European Renaissance as a historical epoch. Renaissance (Renaissance), renaissance
What is the Renaissance?
Renaissance- This is an era of world significance in the history of European culture, which replaced the Middle Ages and preceded the Enlightenment. It falls - in Italy - at the beginning of the 14th century (everywhere in Europe - from the 15th-16th centuries) - the last quarter of the 16th centuries and in some cases - the first decades of the 17th century.
The term Renaissance is already found among Italian humanists, for example, in Giorgio Vasari. In its modern meaning, the term was coined by the 19th-century French historian Jules Michelet. Nowadays, the term Renaissance has become a metaphor for cultural flourishing.
The distinctive features of the Renaissance are anthropocentrism, that is, an extraordinary interest in man as an individual and his activities. This also includes the secular nature of culture. In society, there is an interest in the culture of antiquity, something like its “revival” is taking place. Hence, in fact, the name of such an important period of time appeared. The outstanding figures of the Renaissance can be called the immortal Michelangelo, Niccolò Machiavelli and the ever-living Leonardo da Vinci.
Renaissance literature is a major trend in literature, an integral part of the entire culture of the Renaissance. Occupies the period from the XIV to the XVI century. It differs from medieval literature in that it is based on new, progressive ideas of humanism. Synonymous with the Renaissance is the term "Renaissance", of French origin.
The ideas of humanism originate for the first time in Italy, and then spread throughout Europe. Also, the literature of the Renaissance spread throughout Europe, but acquired in each individual country its own national character. The term Renaissance means renewal, the appeal of artists, writers, thinkers to the culture and art of antiquity, the imitation of its high ideals.
In addition to humanistic ideas, new genres are emerging in the literature of the Renaissance, and early realism is being formed, which is called "Renaissance realism". As can be seen in the works of Rabelais, Petrarch, Cervantes and Shakespeare, the literature of this time was filled with a new understanding of human life. It demonstrates a complete rejection of the slavish obedience that the church preached.
Writers present man as the highest creation of nature, revealing the richness of his soul, mind and the beauty of his physical appearance. The realism of the Renaissance is characterized by the grandiosity of images, the ability for great sincere feeling, the poeticization of the image and the passionate, most often high intensity of the tragic conflict, demonstrating the clash of a person with hostile forces.
The literature of the Renaissance is characterized by a variety of genres, but still some literary forms dominated. The most popular was the novella. In poetry, the sonnet is most clearly manifested. Dramaturgy is also gaining high popularity, in which the Spaniard Lope de Vega and Shakespeare in England are most famous. It is impossible not to note the high development and popularization of philosophical prose and journalism.
During its existence, human civilization passed through several eras, which had a great influence on all its development. Some milestones in history were sad and bloody, they threw humanity back several decades. But others brought spiritual light with them and contributed to an unprecedented creative surge that affected absolutely all spheres of life and art. Of such importance in the history of mankind is the Renaissance - the Renaissance, which gave the world great sculptors, painters and poets.
What does the term "Renaissance" mean?
The Renaissance cannot be characterized by dry statistics or a brief enumeration of the great people born during this period of time. But you need to understand what this name includes.
Translated from Italian, the term "Renaissance" is a name created by the merger of the two words "again" and "to be born". Therefore, the concepts of "Renaissance" and "Renaissance" are identical. They can be equally applied in explaining the period of European history, which gave birth to a lot of geniuses and masterpieces of art.
Initially, the Renaissance was called a specific time period when artists and sculptors created the largest number of masterpieces. This period is characterized by the emergence of new types of art and a change in attitude towards them.
Renaissance: The Years of the Renaissance
For many years, historians have argued about which period of history to attribute to the Renaissance. The fact is that the Renaissance is a certain transitional stage from the Middle Ages to the new time. It was associated with many changes based on a fusion of old concepts and emerging new trends in philosophy, science and art.
All this manifested itself in every European country at different times. For example, in Italy, the Renaissance began to manifest itself at the end of the thirteenth century, but France was influenced by a new era almost a whole century later. Therefore, today's scientific community understands the Renaissance as the period from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. Many historians affectionately refer to it as the "autumn of the Middle Ages".
Philosophy of the Renaissance: the foundations of a new trend
The Middle Ages is characterized by the spread of ideas about the predominance of the spiritual over the earthly. During this period, it was customary to reject all the needs of one's body and strive only to cleanse the soul of sin in order to prepare it for life in Heaven. Man did not seek to capture his earthly existence in bright colors, because it was just an expectation of something extraordinary in the future.
The Renaissance significantly changed the worldview of people. Historians attribute this to a certain economic upsurge that affected the countries of Europe at the beginning of the fourteenth century. A person got the opportunity to look at the world from a different angle and appreciate its beauty. Heavenly life faded into the background, and people began to admire each new day, filled with the beauties of ordinary everyday life.
Many art historians believe that the Renaissance is a return to the ideas of antiquity. In a sense, it is. Indeed, in the Renaissance, the ideas of humanism and the achievement of a balance between man and nature began to spread. Antiquity also appealed to these ideas, the human body was the subject of study and admiration, and not something shameful, as in the Middle Ages.
But despite this similarity, the Renaissance was a completely new stage in art and science. Not only new scientific ideas appeared, but also numerous techniques in painting and sculpture, which made it possible to make the image three-dimensional and realistic. A person has reached a completely different level of perception of the world around him, which made him reconsider all the theories and dogmas of past centuries.
Where did the Renaissance originate?
In the understanding of art historians, the Renaissance is primarily Italy. It was here that new trends were born that spread throughout Europe after several centuries. Even the term "Renaissance" was introduced into use by the Italian, who replaced them for some time with the designation of the era of antiquity.
If you think about it, it's hard to imagine that the Renaissance could have originated somewhere other than Italy. After all, everything in this country is permeated with the spirit of beauty and worship of this beauty. The Roman Empire once left many historical monuments that inspired sculptors and painters with their perfection. It is believed that Florence - the city of merchants and bohemia - gave birth to the Renaissance and became its cradle.
Until now, it is in this city that you can find the most striking works of the Renaissance, which glorified their creators throughout the world. These include masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. In parallel with art, Italian philosophy also developed. For several decades, many scientific works have been written on modern times and humanistic ideas.
Italian and French Renaissance
Since the Renaissance is a rather long historical period, art critics divide it into Italian and French. Inspired and fed by common ideas, the Renaissance manifested itself in these countries in its own way, leaving in the end absolutely different monuments of architecture and painting.
Even in Italy it is customary to divide the Renaissance into several periods:
- Early Renaissance.
- High Renaissance.
- Late Renaissance.
Some sources indicate another period - the Proto-Renaissance, which became the very first stage in the formation of a new philosophy. But this is a very controversial point, which is still refuted by some scholars, including the period from the thirteenth to the end of the fourteenth century in the Early Renaissance.
It is worth noting that the Italian Renaissance was significantly influenced by the legacy of antiquity. But the French Renaissance is absolutely distinctive, it is a mixture of Italian theories with the freethinking of French philosophers, who gave birth to a new round of art development. The era of the French Renaissance is characterized by a large number of architectural structures. Especially vividly represent this era castles in the Loire Valley, built at the behest of the French kings.
Renaissance style: people's appearance and costume
It is not surprising that the Renaissance had an impact on all areas of people's lives. Of course, unusual trends were picked up by the nobility and aristocrats, striving to bring everything new into their lives. First of all, the attitude towards beauty has completely changed among people. Men and women sought to adorn themselves as much as possible, at the same time trying to emphasize naturalness and highlight their virtues given by nature. This very clearly characterizes the Renaissance. The style adopted during this period gave rise to a lot of rules for creating hairstyles and applying makeup. The woman had to look strong, gentle and surprisingly earthy.
For example, the Renaissance women's costume is distinguished by a certain volume, emphasizing pleasant forms and charms. It was decorated with many small details and decorations. The fair sex, enthusiastically accepting the Renaissance, the style of which was dictated by an indefatigable desire for beauty, wore a deep neckline, which used to move down to one shoulder or suddenly expose their breasts. Hairstyles also became voluminous with more curls and woven threads. Often a thin mesh with pearls and precious stones was fixed on the hair, sometimes it went down to the shoulders and completely covered the hair at the back.
The Renaissance men's costume had some elements that came from antiquity. Representatives of the strong half of humanity wore a kind of tunic with tight stockings. A long cloak with a collar began to serve as an addition to the costume. In the modern world, it is often used as formal wear at scientific symposiums and other events. And this is not surprising, because it was the Renaissance - the Renaissance - that laid the foundations of the intelligentsia as a social class. For the first time in the history of mankind, mental labor began to be valued and allowed to exist comfortably.
Renaissance painting
Especially many masterpieces were created by artists of the Renaissance. They gave rise to a new attitude to the image of the human body, which appeared on the canvases in all its glory. But for this it was necessary to know in great detail all the anatomical features of a person. Therefore, all the famous and successful artists of the Renaissance were at the same time scientists who were in constant search for new knowledge and models.
The most prominent representative of the art world is Leonardo da Vinci. This unusually gifted man was at the same time an artist, scientist, sculptor and architect. Many of his ideas were far ahead of their time, which gives the right to call him also an inventor. Leonardo da Vinci's most famous paintings are The Last Supper and La Gioconda. Many scientists of our time boldly call the brilliant da Vinci a "universal man", who more than embodied all the main ideas of the Renaissance.
Speaking of the Renaissance, one cannot fail to mention the great Raphael, who painted a huge number of Madonnas. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, he was invited to the Vatican and took part in the painting of the Sistine Chapel, where he painted several biblical scenes. One of his most famous works was the so-called "Sistine Madonna".
Renaissance: literature
The literary genre underwent great changes that the Renaissance brought. The literature of the Renaissance is characterized by the denunciation of the church, the person becomes the main character in all plots. It is no longer fashionable to use biblical parables and praises of clergymen. People's relationships and their feelings come to the fore.
Among the genres, short stories and sonnets are becoming popular. These poems in a few lines contained a huge meaning and emotional message. The first publicists appeared who wrote about the realities of life in the philosophical genre. Drama is of great importance. During the Renaissance, Shakespeare and Lope de Vega, who are still considered the greatest representatives of their time, worked.
Scientific thought of the Renaissance
The ideas of humanism seriously influenced the science of the Renaissance. Naturally, the printing press played an important role. From this moment on, it becomes much easier to spread your ideas to a wide audience. And now all new trends quickly penetrate the minds of ordinary people.
The scientific figures of the Renaissance were, rather, not just scientists, but a fusion of philosophers, public figures and writers. Petrarch and Machiavelli, for example, sought to know the whole person in all his manifestations. The hero of their labors was an ordinary citizen, who was supposed to receive a lot of advantages from scientific progress.
Renaissance architecture
Renaissance architecture is characterized by a desire for symmetry and proportion. Arches, domes and niches come into fashion. Architects create buildings that seem to float in the air. They, despite their monumentality, seem light and charming.
Most of the Renaissance monuments survived in Florence and Venice. Just one look at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in the city of merchants is enough to understand all those ideas of the new era that inspired the architect to create such a masterpiece.
You can talk about the Renaissance endlessly. This period in the history of mankind can be called one of the brightest and most productive. Until now, modern art critics study the creations of many representatives of that time with great awe and admiration. It is safe to say that the figures of the Renaissance were ahead of their time by several centuries.
The term "Renaissance" is usually understood as a period that began in the XIV and ended around the XVII century - something like a bridge between the European culture of the Middle Ages and the New Age. Although the term is taken for granted today, it was not the self-name of the era. Historian and artist Giorgio Vasari in "Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (1550) in the term rinascita(literally "rebirth") contrasted the new art, coming from Giotto to Brunel-leschi, Alberti, Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and other masters, to the "barbaric" Gothic style. At the same time, he had in mind an artistic breakthrough, and by no means a return to ancient sources. On the other hand, Francesco Petrarca, who is traditionally considered the first Renaissance writer, called first of all to resurrect the ancient canon, and most importantly, classical Latin, to cleanse the language of the layers of the barbarian Middle Ages. It is easy to see that these two authors under "renaissance" had in mind fundamentally different things.
In the middle of the 19th century, after the publication of Jules Michelet's book A History of France in the 16th Century: The Renaissance, historians began to call the entire period from the 14th to the 16th centuries in French manner. The term caught on: five years later Jacob Burckhardt's textbook Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (Culture of Italy in the Renaissance) was published. Gradually, the word "renaissance" or "revival" began to be used more widely, referring to any interest in the renewal of lost knowledge. For example, the flowering of literature, theology, jurisprudence and other knowledge under Charlemagne and his descendants (8th-9th centuries) is often described as the Carolingian Renaissance, and the Renaissance of the 12th century is called the rise of science, philosophy and poetry in Europe, associated with the translation many previously unknown texts into Latin - not only from Greek, but also from Arabic.
Francesco Petrarch. Engraving by Francesco Allegrini. 1761 Rijksmuseum, AmsterdamSome modern historians believe that the era from Petrarch to the 17th century is more honestly called the early modern period. Firstly, such a term incorporates the realities that affected all segments of the population (the lower classes hardly read Greek authors or studied ancient architectural orders). Secondly, the idea of the Middle Ages as a temporary gap into darkness, after which the light of classical culture shone again, is long outdated. However, the term "early modern" did not supplant the "Renaissance". This is confirmed, for example, by the Renaissance Society of America - an association that includes about four thousand specialists in culture, history, science of the Renaissance, holding annual conferences with hundreds of participants. We can safely conclude that both terms are relevant: one refers more to social and economic history, the second to the history of culture.
2. When was the Renaissance
It is impossible to precisely mark the boundaries of the era; the debate on this issue has been going on for decades and is unlikely to ever end. The year 1341 is most often taken as a symbolic starting point, when Francesco Petrarch was crowned with a laurel wreath on the Capitol. In ancient times, a wreath was awarded to the winner of poetry competitions, but in the 14th century Petrarch was out of competition: he was rightfully recognized as the undisputed triumphant, heir to ancient literature, designed to revive pure Latin. 1341 is a more than arbitrary date, but there is a consensus in science that the Renaissance began in Italy in the 14th century, and Florence was its first and main center. When the end came is even more debatable. The opening of America (1492), the beginning of the Reformation (1517), the execution of the philosopher Giordano Bruno (1600), and the end of the Thirty Years' War (1648) can be considered the final chord of the Renaissance. The last date, in particular, is adhered to by the author of The Civilization of the Renaissance, Jean Delumeau, and one can perhaps agree with him: the signing of the Peace of Westphalia marked a fundamentally new stage in the history of European states. International relations have lost their strict hierarchy: the kings, electors, princes and landgraves of Europe have ceased to consider the emperors of the Holy Roman Empire as God-given suzerains. The idea of sovereign states and non-interference in their internal affairs arose and became firmly established, and the idea of religious tolerance appeared. New norms meant the beginning of a new era.
3. Renaissance and Middle Ages
According to popular belief, the Renaissance cast aside the superstitions of the Middle Ages in favor of science and turned to man instead of God. It is generally accepted that the first thing the Renaissance abandoned was scholasticism, that is, a system of strict philosophical proofs of the existence of God, on which the work of the first universities was built ( school). Now this word is considered almost a curse, but initially scholasticism was one of the greatest achievements of European intellectual culture. It was she who taught the European man to think logically; A significant role in this process was played by the writings of Aristotle, which in the 12th century returned to scientific circulation in translations from Arabic.
If scholasticism relied on Aristotle, then the Renaissance philosophical system erected another ancient author, Plato, at the forefront. His works were first translated into Latin by the Florentine Marsilio Ficino. It was a big European sensation: at the end of the 15th century, almost no one knew Greek, the texts were considered lost and restored from fragmentary quotations.
In fact, the Renaissance never broke with the tradition of Anselm of Canterbury and other great scholastic theologians. New, original and interesting commentaries on Aristotle's translations continued to be written and published until the 17th century. In addition, the Middle Ages never neglected man and his place in the structure of the universe, and the Renaissance authors did not renounce God. On the contrary, it was theology that they considered the main business of their lives. The same Marsilio Ficino sought to subordinate the ideas of Plato to Christian doctrine. His younger contemporary, Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, in his theological treatises and philosophical writings, sought to prove the commonality of all the teachings of the world and bring them into a single Christian system.
4. Renaissance humanism
Benozzo Gozzoli. Arrival of the Magi in Bethlehem. Painting in the chapel of the Palazzo Medici - Riccardi. Florence, 1459-1460 Members of the Medici family and their contemporaries are depicted as Magi and participants in the procession. Getty Images Almost the only direction of Renaissance thought is humanism, which was not even a full-fledged philosophical system. Humanist scholars Coluccio Salutati, Leonardo Bruni, Niccolo Niccoli only proposed a new educational program - studia humanitatis, that is, according to Bruni, "knowledge of those things that relate to life and morals and improve and adorn a person" Cit. Quoted from: L. M. Batkin. Italian Renaissance: problems and people. M., 1995.. The program focused on the study of ancient languages - Latin, Greek, and a little later Hebrew.
The humanists also did not have a formal center: the Platonic Academy in Kareji is most likely a later myth. Cosimo de' Medici did give Marsilio Ficino a villa in the hills of Careggi, but young men thirsting for knowledge did not flock there for regular classes. The Academy was not an educational institution, but rather a virtual concept - a free association of like-minded people and interlocutors, admirers and commentators of Plato. In fact, it was elevated to the rank of a state institution already in the 16th century. But the Medici dynasty managed to take full advantage of the fact that Plato was first translated in their city - Florence began to be considered the cultural capital of the Renaissance.
5. Science and magic in the Renaissance
Usually, the Middle Ages are accused of superstition, while the Renaissance is considered the time of the victory of reason over prejudice. However, magic played the most important role both in the Renaissance picture of the world and in the works of the fathers of the so-called "scientific revolution". The inventor of the cardan shaft, Girolamo Cardano, and the physicist Galileo Galilei, made horoscopes; astronomer and mathematician Johannes Kepler tried to simultaneously reform astrology; astronomer Tycho Brahe, in addition to astrology, was fond of alchemy, as well as Isaac Newton. Is that Nicolaus Copernicus was not interested in magic - but his only student Johann Rethik was professionally engaged in astrology.
6. Revolution in art
The art of the Renaissance made a real revolution, but it was not the textbook Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael who started it. One of the most important artistic innovations of the era was oil painting. Since the time of Vasari, it has been considered that it was invented by the Dutch master Jan van Eyck (1390-1441). In fact, in Afghanistan, pigments diluted in vegetable oil were used in the 6th century (archaeologists discovered this already today, when they began to explore the caves that opened behind the backs of the Bamiyan Buddhas blown up by the Taliban), and oil painting reached Northern Europe by the 12th century. century (it is mentioned in the treatise of the presbyter Theophilus "On the various arts"). However, it was van Eyck who brought this technique to virtuoso perfection.
Oil painting penetrated Italy as an overseas fashion: Cosimo Tura from Ferrara studied it based on the works of the Flemish Rogier van der Weyden from the collection of his patron, Duke Lionello d'Este, and Antonello da Messina mastered the basics at the Neapolitan court, where Alfonso of Aragon brought masters from all parts of Europe, including from the Netherlands. Together with oil from there, many compositional novelties came to Italy from there, which we now admire on the canvases of Bellini, Carpaccio and other famous masters - optical and lighting effects, hidden symbolism, playing with interiors, the establishment of a secular portrait as an independent genre.
Masaccio. Trinity. Fresco in the Church of Santa Maria Novella. Florence, circa 1427 Wikimedia Commons The laws of perspective were the first to be applied by Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai, who went down in history under the nickname Masaccio. The most famous example is the "Trinity" from the Florentine church of Santa Maria Novella (1425-1427), but Masaccio began experimenting already in his first work - "The Triptych of San Giovena-le". It is believed that Masaccio mastered the science of perspective under the guidance of Filippo Brunelleschi, a man who for the first time since ancient times swung at the construction of a dome (this technique was completely lost). The Florentine Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, completed by Brunelleschi, became one of the main buildings of the era.
7. What was invented in the Renaissance
Bible page printed by Gutenberg. 1454-1456 years Wurttemberg State Library In addition to the printing press (Johann Gutenberg, 1440s), the telescope (Galileo Galilei, 1609), the microscope (Zachary Jansen, Cornelius Drebbel - late 16th century) and the magnetic compass, resistant to rolling, the Renaissance gave the world another important device. , which determined the fate of mankind - a toilet with a flush cistern. The inventor of the mechanism was the court poet of Elizabeth I, the translator of Ariosto, Sir John Harington: he dubbed his creation "Ajax", and managed to make a political satire from the assembly manual. One of the first copies (1596) was presented to the queen, but she did not appreciate either the gift or the original form of its description - the author was expelled from the court for several years.
8. What was discovered in the Renaissance
Amerigo Vespucci discovers America. Engraving by Theodore Gallé after an original by Stradanus. 16th century Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam First of all, of course, America. The Old World suddenly realized that it was old, and beyond the seas there was still a new one to be explored, conquered, divided and properly explored. In addition to gold, exotic treasures poured into the ports of Portugal, Italy, Spain and England: animated truffles (known to us as potatoes), decorative fruits of love (as the poet Sir Walter Raleigh presented tomatoes to Queen Elizabeth), and at the same time, parrots, sunflowers, turkeys, cocoa, corn and guinea pigs. And without potatoes, for example, a radical increase in the population of Europe in the 17th-18th centuries would hardly have been possible. But the Great geographical discoveries did not end there: the Portuguese landed in China (1513), the Dutch - in Australia (1606), Tasmania and New Zealand (1642); they also explored the Arctic (Willem Barents, 1594-1597) and deduced the principles of modern cartography (Gerard Mercator in the 1540s taught the whole world to use a conformal cylindrical projection - this is how maps acquired their usual form, with parallel lines of longitude and latitude). Meanwhile, another native of the Netherlands, Andreas Vesalius, thoroughly understood the insides of a person: he found that men and women have the same number of ribs and teeth (before Vesalius, doctors were sure that men were supposed to have 32 teeth, and women - 28), and found out how the skeleton, muscles and vascular system are arranged. By the way, illustrations for the anatomical atlases of Vesalius were drawn by a student of Titian - Jan Just van Kalkar.
Leiden, NY, 1990.
Berkeley, Los Angeles, 2011.
Revival is divided into 4 stages:
Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the 13th century - 14th century)
Early Renaissance (early 15th century - late 15th century)
High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)
Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 90s of the 16th century)
Proto-Renaissance
The Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Romanesque, Gothic traditions, this period was the preparation for the Renaissance. This period is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). The most important discoveries, the brightest masters live and work in the first period. The second segment is connected with the plague epidemic that hit Italy. All discoveries were made on an intuitive level. At the end of the 13th century, the main temple building, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was erected in Florence, the author was Arnolfo di Cambio, then the work was continued by Giotto, who designed the campanile of the Florence Cathedral.
Benozzo Gozzoli depicted the Adoration of the Magi as a solemn procession of the Medici courtiers
Previously, the art of the proto-Renaissance manifested itself in sculpture (Niccolò and Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano). Painting is represented by two art schools: Florence (Cimabue, Giotto) and Siena (Duccio, Simone Martini). The central figure of painting was Giotto. Renaissance artists considered him a reformer of painting. Giotto outlined the path along which its development went: filling religious forms with secular content, a gradual transition from planar images to three-dimensional and relief images, an increase in realism, introduced a plastic volume of figures into painting, depicted an interior in painting.
Early Renaissance
The period of the so-called "Early Renaissance" in Italy covers the time from 1420 to 1500. During these eighty years, art has not yet completely renounced the traditions of the recent past, but is trying to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, and only little by little, under the influence of more and more changing conditions of life and culture, do artists completely abandon medieval foundations and boldly use examples of ancient art, both in the general concept of their works and in their details.
Whereas art in Italy was already resolutely following the path of imitation of classical antiquity, in other countries it long held on to the traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, as well as in Spain, the Renaissance does not come until the end of the 15th century, and its early period lasts until about the middle of the next century.
High Renaissance
"High Renaissance" redirects here. This topic needs a separate article.
"Vatican Pieta" by Michelangelo (1499): in the traditional religious plot, simple human feelings are brought to the fore - maternal love and sorrow
The third period of the Renaissance - the time of the most magnificent development of his style - is commonly called the "High Renaissance". It extends into Italy from approximately 1500 to 1527. At this time, the center of influence of Italian art from Florence moved to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II - an ambitious, courageous and enterprising man, who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court, occupied them with numerous and important works and gave others an example of love for art. . Under this Pope and under his immediate successors, Rome becomes, as it were, the new Athens of the time of Pericles: many monumental buildings are built in it, magnificent sculptures are created, frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered the pearls of painting; at the same time, all three branches of art harmoniously go hand in hand, helping one another and mutually acting on each other. The antique is now being studied more thoroughly, reproduced with greater rigor and consistency; tranquility and dignity replace the playful beauty that was the aspiration of the preceding period; reminiscences of the medieval completely disappear, and a completely classical imprint falls on all works of art. But imitation of the ancients does not stifle their independence in artists, and they, with great resourcefulness and liveliness of imagination, freely process and apply to their work what they consider appropriate to borrow for themselves from ancient Greco-Roman art.
Late Renaissance
The crisis of the Renaissance: the Venetian Tintoretto in 1594 depicted the Last Supper as an underground gathering in disturbing twilight reflections
The Late Renaissance in Italy covers the period from the 1530s to the 1590s-1620s. Some researchers rank the 1630s as the Late Renaissance, but this position is controversial among art critics and historians. The art and culture of this time are so diverse in their manifestations that it is possible to reduce them to one denominator only with a great deal of conventionality. For example, the Encyclopædia Britannica writes that "The Renaissance as an integral historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527." In Southern Europe, the Counter-Reformation triumphed, which looked with caution at any free thought, including the chanting of the human body and the resurrection of the ideals of antiquity, as the cornerstones of the Renaissance ideology. Worldview contradictions and a general feeling of crisis resulted in Florence in the "nervous" art of far-fetched colors and broken lines - mannerism. In Parma, where Correggio worked, Mannerism reached only after the death of the artist in 1534. The artistic traditions of Venice had their own logic of development; until the end of the 1570s. Titian and Palladio worked there, whose work had little in common with the crisis phenomena in the art of Florence and Rome.
Northern Renaissance
Main article: Northern Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance had little effect on other countries until 1450. After 1500, the style spread across the continent, but many late Gothic influences persisted even into the Baroque era.
The Renaissance period in the Netherlands, Germany and France is usually singled out as a separate stylistic direction, which has some differences with the Renaissance in Italy, and is called the "Northern Renaissance".
"Love struggle in a dream" (1499) - one of the highest achievements of the Renaissance printing
The most noticeable stylistic differences in painting: unlike Italy, the traditions and skills of Gothic art were preserved in painting for a long time, less attention was paid to the study of the ancient heritage and the knowledge of human anatomy.
Outstanding representatives - Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Some works of late Gothic masters, such as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling, are also imbued with the pre-Renaissance spirit.
Dawn of Literature
The intensive flourishing of literature in this period is largely associated with a special attitude towards the ancient heritage. Hence the very name of the era, which sets itself the task of recreating, "reviving" the cultural ideals and values allegedly lost in the Middle Ages. In fact, the rise of Western European culture does not arise at all against the background of a previous decline. But in the life of the culture of the late Middle Ages, so much is changing that it feels like it belongs to a different time and feels dissatisfied with the former state of the arts and literature. The past seems to the man of the Renaissance as an oblivion of the remarkable achievements of antiquity, and he undertakes to restore them. This is expressed both in the work of the writers of this era, and in their very way of life: some people of that time became famous not for creating any pictorial, literary masterpieces, but for being able to “live in the antique manner”, imitating the ancient Greeks or Romans at home. The ancient heritage is not just being studied at this time, but is “restored”, and therefore the Renaissance figures attach great importance to the discovery, collection, preservation and publication of ancient manuscripts .. For lovers of ancient literary
We owe to the Renaissance monuments the fact that today we have the opportunity to read the letters of Cicero or Lucretius's poem "On the Nature of Things", the comedies of Plautus or Long's novel "Daphnis and Chloe". Renaissance scholars strive not just for knowledge, but to improve their knowledge of Latin, and then Greek. They establish libraries, create museums, establish schools for the study of classical antiquity, undertake special journeys.
What served as the basis for those cultural changes that arose in Western Europe in the second half of the 15th-16th centuries? (and in Italy - the birthplace of the Renaissance - a century earlier, in the XIV century)? Historians rightly associate these changes with the general evolution of the economic and political life of Western Europe, which has embarked on the path of bourgeois development. Renaissance - the time of great geographical discoveries - primarily America, the time of the development of navigation, trade, the emergence of large-scale industry. This is the period when, on the basis of emerging European nations, national states are formed, already devoid of medieval isolation. At this time, there is a desire not only to strengthen the power of the monarch within each of the states, but also to develop relations between states, form political alliances, and negotiate. This is how diplomacy arises - that kind of political interstate activity, without which it is impossible to imagine modern international life.
The renaissance is a time when science is developing intensively and the secular worldview begins to crowd out the religious worldview to a certain extent, or significantly changes it, prepares the church reformation. But the most important thing is this period when a person begins to feel himself and the world around him in a new way, often in a completely different way to answer those questions that have always worried him, or to put other complex questions before himself. The Renaissance man feels himself living in a special time, close to the concept of a golden age, thanks to his "golden gifts", as one of the Italian humanists of the 15th century writes. A person sees himself as the center of the universe, striving not upwards, towards the otherworldly, divine (as in the Middle Ages), but a wide-open diversity of earthly existence. People of the new era with greedy curiosity peer into the reality around them not as pale shadows and signs of the heavenly world, but as a full-blooded and colorful manifestation of being, which has its own value and dignity. Medieval asceticism has no place in the new spiritual atmosphere, enjoying the freedom and power of man as an earthly, natural being. From an optimistic conviction in the power of a person, his ability to improve, there arises a desire and even a need to correlate the behavior of an individual, his own behavior with a kind of model of the “ideal personality”, a thirst for self-improvement is born. This is how a very important, central movement of this culture, which was called "humanism", is formed in the Western European culture of the Renaissance.
One should not think that the meaning of this concept coincides with the words “humanism”, “humane” that are commonly used today (meaning “philanthropy”, “mercy”, etc.), although there is no doubt that their modern meaning ultimately dates back to Renaissance times. . Humanism in the Renaissance was a special set of moral and philosophical ideas. He was directly related to the upbringing, education of a person on the basis of primary attention not to the former, scholastic knowledge, or religious, “divine” knowledge, but to the humanitarian disciplines: philology, history, morality. It is especially important that the humanities at that time began to be valued as the most universal, that in the process of forming the spiritual image of the individual, the main importance was attached to "literature", and not to any other, perhaps more "practical" branch of knowledge. As the great Italian Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarch wrote, it is “through the word that the human face becomes beautiful.” The prestige of humanistic knowledge was extremely high during the Renaissance.
In Western Europe of this time, a humanistic intelligentsia appears - a circle of people whose communication with each other is based not on the commonality of their origin, property status or professional interests, but on the proximity of spiritual and moral quests. Sometimes such associations of like-minded humanists received the name Academies - in the spirit of the ancient tradition. Sometimes friendly communication of humanists was carried out in letters, a very important part of the literary heritage of the Renaissance. The Latin language, which in its updated form became the universal language of culture of various Western European countries, contributed to the fact that, despite certain historical, political, religious and other differences, the figures of the Renaissance in Italy and France, Germany and the Netherlands felt involved in a single spiritual world. The feeling of cultural unity was also enhanced due to the fact that during this period an intensive development began, on the one hand, of humanistic education, and on the other, of printing: thanks to the invention of the German Gutenberg from the middle of the 15th century. Printing houses are spreading all over Western Europe, and a larger number of people get the opportunity to join books than before.
In the Renaissance, the very way of thinking of a person changes. Not a medieval scholastic dispute, but a humanistic dialogue, including different points of view, demonstrating unity and opposition, the complex diversity of truths about the world and man, becomes a way of thinking and a form of communication for people of this time. It is no coincidence that dialogue is one of the popular literary genres of the Renaissance. The flourishing of this genre, like the flourishing of tragedy and comedy, is one of the manifestations of the Renaissance literature's attention to the classical genre tradition. But the Renaissance also knows new genre formations: a sonnet - in poetry, a short story, an essay - in prose. The writers of this era do not repeat ancient authors, but on the basis of their artistic experience create, in essence, a different and new world of literary images, plots, and problems.
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The Renaissance, or the Renaissance (from the French renaître - to be reborn), is one of the brightest eras in the development of European culture, spanning almost three centuries: from the middle of the 14th century. until the first decades of the 17th century. It was an era of major changes in the history of the peoples of Europe. Under the conditions of a high level of urban civilization, the process of the emergence of capitalist relations and the crisis of feudalism began, the folding of nations and the creation of large national states took place, a new form of political system appeared - an absolute monarchy (see State), new social groups were formed - the bourgeoisie and hired working people. The spiritual world of man also changed. Great geographical discoveries expanded the horizons of contemporaries. This was facilitated by the great invention of Johannes Gutenberg - printing. In this complex, transitional era, a new type of culture arose, putting man and the world around him at the center of his interests. The new, Renaissance culture widely relied on the heritage of antiquity, comprehended differently than in the Middle Ages, and in many respects rediscovered (hence the concept of "Renaissance"), but it also drew from the best achievements of medieval culture, especially secular - knightly, urban , folk. The man of the Renaissance was seized with a thirst for self-affirmation, great achievements, actively involved in public life, rediscovered the world of nature, strove for its deep comprehension, admired its beauty. The culture of the Renaissance is characterized by a secular perception and understanding of the world, the assertion of the value of earthly existence, the greatness of the mind and creative abilities of a person, and the dignity of the individual. Humanism (from lat. humanus - human) became the ideological basis of the culture of the Renaissance.
Giovanni Boccaccio is one of the first representatives of the humanistic literature of the Renaissance.
Palazzo Pitti. Florence. 1440-1570
Masaccio. Tax collection. Scene from the life of St. Petra Fresco of the Brancacci Chapel. Florence. 1426-1427
Michelangelo Buonarroti. Moses. 1513-1516
Rafael Santi. Sistine Madonna. 1515-1519 Canvas, oil. Art Gallery. Dresden.
Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna Litta. Late 1470s - early 1490s Wood, oil. State Hermitage. Saint Petersburg.
Leonardo da Vinci. Self-portrait. OK. 1510-1513
Albrecht Durer. Self-portrait. 1498
Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Snow hunters. 1565 Oil on wood. Museum of Art History. Vein.
Humanists opposed the dictatorship of the Catholic Church in the spiritual life of society. They criticized the method of scholastic science based on formal logic (dialectic), rejected its dogmatism and belief in authorities, thus clearing the way for the free development of scientific thought. Humanists called for the study of ancient culture, which the church denied as pagan, perceiving from it only that which did not contradict Christian doctrine. However, the restoration of the ancient heritage (humanists searched for manuscripts of ancient authors, cleared texts of later accretions and copyist errors) was not an end in itself for them, but served as the basis for solving urgent problems of our time, for building a new culture. The range of humanitarian knowledge, within which the humanistic worldview developed, included ethics, history, pedagogy, poetics, and rhetoric. Humanists have made a valuable contribution to the development of all these sciences. Their search for a new scientific method, criticism of scholasticism, translations of scientific works of ancient authors contributed to the rise of natural philosophy and natural science in the 16th - early 17th centuries.
The formation of the Renaissance culture in different countries was not simultaneous and proceeded at different rates in different areas of culture itself. First of all, it took shape in Italy with its numerous cities that have reached a high level of civilization and political independence, with ancient traditions that are stronger than in other European countries. Already in the 2nd half of the XIV century. in Italy there have been significant changes in literature and humanitarian knowledge - philology, ethics, rhetoric, historiography, pedagogy. Then fine arts and architecture became the arena of the rapid development of the Renaissance, and later the new culture embraced the spheres of philosophy, natural science, music, and theater. For more than a century, Italy remained the only country of Renaissance culture; by the end of the 15th century. The revival began to gain strength relatively quickly in Germany, the Netherlands, France, in the 16th century. - in England, Spain, countries of Central Europe. Second half of the 16th century became a time not only for the high achievements of the European Renaissance, but also for the manifestations of the crisis of a new culture caused by the counteroffensive of reactionary forces and the internal contradictions of the development of the Renaissance itself.
The origin of Renaissance literature in the 2nd half of the XIV century. associated with the names of Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio. They affirmed the humanistic ideas of the dignity of the individual, linking it not with generosity, but with the valiant deeds of a person, his freedom and the right to enjoy the joys of earthly life. Petrarch's "Book of Songs" reflected the subtlest shades of his love for Laura. In the dialogue "My Secret", a number of treatises, he developed ideas about the need to change the structure of knowledge - to put a person at the center of the problem, criticized the scholastics for their formal-logical method of cognition, called for the study of ancient authors (Petrarch especially appreciated Cicero, Virgil, Seneca), highly raised the importance of poetry in man's knowledge of the meaning of his earthly existence. These thoughts were shared by his friend Boccaccio, the author of the book of short stories "The Decameron", a number of poetic and scientific works. In the "Decameron" the influence of folk-urban literature of the Middle Ages is traced. Here, humanistic ideas found expression in artistic form - the denial of ascetic morality, the justification of a person's right to the full manifestation of his feelings, all natural needs, the idea of nobility as a product of valiant deeds and high morality, and not the nobility of the family. The theme of nobility, the solution of which reflected the anti-estate ideas of the advanced part of the burghers and the people, will become characteristic of many humanists. The humanists of the 15th century made a great contribution to the further development of literature in Italian and Latin. - writers and philologists, historians, philosophers, poets, statesmen and orators.
In Italian humanism, there were directions that approached the solution of ethical problems in different ways, and above all, the question of the paths of a person to happiness. So, in civil humanism - the direction that developed in Florence in the first half of the 15th century. (its most prominent representatives are Leonardo Bruni and Matteo Palmieri) - ethics was based on the principle of serving the common good. Humanists argued the need to educate a citizen, a patriot who puts the interests of society and the state above personal ones. They affirmed the moral ideal of an active civil life as opposed to the ecclesiastical ideal of monastic seclusion. They attached particular value to such virtues as justice, generosity, prudence, courage, courtesy, modesty. A person can discover and develop these virtues only in active social communication, and not in flight from worldly life. The humanists of this trend considered the best form of government to be a republic, where, in conditions of freedom, all human abilities can be most fully manifested.
Another direction in the humanism of the XV century. represented the work of the writer, architect, art theorist Leon Battista Alberti. Alberti believed that the law of harmony reigns in the world, man is also subject to it. He must strive for knowledge, for understanding the world around him and himself. People must build earthly life on reasonable grounds, on the basis of acquired knowledge, turning it to their advantage, striving for the harmony of feelings and reason, the individual and society, man and nature. Knowledge and obligatory work for all members of society - this, according to Alberti, is the way to a happy life.
Lorenzo Valla put forward a different ethical theory. He identified happiness with pleasure: a person should enjoy all the joys of earthly existence. Asceticism is contrary to human nature itself, feelings and reason are equal, their harmony should be sought. From these positions, Valla made a strong criticism of monasticism in the dialogue "On the monastic vow."
At the end of the XV - the end of the XVI century. the direction associated with the activities of the Platonic Academy in Florence became widespread. The leading humanist philosophers of this trend - Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, in their works, based on the philosophy of Plato and the Neoplatonists, exalted the human mind. For them, the heroization of the individual has become characteristic. Ficino considered man to be the center of the world, a link (this connection is realized in knowledge) of a perfectly organized cosmos. Pico saw in man the only being in the world endowed with the ability to form himself, relying on knowledge - on ethics and the sciences of nature. In the “Speech on the Dignity of Man”, Pico defended the right to free thought, believed that philosophy, devoid of any dogmatism, should become the lot of everyone, and not a handful of the elect. The Italian Neoplatonists approached a number of theological problems from new, humanistic positions. The invasion of humanism into the sphere of theology is one of the important features of the European Renaissance of the 16th century.
The 16th century was marked by a new upsurge in Renaissance literature in Italy: Ludovico Ariosto became famous for his poem Furious Roland, where reality and fantasy are intertwined, the glorification of earthly joys and sometimes sad, sometimes ironic understanding of Italian life; Baldassare Castiglione created a book about the ideal man of his era ("The Courtier"). This is the time of creativity of the outstanding poet Pietro Bembo and the author of satirical pamphlets Pietro Aretino; at the end of the 16th century. Torquato Tasso’s grandiose heroic poem “Jerusalem Liberated” was written, which reflected not only the conquests of secular Renaissance culture, but also the beginning crisis of the humanistic worldview, associated with the strengthening of religiosity in the conditions of the counter-reformation, with the loss of faith in the omnipotence of the individual.
Brilliant success was achieved by the art of the Italian Renaissance, which was initiated by Masaccio in painting, Donatello in sculpture, Brunelleschi in architecture, who worked in Florence in the first half of the 15th century. Their work is marked by a bright talent, a new understanding of man, his place in nature and society. In the 2nd half of the XV century. in Italian painting, along with the Florentine school, a number of others developed - Umbrian, northern Italian, Venetian. Each of them had its own characteristics, they were also characteristic of the work of the largest masters - Piero della Francesca, Andrea Mantegna, Sandro Botticelli and others. All of them revealed the specifics of Renaissance art in different ways: the desire for lifelike images based on the principle of “imitation of nature”, a wide appeal to the motifs of ancient mythology and the secular interpretation of traditional religious plots, an interest in linear and airy perspective, in the plastic expressiveness of images, in harmony of proportions. etc. A common genre of painting, graphics, medal art, and sculpture was the portrait, which was directly related to the affirmation of the humanistic ideal of man. The heroized ideal of the perfect man was embodied with particular fullness in the Italian art of the High Renaissance in the first decades of the 16th century. This era brought forward the brightest, multifaceted talents - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo (see Art). There was a type of universal artist who combined in his work a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and scientist. Artists of this era worked in close contact with the humanists and showed great interest in the natural sciences, primarily anatomy, optics, and mathematics, trying to use their achievements in their work. In the XVI century. Venetian art experienced a special upsurge. Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto created beautiful canvases, notable for the richness of color and realism of images of a person and the world around him. The 16th century is the time of the active assertion of the Renaissance style in architecture, especially for secular purposes, which was characterized by a close connection with the traditions of ancient architecture (order architecture). A new type of building was formed - a city palace (palazzo) and a country residence (villa) - majestic, but also proportionate to a person, where the solemn simplicity of the facade is combined with spacious, richly decorated interiors. A huge contribution to the architecture of the Renaissance was made by Leon Battista Alberti, Giuliano da Sangallo, Bramante, Palladio. Many architects created designs for an ideal city based on new principles of urban planning and architecture that responded to the human need for a healthy, well-equipped and beautiful living space. Not only individual buildings were rebuilt, but entire old medieval cities: Rome, Florence, Ferrara, Venice, Mantua, Rimini.
Lucas Cranach the Elder. Female portrait.
Hans Holbein the Younger. Portrait of the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. 1523
Titian Vecellio. Saint Sebastian. 1570 Oil on canvas. State Hermitage. Saint Petersburg.
Illustration by Mr. Dore for the novel by F. Rabelais "Gargantua and Pantagruel".
Michel Montaigne is a French philosopher and writer.
In the political and historical thought of the Italian Renaissance, the problem of a perfect society and state became one of the central ones. In the works of Bruni and especially Machiavelli on the history of Florence, built on the study of documentary material, in the works of Sabellico and Contarini on the history of Venice, the merits of the republican structure of these city-states were revealed, and the historians of Milan and Naples, on the contrary, emphasized the positive centralizing role of the monarchy. Machiavelli and Guicciardini explained all the troubles of Italy, which became in the first decades of the 16th century. the arena of foreign invasions, its political decentralization and called on the Italians for national consolidation. A common feature of Renaissance historiography was the desire to see in the people themselves the creators of their history, to deeply analyze the experience of the past and use it in political practice. Widespread in the XVI - early XVII century. received a social utopia. In the teachings of the utopians Doni, Albergati, Zuccolo, the ideal society was associated with the partial elimination of private property, the equality of citizens (but not all people), the universal obligation of labor, and the harmonious development of the individual. The most consistent expression of the idea of socialization of property and equalization was found in the "City of the Sun" by Campanella.
New approaches to solving the traditional problem of the relationship between nature and God were put forward by natural philosophers Bernardino Telesio, Francesco Patrici, Giordano Bruno. In their writings, the dogma about God the Creator, who directs the development of the universe, gave way to pantheism: God is not opposed to nature, but, as it were, merges with it; nature is seen as existing forever and developing according to its own laws. The ideas of the Renaissance natural philosophers met with sharp resistance from the Catholic Church. For his ideas about the eternity and infinity of the Universe, consisting of a huge number of worlds, for sharp criticism of the church, condoning ignorance and obscurantism, Bruno was condemned as a heretic and put on fire in 1600.
The Italian Renaissance had a huge impact on the development of Renaissance culture in other European countries. This was facilitated in no small measure by the printing press. The major centers of publishing were in the XVI century. Venice, where at the beginning of the century the printing house of Alda Manutius became an important center of cultural life; Basel, where the publishing houses of Johann Froben and Johann Amerbach were equally important; Lyon with its famous printing of the Etiennes, as well as Paris, Rome, Louvain, London, Seville. Typography became a powerful factor in the development of Renaissance culture in many European countries, opened the way to active interaction in the process of building a new culture of humanists, scientists, and artists.
The largest figure of the Northern Renaissance was Erasmus of Rotterdam, whose name is associated with the direction of "Christian humanism". He had like-minded people and allies in many European countries (J. Colet and Thomas More in England, G. Bude and Lefevre d'Etaple in France, I. Reuchlin in Germany). Erasmus understood the tasks of the new culture broadly. In his opinion, this is not only the resurrection of the ancient pagan heritage, but also the restoration of the early Christian doctrine. He did not see any fundamental differences between them in terms of the truth to which a person should strive. Like the Italian humanists, he connected the improvement of a person with education, creative activity, the disclosure of all inherent in it abilities.His humanistic pedagogy received artistic expression in "Conversations easily", and his sharply satirical work "Praise of Stupidity" was directed against ignorance, dogmatism, feudal prejudices.Erasmus saw the path to the happiness of people in a peaceful life and the establishment of a humanistic culture based on all values historical experience of mankind.
In Germany, the Renaissance culture experienced a rapid rise at the end of the 15th century. - 1st third of the XVI century. One of its features was the flowering of satirical literature, which began with Sebastian Brant's The Ship of Fools, which sharply criticized the mores of the time; the author led readers to the conclusion about the need for reforms in public life. The satirical line in German literature was continued by the "Letters of Dark People" - an anonymously published collective work of humanists, chief among whom was Ulrich von Hutten - where ministers of the church were subjected to devastating criticism. Hutten was the author of many pamphlets, dialogues, letters directed against the papacy, the dominance of the church in Germany, the fragmentation of the country; his work contributed to the awakening of the national self-consciousness of the German people.
The greatest artists of the Renaissance in Germany were A. Durer, an outstanding painter and unsurpassed engraver, M. Nithardt (Grunewald) with his deeply dramatic images, the portrait painter Hans Holbein the Younger, and Lucas Cranach the Elder, who closely connected his art with the Reformation.
In France, the Renaissance culture took shape and flourished in the 16th century. This was facilitated, in particular, by the Italian wars of 1494-1559. (they were fought between the kings of France, Spain and the German emperor for the mastery of Italian territories), which revealed to the French the wealth of the Renaissance culture of Italy. At the same time, a feature of the French Renaissance was an interest in the traditions of folk culture, creatively mastered by humanists along with the ancient heritage. The poetry of K. Maro, the works of the humanist-philologists E. Dole and B. Deperrier, who were members of the circle of Margaret of Navarre (sister of King Francis I), are imbued with folk motives and cheerful freethinking. These trends are very clearly manifested in the satirical novel of the outstanding Renaissance writer Francois Rabelais "Gargantua and Pantagruel", where plots drawn from ancient folk tales about merry giants are combined with ridicule of the vices and ignorance of contemporaries, with a presentation of the humanistic program of upbringing and education in the spirit of the new culture. The rise of national French poetry is associated with the activities of the Pleiades - a circle of poets led by Ronsard and Du Bellay. During the period of civil (Huguenot) wars (see Wars of Religion in France), journalism was widely developed, expressing the differences in the political position of the opposing forces of society. The major political thinkers were F. Othman and Duplessis Mornet, who opposed tyranny, and J. Bodin, who advocated strengthening a single national state headed by an absolute monarch. The ideas of humanism found deep reflection in Montaigne's "Experiences". Montaigne, Rabelais, Bonaventure Deperier were prominent representatives of secular free-thinking, which rejected the religious foundations of the worldview. They condemned scholasticism, the medieval system of upbringing and education, dogmatism, and religious fanaticism. The main principle of Montaigne's ethics is the free manifestation of human individuality, the liberation of the mind from submission to faith, the full value of emotional life. Happiness he connected with the realization of the internal possibilities of the individual, which should be served by secular upbringing and education based on free thought. In the art of the French Renaissance, the portrait genre came to the fore, the outstanding masters of which were J. Fouquet, F. Clouet, P. and E. Dumoustier. J. Goujon became famous in sculpture.
In the culture of the Netherlands of the Renaissance, rhetorical societies were an original phenomenon, uniting people from different strata, including artisans and peasants. At the meetings of the societies, debates were held on political and moral-religious topics, performances were staged in folk traditions, there was a refined work on the word; humanists took an active part in the activities of societies. Folk features were also characteristic of Dutch art. The largest painter Pieter Brueghel, nicknamed "Peasant", in his paintings of peasant life and landscapes with particular completeness expressed the feeling of the unity of nature and man.
). It reached a high rise in the 16th century. the art of the theater, democratic in its orientation. Everyday comedies, historical chronicles, heroic dramas were staged in numerous public and private theaters. The plays of K. Marlowe, in which majestic heroes defy medieval morality, of B. Johnson, in which a gallery of tragicomic characters emerge, prepared the appearance of the greatest playwright of the Renaissance, William Shakespeare. A perfect master of different genres - comedies, tragedies, historical chronicles, Shakespeare created unique images of strong people, personalities who vividly embodied the features of a Renaissance man, cheerful, passionate, endowed with mind and energy, but sometimes contradictory in his moral deeds. Shakespeare's work exposed the deepening gap between the humanistic idealization of man and the real world, which was deepening in the era of the Late Renaissance. The English scientist Francis Bacon enriched Renaissance philosophy with new approaches to understanding the world. He contrasted observation and experiment with the scholastic method as a reliable tool of scientific knowledge. Bacon saw the way to building a perfect society in the development of science, especially physics.
In Spain, Renaissance culture experienced a "golden age" in the second half of the 16th century. the first decades of the 17th century. Her highest achievements are associated with the creation of a new Spanish literature and the national folk theater, as well as with the work of the outstanding painter El Greco. The formation of a new Spanish literature, which grew up on the traditions of chivalrous and picaresque novels, found a brilliant conclusion in Miguel de Cervantes' brilliant novel The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha. The images of the knight Don Quixote and the peasant Sancho Panza reveal the main humanistic idea of the novel: the greatness of man in his courageous fight against evil in the name of justice. Cervantes' novel is both a kind of parody of the chivalric romance that is fading into the past, and the broadest canvas of the Spanish folk life of the 16th century. Cervantes was the author of a number of plays that made a great contribution to the creation of the national theater. To an even greater extent, the rapid development of the Spanish Renaissance theater is associated with the work of the extremely prolific playwright and poet Lope de Vega, the author of lyric-heroic comedies of the cloak and sword, imbued with the folk spirit.
Andrei Rublev. Trinity. 1st quarter of the 15th century
At the end of the XV-XVI centuries. Renaissance culture spread in Hungary, where royal patronage played an important role in the flourishing of humanism; in the Czech Republic, where new trends contributed to the formation of national consciousness; in Poland, which became one of the centers of humanistic freethinking. The influence of the Renaissance also affected the culture of the Dubrovnik Republic, Lithuania, and Belarus. Separate tendencies of a pre-Renaissance nature also appeared in Russian culture of the 15th century. They were associated with a growing interest in the human personality and its psychology. In art, this is primarily the work of Andrei Rublev and the artists of his circle, in literature - “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom”, which tells about the love of the Murom prince and the peasant girl Fevronia, and the writings of Epiphanius the Wise with his masterful “weaving of words”. In the XVI century. Renaissance elements appeared in Russian political journalism (Ivan Peresvetov and others).
In the XVI - the first decades of the XVII century. Significant shifts have taken place in the development of science. The beginning of a new astronomy was laid by the heliocentric theory of the Polish scientist N. Copernicus, which made a revolution in the ideas about the Universe. It received further substantiation in the works of the German astronomer I. Kepler, as well as the Italian scientist G. Galileo. The astronomer and physicist Galileo constructed a spyglass, using it to discover the mountains on the Moon, the phases of Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, etc. The discoveries of Galileo, which confirmed the teachings of Copernicus about the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, gave impetus to the more rapid spread of the heliocentric theory, which the church recognized as heretical; she persecuted her supporters (for example, the fate of D. Bruno, who was burned at the stake) and banned the writings of Galileo. Many new things have appeared in the field of physics, mechanics, and mathematics. Stephen formulated the theorems of hydrostatics; Tartaglia successfully studied the theory of ballistics; Cardano discovered the solution of algebraic equations of the third degree. G. Kremer (Mercator) created more advanced geographical maps. Oceanography emerged. In botany, E. Kord and L. Fuchs systematized a wide range of knowledge. K. Gesner enriched knowledge in the field of zoology with his History of Animals. Knowledge of anatomy was improved, which was facilitated by the work of Vesalius “On the structure of the human body”. M. Servetus suggested the presence of a pulmonary circulation. The outstanding physician Paracelsus brought medicine and chemistry closer together, made important discoveries in pharmacology. Mr. Agricola systematized knowledge in the field of mining and metallurgy. Leonardo da Vinci put forward a number of engineering projects that were far ahead of his contemporary technical thought and anticipated some later discoveries (for example, an aircraft).
