Artistic culture of the Renaissance. pre-revival

Creation ideal city tormented scientists and architects of various countries and eras, but the first attempts to design something like this arose in the Renaissance. Although scientists worked at the court of the pharaohs and Roman emperors, whose works were aimed at creating some kind of ideal settlement, in which not only everything would clearly obey the hierarchy, but also in which it would be comfortable to live for both the ruler and the simple artisan. Recall at least Akhetaten, Mohenjodaro or a fantastic project proposed by Stasicrates to Alexander the Great, according to which he proposed to carve a statue of a commander from Mount Athos with a city located on his arm. The only problem was that these settlements either remained on paper or were destroyed. The idea of ​​designing an ideal city came not only to architects, but also to many artists. There are references that Piero della Francesca, and Giorgio Vasari, and Luciano Laurana and many others were engaged in this.

Piero della Francesco was known to his contemporaries primarily as the author of treatises on art. Only three of them have come down to us: "Treatise on the abacus", "Perspective in painting", "Five regular bodies". It was he who first raised the question of creating an ideal city in which everything would be subject to mathematical calculations, promising constructions of clear symmetry. For this reason, many scholars attribute to Pierrot the image "View of an ideal city", which fits perfectly into the principles of the Renaissance.

Leon Battista Alberti came closest to the implementation of such a large-scale project. True, he did not manage to realize his idea in its entirety, but he left behind a large number of drawings and notes, according to which other artists were able to achieve in the future what Leon failed to achieve. In particular, Bernardo Rosselino acted as the executor of many of his projects. But Leon implemented his principles not only in writing, but also on the example of many of the buildings he built. Basically, these are numerous palazzos designed for noble families. The architect reveals his own example of an ideal city in his treatise On Architecture. The scientist wrote this work until the end of his life. It was published posthumously and became the first printed book to reveal the problems of architecture. According to Leon, the ideal city had to reflect all the needs of a person, respond to all his humanistic needs. And this is no coincidence, because the leading philosophical thought in the Renaissance was anthropocentric humanism. The city should be divided into quarters, which would be divided according to a hierarchical principle or according to the type of employment. In the center, on the main square, there is a building where city power would be concentrated, as well as the main cathedral and houses of noble families and city managers. Closer to the outskirts were the houses of merchants and artisans, and the poor lived on the very border. Such an arrangement of buildings, according to the architect, was an obstacle to the emergence of various social unrest, since the houses of the rich would be separated from the dwellings of poor citizens. Another important planning principle is that it had to meet the needs of any category of citizens, so that both the ruler and the clergyman could live comfortably in this city. It was supposed to contain all the buildings, from schools and libraries to markets and thermal baths. The public accessibility of such buildings is also important. Even if we ignore all the ethical and social principles of an ideal city, then external, artistic values ​​remain. The layout had to be regular, according to which the city was divided into clear quarters by straight streets. In general, all architectural structures should be subject to geometric shapes and drawn along a ruler. The squares were either round or rectangular. According to these principles, the old cities, such as Rome, Genoa, Naples, were subjected to partial demolition of the old medieval streets and the construction of new spacious quarters.

In some treatises, a similar remark was found about the leisure of people. It concerned mainly boys. It was proposed to build playgrounds and intersections in the cities of such a type that young people playing would be under the constant supervision of adults who could observe them without hindrance. These precautions were aimed at educating the prudence of young people.

The culture of the Renaissance in many ways provided food for further reflection on the structure of the ideal city. This was especially true for the humanists. According to their worldview, everything should be created for a person, for his comfortable existence. When all these conditions are fulfilled, a person will receive social peace and spiritual happiness. Therefore, in such
society simply a priori cannot have wars or riots. Mankind has been moving towards such a result throughout its existence. Recall at least the famous "Utopia" by Thomas More or "1984" by George Orwell. Works of this kind affected not only functional features, but also thought about the relationships, order and structure of the community that lived in this locality, not necessarily a city, maybe even the world. But these foundations were laid back in the 15th century, so we can safely say that the scientists of the Renaissance were comprehensively educated people of their time.

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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 a new type of 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). For a number of years they have rebuilt and changed a lot in its architecture, so that at present it is a complex fusion of several architectural layers, absorbing character traits 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 link together the elements of architecture and 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. The allegorical plasticity of the fountains, made by famous masters, is designed to glorify the reign of the 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 of 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 streets and squares linked into a single whole on long years will become a criterion for evaluating the perfection of the urban plan and the skill of the urban planner. 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 the Roman military history as the main decorative motifs.

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

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

Empire style became the personification of the political power and military glory of Napoleon, served as a kind of manifestation of his cult. The new ideology fully met the political interests and artistic tastes of the new time. Large architectural ensembles of open squares, wide streets and avenues were created everywhere, bridges, monuments and public buildings were erected, demonstrating 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. have found their practical application in architectural ensembles 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? What artistic principles does it rely on?

creative workshop

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

2. Try to compare the image of the “ideal city” of the Renaissance era with the classicist ensembles of Paris (St. Petersburg or its suburbs).

3. Compare the design 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.).

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, a 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. Its name - Renaissance (or Renaissance) - this period in the development of culture received 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 the 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 performed 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. The hero of the Old Testament is depicted by Michelangelo in the form of a handsome, muscular, naked young man who looks anxiously into the distance, as if assessing 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 a mortal, he is a divine angel."

The appearance of the term "Renaissance" (Renaissance, Renaissance) falls on the XVI century. Wrote about renaissance» art of Italy - the first historiographer Italian art, a great painter, author of the famous "Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (1550) - Giorgio Vasari.

This concept originates in the basis of the widespread at that time historical concept, according to which the era of the Middle Ages was characterized by constant barbarism, ignorance, which followed the fall great civilization classical archaic.

If we talk about the period of the Middle Ages as some kind of simple in the development of culture, then it is necessary to take into account the assumptions of historians of that time about art. It was believed that art, which in old days flourished in the ancient world, finds its first revival to a new existence precisely in their time.

Spring/ Sandro Botticelli

In the initial awareness, the term "revival" was interpreted not so much as the name of the entire era, but rather exact time(usually the beginning of the XIV century) the emergence of new art. Only after a certain period did this concept acquire a broader interpretation and began to designate in Italy and other countries the era of the formation and flourishing of a culture opposed to feudalism.

Now the Middle Ages is not considered a break in the history of the artistic culture of Europe. In the last century, a thorough study of the art of the Middle Ages began, which has greatly intensified in the last half century. It led to his reassessment and even showed that renaissance art owes a lot to the Middle Ages.

But one should not talk about the Renaissance as a trivial continuation of the Middle Ages. Some modern Western European historians have made attempts to blur the line between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, but have not found confirmation in historical facts. In fact, the analysis of Renaissance cultural monuments indicates the rejection of most of the basic beliefs of the feudal worldview.

Allegory of love and time/ Agnola Bronzino

Medieval asceticism and insight to everything worldly is being replaced by an insatiable interest in the real world with the grandeur and beauty of nature and, of course, in man. Belief in superpowers human mind as the highest criterion of truth, led to the precarious position of the untouchable primacy of theology over science, so characteristic of the Middle Ages. Subordination human personality ecclesiastical and feudal authorities is replaced by the principle of free development of individuality.

Members of the newly minted secular intelligentsia paid all attention to the human aspects as opposed to the divine and called themselves humanists (from the concept of the time of Cicero "studia hmnanitatis", meaning the study of everything connected with human nature and his spiritual world). This term is a reflection of a new attitude to reality, the anthropocentrism of the culture of the Renaissance.

A wide range for creative impulses was opened during the period of the first heroic onslaught on the feudal world. The people of this era have already renounced the networks of the past, but have not yet found new ones. They believed that their possibilities were endless. It was from this that the birth of optimism, which is so characteristic of Renaissance culture.

sleeping venus/ Giorgione

Cheerful character and endless faith in life gave rise to faith in the limitlessness of possibilities for the mind and the possibility of developing the personality harmoniously and without barriers.
renaissance art in many respects it contrasts with the medieval. European artistic culture gets its development in the formation of realism. This leaves its mark both on the spread of images of a secular nature, the development of landscapes and portraits, close to the genre interpretation of sometimes religious subjects, and on the radical renewal of an entire artistic organization.

Medieval art was based on the idea of ​​the hierarchical structure of the universe, the culmination of which was outside the circle of earthly existence, which occupied one of the last places. There was a depreciation of earthly real connections and phenomena in time with space, since the main task of art was the visual embodiment of the scale of values ​​created by theology.

In the Renaissance, the speculative art system fades away, and in its place comes a system based on the knowledge and objective image of the world that is presented to man. That is why one of the main tasks of Renaissance artists was the question of reflecting space.

In the 15th century, this issue was comprehended everywhere, with the only difference that the north of Europe (the Netherlands) was moving towards an objective construction of space in stages due to empirical observations, and the foundation of Italy in the first half of the century was based on geometry and optics.

David/ Donatello

This assumption, which gives the possibility of constructing a three-dimensional image on a plane, which would be oriented to the viewer, taking into account his point of view, served as a victory over the concept of the Middle Ages. The visual representation of a person shows the anthropocentric orientation of the new artistic culture.

The culture of the Renaissance clearly demonstrates the characteristic connection between science and art. A special role was assigned to the cognitive principle in order to depict the world and man fairly truthfully. Of course, the search for support for artists in science led to the stimulation of the development of science itself. In the Renaissance, many artists-scientists appeared, headed by Leonardo da Vinci.

New approaches to art dictated a new manner of depiction human figure and transfer of actions. The former idea of ​​the Middle Ages about the canonicity of gestures, facial expressions and permissible arbitrariness in proportions did not correspond to an objective view of the world around us.

For the works of the Renaissance, human behavior is inherent, subject not to rituals or canons, but to psychological conditioning and the development of actions. Artists are trying to bring the proportions of the figures closer to reality. To this they go different ways, so in the northern countries of Europe this happens empirically, and in Italy the study of real forms takes place in conjunction with the knowledge of the monuments of classical antiquity (the north of Europe is attached only later).

The ideals of humanism permeate renaissance art, creating the image of a beautiful, harmoniously developed person. For Renaissance art are characteristic: titanism of passions, characters and heroics.

Renaissance masters create images that embody the proud awareness of their powers, the infinity human capabilities in the field of creativity and true faith in the freedom of his will. Many creations of Renaissance art are consonant with this expression of the famous Italian humanism Pico della Mirandola: “Oh, the wondrous and sublime purpose of a person who is given to achieve what he aspires to and be what he wants.”

Leda and the Swan/ Leonardo da Vinci

If the determination for the nature of fine arts to a greater extent was the desire to display reality truthfully, then the appeal to the classical tradition played an important role in the formation of new architectural forms. This consisted not only in recreating the ancient order system and renouncing Gothic configurations, but also in classical proportionality, the anthropocentric nature of the new architecture and in the design of centric buildings in temple architecture, where the interior space was easily visible.

In the field of civil architecture, a lot of new creations were created. So, in the Renaissance, multi-storey city public buildings: town halls, universities, houses of merchant guilds, educational houses, warehouses, markets, warehouses receive more elegant decoration. A type of city palace appears, or otherwise a palazzo - the home of a wealthy burgher, as well as a kind of country villa. New systems of facade decoration are being formed, a new constructive system of a brick building is being developed (preserved in European construction until the 20th century), combining brick and wooden floors. Urban planning problems are being solved in a new way, urban centers are being reconstructed.

New architectural style gained life with the help of advanced craft building technology, prepared by the Middle Ages. Basically, Renaissance architects were directly involved in the design of the building, directing its implementation in reality. As a rule, they also had a number of other specialties related to architecture, such as: sculptor, painter, sometimes decorator. The combination of skills contributed to the growth of the artistic quality of the structures.

Compared with the Middle Ages, when the main customers of the works were large feudal lords and the church, now the circle of customers is expanding with a change in the social composition. Guild associations of artisans, merchant guilds and even private individuals (nobility, burghers), along with the church, quite often give orders to artists.

The social status of the artist also changes. Despite the fact that artists are in search and enter the workshops, they often receive awards and high honors, occupy seats in city councils and carry out diplomatic missions.
There is an evolution of a person's attitude to the fine arts. If earlier it was on the level of the craft, now it is on a par with the sciences, and works of art for the first time are beginning to be considered as the result of spiritual creative activity.

Last Judgment/ Michelangelo

The emergence of new techniques and forms of art is provoked by the expansion of demand and the growth in the number of secular customers. Monumental forms are accompanied by easel: painting on canvas or wood, wood sculpture, majolica, bronze, terracotta. The ever-growing demand for works of art led to the appearance of engravings on wood and metal - the most inexpensive and most popular form of art. This technique, for the first time, allowed to reproduce images in a large number of copies.
One of the main features of the Italian Renaissance is the widespread use of the traditions of the ancient heritage that do not die in the Mediterranean region. Here, interest in classical antiquity appeared very early - even in the works of Italian Proto-Renaissance artists from Piccolo and Giovanni Pisano to Ambrogio Lorsnzetti.

The study of antiquity in the 15th century becomes one of the key tasks of humanistic studies. There is a significant expansion of information about culture ancient world. In the libraries of old monasteries, many manuscripts of previously unknown works of ancient authors were found. The search for works of art made it possible to discover many ancient statues, reliefs, and eventually frescoes. ancient rome. They were constantly studied by artists. Examples include the surviving news of a trip to Rome by Donatello and Brunelleschi to measure and sketch monuments of ancient Roman architecture and sculpture, the works of Leon Battista Alberti, about the study by Raphael of newly discovered reliefs and painting, the way young Michelangelo copied antique sculpture. The art of Italy was enriched (due to the constant appeal to antiquity) with a mass of techniques, motifs, and forms new for that time, at the same time giving a touch of heroic idealization, which was completely absent in the works of the artists of Northern Europe.

There was another main feature of the Italian Renaissance - its rationality. Many people worked on the formation of the scientific foundations of art. Italian artists. Thus, in the circle of Brunelleschi, Masaccio and Donatello, the theory of linear perspective was formed, which was then set forth in the treatise of 1436 by Leon Battista Alberti "The Book of Painting". A large number of artists participated in the development of the theory of perspective, in particular Paolo Uccello and Piero della Francesca, who wrote the treatise On the Picturesque Perspective in 1484-1487. It is in it, finally, that attempts to apply mathematical theory to the construction of the human figure are visible.

It is also worth noting other cities and regions of Italy that played a prominent role in the development of art: in the XIV century - Siena, in the XV century - Umbrcia, Padua, Venice, Ferrara. In the 16th century, the variety of local schools withered away (the only exception is original Venice), and for a certain period the leading artistic forces of the country concentrated in Rome.

Differences in the formation and development of the art of individual regions of Italy do not interfere with the creation and subordination of a general pattern, which allows us to outline the main stages of development Italian Renaissance. Modern art history divides the history of the Italian Renaissance into four stages: the Proto-Renaissance (the end of the 13th - the first half of the 14th century), the Early Renaissance (the 15th century), the High Renaissance (the end of the 15th - the first three decades of the 16th century) and the Late Renaissance (the middle and second half of the 16th century) .

Italian Renaissance (25:24)

A wonderful film by Vladimir Ptashchenko, released as part of the Masterpieces of the Hermitage series