Projects of ideal cities in Italy of the Renaissance. Architectural ensembles of Paris
Sergey Khromov
Although not a single ideal city was embodied in stone, their ideas found life in real cities of the Renaissance...
Five centuries separate us from the period when architects first addressed the issues of rebuilding the city. And these same questions are acute for us today: how to create new cities? How to rebuild the old ones - to fit separate ensembles into them or demolish and rebuild everything? And most importantly - what idea to lay in a new city?
The masters of the Renaissance embodied those ideas that had already sounded in ancient culture and philosophy: the ideas of humanism, the harmony of nature and man. People again turn to Plato's dream of an ideal state and an ideal city. The new image of the city is born first as an image, as a formula, as an idea, which is a bold claim for the future - like many other inventions of the Italian Quattrocento.
The construction of the theory of the city was closely connected with the study of the heritage of antiquity and, above all, the entire treatise "Ten Books on Architecture" by Mark Vitruvius (second half of the 1st century BC), an architect and engineer in the army of Julius Caesar. This treatise was discovered in 1427 in one of the abbeys. The authority of Vitruvius was emphasized by Alberti, Palladio, Vasari. The greatest connoisseur of Vitruvius was Daniele Barbaro, who in 1565 published his treatise with his commentaries. In a work dedicated to Emperor Augustus, Vitruvius summarized the experience of architecture and urban planning in Greece and Rome. He considered the already classic questions of choosing a favorable area for the founding of the city, the placement of the main city squares and streets, and the typology of buildings. From an aesthetic point of view, Vitruvius advised adherence to ordination (following architectural orders), reasonable planning, observing the uniformity of rhythm and order, symmetry and proportionality, conformity of form to purpose and distribution of resources. |
In the urban planning of the Renaissance, theory and practice develop in parallel. New buildings are being built and old ones are being rebuilt, architectural ensembles are being formed and treatises are being written at the same time, dedicated to architecture, planning and fortifying cities. Among them famous works Alberti and Palladio, schemes ideal cities Filarete, Scamozzi and others. The idea of the authors is far ahead of the needs of practical construction: they describe not ready-made projects that can be used to plan a specific city, but a graphically depicted idea, the concept of a city. Reasoning about the location of the city from the point of view of economy, hygiene, defense, aesthetics is given. Searches are being made for optimal plans for residential areas and urban centers, gardens and parks. Questions of composition, harmony, beauty, proportion are studied. In these ideal constructions, the planning of the city is characterized by rationalism, geometric clarity, centric composition and harmony between the whole and the parts. And, finally, what distinguishes the architecture of the Renaissance from other eras is the person standing in the center, at the heart of all these constructions. attention to human personality was so great that even architectural structures likened human body as a standard of perfect proportions and beauty.
Theory
In the 50s of the XV century. The treatise "Ten Books on Architecture" by Leon Alberti appears. It was, in essence, the first theoretical work of the new era on this topic. It deals with many issues of urban planning, ranging from site selection and city planning to building typology and decor. Of particular interest are his arguments about beauty. Alberti wrote that "beauty is a strict proportionate harmony of all parts, united by what they belong to - such that nothing can be added, subtracted, or changed without making it worse." In fact, Alberti was the first to proclaim the basic principles of the Renaissance urban ensemble, linking the ancient sense of proportion with the rationalistic beginning of a new era. The given ratio of the height of the building to the space located in front of it (from 1:3 to 1:6), the consistency of the architectural scales of the main and secondary buildings, the balance of the composition and the absence of dissonant contrasts - these are the aesthetic principles of Renaissance urban planners.
The ideal city excited many great people of the era. Thought about him and Leonardo da Vinci. His idea was to create a two-level city: the upper level was intended for pedestrian and surface roads, and the lower one was for tunnels and canals connected with the basements of houses, through which freight transport moves. Known for his plans for the reconstruction of Milan and Florence, as well as the project of a spindle city.
Another prominent city theorist was Andrea Palladio. In his treatise "Four Books on Architecture" he reflects on the integrity of the urban organism and the relationship of its spatial elements. He says that "the city is nothing but a certain big house, and vice versa, the house is a kind of small town. About the urban ensemble, he writes: “Beauty is the result of beautiful shape and the correspondence of the whole to the parts, of the parts to each other, and also of the parts to the whole. A prominent place in the treatise is given to the interior of buildings, their dimensions and proportions. Palladio is trying to organically connect the outer space of the streets with the interior of houses and courtyards.
Near the end of the 16th century. many theorists were attracted by the issues of retail space and fortifications. So, Giorgio Vasari Jr. in his ideal city pays a lot of attention to the development of squares, shopping arcades, loggias, palazzos. And in the projects of Vicenzo Scamozzi and Buanayuto Lorrini, issues of fortification art occupy a significant place. This was a response to the order of the time - with the invention of explosive shells, the fortress walls and towers were replaced by earthen bastions, taken out of the city boundaries, and the city began to resemble a multi-beam star in its outlines. These ideas were embodied in the actually built fortress of Palmanova, the creation of which is attributed to Scamozzi.
Practice
Although not a single ideal city was embodied in stone, with the exception of small fortress cities, many of the principles of its construction were embodied in reality already in the 16th century. At that time, in Italy and other countries, straight wide streets were laid, connecting important elements of the urban ensemble, new squares were created, old ones were rebuilt, and later parks and palace ensembles with a regular structure appeared.
| Ideal City by Antonio Filarete The city was an octagonal star in plan, formed by the intersection at an angle of 45 ° of two equal squares with a side of 3.5 km. In the protrusions of the star there were eight round towers, and in the "pockets" - eight city gates. The gates and towers were connected to the center by radial streets, some of which were shipping channels. In the central part of the city, on a hill, there was the main rectangular square, on the short sides of which the prince's palace and the city cathedral were to be located, and on the long sides - judicial and city institutions. In the center of the square there was a pond and a watchtower. Two others adjoined the main square, with the houses of the most eminent residents of the city. Sixteen more squares were located at the intersection of radial streets with the ring street: eight shopping and eight for parish centers and churches. |
Despite the fact that the art of the Renaissance was sufficiently opposed to the art of the Middle Ages, it easily and organically fit into medieval cities. In their practical activities, Renaissance architects used the principle of "building a new one without destroying the old." They managed to create surprisingly harmonious ensembles not only from buildings of the same style, as can be seen in the squares of Annuziata in Florence (designed by Filippo Brunelleschi) and the Capitol in Rome (designed by Michelangelo), but also to combine buildings from different times into one composition. So, on the square of St. Mark in Venice, medieval buildings are combined into an architectural and spatial ensemble with new buildings of the 16th century. And in Florence, from Piazza della Signoria with the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, Uffizi Street, designed by Giorgio Vasari, harmoniously follows. Moreover, the ensemble of the Florentine Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Brunelleschi's reconstruction) perfectly combines three architectural styles at once: Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance.
The city of the Middle Ages and the city of the Renaissance
The ideal city of the Renaissance appeared as a kind of protest against the Middle Ages, expressed in the development of ancient urban planning principles. Unlike the medieval city, which was perceived as a kind, albeit imperfect, likeness of the "Heavenly Jerusalem", the embodiment of not a human, but a divine plan, the city of the Renaissance was created by a human creator. Man did not just copy what already existed, he created something more perfect and did it in accordance with the "divine mathematics". The city of the Renaissance was created for man and had to correspond to the earthly world order, its real social, political and everyday structure.
The medieval city is surrounded by powerful walls, fenced off from the world, its houses are more like fortresses with a few loopholes. Renaissance City is open, it is not protected from outside world, he controls it, subordinates it. The walls of buildings, delimiting, unite the spaces of streets and squares with courtyards and rooms. They are permeable - they have many openings, arcades, colonnades, driveways, windows.
If the medieval city is the placement of architectural volumes, then the city of the Renaissance is to a greater extent the distribution of architectural spaces. The center of the new city is not the building of the cathedral or the town hall, but the free space of the main square, open both up and to the sides. They enter the building and exit out onto the street and the square. And if the medieval city is compositionally drawn to its center - it is centripetal, then the city of the Renaissance is centrifugal - it is directed to the outside world.
| Plato's ideal city In plan, the central part of the city was an alternation of water and earth rings. The outer water ring was connected to the sea by a channel 50 stadia long (1 stadia - ca. 193 m). The earthen rings separating the water rings had underground channels near the bridges adapted for the passage of ships. The largest water ring in circumference was three stadia wide, as was the earthen one following it; the next two rings, water and earth, were two stades wide; finally, the water ring encircling the island located in the middle was a stadia wide. |
The medieval city follows the natural landscape, using it for its own purposes. The city of the Renaissance is rather a work of art, a "geometry game". The architect modifies the terrain by superimposing a geometric grid of drawn spaces on it. Such a city has a clear shape: a circle, a square, an octagon, a star; even the rivers are straightened in it.
The medieval city is vertical. Here everything is directed upwards, to the heavens - distant and inaccessible. The city of the Renaissance is horizontal, the main thing here is perspective, aspiration into the distance, towards new horizons. For a medieval person, the path to Heaven is an ascension, achievable through repentance and humility, renunciation of everything earthly. For the people of the Renaissance, this is an ascent through gaining their own experience and comprehending the Divine laws.
The dream of an ideal city gave impetus to the creative searches of many architects not only of the Renaissance, but also of later times, it led and illuminated the path to harmony and beauty. The ideal city always exists inside the real city, as different from it as the world of thought from the world of facts, as the world of imagination from the world of fantasy. And if you know how to dream the way the masters of the Renaissance did, then you can see this city - the City of the Sun, the City of Gold.
The original article is on the site of the magazine "New Acropolis".
Classicism in the architecture of Western Europe
Let's leave it to the Italians
Empty tinsel with its fake gloss.
Total meaning is more important but in order to come to him,
We'll have to overcome obstacles and paths,
Follow the marked path strictly:
Sometimes the mind has only one way...
You need to think about the meaning and only then write!
N. Boileau. "Poetic Art".
Translation by V. Lipetskaya
So taught his contemporaries one of the main ideologists of classicism, the poet Nicolas Boileau (1636-1711). The strict rules of classicism were embodied in the tragedies of Corneille and Racine, the comedies of Molière and the satires of La Fontaine, the music of Lully and the painting of Poussin, the architecture and decoration of the palaces and ensembles of Paris...
Classicism was most clearly manifested in the works of architecture, focused on the best achievements of ancient culture - an order system, strict symmetry, a clear proportionality of the parts of the composition and their subordination to the general idea. The "austere style" of classicist architecture seemed to be intended to visually embody its ideal formula of "noble simplicity and calm grandeur." The architectural structures of classicism were dominated by simple and clear forms, a calm harmony of proportions. Preference was given to straight lines, unobtrusive decor, repeating the outline of the object. The simplicity and nobility of the workmanship, practicality and expediency affected everything.
Based on the ideas of Renaissance architects about the "ideal city", the architects of classicism created new type a grandiose palace and park ensemble, strictly subordinate to a single geometric plan. One of the outstanding architectural structures of this time was the residence of the French kings on the outskirts of Paris - the Palace of Versailles.
"Fairy Dream" of Versailles
Mark Twain, who visited Versailles in the middle of the 19th century.
“I scolded Louis XIV, who spent 200 million dollars on Versailles when people did not have enough for bread, but now I have forgiven him. It's extraordinarily beautiful! You stare, just open your eyes and try to understand that you are on earth and not in the gardens of Eden. And you are almost ready to believe that this is a hoax, just a fabulous dream.
Indeed, the “fairytale dream” of Versailles still amazes with the scale of the regular layout, the magnificent splendor of the facades and the brilliance of the decorative decoration of the interiors. Versailles became a visible embodiment of the grand-official architecture of classicism, expressing the idea of a rationally arranged model of the world.
One hundred hectares of land in an extremely a short time(1666-1680) were turned into a piece of paradise intended for the French aristocracy. The architects Louis Leveaux (1612-1670), Jules Hardouin-Mansart (1646-1708) and André Le Nôtre(1613-1700). Over the course of a number of years, they rebuilt and changed a lot in its architecture, so that at present it is a complex fusion of several architectural layers, absorbing the characteristic features of classicism.
The center of Versailles is the Grand Palace, to which three converging avenues lead. Located on a certain elevation, the palace occupies a dominant position over the area. Its creators divided the almost half-kilometer length of the facade into a central part and two side wings - risalit, giving it a special solemnity. The facade is represented by three floors. The first one, which plays the role of a massive base, is decorated with rustication on the model of Italian Renaissance palaces-palazzos. On the second, front, there are high arched windows, between which there are Ionic columns and pilasters. The tier crowning the building imparts monumentality to the appearance of the palace: it is shortened and ends with sculptural groups that give the building a special elegance and lightness. The rhythm of windows, pilasters and columns on the façade emphasizes its classical austerity and magnificence. It is no coincidence that Molière said of the Grand Palace of Versailles:
"The artistic decoration of the palace is so in harmony with the perfection that nature gives it that it can be called a magical castle."
Interiors Grand Palace decorated in the Baroque style: they abound with sculptural decorations, rich decor in the form of gilded stucco and carvings, many mirrors and exquisite furniture. The walls and ceilings are covered with colored marble slabs with clear geometric patterns: squares, rectangles and circles. Picturesque panels and tapestries on mythological themes glorify King Louis XIV. Massive bronze chandeliers with gilding complete the impression of wealth and luxury.
The halls of the palace (there are about 700 of them) form endless enfilades and are intended for ceremonial processions, magnificent festivities and masquerade balls. In the largest ceremonial hall of the palace - the Mirror Gallery (73 m long) - the search for new spatial and lighting effects is clearly demonstrated. The windows on one side of the hall were matched by mirrors on the other. Under sunlight or artificial lighting, four hundred mirrors created an exceptional spatial effect, conveying a magical play of reflections.
The decorative compositions of Charles Lebrun (1619-1690) in Versailles and the Louvre were striking in their ceremonial splendor. The “method of depicting passions” proclaimed by him, which involved pompous praise of high-ranking persons, brought the artist a dizzying success. In 1662, he became the king's first painter, and then the director of the royal manufactory of tapestries (hand-woven carpet-pictures, or tapestries) and the head of all decorative work in the Palace of Versailles. In the Mirror Gallery of the Palace, Lebrun painted
a gilded ceiling with many allegorical compositions on mythological themes that glorified the reign of the "Sun King" Louis XIV. Heaped picturesque allegories and attributes, bright colors and decorative effects of the Baroque clearly contrasted with the architecture of classicism.
The king's bedroom is located in the central part of the palace and faces towards rising sun. It was from here that a view of three highways radiating from one point opened, which symbolically reminded of the main center of state power. From the balcony, the view of the king opened up all the beauty of the Versailles park. Its main creator, Andre Le Nôtre, managed to tie together the elements of architecture and landscape gardening art. Unlike landscape (English) parks, which expressed the idea of unity with nature, regular (French) parks subordinated nature to the will and intentions of the artist. The park of Versailles impresses with its clarity and rational organization of space, its drawing is accurately verified by the architect with the help of a compass and ruler.
The alleys of the park are perceived as a continuation of the halls of the palace, each of them ends with a reservoir. Many pools have the correct geometric shape. The smooth water mirrors in the pre-sunset hours reflect the rays of the sun and whimsical shadows cast by bushes and trees trimmed in the shape of a cube, cone, cylinder or ball. Greenery sometimes forms solid, impenetrable walls, sometimes wide galleries, in artificial niches of which sculptural compositions, herms (tetrahedral pillars crowned with a head or bust) and numerous vases with cascades of thin water jets are placed. Allegorical sculpture of fountains made famous masters, designed to glorify the reign of an absolute monarch. The “Sun King” appeared in them either in the guise of the god Apollo, or Neptune, riding out of the water in a chariot or resting among the nymphs in a cool grotto.
Smooth carpets of lawns amaze with bright and colorful colors with a bizarre flower ornament. In vases (there were about 150 thousand of them) there were fresh flowers, which were changed in such a way that Versailles was in constant bloom at any time of the year. The paths of the park are strewn with colored sand. Some of them were lined with porcelain chips sparkling in the sun. All this splendor and splendor of nature was complemented by the smells of almonds, jasmine, pomegranate and lemon, spreading from greenhouses.
There was nature in this park
As if inanimate;
As if with a lofty sonnet,
They were messing around with the grass.
No dancing, no sweet raspberries,
Le Nôtre and Jean Lully
In gardens and dances of disorder
Couldn't bear it.
The yews froze, as if in a trance,
The bushes lined up,
And curtsied
Learned flowers.
V. Hugo Translation by E. L. Lipetskaya
N. M. Karamzin (1766-1826), who visited Versailles in 1790, spoke about his impressions in the Letters of a Russian Traveler:
“The immensity, the perfect harmony of the parts, the action of the whole: this is what the painter cannot depict with a brush!
Let's go to the gardens, the creation of Le Nôtre, whom the bold genius everywhere placed on the throne of proud Art, and the humble Na-tura, like a poor slave, threw him at his feet ...
So, do not look for Nature in the gardens of Versailles; but here, at every step, Art captivates the eye ... "
architectural ensembles Paris. Empire
After the completion of the main construction work in Versailles, at the turn of the 17th-18th centuries, André 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. celebrated in France new stage development of classicism and its distribution in European countries - 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 the imperial grandeur and power of power.
For example, the Austerlitz bridge was reminiscent of the great battle of Napoleon and was built from the stones of the Bastille. At the Place Carruzel was built Triumphal Arch in honor of the victory at Austerlitz. Two squares (Consent and Stars), separated from each other at a considerable distance, were connected by architectural perspectives.
Church of Saint Genevieve, erected by J. J. Soufflot, became the Pantheon - the resting place of the great people of France. One of the most spectacular monuments of that time is the column of the Grand Army on Place Vendôme. Similar to the ancient Roman column of Trajan, it was supposed, according to the plan of the architects J. Gonduin and J. B. Leper, to express the spirit of the New Empire and Napoleon's thirst for greatness.
In the interior bright decoration of palaces and public buildings, solemnity and majestic pomposity were especially highly valued, their decor was often overloaded with military paraphernalia. The dominant motifs were contrasting combinations of colors, elements of Roman and Egyptian ornaments: eagles, griffins, urns, wreaths, torches, grotesques. The Empire style was most clearly manifested in the interiors of the imperial residences of the Louvre and Malmaison.
The era of Napoleon Bonaparte ended by 1815, and very soon they began to actively eradicate its ideology and tastes. From the "disappeared like a dream" Empire, there were works of art in the Empire style, clearly testifying to its former greatness.
Questions and tasks
1. Why Versailles can be attributed to outstanding works?
As urban planning ideas of classicism of the XVIII century. found their practical implementation in the architectural ensembles of Paris, for example, Place de la Concorde? What distinguishes it from the Italian Baroque squares of Rome in the 17th century, such as the Piazza del Popolo (see p. 74)?
2. How did the connection between baroque and classicism find expression? What ideas did classicism inherit from baroque?
3. What are the historical background for the emergence of the Empire style? What new ideas of his time did he seek to express in works of art? Which artistic principles does he rely on?
creative workshop
1. Give your classmates a guided tour of Versailles. For its preparation, you can use video materials from the Internet. The parks of Versailles and Peterhof are often compared. What do you think is the basis for such comparisons?
2. Try to compare the image of the “ideal city” of the Renaissance era with the classicist ensembles of Paris (St. Petersburg or its suburbs).
3. Compare the design of the interior decoration (interiors) of the gallery of Francis I in Fontainebleau and the Mirror Gallery of Versailles.
4. Get acquainted with the paintings of the Russian artist A. N. Benois (1870-1960) from the cycle “Versailles. Walk of the King” (see p. 74). How do they convey the general atmosphere of the court life of the French king Louis XIV? Why can they be considered as peculiar pictures-symbols?
Topics of projects, abstracts or messages
"The Formation of Classicism in French Architecture of the 17th-18th Centuries"; "Versailles as a model of harmony and beauty of the world"; "Walking around Versailles: the connection between the composition of the palace and the layout of the park"; "Masterpieces of the architecture of Western European classicism"; "Napoleonic Empire in the architecture of France"; "Versailles and Peterhof: experience comparative characteristics»; « Artistic discoveries in the architectural ensembles of Paris”; "The squares of Paris and the development of the principles of regular planning of the city"; "Clarity of composition and balance of volumes of the cathedral of the Invalides in Paris"; “Concord Square is a new stage in the development of urban planning ideas of classicism”; “The severe expressiveness of volumes and the stinginess of the decor of the church of St. Genevieve (Pantheon) by J. Soufflot”; "Features of classicism in the architecture of Western European countries"; "Outstanding architects of Western European classicism".
Books for additional reading
Arkin D. E. Images of architecture and images of sculpture. M., 1990. Kantor A. M. and others. Art of the XVIII century. M., 1977. (Small history of arts).
Classicism and Romanticism: Architecture. Sculpture. Painting. Drawing / ed. R. Toman. M., 2000.
Kozhina E.F. Art of France of the 18th century. L., 1971.
LenotrJ. Daily life of Versailles under the kings. M., 2003.
Miretskaya N. V., Miretskaya E. V., Shakirova I. P. Culture of the Enlightenment. M., 1996.
Watkin D. History of Western European architecture. M., 1999. Fedotova E.D. Napoleonic Empire. M., 2008.
In preparing the material, the text of the textbook "World art culture. From the 18th century to the present” (Author Danilova G. I.).
The Renaissance is one of the most important periods in cultural development humanity, because it is at this time that the foundations of a fundamentally new culture arise, that wealth of ideas, thoughts, symbols arises 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. On the whole italian city in reality, it 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.
New town 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, but to a greater extent turned out to be realized in fine 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 “separation” of human civilization from nature into its new man-made world had reasonable, harmonious and beautiful grounds.
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 the mind plays in civil affairs and in human life much greater role 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 dedicated to Florence, appears before us rather than real city, but an embodied socio-cultural 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
Integration theory of culture P. Sorokin
Psychoanalytic concepts of culture
Basic approaches to the analysis of the essence of culture
Morphology of culture
Norms and values of culture
Functions of culture
Renaissance art
Renaissance- this is the heyday of all the arts, including the theater, and literature, and music, but, undoubtedly, the main among them, which most fully expressed the spirit of its time, was the fine arts.
It is no coincidence that there is a theory that the Renaissance began with the fact that artists were no longer satisfied with the framework of the dominant "Byzantine" style and, in search of models for their work, were the first to turn to to antiquity. The term "Renissance" (Renaissance) was introduced by the thinker and artist of the era itself, Giorgio Vasari ("Biography of famous painters, sculptors and architects"). So he called the time from 1250 to 1550. From his point of view, this was the time of the revival of antiquity. For Vasari, antiquity appears in an ideal way.
In the future, the content of the term has evolved. The revival began to mean the emancipation of science and art from theology, a cooling towards Christian ethics, the birth of national literatures, the desire of man for freedom from the restrictions of the Catholic Church. That is, the Renaissance, in essence, began to mean humanism.
REVIVAL, RENAISSANCE(French renais sance - rebirth) - one of the greatest eras, turning point in the development of world art between the Middle Ages and the new time. The Renaissance covers the XIV-XVI centuries. in Italy, XV-XVI centuries. in other European countries. This period in the development of culture received its name - Renaissance (or Renaissance) in connection with the revival of interest in ancient art. However, the artists of that time not only copied old patterns, but also put a qualitatively new content into them. The Renaissance should not be considered an artistic style or direction, since in this era there were various artistic styles, trends, currents. The aesthetic ideal of the Renaissance was formed on the basis of a new progressive worldview - humanism. The real world and man were proclaimed the highest value: Man is the measure of all things. The role of the creative person has especially increased.
The humanistic pathos of the era was best embodied in art, which, as in previous centuries, aimed to give a picture of the universe. What was new was that they tried to unite the material and the spiritual into one whole. It was difficult to find a person indifferent to art, but preference was given to fine arts and architecture.
Italian painting of the 15th century mostly monumental (frescoes). Painting occupies a leading place among the types of fine arts. It most fully corresponds to the Renaissance principle of "imitating nature." A new visual system is formed on the basis of the study of nature. The artist Masaccio made a worthy contribution to the development of an understanding of volume, its transmission with the help of chiaroscuro. Discovery and scientific substantiation of the laws of linear and aerial perspective significantly influenced the further fate of European painting. A new plastic language of sculpture is being formed, its founder was Donatello. He revived the free-standing round statue. His best work is the sculpture of David (Florence).
In architecture, the principles of the ancient order system are resurrected, the importance of proportions is raised, new types of buildings are being formed (city palace, country villa, etc.), the theory of architecture and the concept of an ideal city are being developed. The architect Brunelleschi built buildings in which he combined the ancient understanding of architecture and the traditions of the late Gothic, achieving a new figurative spirituality of architecture, unknown to the ancients. During the high Renaissance, the new worldview was best embodied in the work of artists who are rightfully called geniuses: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giorgione and Titian. The last two thirds of the 16th century called late Renaissance. At this time, the crisis covers art. It becomes regulated, courtly, loses its warmth and naturalness. However, individual great artists - Titian, Tintoretto continue to create masterpieces during this period.
The Italian Renaissance had a huge impact on the art of France, Spain, Germany, England, and Russia.
The rise in the development of the art of the Netherlands, France and Germany (XV-XVI centuries) is called the Northern Renaissance. The work of the painters Jan van Eyck, P. Brueghel the Elder is the pinnacle of this period in the development of art. In Germany, A. Dürer was the greatest artist of the German Renaissance.
The discoveries made during the Renaissance in the field of spiritual culture and art were of great historical significance for the development of European art in subsequent centuries. Interest in them continues to this day.
The Renaissance in Italy went through several stages: early Renaissance, high Renaissance, late Renaissance. Florence became the birthplace of the Renaissance. The foundations of the new art were developed by the painter Masaccio, the sculptor Donatello, and the architect F. Brunelleschi.
The first to create paintings instead of icons was the largest master of the Proto-Renaissance Giotto. He was the first to strive to convey Christian ethical ideas through the depiction of real human feelings and experiences, replacing symbolism with the depiction of real space and specific objects. On the famous frescoes of Giotto in Arena Chapel in Padua you can see quite unusual characters next to the saints: shepherds or a spinner. Each individual person in Giotto expresses quite definite experiences, a definite character. 
In the era of the early Renaissance in art, the development of the ancient artistic heritage takes place, new ethical ideals are formed, artists turn to the achievements of science (mathematics, geometry, optics, anatomy). The leading role in the formation of the ideological and stylistic principles of the art of the early Renaissance is played by Florence. In the images created by such masters as Donatello, Verrocchio, the equestrian statue of the condottiere Gattamelata David by Donatello dominates the heroic and patriotic principles ("St. George" and "David" by Donatello and "David" by Verrocchio). 
Masaccio was the founder of Renaissance painting.(murals in the Brancacci Chapel, "Trinity"), Masaccio was able to convey the depth of space, connected the figure and landscape with a single compositional idea, and gave individuals portrait expressiveness.
But the formation and evolution of the pictorial portrait, which reflected the interest of the Renaissance culture in man, are associated with the names of the artists of the Umrbi school: Piero della Francesca, Pinturicchio.
The work of the artist stands apart in the early Renaissance Sandro Botticelli. The images he created are spiritualized and poetic. Researchers note the abstraction and refined intellectualism in the artist’s works, his desire to create mythological compositions with complicated and encrypted content (“Spring”, “The Birth of Venus”). One of Botticelli’s biographers said that his Madonnas and Venuses give the impression of loss, causing us a feeling of indelible sadness... Some of them lost the sky, others - the earth. 
"Spring" "Birth of Venus"
The culmination in the development of the ideological and artistic principles of the Italian Renaissance is High Renaissance. The founder of the art of the High Renaissance is Leonardo da Vinci - great artist and scientist.
He created a number of masterpieces: “Mona Lisa” (“La Gioconda”) Strictly speaking, the very face of the Gioconda is distinguished by restraint and calmness, the smile that created her world fame and which later became an indispensable part of the works of the Leonardo school is barely noticeable in it. But in the softly melting haze that envelops the face and figure, Leonardo managed to make feel the boundless variability of human facial expressions. Although the eyes of Gioconda look attentively and calmly at the viewer, due to the shading of her eye sockets, one might think that they are slightly frowning; her lips are compressed, but barely perceptible shadows are outlined near their corners, which make you believe that every minute they will open, smile, speak. The very contrast between her gaze and the half-smile on her lips gives an idea of the contradictory nature of her experiences. It was not in vain that Leonardo tortured his model with long sessions. Like no one else, he managed to convey shadows, shades and halftones in this picture, and they give rise to a feeling of quivering life. No wonder Vasari thought that on the neck of the Mona Lisa you can see how a vein is beating.
In the portrait of Gioconda, Leonardo not only perfectly conveyed the body and the air environment enveloping it. He also put into it an understanding of what the eye needs in order for a picture to produce a harmonious impression, which is why everything looks as if the forms are naturally born one from the other, as happens in music when a tense dissonance is resolved by a harmonious chord. Gioconda is perfectly inscribed in a strictly proportional rectangle, her half-figure forms something whole, folded hands give her image completeness. Now, of course, there could be no question of the bizarre curls of the early Annunciation. However, no matter how softened all the contours, the wavy lock of the Gioconda's hair is in tune with the transparent veil, and the hanging fabric thrown over the shoulder finds an echo in the smooth windings of the distant road. In all this, Leonardo shows his ability to create according to the laws of rhythm and harmony. “In terms of technique, Mona Lisa has always been considered something inexplicable. Now I think I can answer this riddle,” says Frank. According to him, Leonardo used the technique he developed "sfumato" (Italian "sfumato", literally - "disappeared like smoke"). The trick is that objects in the paintings should not have clear boundaries, everything should be smoothly transitioning from one to another, the outlines of objects are softened with the help of the light-air haze surrounding them. The main difficulty of this technique lies in the smallest strokes (about a quarter of a millimeter) that are not accessible for recognition either under a microscope or using X-rays. Thus, it took several hundred sessions to paint a da Vinci painting. The image of the Mona Lisa consists of about 30 layers of liquid, almost transparent oil paint. For such jewelry work, the artist apparently had to use a magnifying glass. Perhaps the use of such a laborious technique explains the long time spent working on the portrait - almost 4 years. 
, "The Last Supper" makes a lasting impression. On the wall, as if overcoming it and taking the viewer into the world of harmony and majestic visions, the ancient gospel drama of deceived trust unfolds. And this drama finds its resolution in a general impulse directed towards the main character - a husband with a mournful face, who accepts what is happening as inevitable. Christ had just said to his disciples, "One of you will betray me." The traitor sits with the others; the old masters depicted Judas seated separately, but Leonardo brought out his gloomy isolation much more convincingly, shrouding his features with a shadow. Christ is submissive to his fate, full of consciousness of the sacrifice of his feat. His tilted head with lowered eyes, the gesture of his hands are infinitely beautiful and majestic. A charming landscape opens through the window behind his figure. Christ is the center of the whole composition, of all that whirlpool of passions that rage around. His sadness and calmness are, as it were, eternal, natural - and this is the deep meaning of the drama shown. He was looking for the sources of perfect forms of art in nature, but N. Berdyaev considers him responsible for the coming process of mechanization and mechanization of human life, which tore a person from nature.
Painting achieves classical harmony in creativity Raphael. His art evolves from the early chilly Umbrian images of Madonnas (Madonna Conestabile) to the world of "happy Christianity" of Florentine and Roman works. "Madonna with a Goldfinch" and "Madonna in an Armchair" are soft, humane and even ordinary in their humanity. 
But the image of the "Sistine Madonna" is majestic, symbolically connecting the heavenly and earthly worlds. Most of all, Raphael is known as the creator of gentle images of Madonnas. But in painting, he embodied both the ideal of the Renaissance universal man (portrait of Castiglione), and the drama of historical events. The Sistine Madonna (c. 1513, Dresden, Art Gallery) is one of the artist's most inspired works. Written as an altarpiece for the church of the monastery of St. Sixtus in Piacenza, this painting, in terms of design, composition and interpretation of the image, differs significantly from the Madonnas of the Florentine period. Instead of an intimate and earthly image of a beautiful young maiden condescendingly following the amusements of two babies, here we have a wonderful vision that suddenly appeared in the sky because of a curtain pulled back by someone. Surrounded by a golden radiance, solemn and majestic, Mary walks through the clouds, holding the Christ child in front of her. Left and right kneel before her St. Sixtus and St. Barbara. The symmetrical, strictly balanced composition, the clarity of the silhouette and the monumental generalization of the forms give the Sistine Madonna a special grandeur.
In this picture, Raphael, perhaps to a greater extent than anywhere else, managed to combine the life-like veracity of the image with the features of ideal perfection. The image of the Madonna is complex. The touching purity and naivety of a very young woman are combined in him with firm determination and heroic readiness for sacrifice. This heroism makes the image of the Madonna related to the best traditions of Italian humanism. The combination of the ideal and the real in this picture brings to mind the well-known words of Rafael from a letter to his friend B. Castiglione. “And I will tell you,” wrote Raphael, “that in order to write a beauty, I need to see many beauties ... but due to the lack ... in beautiful women, I use some idea that comes to my mind. Whether it has any perfection, I do not know, but I try very hard to achieve it. These words shed light on the creative method of the artist. Proceeding from reality and relying on it, at the same time he strives to raise the image above everything accidental and transient.
Michelangelo(1475-1564) - undoubtedly one of the most inspired artists in the history of art and, along with Leonardo da Vinci, the most powerful figure of the Italian high renaissance. As a sculptor, architect, painter and poet, Michelangelo had an enormous influence on his contemporaries and on subsequent Western art in general.
He considered himself a Florentine - although he was born on March 6, 1475 in the small village of Caprese near the city of Arezzo. Michelangelo deeply loved his city, its art, culture and carried this love to the end of his days. He spent most of his mature years in Rome, working for the popes; however, he left a will, in accordance with which his body was buried in Florence, in a beautiful tomb in the church of Santa Croce.
Michelangelo completed the marble sculpture Pieta(Lamentation of Christ) (1498-1500), which is still in its original location - in St. Peter's Cathedral. This is one of the most famous works in the history of world art. The pieta was probably completed by Michelangelo before he was 25 years old. This is the only work he has signed. The young Mary is depicted with the dead Christ on her knees, an image borrowed from northern European art. Mary's look is not so sad as solemn. This is the highest point of creativity of the young Michelangelo. 
No less significant work of the young Michelangelo was a giant (4.34 m) marble image David(Academy, Florence), executed between 1501 and 1504, after returning to Florence. Hero Old Testament depicted by Michelangelo in the form of a handsome, muscular, naked young man who looks anxiously into the distance, as if evaluating his enemy - Goliath, with whom he has to fight. The lively, tense expression of David's face is characteristic of many of Michelangelo's works - this is a sign of his individual sculptural manner. The David, Michelangelo's most famous sculpture, has become a symbol of Florence and was originally placed in the Piazza della Signoria in front of the Palazzo Vecchio, the Florentine town hall. With this statue, Michelangelo proved to his contemporaries that he not only surpassed all contemporary artists, but also the masters of antiquity.
Painting on the vault of the Sistine Chapel In 1505, Michelangelo was summoned to Rome by Pope Julius II to fulfill two orders. The most important was the fresco painting of the vault of the Sistine Chapel. Working lying on high scaffolding right under the ceiling, Michelangelo created the most beautiful illustrations for some biblical stories between 1508 and 1512. On the vault of the papal chapel, he depicted nine scenes from the Book of Genesis, beginning with the Separation of Light from Darkness and including the Creation of Adam, the Creation of Eve, the Temptation and Fall of Adam and Eve, and the Flood. Around the main paintings alternate images of prophets and sibyls on marble thrones, other Old Testament characters and the forefathers of Christ.
To prepare for this great work, Michelangelo made a huge number of sketches and cardboards, on which he depicted the figures of the sitters in a variety of poses. These regal, powerful images prove the artist's masterful understanding of human anatomy and movement, which gave impetus to a new direction in Western European art. 
Two other excellent statues, Bound Prisoner and Death of a Slave(both c. 1510-13) are in the Louvre, Paris. They demonstrate Michelangelo's approach to sculpture. In his opinion, the figures are simply enclosed within the marble block, and it is the artist's job to free them by removing the excess stone. Often Michelangelo left the sculptures unfinished, either because they were no longer needed or simply because they lost their interest for the artist. 
Library of San Lorenzo The project of the tomb of Julius II required architectural study, but Michelangelo's serious work in the architectural field began only in 1519, when he was ordered to facade the Library of St. Lawrence in Florence, where the artist returned again (this project was never implemented). In the 1520s he also designed the elegant entrance hall of the Library adjoining the church of San Lorenzo. These structures were completed only a few decades after the death of the author.
Michelangelo, an adherent of the republican faction, participated in the years 1527-29 in the war against the Medici. His responsibilities included the construction and reconstruction of the fortifications of Florence. 
Medici Chapels. After living in Florence for a rather long period, Michelangelo completed between 1519 and 1534 the commission of the Medici family to erect two tombs in the new sacristy of the church of San Lorenzo. In a hall with a high domed vault, the artist erected two magnificent tombs against the walls, intended for Lorenzo De Medici, Duke of Urbino and for Giuliano De Medici, Duke of Nemours. Two complex graves were conceived as representations of opposite types: Lorenzo - a person enclosed in himself, a thoughtful, withdrawn person; Giuliano, on the contrary, is active, open. Above the grave of Lorenzo, the sculptor placed allegorical sculptures of Morning and Evening, and above the grave of Giuliano - allegories of Day and Night. Work on the Medici tombs continued after Michelangelo returned to Rome in 1534. He never visited his beloved city again.
Last Judgment
From 1536 to 1541, Michelangelo worked in Rome on painting the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The largest fresco of the Renaissance depicts the day of the Last Judgment. Christ, with a fiery lightning in his hand, inexorably divides all the inhabitants of the earth into the saved righteous, depicted on the left side of the composition, and sinners descending into Dante's hell (left side of the fresco). Strictly following his own tradition, Michelangelo originally painted all the figures nude, but a decade later some Puritan artist "dressed" them as the cultural climate became more conservative. Michelangelo left his own self-portrait on the fresco - his face is easily guessed on the skin torn from the Holy Martyr Apostle Bartholomew.
Although during this period Michelangelo had other pictorial commissions, such as painting the chapel of St. Paul the Apostle (1940), first of all he tried to devote all his strength to architecture.
Dome of St. Peter's Cathedral. In 1546, Michelangelo was appointed chief architect of St. Peter's Cathedral in the Vatican, which was under construction. The building was built according to the plan of Donato Bramante, but Michelangelo ultimately became responsible for the construction of the altar apse and for the development of the engineering and artistic solution for the dome of the cathedral. The completion of the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral was the highest achievement of the Florentine master in the field of architecture. During his long life, Michelangelo was a close friend of princes and popes, from Lorenzo de Medici to Leo X, Clement VIII, and Pius III, as well as many cardinals, painters and poets. The character of the artist, his position in life is difficult to unambiguously understand through his works - they are so diverse. Except perhaps in poetry, in his own poems, Michelangelo more often and more deeply turned to questions of creativity and his place in art. A large place in his poems is given to the problems and difficulties that he had to face in his work, and personal relationships with the most prominent representatives of that era. One of famous poets Renaissance Lodovico Ariosto wrote an epitaph for this famous artist: "Michele is more than mortal, he is a divine angel." 
