F.Lippe Madonna
At the beginning of the 15th century, there were huge changes in life and culture in Italy. Since the 12th century, the townspeople, merchants and artisans of Italy have waged a heroic struggle against feudal dependence. Developing trade and production, the townspeople gradually got richer, threw off the power of the feudal lords and organized free city-states. These free Italian cities became very powerful. Their citizens were proud of their conquests. The enormous wealth of the independent Italian cities caused them to flourish. The Italian bourgeoisie looked at the world with different eyes, they firmly believed in themselves, in their own strength. They were alien to the desire for suffering, humility, the rejection of all earthly joys that have been preached to them so far. The respect for the earthly person who enjoys the joys of life grew. People began to take an active attitude to life, eagerly explore the world, admire its beauty. During this period, various sciences are born, art develops.
In Italy, many monuments of the art of Ancient Rome have been preserved, so the ancient era was again revered as a model, ancient art became an object of admiration. The imitation of antiquity gave reason to call this period in art - the Renaissance, which in French means "Renaissance". Of course, this was not a blind, exact repetition of ancient art, it was already new art, but based on ancient models. The Italian Renaissance is divided into 3 stages: VIII - XIV centuries - Pre-Renaissance (Proto-Renaissance or Trecento - with it.); XV century - early Renaissance (Quattrocento); late XV - early XVI century - High Renaissance.
Archaeological excavations were carried out throughout Italy, looking for ancient monuments. The newly discovered statues, coins, utensils, weapons were carefully preserved and collected in museums specially created for this purpose. Artists studied on these samples of antiquity, drew them from nature.
Flight into Egypt (Giotto)
Trecento (Pre-Renaissance)
The true beginning of the Renaissance is associated with the name Giotto di Bondone(1266? - 1337). He is considered the founder of Renaissance painting. The Florentine Giotto has made great contributions to the history of art. He was a renewer, the ancestor of all European painting after the Middle Ages. Giotto breathed life into the gospel scenes, created images of real people, spiritualized, but earthly.
Return of Joachim to the Shepherds (Giotto)
Giotto for the first time creates volumes with the help of chiaroscuro. He likes clean, light colors in cold shades: pinks, pearl grays, pale purples and light lilacs. The people in the frescoes of Giotto are stocky, with a heavy tread. They have large facial features, wide cheekbones, narrow eyes. His man is kind, considerate, serious.
Fresco by Giotto in the temple of Padua
Of the works of Giotto, the frescoes in the temples of Padua are best preserved. He presented the gospel stories here as existing, earthly, real. In these works, he tells about the problems that concern people at all times: about kindness and mutual understanding, deceit and betrayal, about depth, sorrow, meekness, humility and eternal all-consuming maternal love.
Fresco by Giotto
Instead of disparate individual figures, as in medieval painting, Giotto managed to create a coherent story, a whole narrative about the complex inner life of the characters. Instead of the conventional golden background of the Byzantine mosaics, Giotto introduces a landscape background. And if in Byzantine painting the figures, as it were, hovered, hung in space, then the heroes of Giotto's frescoes found solid ground under their feet. Giotto's search for the transfer of space, the plasticity of figures, the expressiveness of movement made his art a whole stage in the Renaissance.
Fresco by S.Martini
One of the famous masters of the Pre-Renaissance is Simone Martini (1284 - 1344).
In his painting, the features of northern Gothic were preserved: Martini's figures are elongated, and, as a rule, on a golden background. But Martini creates images with the help of chiaroscuro, gives them a natural movement, tries to convey a certain psychological state.
Fresco fragment. Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449 - 1494)
Quattrocento (early Renaissance)
Antiquity played a huge role in the formation of the secular culture of the early Renaissance. The Platonic Academy opens in Florence, the Laurentian library contains the richest collection of ancient manuscripts. The first art museums appear, filled with statues, fragments of ancient architecture, marbles, coins, and ceramics.
In the Renaissance, the main centers of the artistic life of Italy stood out - Florence, Rome, Venice. One of the largest centers, the birthplace of a new, realistic art was Florence. In the 15th century, many famous masters of the Renaissance lived, studied and worked there.
Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Florence Cathedral)
Early Renaissance architecture
The inhabitants of Florence had a high artistic culture, they actively participated in the creation of city monuments, and discussed options for the construction of beautiful buildings. Architects abandoned everything that resembled Gothic. Under the influence of antiquity, buildings crowned with a dome began to be considered the most perfect. The model here was the Roman Pantheon.
Florence is one of the most beautiful cities in the world, a city-museum. It has preserved its architecture from antiquity almost intact, its most beautiful buildings were mostly built during the Renaissance. Above the red brick roofs of the ancient buildings of Florence rises the huge building of the city's Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, which is often called simply the Cathedral of Florence. Its height reaches 107 meters. A magnificent dome, the harmony of which is emphasized by white stone ribs, crowns the cathedral. The dome is striking in size (its diameter is 43 m), it crowns the entire panorama of the city. The cathedral is visible from almost every street in Florence, clearly looming against the sky. This magnificent structure was built by the architect Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446).
St. Peter's Cathedral (arch. Brunelleschi and Bramante)
The most magnificent and famous domed building of the Renaissance was St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. It was built over 100 years. The creators of the original project were architects Bramante and Michelangelo.
Renaissance buildings are decorated with columns, pilasters, lion heads and "putti" (naked babies), plaster wreaths of flowers and fruits, leaves and many details, samples of which were found in the ruins of ancient Roman buildings. The semicircular arch came into fashion again. Wealthy people began to build more beautiful and more comfortable houses. Instead of houses closely pressed to each other, luxurious palaces appeared - palazzos.
David (sc.Donatello)
Sculpture of the early Renaissance
In the 15th century in Florence they created two famous sculptors - Donatello and Verrocchio. Donatello (1386? - 1466)- one of the first sculptors in Italy, who used the experience of ancient art. He created one of the finest works of the early Renaissance - the statue of David.
According to the biblical legend, a simple shepherd, the young man David defeated the giant Goliath, and thereby saved the inhabitants of Judea from enslavement and later became king. David was one of the favorite images of the Renaissance. He is depicted by the sculptor not as a humble saint from the Bible, but as a young hero, winner, defender of his native city. In his sculpture, Donatello sings of man as the ideal of a beautiful heroic personality that arose in the Renaissance. David is crowned with the laurel wreath of the winner. Donatello was not afraid to introduce such a detail as a shepherd's hat - a sign of his simple origin. In the Middle Ages, the church forbade depicting a naked body, considering it a vessel of evil. Donatello was the first master who bravely violated this prohibition. He asserts by this that the human body is beautiful. The statue of David is the first round sculpture in that era.
Statue of the commander Gattamelata (sc. Donatello)
Another beautiful sculpture by Donatello is also known - a statue of a warrior, commander Gattamelata. It was the first equestrian monument of the Renaissance. Created 500 years ago, this monument still stands on a high pedestal, decorating the square in the city of Padua. For the first time, not a god, not a saint, not a noble and rich man was immortalized in sculpture, but a noble, brave and formidable warrior with a great soul, who deserved fame for great deeds. Dressed in antique armor, Gattemelata (this is his nickname, meaning "spotted cat") sits on a mighty horse in a calm, majestic pose. The features of the warrior's face emphasize a decisive, firm character.
Equestrian monument to the condottiere Colleoni (Verocchio)
Andrea Verrocchio (1436 -1488)
The most famous student of Donatello, who created the famous equestrian monument to the condottiere Colleoni, which was placed in Venice on the square near the church of San Giovanni. The main thing that strikes in the monument is the joint energetic movement of the horse and rider. The horse, as it were, rushes beyond the marble pedestal on which the monument is erected.
Colleoni, standing up in the stirrups, stretched out, raising his head high, peers into the distance. A grimace of anger and tension froze on his face. In his posture, one feels a huge will, his face resembles a bird of prey. The image is filled with indestructible strength, energy, harsh authority.
Fresco by Masaccio
Early Renaissance painting
The Renaissance also updated the art of painting. Painters have learned to correctly convey space, light and shadow, natural poses, various human feelings. It was the early Renaissance that was the time of accumulation of this knowledge and skills. The paintings of that time are imbued with light and high spirits. The background is often painted in light colors, while buildings and natural motifs are outlined with sharp lines, pure colors predominate. With naive diligence, all the details of the event are depicted, the characters are most often lined up and separated from the background by clear contours.
The painting of the early Renaissance only strived for perfection, however, thanks to its sincerity, it touches the soul of the viewer.
Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai Guidi, Known as Masaccio (1401 - 1428)
He is considered a follower of Giotto and the first master of painting of the early Renaissance. Masaccio lived only 28 years, but in such a short life he left a mark in art that is difficult to overestimate. He managed to complete the revolutionary transformations in painting begun by Giotto. His painting is distinguished by a dark and deep color. The people in the frescoes of Masaccio are much denser and more powerful than in the paintings of the Gothic era.
Fresco by Masaccio
Masaccio was the first to correctly arrange objects in space, taking into account perspective; he began to depict people according to the laws of anatomy.
He knew how to link figures and landscape into a single action, to convey the life of nature and people in a dramatic and at the same time quite natural way - and this is the great merit of the painter.
Adoration of the Magi (Masaccio)
Madonna and Child with Four Angels (Masaccio)
This is one of the few easel easel works commissioned by Masaccio in 1426 for the chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Pisa.
The Madonna sits on a throne built strictly according to the laws of Giotto's perspective. Her figure is written with confident and clear strokes, which creates the impression of a sculptural volume. Her face is calm and sad, her detached gaze is directed nowhere. Wrapped in a dark blue cloak, the Virgin Mary holds the Infant in her arms, whose golden figure stands out sharply against a dark background. The deep folds of the cloak allow the artist to play with chiaroscuro, which also creates a special visual effect. The baby eats black grapes - a symbol of communion. Impeccably drawn angels (the artist knew the human anatomy perfectly) surrounding the Madonna give the picture an additional emotional sound.
Masaccio. Fresco from the library of the Cathedral in Siena, dedicated to the biography of the humanist and poet Enea Silvio Piccolomini (1405-1464)
Here is presented the solemn departure of Cardinal Kapranik to the Basel Cathedral, which lasted almost 18 years, from 1431 to 1449, first in Basel, and then in Lausanne. The young Piccolomini was also in the retinue of the cardinal.
In an elegant frame of a semicircular arch, a group of horsemen is presented, accompanied by pages and servants. The event is not so real and reliable, but chivalrously refined, almost fantastic.
In the foreground, a beautiful rider on a white horse, in a luxurious dress and hat, turning his head, looks at the viewer - this is Aeneas Silvio. With pleasure the artist writes rich clothes, beautiful horses in velvet blankets. The elongated proportions of the figures, slightly mannered movements, slight tilts of the head are close to the court ideal.
The life of Pope Pius II was full of bright events, and Pinturicchio spoke about the meetings of the Pope with the King of Scotland, with Emperor Frederick III.
Saints Jerome and John the Baptist (Masaccio)
The only sash painted by Masaccio for a double-sided triptych. After the early death of the painter, the rest of the work, commissioned by Pope Martin V for the church of Santa Maria in Rome, was completed by the artist Masolino.
It depicts two strict, monumentally executed figures of saints dressed in all red. Jerome holds an open book and a model of the basilica, a lion lies at his feet. John the Baptist is depicted in his usual form: he is barefoot and holds a cross in his hand. Both figures impress with anatomical precision and an almost sculptural sense of volume.
Portrait of a Boy (1480) (Pinturicchio)
Interest in man, admiration for his beauty were so great in the Renaissance that this led to the emergence a new genre in painting - the portrait genre.
Pinturicchio (variant of Pinturicchio) (1454 - 1513) (Bernardino di Betto di Biagio)
A native of Perugia in Italy. For some time he painted miniatures, helped Pietro Perugino decorate the Sistine Chapel in Rome with frescoes. Gained experience in the most complex form of decorative and monumental wall painting. A few years later, Pinturicchio became an independent muralist. He worked on frescoes in the Borgia apartments in the Vatican. He made wall paintings in the library of the cathedral in Siena.
The artist not only conveys a portrait resemblance, but seeks to reveal the inner state of a person. Before us is a teenage boy, dressed in a strict pink town dress, with a small blue cap on his head. Brown hair falls to the shoulders, framing a delicate face, the attentive look of brown eyes is thoughtful, a little anxious.
Behind the boy is an Umbrian landscape with thin trees, a silvery river, a sky turning pink on the horizon. The spring tenderness of nature, as an echo of the character of the hero, is in harmony with the poetry and charm of the hero.
The image of the boy is given in the foreground, large and occupies almost the entire plane of the picture, and the landscape is painted in the background and very small.
This creates the impression of the significance of man, his dominance over the surrounding nature, asserts that man is the most beautiful creation on earth.
Madonna and Child with Two Angels (F. Lippi)
Filippo Lippi (1406 - 1469)
There were legends about Lippi's life. He himself was a monk, but left the monastery, became a wandering artist, abducted a nun from the monastery and died poisoned by the relatives of a young woman with whom he fell in love at an advanced age. He painted images of the Madonna and Child, filled with living human feelings and experiences. In his paintings, he depicted many details: household items, the environment, so his religious subjects were similar to secular paintings.
Annunciation (1443) (F. Lippi)
Coronation of Mary (1441-1447) (F. Lippi)
Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni (1488) (Ghirlandaio)
He painted not only religious subjects, but also scenes from the life of the Florentine nobility, their wealth and luxury, portraits of noble people.
Before us is the wife of a wealthy Florentine, a friend of the artist. In this not very beautiful, luxuriously dressed young woman, the artist expressed calmness, a moment of stillness and silence. The expression on the woman's face is cold, indifferent to everything, it seems that she foresees her imminent death: soon after painting the portrait, she will die. The woman is depicted in profile, which is typical for many portraits of that time.
Baptism (1458-1460) (P. della Francesca)
Piero della Francesca (1415/1416 - 1492)
One of the most significant names in Italian painting of the 15th century. He completed numerous transformations in the methods of constructing the perspective of a picturesque space.
The picture was painted on a poplar board in egg tempera - obviously, by this time the artist had not yet mastered the secrets of oil painting, in the technique of which his later works would be written.
The artist captured the manifestation of the mystery of the Holy Trinity at the time of the Baptism of Christ. The white dove, spreading its wings over the head of Christ, symbolizes the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Savior. The figures of Christ, John the Baptist and the angels standing next to them are painted in restrained colors.
Fresco by della Francesca
His frescoes are solemn, sublime and majestic. Francesca believed in the high destiny of man and in his works people always do wonderful things. He used subtle, gentle transitions of colors. Francesca was the first to paint en plein air (in the air).
Dead Christ (Mantegna)
Andrea Mantegna (1431 - 1506)
Major artist from Padua. He admired the harsh grandeur of the works of ancient artists. His images are reminiscent of Greek sculptures - strict and beautiful. In his frescoes, Mantegna sang the heroic personality. Nature in his paintings is deserted and inhospitable.
Mantegna. Madonna and Child with John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene (1500)
The Madonna sits on a scarlet chair under a canopy and holds the naked Christ Child in her arms. There is nothing regal in the guise of the Virgin Mary, rather, this is the image of a young peasant woman. The naked body of the Infant seems surprisingly alive. On the sides of the Madonna are John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene. In the hands of the Magdalene is a vessel with incense for anointing, the cross in the hands of John is wrapped around a ribbon with a text about the lamb, atoning for the sins of the world. The figures are drawn in the usual manner for an artist and seem to be carved from stone, every fold is sharply defined in their clothes. The background is an image of a garden with dark foliage. In its tone, this greenery contrasts with the pale green, light sky. The work evokes a feeling of deep sadness and a certain doom.
Parnassus (Mantegna)
Prayer for the Cup (Mantegna)
This small picture depicts the moment when, after the Last Supper, Jesus retires with Saint Peter and the two sons of Zebedee to the Garden of Gethsemane, where, leaving the apostles accompanying him, he leaves to pray, turning to God the Father: “My Father! this."
The kneeling figure of Christ in a prayerful pose is the compositional center of the picture. His eyes are turned to the sky, where a group of angels is visible on a cloud. At the foot of the mountain, the apostles accompanying Christ sleep.
On the road leading to the garden, accurately illustrating the words of the Gospel: "Behold, the betrayer of Me has come near," a group of guards, led by Judas, is visible.
There is a lot of symbolism in the picture: a dry tree with a vulture portends death, and a branch with a green shoot indicates an imminent resurrection; humble rabbits sitting on the road along which a detachment of Roman soldiers will pass to take Christ into custody speak of the meekness of a person in the face of imminent death. Three stumps left from freshly cut down trees remind of the impending crucifixion.
Sacred Conversation (Bellini)
Giovanni Bellini (1427/1430 - 1516)
The Bellini brothers brightly showed themselves in the early Renaissance. Especially famous is Giovanni Bellini, who was often called Gianbellino. He grew up in the family of a major Venetian painter. Together with his brother from his youth, he helped his father to carry out artistic orders. He worked on decorating the Doge's Palace in Venice.
His painting is distinguished by soft picturesqueness, rich golden color. The Madonnas of Gianbellino seem to dissolve in the landscape, always organic with it.
Madonna in the meadow (1500-1505) Bellini.
In the center of the picture is the image of a young Mary sitting in a meadow, on whose knees a sleeping naked baby. Her thoughtful face is charming, her hands folded in a prayerful gesture are beautiful. The figurine of the divine baby seems to be a sculpture, this indicates a close acquaintance with the work of Mantegna. However, the softness of the chiaroscuro and the overall saturation of the colors suggest that Bellini found his way into painting.
In the background is a beautiful landscape. The picture was painted in mixed media, which allowed the artist to make the contours softer and the colors more saturated.
Portrait of Doge Leonardo Loredan. Bellini
This portrait was commissioned by Bellini as an artist of the Republic of Venice. The doge is depicted here almost frontally - contrary to the then existing tradition of depicting faces in profile, including on medals and coins.
Clear chiaroscuro perfectly draw high cheekbones, nose and stubborn chin of an intelligent and strong-willed face of an elderly person. On a bright blue-green background, a white with gold and silver brocade mantle stands out in contrast. The doge wore it on the feast of the Candlemas - the day when he became engaged to the sea, taking power over Venice for a year. Oil work helped the artist fill the space of the picture with air and thereby make the image of the Doge surprisingly alive.
The Renaissance, which began in Italy in the first quarter of the 15th century, turned the medieval world upside down, changing it forever. Translated from French or Italian, "Renaissance" is "born again", which is associated with the revival of ancient traditions in art. The Renaissance is a magnificent breakthrough of mankind, there can be no doubt about it. During that period, wonderful works of painting, sculpture, and architecture were created. Great books have been written (and published). The creations of the human genius, created by the famous masters of the past, continue to delight until now and will never lose their charm.
It is considered well-known fact that the Renaissance came to replace the Middle Ages, which were, as usual, dark, certainly harsh, and characterized by a variety of religious atrocities - everyone has heard of the Inquisition. There are sources that directly state that because of the intrigues of the insidious Catholic Church, the Renaissance fell into decline.
In part, such a view of things has the right to exist, but it is unlikely that the merits of the clergy in this process are so great. It's just that human society develops cyclically, every revolution is followed by a reaction, and the Renaissance became a victim of quite natural processes, especially since many of its ideas were alien to the ignorant society of those times, suffering numerous epidemics. It is very difficult to inspire a person with his divine essence when he is poor, dependent and in constant fear.
Some historians directly accuse the Middle Ages of various crimes against humanity, even where this is not true. For example, some sources take the liberty of asserting that science did not develop in the Middle Ages. Nevertheless, many modern European universities appeared precisely on the site of former monasteries (Oxford) or through the efforts of clerics (Sorbonne).
There is no point in denying that practically all the education of antiquity was ecclesiastical (and continued to be so for many decades). This is easily explained: the highest percentage of elementary literate people concentrated in the clergy, and if so, then who should teach "their unreasonable brothers" if not monks and other clergy?
The development of civilization is continuous. Although sometimes humanity had to take a step back, the culture of the Renaissance would never have taken place in the form in which we know it, if it had not gone through its thorny path in the darkness of the Middle Ages. Thus, great literary works would not have been born if they had not been preceded by the centuries-old work of numerous nuggets (whose work we call folklore only because their names remained unknown). If medieval chivalrous poetics did not exist, Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy and Petrarch's sonnets would hardly have taken place.
To oppose the previous era to the next one is not very correct. Voltaire argued that history is a myth that everyone agreed on. It is impossible not to recognize the veracity of this witty statement. The history of the Renaissance, a complex and diverse phenomenon, cannot be interpreted unambiguously. There are a huge number of versions explaining this grand event in the annals of mankind, many of which have the right to exist.
The belief that the artists of the Renaissance suddenly discovered for themselves and began to imitate her, taken from school, must be recognized as schematic. After all, the samples of creativity of Greco-Roman art did not go anywhere, significant works of ancient authors were translated from the VIII century, but no Renaissance happened for another eight centuries.
Of course, the fall of the Second Rome (Constantinople), when cultural figures (and not only them) frightened by the Muslim horde rushed to the West, taking libraries, icons and (most importantly) their knowledge and experience with them, played a huge role. In the end, the influence of Byzantium on the art of the Renaissance is undeniable. Although the Roman Church rejected icon painting, it grew in a different field. The icon of the Mother of God and the famous "Sistine Madonna" by Michelangelo, with all the differences - both in technique and in content - are an image of the same woman with the same baby.
The revival became possible due to a combination of many factors and reasons, one of which really is that the Renaissance is a kind of response to the Catholic Church, whose influence in those days was colossal, wealth was incalculable, and the desire for power was insatiable. This state of affairs gave rise to a powerful protest in society: few people like harsh dogmas and asceticism prescribed in all spheres of life. A person had to constantly feel on himself a higher (moreover, hostile) force, which at any moment could fall on him, punishing him for sins. The demands of the holy church were contrary to human nature itself.
The second factor, of course, is the rapid formation of the state. The secular authorities, acquiring a harmonious hierarchy and significant funds to lead their subjects, were not at all eager to give up the palm of spiritual power. Examples of violent fights between the church and powerful monarchs are not uncommon in history. The Renaissance owes its death to one of them.
The third reason is probably the fact that the Renaissance is a time when cultural life happily left the monasteries, where it had been locked up for many years, and concentrated in rapidly growing and prosperous cities. Severe dogmas that prescribed artists to paint only in this way and nothing else, restrictions on subject matter, etc., could not arouse enthusiasm in people who were really talented. They wanted freedom, they got it.
The fourth, important condition for the birth of the Renaissance, was money, no matter how cynical it may sound. It is no coincidence that it was Italy, the richest in those days, that grateful descendants owe the fact that this wonderful style appeared. The Renaissance was not born in poverty. The dogma that an artist must be hungry is untenable. The entire Renaissance is proof of this. The Creator must also eat, which means that he needs orders, funds and space to use his talent.
All this was found in Florence, and not least thanks to the ruler of the city - Lorenzo the Magnificent. The court of the nobleman was resplendent. The most talented painters, sculptors and architects found a reliable patron in Lorenzo. Numerous palaces, temples, chapels and other architectural works were built in the city. Painters received numerous commissions.
As a rule, it is customary to divide three periods of the Renaissance, but some researchers include another one - the so-called Proto-Renaissance, which is still closely associated with the Middle Ages, but is already acquiring new, light-filled features. One of the most notable events of that time is the construction of the Florence Cathedral (XIII century) - a magnificent building with wonderful interior decoration.
After “preliminary preparation”, the Early Renaissance appeared on the stage: historians call the years of the beginning and end of this period quite unanimously - from 1420 to 1500. It took eighty years to get rid of the strict canons dictated by the church and turn to the legacy of glorious ancestors. During this period, imitation of antique samples becomes massive. Images of a naked human body with a loving reflection of the smallest muscles and veins characterize a new style unknown to Catholic Europe. The Renaissance became a real hymn to earthly beauty, which was sometimes sung in such frank forms that would have horrified the audience some one hundred and fifty years ago.
It cannot be said that such trends found understanding among all contemporaries: there were fiery fighters against the Renaissance, who, thanks to their activities, achieved dubious eternal glory in the field of obscurantism. The most striking example is the head of the Florentine Dominican monastery - Savonarola. He was an inexhaustible critic of humanistic "lewdness" and did not disdain to burn works that so outraged him. Among the irretrievable losses are several paintings by famous masters of the era, including Sandro Botticelli. His brushes belong to such Renaissance as "The Birth of Venus", "Spring", "Christ in the Crown of Thorns". It must be said that almost all the surviving canvases of the author are devoted to biblical themes, and it is difficult for a modern person to understand what could revolt a stern Dominican in them.
However, the process was launched, and it was not in human power to stop it. Savonarola died in 1498, and the Renaissance continued to march across the country, conquering new cities - Rome, Venice, Milan, Naples.
Among the most notable and characteristic representatives of the Early Renaissance are the sculptor Donatello, the artists Giotto and Masaccio. During this period, the laws of perspective, discovered in the 15th century, were first applied in painting. This made it possible to subsequently create voluminous, three-dimensional paintings of the Renaissance - previously this was not available to artists.
In architecture, Filippo Brunelleschi set the vector for further development, creating the magnificent dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore.
The peak of the development of the era was the third period of the Renaissance - the High Renaissance. It lasted only 27 years (1500-1527) and is associated primarily with the work of the great masters, whose names each of us knows: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael.
At this time, the cultural capital of Europe is transferred from Florence to Rome. The new pope Julius II (succeeded in 1503) was an outstanding man, a great admirer of art and a rather broad-minded person. If not for the spiritual person, people would not have seen many works of art that are rightfully considered the pearls of the world cultural heritage.
The best craftsmen, marked with the seal of genius, receive numerous orders. The city is bustling with construction. Architects, sculptors and painters work side by side (and sometimes "combining positions"), creating their immortal works. At this time, the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral, the most famous and grandiose temple of the Catholic faith, is being designed and begins.
The painting of the Sistine Chapel, made by Michelangelo with his own hand, embodies the whole meaning, perfection and beauty that the Renaissance artists gave us, who chose Man as the center of their Universe (that's right, with a capital letter): a god-like creature, a creator whose possibilities are almost limitless.
In 1523, Clement VII became Pope and immediately got involved in a war with Emperor Charles V, creating the so-called League of Cognac, which included Florence, Milan, Venice, and France. The pontiff did not want to share power with the Habsburgs, and the Eternal City had to pay for it. In 1527, the army of Charles V, who had not received a salary for a long time (the emperor spent money during hostilities), first besieged, and then broke into Rome and plundered its palaces and temples. The great city was depopulated, and the High Renaissance came to an end.
The Encyclopædia Britannica claims that, as an integral historical epoch, the Renaissance, the century (1420-1527) that ruled in blessed Italy, has ended. Those who disagree with the compilers of the most famous reference book in the world call the period that began after 1530 the Late Renaissance and still cannot agree on when it ended. There are arguments in favor of the 1590s, and the 1620s, and even the 1630s, but it is unlikely that individual residual phenomena can be signs of an entire era.
At this time, cultural phenomena are very diverse, currents appear that are considered manifestations of a crisis and degeneration in art (for example, Florentine mannerism). It is characterized by a certain pretentiousness, excessive details, focusing on the "artist's idea", accessible only to a narrow circle of connoisseurs. Sculpture, architecture and painting of the Renaissance, in a relentless search for harmony, gave way to unnatural poses, endless curls and monstrous colors, characteristic of a new trend in the art world.
However, it is too early to talk about the final death of the Renaissance. In some cities of Italy, Renaissance artists continue to live, who remain true to the great traditions. Thus, the great Titian, who can be considered the brightest representative of the Renaissance, worked in Venice until 1576.
Meanwhile, hard times befell Italy and Europe. Following the freedoms unthinkable in the Middle Ages, which the Renaissance brought with it, came a severe reaction. The reformed holy inquisition again took the reins of government into their own hands. Bonfires blazed in the squares - the fire devoured both the heretics and their works.
Almost all the books included by the new Pope Paul IV in the Roman "Index of Forbidden Books" were destroyed (a little earlier, the corresponding lists were published in the Netherlands, Paris and Venice). The work of the inquisitors was hard, because it was in the Renaissance that printing appeared - at the end of the 15th century, Gutenberg managed to create the first printed Bible. The heretical appeals of the humanists of the Renaissance scattered, of course, not in millions of copies, but the holy fathers had something to do.
Historians say that religious persecution in Italy was the most merciless in Europe - a cruel retribution for a century of freedom and beauty.
Most often, when they talk about the Renaissance, they mean exactly the Italian Renaissance - this phenomenon was born and flourished right here. Today in Italy, entire cities can be considered monuments of architecture, painting and sculpture of the era.
However, of course, the Renaissance was not limited to the Apennines alone. The so-called Northern Renaissance originated in Europe towards the middle of the 16th century and presented the world with many beautiful works. A characteristic feature of this style was the greater influence of medieval Gothic art. Here, the ancient heritage was not given as close attention as in Italy, and more indifference was shown to the intricacies of anatomy. The creators of the Northern Renaissance include Dürer, Van Eyck, Cranach. In literature, this event was marked by the work of Shakespeare and Cervantes.
The influence of the Renaissance on culture cannot be overestimated: it is enormous. Rethinking and enriching the ancient culture, the Renaissance created its own - and gave mankind a huge number of immortal works of art, which, of course, improved the world in which we live.
Revival is divided into 4 stages:
Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the 13th century - 14th century)
Early Renaissance (early 15th century - late 15th century)
High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)
Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 90s of the 16th century)
Proto-Renaissance
The Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Romanesque, Gothic traditions, this period was the preparation for the Renaissance. This period is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). The most important discoveries, the brightest masters live and work in the first period. The second segment is connected with the plague epidemic that hit Italy. All discoveries were made on an intuitive level. At the end of the 13th century, the main temple building, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was erected in Florence, the author was Arnolfo di Cambio, then the work was continued by Giotto, who designed the campanile of the Florence Cathedral.
Benozzo Gozzoli depicted the Adoration of the Magi as a solemn procession of the Medici courtiers
Previously, the art of the proto-Renaissance manifested itself in sculpture (Niccolò and Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano). Painting is represented by two art schools: Florence (Cimabue, Giotto) and Siena (Duccio, Simone Martini). The central figure of painting was Giotto. Renaissance artists considered him a reformer of painting. Giotto outlined the path along which its development went: filling religious forms with secular content, a gradual transition from planar images to three-dimensional and relief images, an increase in realism, introduced a plastic volume of figures into painting, depicted an interior in painting.
Early Renaissance
The period of the so-called "Early Renaissance" in Italy covers the time from 1420 to 1500. During these eighty years, art has not yet completely renounced the traditions of the recent past, but is trying to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, and only little by little, under the influence of more and more changing conditions of life and culture, do artists completely abandon medieval foundations and boldly use examples of ancient art, both in the general concept of their works and in their details.
Whereas art in Italy was already resolutely following the path of imitation of classical antiquity, in other countries it long held on to the traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, as well as in Spain, the Renaissance does not come until the end of the 15th century, and its early period lasts until about the middle of the next century.
High Renaissance
"High Renaissance" redirects here. This topic needs a separate article.
"Vatican Pieta" by Michelangelo (1499): in the traditional religious plot, simple human feelings are brought to the fore - maternal love and sorrow
The third period of the Renaissance - the time of the most magnificent development of his style - is commonly called the "High Renaissance". It extends into Italy from approximately 1500 to 1527. At this time, the center of influence of Italian art from Florence moved to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II - an ambitious, courageous and enterprising man, who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court, occupied them with numerous and important works and gave others an example of love for art. . Under this Pope and under his immediate successors, Rome becomes, as it were, the new Athens of the time of Pericles: many monumental buildings are built in it, magnificent sculptures are created, frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered the pearls of painting; at the same time, all three branches of art harmoniously go hand in hand, helping one another and mutually acting on each other. The antique is now being studied more thoroughly, reproduced with greater rigor and consistency; tranquility and dignity replace the playful beauty that was the aspiration of the preceding period; reminiscences of the medieval completely disappear, and a completely classical imprint falls on all works of art. But imitation of the ancients does not stifle their independence in artists, and they, with great resourcefulness and liveliness of imagination, freely process and apply to their work what they consider appropriate to borrow for themselves from ancient Greco-Roman art.
Late Renaissance
The crisis of the Renaissance: the Venetian Tintoretto in 1594 depicted the Last Supper as an underground gathering in disturbing twilight reflections
The Late Renaissance in Italy covers the period from the 1530s to the 1590s-1620s. Some researchers rank the 1630s as the Late Renaissance, but this position is controversial among art critics and historians. The art and culture of this time are so diverse in their manifestations that it is possible to reduce them to one denominator only with a great deal of conventionality. For example, the Encyclopædia Britannica writes that "The Renaissance as an integral historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527." In Southern Europe, the Counter-Reformation triumphed, which looked with caution at any free thought, including the chanting of the human body and the resurrection of the ideals of antiquity, as the cornerstones of the Renaissance ideology. Worldview contradictions and a general feeling of crisis resulted in Florence in the "nervous" art of far-fetched colors and broken lines - mannerism. In Parma, where Correggio worked, Mannerism reached only after the death of the artist in 1534. The artistic traditions of Venice had their own logic of development; until the end of the 1570s. Titian and Palladio worked there, whose work had little in common with the crisis phenomena in the art of Florence and Rome.
Northern Renaissance
Main article: Northern Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance had little effect on other countries until 1450. After 1500, the style spread across the continent, but many late Gothic influences persisted even into the Baroque era.
The Renaissance period in the Netherlands, Germany and France is usually singled out as a separate stylistic direction, which has some differences with the Renaissance in Italy, and is called the "Northern Renaissance".
"Love struggle in a dream" (1499) - one of the highest achievements of the Renaissance printing
The most noticeable stylistic differences in painting: unlike Italy, the traditions and skills of Gothic art were preserved in painting for a long time, less attention was paid to the study of the ancient heritage and the knowledge of human anatomy.
Outstanding representatives - Albrecht Dürer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Pieter Brueghel the Elder. Some works of late Gothic masters, such as Jan van Eyck and Hans Memling, are also imbued with the pre-Renaissance spirit.
Dawn of Literature
The intensive flourishing of literature in this period is largely associated with a special attitude towards the ancient heritage. Hence the very name of the era, which sets itself the task of recreating, "reviving" the cultural ideals and values allegedly lost in the Middle Ages. In fact, the rise of Western European culture does not arise at all against the background of a previous decline. But in the life of the culture of the late Middle Ages, so much is changing that it feels like it belongs to a different time and feels dissatisfied with the former state of the arts and literature. The past seems to the man of the Renaissance as an oblivion of the remarkable achievements of antiquity, and he undertakes to restore them. This is expressed both in the work of the writers of this era, and in their very way of life: some people of that time became famous not for creating any pictorial, literary masterpieces, but for being able to “live in the antique manner”, imitating the ancient Greeks or Romans at home. The ancient heritage is not just being studied at this time, but is “restored”, and therefore the Renaissance figures attach great importance to the discovery, collection, preservation and publication of ancient manuscripts .. For lovers of ancient literary
We owe to the Renaissance monuments the fact that today we have the opportunity to read the letters of Cicero or Lucretius's poem "On the Nature of Things", the comedies of Plautus or Long's novel "Daphnis and Chloe". Renaissance scholars strive not just for knowledge, but to improve their knowledge of Latin, and then Greek. They establish libraries, create museums, establish schools for the study of classical antiquity, undertake special journeys.
What served as the basis for those cultural changes that arose in Western Europe in the second half of the 15th-16th centuries? (and in Italy - the birthplace of the Renaissance - a century earlier, in the XIV century)? Historians rightly associate these changes with the general evolution of the economic and political life of Western Europe, which has embarked on the path of bourgeois development. Renaissance - the time of great geographical discoveries - primarily America, the time of the development of navigation, trade, the emergence of large-scale industry. This is the period when, on the basis of emerging European nations, national states are formed, already devoid of medieval isolation. At this time, there is a desire not only to strengthen the power of the monarch within each of the states, but also to develop relations between states, form political alliances, and negotiate. This is how diplomacy arises - that kind of political interstate activity, without which it is impossible to imagine modern international life.
The renaissance is a time when science is developing intensively and the secular worldview begins to crowd out the religious worldview to a certain extent, or significantly changes it, prepares the church reformation. But the most important thing is this period when a person begins to feel himself and the world around him in a new way, often in a completely different way to answer those questions that have always worried him, or to put other complex questions before himself. The Renaissance man feels himself living in a special time, close to the concept of a golden age, thanks to his "golden gifts", as one of the Italian humanists of the 15th century writes. A person sees himself as the center of the universe, striving not upwards, towards the otherworldly, divine (as in the Middle Ages), but a wide-open diversity of earthly existence. People of the new era with greedy curiosity peer into the reality around them not as pale shadows and signs of the heavenly world, but as a full-blooded and colorful manifestation of being, which has its own value and dignity. Medieval asceticism has no place in the new spiritual atmosphere, enjoying the freedom and power of man as an earthly, natural being. From an optimistic conviction in the power of a person, his ability to improve, there arises a desire and even a need to correlate the behavior of an individual, his own behavior with a kind of model of the “ideal personality”, a thirst for self-improvement is born. This is how a very important, central movement of this culture, which was called "humanism", is formed in the Western European culture of the Renaissance.
One should not think that the meaning of this concept coincides with the words “humanism”, “humane” that are commonly used today (meaning “philanthropy”, “mercy”, etc.), although there is no doubt that their modern meaning ultimately dates back to Renaissance times. . Humanism in the Renaissance was a special set of moral and philosophical ideas. He was directly related to the upbringing, education of a person on the basis of primary attention not to the former, scholastic knowledge, or religious, “divine” knowledge, but to the humanitarian disciplines: philology, history, morality. It is especially important that the humanities at that time began to be valued as the most universal, that in the process of forming the spiritual image of the individual, the main importance was attached to "literature", and not to any other, perhaps more "practical" branch of knowledge. As the great Italian Renaissance poet Francesco Petrarch wrote, it is “through the word that the human face becomes beautiful.” The prestige of humanistic knowledge was extremely high during the Renaissance.
In Western Europe of this time, a humanistic intelligentsia appears - a circle of people whose communication with each other is based not on the commonality of their origin, property status or professional interests, but on the proximity of spiritual and moral quests. Sometimes such associations of like-minded humanists received the name Academies - in the spirit of the ancient tradition. Sometimes friendly communication of humanists was carried out in letters, a very important part of the literary heritage of the Renaissance. The Latin language, which in its updated form became the universal language of culture of various Western European countries, contributed to the fact that, despite certain historical, political, religious and other differences, the figures of the Renaissance in Italy and France, Germany and the Netherlands felt involved in a single spiritual world. The feeling of cultural unity was also enhanced due to the fact that during this period an intensive development began, on the one hand, of humanistic education, and on the other, of printing: thanks to the invention of the German Gutenberg from the middle of the 15th century. Printing houses are spreading all over Western Europe, and a larger number of people get the opportunity to join books than before.
In the Renaissance, the very way of thinking of a person changes. Not a medieval scholastic dispute, but a humanistic dialogue, including different points of view, demonstrating unity and opposition, the complex diversity of truths about the world and man, becomes a way of thinking and a form of communication for people of this time. It is no coincidence that dialogue is one of the popular literary genres of the Renaissance. The flourishing of this genre, like the flourishing of tragedy and comedy, is one of the manifestations of the Renaissance literature's attention to the classical genre tradition. But the Renaissance also knows new genre formations: a sonnet - in poetry, a short story, an essay - in prose. The writers of this era do not repeat ancient authors, but on the basis of their artistic experience create, in essence, a different and new world of literary images, plots, and problems.
Details Category: Fine arts and architecture of the Renaissance (Renaissance) Posted on 12/19/2016 16:20 Views: 10651The Renaissance is a time of cultural flourishing, the heyday of all the arts, but the fine arts were the most fully expressing the spirit of their time.
Renaissance, or Renaissance(French "newly" + "born") was of world importance in the history of European culture. The Renaissance replaced the Middle Ages and preceded the Enlightenment.
The main features of the Renaissance- the secular nature of culture, humanism and anthropocentrism (interest in a person and his activities). During the Renaissance period, interest in ancient culture flourished and, as it were, its “revival” took place.
The revival arose in Italy - its first signs appeared as early as the 13th-14th centuries. (Tony Paramoni, Pisano, Giotto, Orcagna and others). But it was firmly established from the 20s of the 15th century, and by the end of the 15th century. reached its highest peak.
In other countries, the Renaissance began much later. In the XVI century. the crisis of the ideas of the Renaissance begins, the consequence of this crisis is the emergence of mannerism and baroque.
The Renaissance is divided into 4 periods:
1. Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the XIII century - XIV century)
2. Early Renaissance (beginning of the XV-end of the XV century)
3. High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)
4. Late Renaissance (mid-16th-90s of the 16th century)
The fall of the Byzantine Empire played a role in the formation of the Renaissance. The Byzantines who moved to Europe brought with them their libraries and works of art, unknown to medieval Europe. In Byzantium, they never broke with ancient culture either.
Appearance humanism(of the socio-philosophical movement, which considered man as the highest value) was associated with the absence of feudal relations in the Italian city-republics.
Secular centers of science and art began to appear in the cities, which were not controlled by the church. whose activities were outside the control of the Church. In the middle of the XV century. typography was invented, which played an important role in spreading new views throughout Europe.
Proto-Renaissance is the forerunner of the Renaissance. It is still closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic traditions. It is associated with the names of Giotto, Arnolfo di Cambio, the Pisano brothers, Andrea Pisano.
Andrea Pisano. Bas-relief "Creation of Adam". Opera del Duomo (Florence)
The painting of the Proto-Renaissance is represented by two art schools: Florence (Cimabue, Giotto) and Siena (Duccio, Simone Martini). The central figure of painting was Giotto. He was considered a reformer of painting: he filled religious forms with secular content, made a gradual transition from planar images to three-dimensional and relief images, turned to realism, introduced the plastic volume of figures into painting, depicted the interior in painting.
This is the period from 1420 to 1500. The artists of the Early Renaissance of Italy drew motives from life, filled traditional religious subjects with earthly content. In sculpture, these were L. Ghiberti, Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, the della Robbia family, A. Rossellino, Desiderio da Settignano, B. da Maiano, A. Verrocchio. Free-standing statues, picturesque reliefs, portrait busts, and equestrian monuments begin to develop in their work.
In Italian painting of the XV century. (Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, A. del Castagno, P. Uccello, Fra Angelico, D. Ghirlandaio, A. Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Piero della Francesca, A. Mantegna, P. Perugino, etc.) are characterized by a sense of the harmonious ordering of the world, conversion to the ethical and civic ideals of humanism, joyful perception of the beauty and diversity of the real world.
The ancestor of Italian Renaissance architecture was Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), an architect, sculptor and scientist, one of the creators of the scientific theory of perspective.
A special place in the history of Italian architecture is occupied by Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472). This Italian scholar, architect, writer and musician of the Early Renaissance was educated in Padua, studied law in Bologna, and later lived in Florence and Rome. He created theoretical treatises On the Statue (1435), On Painting (1435–1436), On Architecture (published in 1485). He defended the "folk" (Italian) language as a literary language, in the ethical treatise "On the Family" (1737-1441) he developed the ideal of a harmoniously developed personality. In architectural work, Alberti gravitated towards bold experimental solutions. He was one of the pioneers of the new European architecture.
Palazzo Rucellai
Leon Battista Alberti designed a new type of palazzo with a façade treated with rustication to its full height and dissected by three tiers of pilasters, which look like the structural basis of the building (Palazzo Rucellai in Florence, built by B. Rossellino according to Alberti's plans).
Opposite the Palazzo stands the Rucellai Loggia, where receptions and banquets for trading partners were held, weddings were celebrated.
Loggia Rucellai
This is the time of the most magnificent development of the Renaissance style. In Italy, it lasted from about 1500 to 1527. Now the center of Italian art is moving from Florence to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne. Julia II, an ambitious, courageous, enterprising man, who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court.
Raphael Santi "Portrait of Pope Julius II"
Many monumental buildings are being built in Rome, magnificent sculptures are being created, frescoes and paintings are being painted, which are still considered masterpieces of painting. Antiquity is still highly valued and carefully studied. But imitation of the ancients does not stifle the independence of artists.
The pinnacle of the Renaissance is the work of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) and Raphael Santi (1483-1520).
In Italy, this is the period from the 1530s to the 1590s-1620s. The art and culture of this time is very diverse. Some believe (for example, British scholars) that "The Renaissance as an integral historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527." The art of the late Renaissance is a very complex picture of the struggle of various currents. Many artists did not seek to study nature and its laws, but only outwardly tried to assimilate the "manner" of the great masters: Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo. On this occasion, the aged Michelangelo once said, looking at how artists copy his "Last Judgment": "My art will make many fools."
In Southern Europe, the Counter-Reformation triumphed, which did not welcome any free thought, including the chanting of the human body and the resurrection of the ideals of antiquity.
Famous artists of this period were Giorgione (1477/1478-1510), Paolo Veronese (1528-1588), Caravaggio (1571-1610) and others. Caravaggio considered the founder of the Baroque style.
Renaissance or Renaissance (Rinascimento),- one of the brightest eras in the development of European culture from the middle of the XIV to the first decade of the XVII century. This is an era of major changes in the history of the peoples of Europe. It is characterized:
The crisis of feudalism;
The birth of capitalism;
The formation of new classes: the bourgeoisie and hired workers;
The creation of large nation-states and the formation of nations.
The era of great geographical discoveries, when the boundaries of the world were expanding. The spiritual appearance of a person changed, a person acquired features that helped him to get used to the new world. The invention of printing helped the spiritual revolution. Science and technology are developing.
This era is divided into four periods:
1. Proto-Renaissance (second half of the 13th-14th centuries) - is of a transitional nature from the culture of the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, when the latter matures within the framework of the former.
2. Early Renaissance (early Renaissance) - XV century. - represents the culture of the Renaissance in its purest form with all its characteristic features.
3. High Renaissance - 70s 15th century - 1530 - the highest flowering of the Renaissance culture.
4. Late Renaissance (1530-1590) - a decline in the development of the culture of Italy, associated primarily with the loss of independence, with the wars that swept through its territory and with the strengthening of the power of the church (the end of the 15th-17th centuries - the northern Renaissance - the culture of European countries north of Italy).
A feature of the early bourgeois culture was the appeal to the ancient heritage (not a return to the past, but precisely the appeal). The main feature of the ideology of the Renaissance is humanism (from Latin homo - man) - an ideological movement that affirms the value of man and human life). In the Renaissance, humanism manifested itself in a worldview that placed the focus of world existence no longer on God, but on man. A peculiar manifestation of humanism was the assertion of the primacy of reason over faith. A person can independently explore the secrets of being, studying the foundations of the existence of nature. In the Renaissance, the speculative principles of knowledge were rejected, and experimental, natural scientific knowledge was resumed.
Fundamentally new, antischolastic pictures of the world were created: the heliocentric picture of Nicolaus Copernicus and the picture of the infinite Universe by Giordano Bruno. Most significantly, religion was separated from science, politics, and morality. The era of the formation of experimental sciences began, their role was recognized as giving true knowledge about nature. In the Renaissance, a new worldview was developed thanks to the work of a whole galaxy of outstanding thinkers - these are Nicholas of Cusa, Galileo Galilei, Tommaso Campanella, Thomas More, Niccolo Machiavelli and others.
Two trends in the culture of the Renaissance determined its inconsistency - this:
Rethinking antiquity;
Combination with the cultural values of the Christian (Catholic) tradition.
On the one hand, the Renaissance can be safely characterized as an era of joyful self-affirmation of a person, and on the other hand, as an era of a person comprehending the whole tragedy of his existence. person.
The most striking features of the Renaissance manifested themselves in Italy. Describing the culture of the Italian Renaissance, we must not forget that humanistic education was available to a small layer belonging to high society, acquired an aristocratic character. The Italian Renaissance had an impact on broad sections of the people, which affected much later.
The features of the Renaissance were most fully manifested in Florence, a little later - in Rome. Milan, Naples and Venice experienced this era not as intensively as Florence.
The aesthetic theory of the Renaissance dictated the characteristic features of the art of this period:
Secular character and content.
Cognitive orientation of art.
The Rationality of Renaissance Art.
Anthropocentrism.
The social character of Renaissance art and all artistic life.
There is a liberation of the human mind as the ability to comprehend the higher truths of being from the shackles of dogmatism and all kinds of restrictions.
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) and Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375)) - the famous poets of the Renaissance, were the creators of the Italian literary language. During their lifetime, their works became widely known not only in Italy, but also far beyond its borders, and entered the treasury of world literature. Petrarch's sonnets on the life and death of the Madonna Laura received worldwide fame.
The Renaissance is characterized by the cult of beauty, especially the beauty of man. Italian painting, which for a time becomes the leading art form, depicts beautiful, perfect people. The first was Giotto (1266-1337), freed Italian fresco painting from the influence of the Byzantines. The realistic manner of depiction inherent in Giotto at the beginning of the 15th century. continued and developed Masaccio (1401-1428). Using the laws of perspective, he managed to make images of figures voluminous.
One of the most famous sculptors of that time was Donatello (1386-1466), the author of a number of realistic works of a portrait type, for the first time after antiquity, representing a naked body in sculpture.
The early Renaissance was replaced by high renaissance- the time of the highest flowering of the humanistic culture of Italy. It was then that ideas about the honor and dignity of man, his high destiny on Earth were expressed with the greatest fullness and force. Titan high renaissance was Leonardo da Vinci (1456-1519), one of the most remarkable people in the history of mankind. Possessing versatile abilities and talents, Leonardo was at the same time an artist, art theorist, sculptor, architect, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, physiologist, anatomist, and this is not a complete list of the main areas of his activity; he enriched almost all areas of science with brilliant conjectures. His most important works of art are "The Last Supper" - a fresco in the Milanese monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie, which depicts the moment of the supper after the words of Christ: "One of you will betray me", as well as the world-famous portrait of a young Florentine Mona Lisa, which has another name - "La Gioconda.
The great painter was also a titan of the high Renaissance Raphael Santi (1483-1520), creator of the "Sistine Madonna", the greatest work of world art: the young Madonna, lightly stepping barefoot on the clouds, carries her tiny son, the Infant Christ, to people, anticipating his death, grieving about it and understanding the need to make this sacrifice in the name of atonement for the sins of mankind.
The last great representative of the High Renaissance culture was Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564) - sculptor, painter, architect and poet, creator of the famous statue of David, sculptural figures "Morning", "Evening", "Day", "Night", made for tombs in Medici chapel. Michelangelo painted the ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican Palace; one of the most impressive frescoes is the scene of the Last Judgment. In Michelangelo's work, more distinctly than his predecessors - Leonardo da Vinci and Rafael Santi, tragic notes sound, caused by the awareness of the limit that is set for a person, an understanding of the limitations of human capabilities, the impossibility of "surpassing nature."
The next stage in the Renaissance culture - later Renaissance, which, as is commonly believed, continued from the 40s. 16th century to the end of the 16th - the first years of the 17th century.
Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance, was also the first country where the Catholic reaction began. In the 40s. 16th century here the Inquisition was reorganized and strengthened, persecuting the leaders of the humanist movement. In the middle of the XVI century. Pope IV compiled the "Index of Forbidden Books", subsequently replenished many times with new editions. The Index also includes the writings of some Italian humanists, in particular Giovanni Boccaccio. Forbidden books were burned, the same fate could well befall their authors, and all dissidents who actively defend their views and do not want to compromise with the Catholic Church. Many advanced thinkers and scientists died at the stake. So, in 1600 in Rome, on the Square of Flowers, the great Giordano Bruno (1504-1600), author of the famous essay On Infinity, the Universe and the Worlds.
Many painters, poets, sculptors, architects abandoned the ideas of humanism, trying to learn only the "manner" of the great figures of the Renaissance. The humanist movement was a pan-European phenomenon: in the 15th century humanism goes beyond the borders of Italy and is rapidly spreading throughout all Western European countries. Each country had its own characteristics in the formation of the Renaissance culture, its national achievements, its leaders.
AT Germany the ideas of humanism become known in the middle of the 15th century, exerting a strong influence on university circles and progressive intelligentsia
The revival in Germany is inextricably linked with the Reformation - the movement for the reform (from the Latin reformat "- transformation) of the Catholic Church, for the creation of a "cheap church" - without extortion and payment for rituals, for the purification of Christian doctrine from any incorrect provisions that are inevitable during centuries of history Christianity. Led the Reformation movement in Germany Martin Luther (1483-1546), doctor of theology and monk of the Augustinian monastery. He believed that faith is an internal state of a person, that salvation is given to a person directly from God, and that it is possible to come to God without the mediation of the Catholic clergy. Luther and his supporters refused to return to the fold of the Catholic Church and protested in response to the demand to renounce their views, marking the beginning of the Protestant trend in Christianity.
The victory of the Reformation in the middle of the XVI century. caused a public upsurge and the growth of national culture. Fine arts flourished remarkably. Main genres: landscape, portrait, everyday painting. The famous painter and engraver worked in this area. Albrecht Durer (1471-1526), artists Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472-1553). German literature has reached a noticeable upsurge. An outstanding representative of German humanistic literature was Johann Reuchlin (1455-1522) who sought to show the divine in man himself. The most important German poets of the Reformation were Hans Sax (1494-1576), who wrote many edifying fables, songs, schwanks, dramatic works, and Johann Fishart (1546-1590)- author of pungent writings.
AT England The center of humanistic ideas was Oxford University, where the leading scientists of that time worked. The development of humanistic views - in the field of social philosophy is associated with the name Thomas More (1478-1535), author of Utopia, who presented the reader with an ideal, "in his opinion, human society: everyone is equal in it, there is no private property, and gold is not a value - chains for criminals are made from it." The greatest figure of the English Renaissance was William Shakespeare (1564-1616) - the creator of the world famous tragedies "Hamlet", "King Lear", "Othello", historical plays "Henry II", "Richard III", sonnets. The rise of theatrical art, its public and democratic nature, contributed to the development of democratic structures in English society.
Renaissance in Spain was more controversial than in other European countries: many humanists here did not oppose Catholicism and the Catholic Church. Chivalric and picaresque novels became widespread (Spanish writer Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), author of the immortal Don Quixote, satirist Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645), author of the famous novel "The Life Story of a Rogue"). The founder of the Spanish national drama is the great Lope de Vega (1562-1635), author of literary works such as "Dog in the Manger", "Dance Teacher". Spanish painting achieved significant success. They occupy a special place in it El Greco (1541-1614) and Diego Velasquez (1599-1660).
In France The humanist movement begins to spread only at the beginning of the 16th century. An outstanding representative of French humanism was François Rabelais (1494-1553), who wrote the satirical novel Gargantua and Pantagruel. In the 40s of the XVI century. in France there is a literary movement that went down in history under the name "Pleiades". The famous poets Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) and Joaquin du Bellay (1522-1566) headed this trend. Other famous French Renaissance poets were Agrippa d'Aubigné (1552-1630) and Louise Labe (1525-1565).
The largest representative of the culture of France of the XVI century. was Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592). His main work is "Experiences" was a reflection on philosophical, historical, ethical topics. Montaigne proved the importance of experimental knowledge, glorified nature as a mentor of man. Montaigne's "experiments" were directed against scholasticism and dogmatism, asserted the ideas of rationalism, this work had a significant impact on the subsequent development of Western European thought.
The Renaissance is over. Western Europe has entered a new period in its history. However, the ideas and view of the world characteristic of her did not lose their significance and attractiveness in the 17th century. In line with its inherent ideals, two great representatives of the once unified art school of the Netherlands created their marvelous works - Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640), representing the art of Flanders, and Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), the main painter of the Dutch school.
The meaning of Renaissance culture is as follows:
The term "Renaissance" means the desire of society to understand and rethink its past, to revive its former glory.
The Renaissance revealed to the world the individuality of man and showed the way to personal growth. Until that time, an individual was perceived as a biological individual. And only in the Renaissance, a person appears in his originality and ability for creative activity, which is one of the main features of the Renaissance - humanism.
The humanism of the Renaissance gives birth to the desire for rebellion. This period of culture is characterized by a break with the old world and the establishment of new forms. The desire for rebellion does not result in a break with religion and the church, but creates a secular culture.
If humanism can be considered the main foundation of Renaissance culture, then all its other aspects are built precisely around it. New political ideas are associated with humanism, for example, the problems of statehood and the economy. In political culture, great importance is attached to the personality of the ruler, he devoted his work to this issue. The Sovereign by Niccolo Machiavelli. It is no coincidence that almost all the rulers in the XVI century. possessed strong characters with pronounced individual traits. This led to the polarization of morality and immorality. The political goals of the ruler lost their religious restrictions, and therefore, with the scope, brightness and sharpness inherent in the era, the worst features of those in power appeared. Political calculation and the perfidy and treachery associated with it openly took the main place. The embodiment of political and moral shamelessness was not only Caesar Borgia, but also Henry VIII, Francis I, Catherine de Medici and others. And yet, the humanism of the Renaissance is realized with particular force precisely in the intellectual, spiritual sphere, and especially in art.
