invading the square with a harsh bulk.
Sculpture
Earlier than in architecture and painting, artistic searches were outlined in sculpture, and above all in the Pisan school, the founder of which was Niccolò Pisano (circa 1220 - between 1278 and 1284). Niccolo Pisano was born in Apulia, in southern Italy. It is believed that he studied sculpture in the southern schools, where the spirit of the revival of the classical traditions of antiquity flourished. Without a doubt, Niccolo studied the sculptural decoration of late Roman and early Christian sarcophagi. The earliest of today famous works sculptor - hexagonal marble pulpit, made by him for the baptistery in Pisa (1260), - became an outstanding work of Renaissance sculpture and had a huge impact on its further development. The main achievement of the sculptor is that he managed to give volume and expressiveness to the forms, and each image has bodily power.
From the workshop of Niccolò Pisano came the remarkable masters of sculpture of the Proto-Renaissance - his son Giovanni Pisano and Arnolfo di Cambio, also known as an architect. Arnolfo di Cambio (circa 1245 - after 1310) gravitated toward monumental sculpture, in which he used his life observations. One of the best works he did together with his father and son Pisano - Fountain in Piazza Perugia(1278). Fonte Maggiore, decorated with numerous statues and reliefs, has become the pride of the city. It was forbidden to drink animals from it, to take water in wine barrels or in unwashed dishes. The city museum has preserved fragments of reclining figures made by Arnolfo di Cambio for the fountain. In these figures, the sculptor managed to convey all the richness of the movements of the human body.
Painting
In the art of the Italian Renaissance, wall painting occupied a dominant place. It was made in fresco technique. With paints prepared on water, they wrote either on wet plaster (actually a fresco) or on dry - this technique is called "a secco" (translated from Italian - "dry"). The main binder of plaster is lime. Because lime takes a little time to dry, fresco painting had to be done quickly, often in parts, between which there were connecting seams. From the second half of the XV century. the technique of fresco began to be supplemented with painting a secco; the latter allowed for slower work and allowed the finishing of parts. The work on the murals was preceded by the production of sinopia - auxiliary drawings applied under the fresco on the first layer of plaster. These drawings were made with red ocher, which was mined from clay near the city of Sinop, located on the Black Sea coast. According to the name of the city, the paint was called Sinop, or sinopia, later the drawings themselves began to be called the same way. Sinopia was used in Italian painting from the 13th to the middle of the 15th century. However, not all painters resorted to the help of sinopia - for example, Giotto di Bondone, the most prominent representative of the era of the Proto-Renaissance, did without them. Gradually, synopia was abandoned. From the middle of the XV century. Cardboards were widely used in painting - preparatory drawings made on paper or on fabric in the size of future works. The contours of the drawing were transferred to wet plaster with the help of coal dust. It was blown through the holes pierced in the contour and pressed into the plaster with some sharp tool. Sometimes synopia from a sketch sketch turned into a finished monumental drawing, and cardboards acquired the value of independent works of painting.

The founder of the new Italian style of painting is Cimabue (actually Cenny di Pepo, c. 1240 - c. 1302). Cimabue was famous in Florence as a master of solemn altar paintings and icons. His images are characterized by abstraction and static character. And although Cimabue followed Byzantine traditions in his work, in his works he tried to express earthly feelings, soften the rigidity of the Byzantine canon.
Piero Cavallini (between 1240 and 1250 - around 1330) lived and worked in Rome. He is the author of the mosaics of the Church of Santa Maria in Trastevere (1291), as well as the frescoes of the Church of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (circa 1293). In his works, Cavallini gave the forms volume and tangibility.
Achievements Cavallini adopted and continued Giotto di Bondone(1266 or 1267 - 1337), the greatest artist of the Proto-Renaissance. The name of Giotto is associated with a turn in the development of Italian painting, its break with medieval artistic canons and the traditions of Italo-Byzantine art of the 13th century. Most famous works Giotto - frescoes in the Arena Chapel in Padua (1304-06). The frescoes are distinguished by their clarity, uncomplicated narrative, the presence of everyday details that give vitality and naturalness to the depicted scenes. Rejecting the church canon that dominated the art of that time, Giotto depicts his characters as similar to real people: with proportional, squat bodies, round (rather than elongated) faces, the correct cut of the eyes, etc. His saints do not hover above the ground, but stand firmly on it with both feet. They think more about the earthly than about the heavenly, experiencing completely human feelings and emotions. For the first time in the history of Italian painting, the state of mind of the heroes of a painting is conveyed by facial expressions, gestures, posture. Instead of the traditional golden background, Giotto's frescoes depict landscapes, interiors, or sculptural groups on the facades of basilicas.
In the second half of the XIV century. the picturesque school of Siena comes to the fore. The largest and most refined master of Sienese painting of the XIV century. was Simone Martini (c. 1284-1344). The brush of Simone Martini owns the first image in the history of art of a concrete historical event with a portrait of a contemporary. This image " Condottiere Guidoriccio da Fogliano"in the Mappamondo (World Maps) room in the Palazzo Publico (Siena), which was the prototype for numerous future equestrian portraits. The altarpiece The Annunciation by Simone Martini, now kept in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, enjoys well-deserved fame.

Features of the Renaissance. Proto-Renaissance

Features of the Renaissance

Early Renaissance

In the XV century. the art of Italy occupied a dominant position in the artistic life of Europe. The foundations of a humanistic secular (i.e., not ecclesiastical) culture were laid in Florence, which pushed Siena and Pisa into the background. Political power here belonged to merchants and artisans, the strongest influence on city affairs was exerted by several wealthy families, who constantly competed with each other. This struggle ended at the end of the 14th century. victory of the Medici banking house. Its head, Cosimo de' Medici, became the unspoken ruler of Florence. Writers, poets, scientists, architects, artists flocked to the court of Cosimo Medici. The Renaissance culture of Florence reached its peak under Lorenzo de' Medici, nicknamed the Magnificent. Lorenzo was a great patron of the arts and sciences, the creator of the Platonic Academy, where the outstanding minds of Italy, poets and philosophers gathered, where refined debates were held that elevated the spirit and mind.

Architecture

Under Cosimo and Lorenzo Medici, a real revolution took place in the architecture of Florence: extensive construction was launched here, which significantly changed the face of the city. The ancestor of Renaissance architecture in Italy was Filippo Brunelleschi(1377-1446) - architect, sculptor and scientist, one of the creators of the scientific theory of perspective. Brunelleschi's greatest engineering achievement was the construction of the dome. Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence. Thanks to his mathematical and technical genius, Brunelleschi managed to solve the most difficult problem of his time. The main difficulty that the master faced was caused by the gigantic span of the middle cross (42 m), which required special efforts to facilitate spreading. Brunelleschi solved the problem by applying an ingenious design: a light hollow dome consisting of two shells, a frame system of eight bearing ribs connected by rings encircling them, a light lantern that closed and loaded the arch. The dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore became the forerunner of numerous domed churches in Italy and other European countries.

Brunelleschi was one of the first in the architecture of Italy to creatively comprehend and originally interpreted the ancient order system ( Ospedale degli Innocenti (Shelter for foundlings), 1421-44), marked the beginning of the creation of domed churches based on the ancient order ( Church of San Lorenzo ). A true gem of the Early Renaissance was created by Brunelleschi commissioned by a wealthy Florentine family Pazzi Chapel(begun in 1429). The humanism and poetry of Brunelleschi's work, the harmonious proportion, lightness and elegance of his buildings, keeping in touch with the traditions of the Gothic, the creative freedom and scientific validity of his ideas determined Brunelleschi's great influence on the subsequent development of Renaissance architecture.

One of the main achievements of Italian architecture of the XV century. was the creation of a new type of city palaces, the palazzo, which served as a model for public buildings of a later time. Features of the 15th century palazzo are a clear division of the closed volume of the building into three floors, an open courtyard with summer floor arcades, the use of rust (stone with a roughly beveled or convex front surface) for facade cladding, as well as a strongly extended decorative cornice. A striking example of this style is the capital construction of Brunelleschi's student Michelozzo di Bartolommeo (1396-1472), the court architect of the Medici family, - Palazzo Medici - Riccardi (1444-60), which served as a model for the construction of many Florentine palaces. The creation of Michelozzo is close Palazzo Strozzi(founded in 1481), which is associated with the name of the architect and sculptor Benedetto da Maiano (1442-97).

A special place in the history of Italian architecture is occupied by Leon Battista Alberti(1404-72). A comprehensively gifted and widely educated man, he was one of the most brilliant humanists of his time. The range of his interests was unusually varied. It covered morality and law, mathematics, mechanics, economics, philosophy, poetry, music, painting, sculpture, architecture. A brilliant stylist, Alberti left numerous works in Latin and Italian. In Italy and abroad, Alberti earned himself the fame of an outstanding art theorist. The famous treatises “Ten Books on Architecture” (1449-52), “On Painting”, “On the Statue” (1435-36) belong to his pen. But architecture was Alberti's main vocation. In architectural work, Alberti gravitated towards bold, experimental solutions, innovatively using the ancient artistic heritage. Alberti created a new type of city palace ( Palazzo Rucellai ). In religious architecture, striving for grandeur and simplicity, Alberti used motifs of Roman triumphal arches and arcades in the design of facades ( Church of Sant'Andrea in Mantua, 1472-94). The name Alberti is rightfully considered one of the first among the great creators of the culture of the Italian Renaissance.

Sculpture

In the XV century. Italian sculpture, which has acquired an independent significance independent of architecture, is flourishing. Orders for the decoration of public buildings are beginning to enter the practice of artistic life; art competitions are held. One of these competitions - for the manufacture of bronze of the second northern doors of the Florentine baptistery (1401) - is considered a significant event that opened a new page in the history of Italian Renaissance sculpture. The victory was won by Lorenzo Ghiberti (1381-1455).

One of the most educated people of his time, the first historian of Italian art, a brilliant draftsman, Ghiberti devoted his life to one type of sculpture - relief. The main principle of his art Ghiberti considered the balance and harmony of all elements of the image. The pinnacle of Ghiberti's work was east doors of the florence baptistery (1425-52), who immortalized the name of the master. The decoration of the doors includes ten square compositions made of gilded bronze (" Creation of Adam and Eve”), with their unusual expressiveness reminiscent of picturesque paintings. The artist managed to convey the depth of space, saturated with pictures of nature, figures of people, architectural structures. With the light hand of Michelangelo, the eastern doors of the Florentine baptistery began to be called "Gates of Paradise".

The Ghiberti workshop became a school for a whole generation of artists, in particular, the famous Donatello, the great reformer of Italian sculpture, worked there. The work of Donatello (c. 1386-1466), which absorbed the democratic traditions of the culture of Florence in the 14th century, is one of the peaks in the development of the art of the Early Renaissance. It embodied the search for new, realistic means of depicting reality, characteristic of the art of the Renaissance, close attention to man and his spiritual world. The influence of Donatello's work on the development of Italian Renaissance art was enormous.

The second generation of Florentine sculptors gravitated towards more lyrical, peaceful, secular art. The leading role in it belonged to the family of sculptors della Robbia. The head of the family, Lucca della Robbia (1399/1400 - 1482), became famous for his use of the glaze technique in round sculpture and relief. The technique of glaze (majolica), known from ancient times to the peoples of Asia Minor, was brought to the Iberian Peninsula and the island of Majorca (hence its name) in the Middle Ages, and then spread widely in Italy. Lucca della Robbia created medallions with reliefs on a deep blue background for buildings and altars, garlands of flowers and fruits, majolica busts of the Madonna, Christ and saints. The cheerful, elegant, kind art of this master received a well-deserved recognition of his contemporaries. Great perfection in the majolica technique was also achieved by his nephew Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525) ( reliefs on the façade of the Ospedale degli Innocenti).

Painting

The huge role that Brunelleschi played in the architecture of the Early Renaissance, and Donatello in sculpture, belonged to Masaccio (1401-1428) in painting. Masaccio died young, before reaching the age of 27, and yet he managed to do a lot in painting. The famous art historian Vipper said: "Masaccio is one of the most independent and consistent geniuses in the history of European painting, the founder of a new realism ..." Continuing the search for Giotto, Masaccio boldly breaks with medieval artistic traditions. In fresco "Trinity"(1426-27), created for the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Masaccio uses full perspective for the first time in wall painting. In the murals of the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence (1425-28) - the main creation of his short life - Masaccio gives the images an unprecedented vitality, emphasizes the physicality and monumentality of his characters, masterfully conveys the emotional state of the psychological depth of the images. In Fresco "Expulsion from Paradise" the artist solves the most difficult task of his time to depict a naked human figure. The harsh and courageous art of Masaccio had a huge impact on the artistic culture of the Renaissance.

The development of the painting of the Early Renaissance was ambiguous: the artists went their own, sometimes in different ways. The secular beginning, the desire for a fascinating narrative, the lyrical earthly feeling found vivid expression in the works of Fra Filippo Lippi (1406-69), a monk of the Carmelite order. Charming master, author of many altar compositions, among which the picture is considered the best « Adoration of the Child » created for the chapel in Palazzo Medici - Riccardi, Filippo Lippi managed to convey human warmth and poetic love for nature in them.

In the middle of the XV century. the painting of Central Italy experienced a rapid flowering, a prime example which creativity can serve Piero della Francesca(1420-92), the greatest artist and art theorist of the Renaissance. The most remarkable creation of Piero della Francesca - cycle of frescoes in the church of San Francesco in Arezzo, which are based on the legend of the Life-Giving Tree of the Cross. The frescoes, arranged in three tiers, trace the history of the life-giving cross from the very beginning, when a sacred tree grows from the seed of the paradise tree of the knowledge of good and evil on Adam's grave. ("Death of Adam") until the end, when the Byzantine emperor Heraclius solemnly returns the Christian relic to Jerusalem (« Battle between Heraclius and Chosroes » ). The work of Piero della Francesca went beyond local schools of painting and determined the development of Italian art in general.

In the second half of the 15th century, many talented craftsmen worked in northern Italy in the cities of Verona, Ferrara, and Venice. Among the painters of this time, the most famous is Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506) - a master of easel and monumental painting, draftsman and engraver, sculptor and architect. The pictorial manner of the artist is distinguished by the chasing of forms and drawings, the rigor and truthfulness of generalized images. Thanks to the spatial depth and sculptural nature of the figures, Mantegna achieves the impression of a real scene frozen for a moment - his characters look so voluminous and natural. Most of his life Mantegna lived in Mantua, where he created his most famous work - mural "Chamber degli Sposi" in the country castle of the Marquis L. Gonzaga. By means of painting alone, he created here a luxurious Renaissance interior, a place for ceremonial receptions and holidays. The art of Mantegna, which enjoyed great fame, influenced the entire northern Italian painting.

A special place in the painting of the Early Renaissance belongs to Sandro Botticelli(actually Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi), who was born in 1445 in Florence in the family of a wealthy leather tanner. In 1459-64. the young man is studying painting with the famous Florentine master Filippo Lippi. In 1470 he opened his own workshop in Florence, and in 1472 he became a member of the Guild of St. Luke.

The first creation of Botticelli was the composition "Strength", which he performed for the merchant court of Florence. The young artist quickly gained the trust of customers and gained fame, which attracted the attention of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the new ruler of Florence, became his court master and favorite. Botticelli executed most of his paintings for the houses of the duke and other noble Florentine families, as well as for churches, monasteries and public buildings in Florence.

Second half of the 1470s and 1480s became for Botticelli a period of creative flowering. For the main facade of the church of Santa Maria Novella, he writes the composition " Adoration of the Magi"- a kind of mythologized group portrait the Medici family. A few years later, the artist creates his famous mythological allegory "Spring".

In 1481, Pope Sixtus IV ordered a group of painters, among whom was Botticelli, to decorate his chapel with frescoes, which later received the name "Sistine". Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel by Botticelli Temptation of Christ », « Scenes from the life of Moses », « Punishment of Korea, Dathan and Aviron". In the next few years, Botticelli completed a series of 4 frescoes based on short stories from Boccaccio's Decameron, created his most famous mythological works (“The Birth of Venus”, “ Pallas and Centaur”), as well as several altar compositions for Florentine churches (“ Coronation of the Virgin Mary », « Altar of San Barnaba"). Many times he turned to the image of the Madonna (" Madonna del Magnificat », « Madonna with pomegranate », « Madonna with a book”), also worked in the portrait genre (“ Portrait of Giuliano Medici”, “Portrait of a young woman”, “Portrait of a young man”).

In the 1490s, during the period of social movements that shook Florence and the mystical sermons of the monk Savonarola, moralizing notes and drama appear in the art of Botticelli (“Slander”, “ Lamentation for Christ », « mystical christmas"). Under the influence of Savonarola, in a fit of religious exaltation, the artist even destroyed some of his works. In the mid-1490s, with the death of Lorenzo the Magnificent and the expulsion of his son Pietro from Florence, Botticelli lost his fame as a great artist. Forgotten, he quietly lives out his life in the house of brother Simon. In 1510 the artist died.

The exquisite art of Botticelli with elements of stylization (i.e. generalization of images using conventional techniques - simplification of color, shape and volume) is considered one of the pinnacles of the development of painting. Botticelli's art, unlike most of the early Renaissance masters, was based on personal experience. Exceptionally sensitive and sincere, Botticelli went through a difficult and tragic path of creative quest - from the poetic perception of the world in his youth to mysticism and religious exaltation in adulthood.

EARLY REVIVAL

EARLY REVIVAL

High Renaissance

The High Renaissance, which gave humanity such great masters as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giorgione, Titian, Bramante, covers a relatively short period of time - the end of the 15th and the first third of the 16th centuries. Only in Venice the flourishing of art continued until the middle of the century.

Fundamental shifts associated with the decisive events in world history, the successes of advanced scientific thought, endlessly expanded people's ideas about the world - not only about the earth, but also about space. The perception of the world and the human personality seemed to be enlarged; in artistic creativity, this was reflected not only in the majestic scale of architectural structures, monuments, solemn fresco cycles and paintings, but also in their content, expressiveness of images. The art of the High Renaissance is a lively and complex artistic process with dazzlingly bright ups and subsequent crises.

Donato Bramante.

Rome became the center of High Renaissance architecture, where a single classical style was formed on the basis of previous discoveries and successes. Masters creatively used the ancient order system, creating structures, the majestic monumentality of which was in tune with the era. Donato Bramante (1444-1514) became the largest representative of High Renaissance architecture. Bramante's buildings are distinguished by monumentality and grandeur, harmonious perfection of proportions, integrity and clarity of compositional and spatial solutions, and free, creative use of classical forms. The highest creative achievement of Bramante is the reconstruction of the Vatican (the architect actually created a new building, organically including scattered old buildings in it). Bramante also authored the design of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. With his work, Bramante determined the development of architecture in the 16th century.

Leonardo da Vinci.

In the history of mankind it is not easy to find another person as brilliant as the founder of the art of the High Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci(1452-1519). The comprehensive nature of the activities of this great artist, sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer became clear only when scattered manuscripts from his legacy were examined, numbering over seven thousand sheets containing scientific and architectural projects, inventions and sketches. It is difficult to name the area of ​​​​knowledge that his genius would not have touched. The universalism of Leonardo is so incomprehensible that the famous biographer of the Renaissance figures, Giorgio Vasari, could not explain this phenomenon otherwise than by the intervention of heaven: “Whatever this man turns to, his every action bears the stamp of divinity.”

In his famous "Treatise on Painting" (1498) and other notes, Leonardo paid great attention to the study of the human body, information on anatomy, proportions, the relationship between movements, facial expressions and the emotional state of a person. Leonardo was also occupied with the problems of chiaroscuro, volumetric modeling, linear and aerial perspective. Leonardo paid tribute not only to the theory of art. He created a number of magnificent altarpieces and portraits. Leonardo's brush belongs to one of the most famous works of world painting - "Mona Lisa" ("La Gioconda"). Leonardo created monumental sculptural images, designed and built architectural structures. Leonardo remains one of the most charismatic personalities of the Renaissance to this day. A huge number of books are devoted to him, his life is studied in the most detailed way. And, nevertheless, much in his work remains a mystery and continues to excite the minds of people.

Rafael Santi.

The art of Raphael Santi (1483-1520) also belongs to the heights of the Italian Renaissance. The idea of ​​sublime beauty and harmony is associated with the work of Raphael in the history of world art. It is generally accepted that in the constellation of brilliant masters of the High Renaissance, it was Raphael who was the main carrier of harmony. The relentless striving for a bright, perfect beginning permeates all of Raphael's work, makes up his inner meaning. His work is extraordinarily attractive in its natural elegance (" Sistine Madonna"). Perhaps that is why the master gained such extraordinary popularity with the public and had many followers among artists at all times. Raphael was not only an amazing painter, portrait painter, but also a muralist who worked in the fresco technique, an architect, and a decorator. All these talents were manifested with particular force in his paintings of the apartments of Pope Julius II in the Vatican (" School of Athens"). In the art of a brilliant artist, a new image of a Renaissance man was born - beautiful, harmonious, perfect physically and spiritually.

Michelangelo Buonarotti.

Contemporary Leonardo da Vinci and Rafael was their eternal rival - Michelangelo Buonarroti , greatest master High Renaissance - sculptor, painter, architect and poet. This titan of the Renaissance began his career with sculpture. His colossal statues have become a symbol of a new man - a hero and a fighter ("David"). The master erected many architectural and sculptural structures, the most famous of which is the Medici Chapel in Florence. The splendor of these works is built on the colossal tension of the characters' feelings ( Sarcophagus of Giuliano de' Medici). But especially famous are the paintings by Michelangelo in the Vatican, in the Sistine Chapel, in which he proved himself to be a brilliant painter. Perhaps no one in the world of art, neither before nor after Michelangelo, has created characters so strong in body and spirit (“ Creation of Adam"). The huge, incredibly complex fresco on the ceiling was made by the artist alone, without assistants; to this day it remains an unsurpassed monumental work of Italian painting. But in addition to the murals of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the master, already in his old age, created the fiercely inspirational "Last Judgment" - a symbol of the collapse of the ideals of his great era.

Michelangelo worked a lot and fruitfully in architecture, in particular, he supervised the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral and the ensemble Capitol Square in Rome. The work of the great Michelangelo constituted an entire era and was far ahead of its time, it played a colossal role in world art, in particular, it influenced the formation of the principles of the Baroque.

Giorgione and Titian.

In the history of the art of the High Renaissance, Venice entered a bright page, where painting is at its peak. Giorgione is considered the first master of the High Renaissance in Venice. His art is very special. The spirit of clear harmony and some special intimate contemplation and reverie reigns in it. He often wrote delightful beauties, real goddesses. Usually this is a poetic fiction - the embodiment of a pipe dream, admiration for a romantic feeling and a beautiful woman. In his paintings there is a hint of sensual passion, sweet pleasure, unearthly happiness. With the art of Giorgione, Venetian painting acquired an all-Italian significance, asserting its artistic features.

Titian in went down in the history of Italian art as a titan and head of the Venetian school, as a symbol of its heyday. In the work of this artist, the breath of a new era was manifested with special force - stormy, tragic, sensual. Titian's work is distinguished by an exceptionally wide and versatile coverage of types and genres of painting. Titian was one of the founders of the monumental altar painting, the landscape as an independent genre, various types of portraits, including solemn-ceremonial ones. In his work, ideal images coexist with vivid characters, tragic conflicts with scenes of jubilant joy, religious compositions with mythological and historical paintings.

Titian developed a new painting technique that had an exceptional influence on the further development of world fine arts, up to the 20th century. Titian belongs to the greatest colorists of world painting. His paintings shine with gold and a complex range of vibrating luminous tones of color. Titian, who lived for almost a century, survived the collapse of the Renaissance ideals, the master's work belongs half to the era Late Renaissance. His hero, who enters the fight against hostile forces, dies, but retains his greatness. The influence of Titian's large workshop affected all Venetian art.

HIGH REVIVAL

HIGH REVIVAL

Late Renaissance

In the second half of the XVI century. in Italy, the decline of the economy and trade was growing, Catholicism entered into a struggle with humanistic culture, art was in deep crisis. It strengthened anti-Renaissance tendencies, embodied in mannerism. However, Mannerism almost did not affect Venice, which in the second half of the 16th century became the main center of the art of the Late Renaissance. In line with the high humanistic Renaissance tradition, in the new historical conditions in Venice, the work of the great masters of the Late Renaissance, enriched with new forms, developed - Palladio, Veronese, Tintoretto.

Andrea Palladio

The work of the northern Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-80), based on a deep study of ancient and Renaissance architecture, is one of the pinnacles in the art of the Late Renaissance. Palladio developed the principles of architecture, which were developed in the architecture of European classicism of the 17th-18th centuries. and received the name of Palladianism. The architect outlined his ideas in the theoretical work Four Books on Architecture (1570). The buildings of Palladio (mainly urban palaces and villas) are full of graceful beauty and naturalness, harmonious completeness and strict orderliness, they are distinguished by clarity and expediency of planning and an organic connection with the environment ( Palazzo Chiericati). The ability to harmonize architecture with the surrounding landscape manifested itself with particular force in the Palladio villas, imbued with an elegiac and enlightened sense of nature and marked by classical clarity and simplicity of forms and composition ( Villa Capra (Rotonda)). Palladio created the first monumental theatrical building in Italy, the Teatro Olimpico. The influence of Palladio on the development of architecture in subsequent centuries was enormous.

Veronese and Tintoretto..

The festive, life-affirming nature of the Venetian Renaissance was most clearly manifested in the work of Paolo Veronese. A monumental artist, he created magnificent decorative ensembles of wall and ceiling paintings with many characters and entertaining details. Veronese created own style: his spectacular, spectacular paintings are full of emotions, passion and life, and the heroes, the Venetian nobility, are usually located in patrician palaces or against the backdrop of luxurious nature. They are carried away by grandiose feasts or enchanting festivities (“Marriage at Cana”). Veronese was the master of merry Venice, its triumphs, the poet of its golden brilliance. Veronese had an exceptional gift as a colorist. His colors are permeated with light, intense and do not just endow objects with color, but they themselves turn into an object, turning into clouds, fabric, a human body. Because of this, the real beauty of figures and objects is multiplied by the beauty of color and texture, which produces a strong emotional impact on the viewer.

The complete opposite of Veronese was his contemporary Tintoretto (1518-94) - the last major master of the Italian Renaissance. The abundance of external artistic influences dissolved in the unique creative individuality of Tintoretto. In his work, he was a gigantic figure, the creator of volcanic temperament, violent passions and heroic intensity. His work was a huge success both among contemporaries and subsequent generations. Tintoretto was distinguished by a truly inhuman ability to work, tireless search. He felt the tragedy of his time more sharply and deeper than most of his contemporaries. The master rebelled against the established traditions in the visual arts - the observance of symmetry, strict balance, static; expanded the boundaries of space, saturated it with dynamics, dramatic action, began to express human feelings more vividly. 1590 . Mannerist art departs from Renaissance ideals harmonic perception peace. Man is at the mercy of supernatural forces. The world appears unstable, shaky, in a state of decay. Mannerist images are full of anxiety, restlessness, tension. The artist moves away from nature, strives to surpass it, following in his work a subjective “inner idea”, the basis of which is not the real world, but creative imagination; the means of performance is the "beautiful manner" as the sum of certain techniques. Among them are the arbitrary elongation of the figures, the complex serpentine rhythm, the unreality of fantastic space and light, and sometimes cold piercing colors.

Jacopo Pontormo (1494-1556) was the largest and most gifted master of mannerism, a painter of complex creative destiny. In his famous painting « Descent from the Cross» the composition is unstable, the figures are pretentiously broken, the light colors are sharp. Francesco Mazzola, nicknamed Parmigianino (1503-40) loved to impress the viewer: for example, he wrote his " Self-portrait in a convex mirror". Deliberate deliberateness distinguishes his famous painting " Madonna with a long neck ».

The Medici court painter Agnolo Bronzino (1503-72) is known for his ceremonial portraits. They echoed the era of bloody atrocities and moral decline that gripped the highest circles of Italian society. The noble customers of Bronzino are, as it were, separated from the viewer by an invisible distance; the stiffness of their poses, the impassivity of their faces, the richness of their clothes, the gestures of their beautiful front hands - all this is like an outer shell that hides an inner flawed life. In the portrait of Eleanor of Toledo with her son (c. 1545), the inaccessibility of the cold, aloof image is reinforced by the fact that the viewer's attention is completely absorbed by the flat large pattern of the duchess's magnificent brocade clothes. The type of court portrait created by the Mannerists influenced the portrait art of the 16th-17th centuries. in many other European countries.

The art of mannerism was transitional: the Renaissance was fading into the past, the time had come for a new pan-European artistic style- baroque.

Art of the Northern Renaissance.

The countries of Northern Europe did not have their ancient past, but the Renaissance period stands out in their history: from the turnXV – XVIfor the second halfXVIIcentury. This time is distinguished by the penetration of Renaissance ideals into various spheres of culture and the gradual change in its style. As in the birthplace of the Renaissance, in the art of the Northern Renaissance, interest in the real world changed the forms of artistic creativity. However, the art of the northern countries was not characterized by the pathos of Italian painting, glorifying the power of the man-titan. The burghers (the so-called wealthy townspeople) valued integrity, fidelity to duty and word, the sanctity of the marital vow and the hearth more. In burgher circles, their own ideal of a person was developing - a clear, sober, pious and businesslike. The art of the burghers poeticizes the ordinary average person and his world - the world of everyday life and simple things.

Renaissance masters in the Netherlands.

New features of Renaissance art appeared primarily in the Netherlands, which was one of the richest and most industrialized countries in Europe. Due to their extensive international relations The Netherlands accepted new discoveries much faster than other Nordic countries.

Renaissance style in the Netherlands opened Jan Van Eyck(1390-1441). His most famous work is Ghent altarpiece, on which the artist began to work with his brother, and continued to work after his death on his own for another 6 years. The Ghent altar, created for the city cathedral, is a two-tier fold, on 12 boards of which are pictures of everyday, everyday life (on the outer boards, which were visible when the fold was closed) and festive, jubilant, transfigured life (on the inner doors, which appeared open during church holidays). This is a monument of art, glorifying the beauty of earthly life. Van Eyck's emotional feeling - "the world is like a paradise", every particle of which is beautiful - is expressed clearly and clearly. The artist relied on many observations from nature. All figures and objects have three-dimensional volume and weight. The Van Eyck brothers were among the first to discover the possibilities of oil painting; from this time, the gradual displacement of tempera by it begins.

In the second half of XVcentury, full of political and religious strife, in the art of the Netherlands, a complex, peculiar art stands out Hieronymus Bosch(1450?-1516). This is a very curious artist with an extraordinary imagination. He lived in his own and terrible world. In Bosch's paintings there is a condensation of medieval folklore representations, grotesque montages of the living and the mechanical, the terrible and the comic. In his compositions, which did not have a center, there is no main character. The space in several layers is filled with numerous groups of figures and objects: monstrously exaggerated reptiles, toads, spiders, terrible creatures in which parts of different creatures and objects are combined. The purpose of Bosch's compositions is moral edification. Bosch does not find harmony and perfection in nature, his demonic images remind of the vitality and omnipresence of world evil, of the cycle of life and death.

The man in Bosch's paintings is pathetic and weak. So, in the triptych Carriage of hay» the artist reveals the history of mankind. The left wing tells the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, the right one depicts Hell and all the horrors that await sinners here. The central part of the picture illustrates the folk proverb "The world is a haystack, everyone takes from it what he manages to grab." Bosch shows how people fight for a patch of hay, die under the wheels of a wagon, try to climb on it. On top of the wagon, renouncing the world, lovers sing and kiss. On one side of them is an angel, and on the other, the devil: who will win? Creepy creatures drag the cart to the underworld. Behind all the actions of people, God looks in bewilderment. An even more gloomy mood is imbued with the picture " Carrying the Cross”: Christ carries his heavy cross, surrounded by disgusting people with bulging eyes and gaping mouths. For their sake the Lord sacrifices himself, but his death on the cross will leave them indifferent.

Bosch had already died when another famous Dutch artist was born - Pieter Brueghel the Elder(1525-1569), nicknamed Muzhitsky for many paintings depicting the life of peasants. Brueghel took folk proverbs and everyday worries of ordinary people as the basis for many plots. The completeness of the images of the paintings " peasant wedding" And " peasant dance"carries the power of the people's elements. Even Brueghel's paintings on biblical scenes are inhabited by the Netherlands, and the events of distant Judea take place against the backdrop of snow-covered streets under the dim sky of his native country (“ Sermon of John the Baptist"). Showing seemingly unimportant, minor, the artist talks about the main thing in people's lives, recreates the spirit of his time.

A small canvas Hunters in the snow” (January) from the series “The Seasons” is considered one of the unsurpassed masterpieces of world painting. Tired hunters with dogs return home. Together with them, the viewer enters the hill, from which a panorama of a small town opens. Snow-covered banks of the river, thorny trees froze in the clear frosty air, birds fly, sit on tree branches and roofs of houses, people are busy with their daily activities. All these seemingly trifles, together with the blue of the sky, black trees, white snow, create in the picture a panorama of the world that the artist passionately loves.

Brueghel's most tragic painting Parable of the Blind"Written by the artist shortly before his death. It illustrates the gospel story "if the blind lead the blind, then both of them will fall into the pit." Perhaps this is an image of humanity, blinded by its desires, moving towards its death. However, Brueghel does not judge, but, comprehending the laws of the relationship of people with each other, with the environment, penetrating into the essence of human nature, reveals to people themselves, their place in the world.

Painting in Germany during the Renaissance.

Features of the Renaissance in the art of Germany appear later than in the Netherlands. The heyday of German humanism, secular sciences and culture falls on the first yearsXVIV. It was a brief period during which German culture gave the world the highest artistic values. First of all, they should include works Albrecht Dürer(1471-1528) - the most important artist of the German Renaissance.

Durer is a typical representative of the Renaissance, he was a painter, an engraver, a mathematician, and an engineer, he wrote treatises on fortification and art theory. On self-portraits he appears intelligent, noble, concentrated, full of deep philosophical reflections. In the paintings, Dürer is not content with formal beauty, but seeks to give a symbolic expression of abstract thoughts.

A special place in Dürer's creative heritage belongs to the Apocalypse series, which includes 15 large woodcuts. Dürer illustrates the predictions from the "Revelation of John the Theologian", for example, the sheet " four horsemen"symbolizes terrible disasters - war, pestilence, famine, unrighteous judgment. The foreboding of change, hard trials and disasters, expressed in engravings, turned out to be prophetic (the Reformation and the Peasant and religious wars that followed it soon began).

Another great artist of that time was Lucas Cranach the Elder(1472-1553). The Hermitage houses his paintings Madonna and Child under the Apple Tree" And " Female portrait". In them we see a woman's face, captured in many of the master's paintings (it is even called "Cranach"): a small chin, a narrow slit of eyes, golden hair. The artist carefully writes out jewelry and clothes, his paintings are a feast for the eyes. The purity and naivety of the images once again make you peer into these paintings. Cranach was a wonderful portrait painter, he created images of many famous contemporaries - Martin Luther (who was his friend), Duke Henry of Saxony and many others.

But the most famous portrait painter of the Northern Renaissance can undoubtedly be recognized as another German painter. Hans Holbein the Younger(1497-1543). For a long time he was the court painter of the English King HenryVIII. In his portrait, Holbein perfectly conveys the imperious nature of the king, who is unfamiliar with doubt. Small intelligent eyes on a fleshy face betray a tyrant in him. Portrait of Heinrich VIII was so reliable that he frightened people who knew the king. Holbein painted portraits of many famous people of that time, in particular the statesman and writer Thomas More, the philosopher Erasmus of Rotterdam and many others.

The development of Renaissance culture in Germany, the Netherlands, and some other European countries was interrupted by the Reformation and the religious wars that followed it. Following this, the time came for the formation of new principles in art, which entered the next stage of its development.

PAGE \* MERGEFORMAT 2

federal agency railway transport

Siberian State University means of communication

Department of "Philosophy"

ARTISTIC IMAGES OF THE RENAISSANCE

Essay

In the discipline "Culturology"

Head Designed

Professor student gr. D-111

Bystrova A.N. ___________ Kamyshova E.V.

(signature) (signature)

08.12.2012

(date of inspection) (date of submission for inspection)

year 2012

Introduction

The Renaissance is considered one of the brightest periods in the history of the development of European culture. We can say that the revival is a whole cultural era in the process of transition from the Middle Ages to the new time, during which a cultural upheaval (a turning point, a shift) took place. Fundamental changes are associated with the eradication of mythology.

Despite the origin of the term Renaissance (fr. Renaissance, "Renaissance"), there was no revival of antiquity and could not be. Man cannot return to his past. The Renaissance, using the lessons of antiquity, introduced innovations. He did not bring back to life all ancient genres, but only those that were characteristic of the aspirations of his time and culture. The Renaissance combined a new reading of antiquity with a new reading of Christianity.

The relevance of the chosen topic is due to the connection between the modern era and the Renaissance - this is a revolution, first of all, in the system of values, in the assessment of everything that exists and in relation to it.

The main purpose of the work is to show the fundamental changes that have taken place in the worldview of the greatest figures of the era under consideration.

1. Culture of the Renaissance

XIII-XVI The centuries have been a time of great change in economics, politics and culture. The rapid growth of cities and the development of crafts, and later the transition to manufactory production, transformed the face of medieval Europe.

Cities came to the fore. Not long before this, the most powerful forces of the medieval world - the empire and the papacy - were in deep crisis. IN XVI century, the decaying Holy Roman Empire of the German nation became the scene of the first two anti-feudal revolutions - the Great Peasants' War in Germany and the Netherlands Uprising.

The transitional nature of the era, the process of liberation from medieval paths taking place in all areas of life, at the same time, the still underdevelopment of emerging capitalist relations could not but affect the characteristics of the artistic culture and aesthetic thought of that time.

According to A. V. Stepanov, all changes in the life of society were accompanied by a broad renewal of culture - the flourishing of natural and exact sciences, literature in national languages, and fine arts. Originating in the cities of Italy, this renewal then captured other European countries. The author believes that after the advent of printing, unprecedented opportunities opened up for the dissemination of literary and scientific works, and more regular and close communication between countries contributed to the penetration of new artistic trends.

This did not mean that the Middle Ages receded before new trends: traditional ideas were preserved in the mass consciousness. The church resisted new ideas, using a medieval means - the Inquisition. The idea of ​​the freedom of the human person continued to exist in a society divided into classes. The feudal form of dependence of the peasants did not completely disappear, and in some countries (Germany, in Central Europe) there was a return to serfdom. The feudal system showed quite a lot of vitality. Each European country lived it out in its own way and within its own chronological framework. Capitalism existed for a long time as a way of life, covering only a part of production both in the city and in the countryside. However, the patriarchal medieval slowness began to recede into the past.

The great geographical discoveries played a huge role in this breakthrough. For example, in 1492. H. Columbus, in search of a way to India crossed Atlantic Ocean and landed off the Bahamas, discovering a new continent - America. In 1498 Spanish traveler Vasco da Gama, having rounded Africa, successfully brought his ships to the shores of India. WITH XVI V. Europeans are penetrating into China and Japan, of which they previously had only the most vague idea. From 1510, the conquest of America begins. IN XVII V. Australia was discovered. The idea of ​​the shape of the earth has changed: trip around the world F. Magellan confirmed the conjecture that it has the shape of a ball.

Contempt for everything earthly is now replaced by an avid interest in the real world, in man, in the consciousness of the beauty and grandeur of nature, which could be proved by analyzing the cultural monuments of the Renaissance. The primacy of theology over science, indisputable in the Middle Ages, is shaken by faith in the unlimited possibilities of the human mind, which becomes the highest measure of truth. Emphasizing the interest in the human as opposed to the divine, representatives of the new secular intelligentsia called themselves humanists, deriving this word from the concept of " studia humanitanis ”, meaning the study of everything connected with human nature and his spiritual world.

For the works and art of the Renaissance, the idea of ​​​​a free being with unlimited creative possibilities became characteristic. It is associated with anthropocentrism in the aesthetics of the Renaissance and the understanding of the beautiful, the sublime, the heroic. The principle of a beautiful artistic and creative human personality was combined by the theorists of the Renaissance with an attempt to mathematically calculate all kinds of proportions, symmetry, and perspective.

The aesthetic and artistic thinking of this era is based for the first time on human perception as such and on sensual the real picture peace. Here, the subjectivist-individualistic thirst for life sensations is also striking, regardless of their religious and moral interpretation, although the latter, in principle, is not denied. The aesthetics of the Renaissance focuses art on the imitation of nature. However, in the first place here is not so much nature as the artist, who in his creative activity is likened to God.

E. Chamberlin considers pleasure to be one of the most important principles for the perception of works of art, because this indicates a significant democratic trend as opposed to the scholastic "learning" of previous aesthetic theories.

The aesthetic thought of the Renaissance contains not only the idea of ​​absolutization of the human individual as opposed to the divine personality in the Middle Ages, but also a certain awareness of the limitations of such individualism, based on the absolute self-affirmation of the individual. Hence the motives of tragedy, found in the works of W. Shakespeare, M. Cervantes, Michelangelo, and others. This is the contradictory nature of a culture that has departed from ancient medieval absolutes, but due to historical circumstances has not yet found new reliable foundations.

The connection between art and science is one of the characteristic features culture. Artists sought support in the sciences, often stimulating their development. The Renaissance is marked by the emergence of artists-scientists, among whom the first place belongs to Leonardo da Vinci.

Thus, one of the tasks of the Renaissance is the comprehension by man of a world filled with divine beauty. The world attracts a person because he is spiritualized by God. But in the Renaissance, there was another trend a person's feeling of the tragedy of his existence.

2. The image of the world and man in the works of great masters renaissance

The term "Renaissance" (translation of the French term "Renaissance") indicates the connection of the new culture with antiquity. As a result of acquaintance with the East, in particular with Byzantium, during the era of the Crusades, Europeans became acquainted with ancient humanistic manuscripts, various monuments of ancient fine art and architecture. All these antiquities began to be partially transported to Italy, where they were collected and studied. But even in Italy itself there were many ancient Roman monuments, which also began to be carefully studied by representatives of the Italian urban intelligentsia. In Italian society, a deep interest arose in the classical ancient languages, ancient philosophy, history and literature. The city of Florence played a particularly important role in this movement. A number of outstanding figures of the new culture came out of Florence.

Using the ancient ideology, created once in the most lively, in the economic sense, cities of antiquity, the new bourgeoisie reworked it in its own way, formulating its new worldview, sharply opposite to the worldview of feudalism that prevailed before. The second name of the new Italian culture - humanism just proves this.

Humanistic culture put the man himself (humanus - human) in the center of its attention, and not the divine, otherworldly, as was the case in medieval ideology. Asceticism no longer had a place in the humanistic worldview. The human body, its passions and needs were not seen as something "sinful" that had to be suppressed or tortured, but as an end in itself, as the most important thing in life. Earthly existence was recognized as the only real one. The knowledge of nature and man was declared the essence of science. In contrast to the pessimistic motives that dominated the worldview of medieval scholastics and mystics, optimistic motives prevailed in the worldview and mood of the people of the Renaissance; they were characterized by faith in man, in the future of mankind, in the triumph of human reason and enlightenment. Pleiades outstanding poets and writers, scientists and figures various kinds art participated in this great new intellectual movement. The glory of Italy was brought by such wonderful artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione, Michelangelo, Raphael, Titian.

The undoubted achievement of the Renaissance was the geometrically correct construction of the picture. The artist built the image using the techniques he developed. The main thing for painters of that time was to observe the proportions of objects. Even nature fell under mathematical tricks.

In other words, artists in the Renaissance sought to convey an accurate image, for example, of a person against the backdrop of nature. If compared with modern methods of recreating a seen image on some kind of canvas, then, most likely, a photograph with subsequent adjustment will help to understand what the Renaissance artists were striving for.

Renaissance painters believed that they had the right to correct the flaws of nature, that is, if a person had ugly facial features, the artists corrected them in such a way that the face became sweet and attractive.

Depicting biblical scenes, Renaissance artists tried to make it clear that the earthly manifestations of a person can be depicted more clearly if they use bible stories. You can understand what the fall, temptation, hell or heaven is, if you start to get acquainted with the work of artists of that time. The same image of the Madonna conveys to us the beauty of a woman, and also carries an understanding of earthly human love.

Thus, in the art of the Renaissance, the paths of scientific and artistic comprehension of the world and man were closely intertwined. Its cognitive meaning was inextricably linked with sublime poetic beauty; in its striving for naturalness, it did not descend to petty everyday life. Art has become a universal spiritual need.

Conclusion

So, the Renaissance, or the Renaissance, is an era in the life of mankind, marked by a colossal rise in art and science. The Renaissance proclaimed man the highest value of life.

In art, the main theme was a person with unlimited spiritual and creative possibilities.The art of the Renaissance laid the foundations of the European culture of the New Age, radically changed all the main types of art.

In architecture, new types of public buildings have developed.Painting was enriched with a linear and aerial perspective, knowledge of the anatomy and proportions of the human body.Earthly content penetrated the traditional religious themes of works of art. Increased interest in ancient mythology, history, everyday scenes, landscapes, portraits. There was a picture, there was a painting oil paints. The creative individuality of the artist took the first place in art.

In the art of the Renaissance, the paths of scientific and artistic comprehension of the world and man were closely intertwined.Art has become a universal spiritual need.

Undoubtedly, the Renaissance is one of the most beautiful eras in the history of mankind.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Kustodieva T.K. ITALIAN ART OF THE RENAISSANCE OF THE XIII-XVI CENTURIES (ESSAY-GUIDE) / Т.К. KUSTODIEVA, ART, 1985. 318 P.
2. IMAGES OF LOVE AND BEAUTY IN THE CULTURE OF THE RENAISSANCE / L.M. BRAGINA, M., 2008. 309 P.
3. Stepanov A.V. ART OF THE RENAISSANCE. ITALY XIV-XV CENTURIES / A.V. STEPANOV, M., 2007. 610 P.
4. Stepanov A.V. ART OF THE RENAISSANCE. NETHERLANDS, GERMANY, FRANCE, SPAIN, ENGLAND / A.V. STEPANOV, AZBUKA-CLASSICS, 2009. 640 P.
5. CHAMBERLIN E. THE AGE OF THE RENAISSANCE. LIFE, RELIGION, CULTURE / E. CHAMBERLIN, CENTERPOLYGRAPH, 2006. 240 P.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Questions and tasks

1. Why Versailles can be attributed to outstanding works?

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

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

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

creative workshop

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

2. Try to compare the image of the "ideal city" of the Renaissance with the classical ensembles of Paris (St. Petersburg or its suburbs).

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

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

Topics of projects, abstracts or messages

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

Books for additional reading

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

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

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

LenotrJ. Everyday life Versailles under the kings. M., 2003.

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

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