Renaissance (briefly). Brief description of the Renaissance. High Renaissance art

The Renaissance is a time of cultural flourishing, the heyday of all arts, but the one that most fully expressed the spirit of its time was art.

Renaissance, or Renaissance(fr. “new” + “born”) had global significance in the history of European culture. The Renaissance replaced the Middle Ages and preceded the Age of Enlightenment.
Main features of the Renaissance– the secular nature of culture, humanism and anthropocentrism (interest in man and his activities). During the Renaissance, interest in ancient culture flourished and, as it were, its “rebirth” took place.
The Renaissance arose in Italy - its first signs appeared in the 13th-14th centuries. (Tony Paramoni, Pisano, Giotto, Orcagna, etc.). But it was firmly established in the 20s of the 15th century, and by the end of the 15th century. reached its peak.
In other countries, the Renaissance began much later. In the 16th century a crisis of Renaissance ideas begins, a consequence of this crisis is the emergence of mannerism and baroque.

Renaissance periods

The Renaissance is divided into 4 periods:

1. Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the 13th century - 14th century)
2. Early Renaissance (beginning of the 15th - end of the 15th century)
3. High Renaissance (end of the 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. Byzantium never broke with ancient culture.
Appearance humanism(a socio-philosophical movement that 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 emerge in cities, which were not controlled by the church. whose activities were outside the control of the church. In the middle of the 15th century. Printing was invented, which played an important role in the spread of new views throughout Europe.

Brief characteristics of the Renaissance periods

Proto-Renaissance

The Proto-Renaissance is the forerunner of the Renaissance. It is also closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic traditions. He 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)

Proto-Renaissance painting 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 flat images to three-dimensional and relief ones, turned to realism, introduced plastic volume of figures into painting, and depicted interiors in painting.

Early Renaissance

This is the period from 1420 to 1500. Artists of the Early Renaissance of Italy drew motifs from life and 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. In their work, a free-standing statue, a picturesque relief, a portrait bust, and an equestrian monument began to develop.
In Italian painting of the 15th 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 harmonious order of the world, appeal to the ethical and civic ideals of humanism, a joyful perception of the beauty and diversity of the real world.
The founder of Renaissance architecture in Italy 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 occupies Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472). This Italian scientist, 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, and in his ethical treatise “On the Family” (1737-1441) he developed the ideal of a harmoniously developed personality. In his architectural work, Alberti gravitated towards bold experimental solutions. He was one of the founders of new European architecture.

Palazzo Rucellai

Leon Battista Alberti developed a new type of palazzo with a facade, rusticated to its entire height and divided 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 is the Loggia Rucellai, where receptions and banquets for trading partners were held, and weddings were celebrated.

Loggia Rucellai

High Renaissance

This is the time of the most magnificent development of the Renaissance style. In Italy it lasted from approximately 1500 to 1527. Now the center of Italian art from Florence moves 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.

Rafael Santi "Portrait of Pope Julius II"

In Rome, many monumental buildings are built, magnificent sculptures are created, frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered masterpieces of painting. Antiquity is still highly valued and carefully studied. But imitation of the ancients does not drown out 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).

Late Renaissance

In Italy this is the period from the 1530s to the 1590s-1620s. The art and culture of this time are very diverse. Some believe (for example, British scientists) that “The Renaissance as a holistic historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527." The art of the late Renaissance presents a very complex picture of the struggle of various movements. Many artists did not strive 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 elderly Michelangelo once said, watching artists copy his “Last Judgment”: “This art of mine will make fools of many.”
The Counter-Reformation triumphed in Southern Europe, which did not welcome any free-thinking, including the chanting 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.

2. Technological achievements of the Renaissance

The philosophy of the Renaissance was characterized by a pantheistic tendency. Pantheism was most clearly manifested in the works of Bernardino Telesio, Francesco Patrizi, Giordano Bruno and Tommaso Campanella. Thus, it is characteristic of Telesio’s teaching that both God and his creation, including the immortal human soul and purposefully constructed nature, turn out to be impersonal principles.

For Patrizi, the light is above all, and the entire universe, together with man and material things, is only a hierarchical emanation of this primal light, i.e. Before us is Neoplatonism.

Bruno created one of the most profound and interesting forms of pantheism in Italy in the 16th century; the basis of his teaching about the beauty of the divine universe and, consequently, about the beauty of each individual element of such a universe, heroically striving to merge with the deity (which is also the material universe), lies the basic ontological principle - everything is in everything (this principle is used in 20th century science .).

Campanella’s pantheistic system is very contradictory, since it features a real monotheistic god and at the same time proclaims complete freedom of human sensory perception, complete freedom of logic, epistemology and science based on it, and thereby complete independence from the deity and his institutions.

The contradictions of Campanella’s system and his flirting with the exact sciences, in which he understood little, indicate both the progressive collapse of the Renaissance and the progressive formation of modern natural science. One of the most striking phenomena of the Renaissance in the traditional presentation is usually the heliocentric system of Copernicus and the doctrine of infinite measures by Giordano Bruno. Nevertheless, the discovery of Copernicus was an advanced and revolutionary event for subsequent centuries, but for the Renaissance it was a phenomenon not only of decline, but even of Renaissance self-denial. The fact is that the Renaissance appeared in history Western culture as an era of the exaltation of man, as a period of faith in man, in his endless possibilities and in his mastery of nature. But Copernicus and Bruno turned the Earth into some insignificant grain of sand of the universe, and at the same time man turned out to be incomparable, incommensurable with the endless dark abyss of world space.

The revivalist loved to contemplate nature with the motionless Earth and the ever-moving vault of heaven. But now it turned out that the Earth is some kind of insignificance, and no sky exists at all. Renaissance man preached power human personality and his connection with nature, which for him was a model for his creations, and he himself also tried in his work to imitate nature and its creator - the Great Artist.

But along with the great discoveries of Copernicus, Galileo and Kepler, all this human power collapsed and crumbled to dust. A picture of the world emerged in which man has become a nonentity with an infinitely inflated mind and self-esteem. Thus, heliocentrism and the infinite number of worlds not only contradicted the culture of the Renaissance, but were its negation.

Along with all this, the everyday practice of alchemy, astrology and all magic covered the entire Renaissance society from top to bottom and was by no means the result of ignorance.

It is the result of the same individualistic thirst to master the mysterious forces of nature, which makes itself felt even in Francis Bacon, that famous champion of inductive methods in science. Connected with this is the historical paradox that the Holy Inquisition flourished during the Renaissance.

Hunts for heretics and witches, unbridled terror and collective psychoses, cruelty and moral insignificance, suffering and ordinary bestiality are the products of the Renaissance; they, like the activities of the Holy Inquisition, do not oppose the then great achievements of the spirit and thought of man, but are connected with them, are their integral part, and express the authentic aspirations and needs of man.

After all, the Renaissance is very rich in endless superstitions that permeated absolutely all layers of society, including scientists and philosophers, not to mention politicians and rulers.

3. Art of the Renaissance.

The culture of the Renaissance, its art and, above all, plastic art make it possible to formulate a paradox: the archetype of youth, which in its essence is an expression of the search for immutability, is seemingly historical.

The basis of this paradox is the position adopted by the Renaissance about the fundamental genetic identity of the natural world and the world of culture. This position in Renaissance culture becomes a leitmotif in the works of writers, philosophers and artists.

Picodella Mirandola's classic formulation in the Oration on the Dignity of Man is an expression of the generally accepted idea of ​​the fundamental unity of the world.

Finally, the Renaissance represents the first cultural form regeneration of time, consciously expressing the idea of ​​renewal.

The Renaissance can also be looked at as a great, integral attempt to begin history anew, an act of renewal of the beginning, a regeneration of social time. In general, we can say that it was in the Renaissance culture that the idea of ​​​​the limitless power of man, of his unlimited capabilities was developed.

The aesthetics of the Renaissance orients art towards imitation of nature. However, what comes first here is not so much nature as the artist, who in his creative activity becomes like God. In the creator of a work of art, who is gradually freed from church ideology, what is most valued is a keen artistic view of things, professional independence, and special skills, and his creations acquire a self-sufficient, rather than sacred, character.

One of the most important principles of perception of works of art is pleasure, which indicates a significant democratic tendency as opposed to the moralizing and scholastic “scholarship” of previous aesthetic theories.

The aesthetic thought of the Renaissance contains not only the idea of ​​the absolutization of the human individual as opposed to the supra-mundane divine personality in the Middle Ages, but also a certain awareness of the limitations of such individualism, based on the absolute self-affirmation of the individual.

Hence the motives of tragedy found in the works of W. Shakespeare, M. Cervantes, Michelangelo and others. This is the inconsistency of a culture that has moved away from ancient medieval absolutes, but due to historical circumstances has not yet found new reliable foundations.

The fine arts of the Renaissance provide a contrast to the medieval in many respects. It marks the emergence of realism, which determined the development of European art for a long time. artistic culture.

This affected not only the spread secular images, in the development of portrait and landscape or new, sometimes almost genre interpretation religious subjects, but also in a radical renewal of the entire artistic system. During the Renaissance, an objective image of the world was seen through human eyes, so one of the important problems facing artists was the problem of space.

The art of antiquity constitutes one of the foundations of the artistic culture of the Renaissance. It is known that the ancient heritage was also used in the Middle Ages, for example, during the Carolingian Renaissance, in the painting of the Ottonian period in Germany, in Gothic art.

But the attitude towards this heritage was different. In the Middle Ages, individual monuments were reproduced and individual motifs were borrowed. And representatives of the Renaissance find in ancient culture something that is in tune with their own aspirations - commitment to reality, cheerfulness, admiration for the beauty of the earthly world, for greatness heroic feat. At the same time, having developed in different historical conditions, having absorbed the traditions of the Romanesque style and Gothic, the art of the Renaissance bears the stamp of its time.

Compared to the art of classical antiquity spiritual world man is becoming more complex and multifaceted.

The artists' works become signatures, that is, they are clearly copyrighted. More and more self-portraits are appearing. An undoubted sign of a new self-awareness is that artists are increasingly shying away from direct orders, devoting themselves to work out of inner motivation.

By the end of the 14th century, the external position of the artist in society also changed significantly.

Artists begin to receive all kinds of public recognition, positions, honorary and monetary sinecures. A. Michelangelo, for example, is elevated to such a height that, without fear of offending the crowned princes, he refuses the high honors offered to him. The nickname “divine” is enough for him.

He insists that in letters to him any titles should be omitted, and they should simply be written “Michelangelo Buonarotti.” A genius has a name. The title is a burden for him, because it is associated with inevitable circumstances and, therefore, with at least a partial loss of that very freedom from everything that interferes with his creativity.

But the logical limit to which the Renaissance artist gravitated was the acquisition of complete personal independence, implying, of course, first of all creative freedom.

In architecture, an especially important role was played by the appeal to the classical tradition. It manifested itself not only in the rejection of Gothic forms and the revival of the ancient order system, but also in the classical proportionality of proportions, in the development in temple architecture of a centric type of building with an easily visible interior space.

Especially a lot of new things were created in the field of civil architecture. During the Renaissance, multi-story city buildings (town halls, houses of merchant guilds, universities, warehouses, markets, etc.) received a more elegant appearance; a type of city palace (palazzo) emerged - the home of a wealthy burgher, as well as a type of country villa. Issues related to city planning are being resolved in a new way, and city centers are being reconstructed.

Unlike the Middle Ages, when the main customers of works were the church and large feudal lords, now the circle of customers is significantly expanding and their social composition is changing. Along with the church, guild associations of artisans, merchant guilds, city authorities, and private individuals - both nobles and burghers - often give orders to artists.

Along with monumental forms, easel forms are becoming increasingly widespread - painting on wood and canvas, sculpture made of wood, bronze, rherracotta and majolica.

Chronological boundaries of the development of Renaissance art in different countries don't quite match. Due to historical circumstances, the Renaissance in the northern countries of Europe was delayed compared to the Italian one.

And yet, the art of this era, with all the variety of particular forms, has the most important common feature - the desire for a truthful reflection of reality. In the last century, the first Renaissance historian Jacob Burckhard defined this feature as “the discovery of the world of mankind.”

The art of the Renaissance is divided into four stages: Proto-Renaissance (late XIII - first half of the XIV century),

Early Renaissance (XV century),

High Renaissance (end of the 15th century, first three decades of the 16th century),

Late Renaissance (middle and second half of the 16th century).

In the literature about the Renaissance, Italian names of centuries are often used: Ducento - XIII century, Trecento - XIV century, Quattrocento - XVI century.

REFERENCES

1. Kravchenko A.I. Culturology: Tutorial for universities. - 3rd ed. - M.: Academic Project, 2001.

2. Cultural studies for technical universities. Rostov-on-Don: Phoenix, 2001.

3. Bichko A.K. Ta in. Theory and history of light and veterinary culture: Course of lectures. – K.: Libid, 1992. – 392 p.

4. Cultural studies in questions and answers. Tutorial. Rotov-on-Don: “Phoenix”, 1997 – 480 p.

t to solving ideological problems. That is why the culture of the Renaissance has a distinct artistic character. 1. Culture of the Renaissance Western Europe XIV-XVI centuries. – Italian Renaissance The tendency to rethink antiquity in the era Italian Renaissance strong, but it goes with cultural values many origins, in particular with Christian (Catholic) ...

A new type of person has been forged. This era “needed titans” - and “gave birth to titans in strength of thought, passion and character, but also in versatility and learning.” It is difficult to find a major cultural figure of the Renaissance who did not write poetry. Talented poets were Raphael, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci; poems were written by Giordano Bruno, Thomas More, Ulrich von Hutten, and Erasmus of Rotterdam. Art...

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In contrast to the Catholic point of view, the moral significance of worldly professional work and the religious reward for it have grown enormously.” Different historians resolve the issue of the relationship between the Renaissance and the Reformation in different ways. Both the Reformation and the Renaissance placed the human personality at the center, energetic, striving to transform the world, with a pronounced strong-willed beginning. But the Reformation...

Material from Uncyclopedia

Renaissance, or Renaissance (from the French renaître - to be reborn), is one of the most striking eras in the development of European culture, spanning almost three centuries: from the middle of the 14th century. until the first decades of the 17th century. This was an era of major changes in the history of the peoples of Europe. In conditions of a high level of urban civilization, the process of the emergence of capitalist relations and the crisis of feudalism began, the formation of nations took place and the creation of large national states, new form political system- absolute monarchy (see State), new social groups were formed - the bourgeoisie and hired workers. The spiritual world of man also changed. Great geographical discoveries expanded the horizons of contemporaries. This was facilitated by the great invention of Johannes Gutenberg - printing. In this complex, transitional era, a new type of culture emerged that placed man and the surrounding world at the center of its interests. The new, Renaissance culture was widely based on the heritage of antiquity, interpreted differently than in the Middle Ages, and in many ways rediscovered (hence the concept of “Renaissance”), but it also drew from the best achievements medieval culture, especially secular - knightly, urban, folk. The Renaissance man was gripped by a thirst for self-affirmation and great achievements, actively involved in public life, rediscovered the natural world, strived for a deep understanding of it, and admired its beauty. The culture of the Renaissance is characterized by a secular perception and understanding of the world, the affirmation of the value of earthly existence, the greatness of reason and creativity person, personal dignity. Humanism (from the Latin humanus - human) has become ideological basis Renaissance culture.

Giovanni Boccaccio is one of the first representatives of humanistic literature of the Renaissance.

Palazzo Pitti. Florence. 1440-1570

Masaccio. Tax collection. Scene from the life of St. Petra Fresco of the Brancacci Chapel. Florence. 1426-1427

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Moses. 1513-1516

Rafael Santi. Sistine Madonna. 1515-1519 Canvas, oil. Art Gallery. Dresden.

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna Litta. Late 1470s - early 1490s Wood, oil. State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg.

Leonardo da Vinci. Self-portrait. OK. 1510-1513

Albrecht Durer. Self-portrait. 1498

Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Hunters in the snow. 1565 Wood, oil. Museum of Art History. Vein.

Humanists opposed the dictatorship of the Catholic Church in the spiritual life of society. They criticized the method of scholastic science, based on formal logic (dialectics), rejected its dogmatism and faith in authorities, thereby clearing the way for the free development of scientific thought. Humanists called for the study of ancient culture, which the church rejected as pagan, accepting from it only that which did not contradict Christian doctrine. However, the restoration of the ancient heritage (humanists searched for manuscripts of ancient authors, cleared texts of later layers and copyist errors) was not an end in itself for them, but served as the basis for solving pressing problems of our time, for building a new culture. The range of humanitarian knowledge within which the humanistic worldview was formed included ethics, history, pedagogy, poetics, and rhetoric. Humanists made valuable contributions to the development of all these sciences. Their search for a new scientific method, criticism of scholasticism, translations of scientific works of ancient authors contributed to the rise of natural philosophy and natural science in the 16th - early XVI I V.

The formation of Renaissance culture in different countries was not simultaneous and proceeded at different rates in different areas of culture itself. It developed first of all in Italy with its numerous cities that had reached a high level of civilization and political independence, with ancient traditions that were stronger than in other European countries. Already in the 2nd half of the 14th century. In Italy, significant changes took place in literature and humanities - philology, ethics, rhetoric, historiography, pedagogy. Then fine arts and architecture became the arena for the rapid development of the Renaissance; later the new culture embraced the sphere of philosophy, natural science, music, and theater. For more than a century, Italy remained the only country of Renaissance culture; by the end of the 15th century. The revival began to gain strength relatively quickly in Germany, the Netherlands, and France in the 16th century. - in England, Spain, Central European countries. Second half of the 16th century. became a time not only of high achievements of the European Renaissance, but also of manifestations of the crisis of a new culture caused by the counter-offensive of reactionary forces and the internal contradictions in the development of the Renaissance itself.

The origin of Renaissance literature in the 2nd half of the 14th century. associated with the names of Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio. They affirmed humanistic ideas of personal dignity, linking it not with birth, but with the valiant deeds of a person, his freedom and the right to enjoy the joys of earthly life. Petrarch's "Book of Songs" reflected the finest shades his love for Laura. In the dialogue “My Secret” and a number of treatises, he developed ideas about the need to change the structure of knowledge - to put human problems at the center, criticized the scholastics for their formal-logical method of knowledge, called for the study of ancient authors (Petrarch especially appreciated Cicero, Virgil, Seneca), highly raised the importance of poetry in man’s knowledge of the meaning of his earthly existence. These thoughts were shared by his friend Boccaccio, the author of the book of short stories “The Decameron”, and a number of poetic and scientific works. The Decameron traces the influence of folk-urban literature of the Middle Ages. Here, humanistic ideas found expression in artistic form - the denial of ascetic morality, the justification of a person’s right to the full expression of his feelings, all natural needs, the idea of ​​nobility as the product of valiant deeds and high morality, and not the nobility of the family. The theme of nobility, the solution of which reflected the anti-class ideas of the advanced part of the burghers and people, will become characteristic of many humanists. In the further development of literature in Italian and Latin languages The humanists of the 15th century made a great contribution. - writers and philologists, historians, philosophers, poets, statesmen and speakers.

In Italian humanism there were directions that had different approaches to solving ethical problems, and above all to the question of man’s path to happiness. Thus, in civil humanism - the direction that developed in Florence in the first half of the 15th century. (its most prominent representatives are Leonardo Bruni and Matteo Palmieri) - ethics was based on the principle of serving the common good. Humanists argued the need to educate a citizen, a patriot who puts the interests of society and the state above personal ones. They affirmed the moral ideal of active civil life in contrast to the church ideal of monastic hermitage. They attached particular value to such virtues as justice, generosity, prudence, courage, politeness, and modesty. A person can discover and develop these virtues only through active social communication, and not in flight from worldly life. Best form The humanists of this trend considered a republic to be a state structure, where, in conditions of freedom, all human abilities could be most fully manifested.

Another direction in humanism of the 15th century. represented the work of the writer, architect, and art theorist Leon Battista Alberti. Alberti believed that the law of harmony reigns in the world, and man is subject to it. He must strive for knowledge, to comprehend the world around him and himself. People must build earthly life on reasonable grounds, on the basis of acquired knowledge, turning it to their own benefit, striving for harmony of feelings and reason, the individual and society, man and nature. Knowledge and work obligatory for all members of society - this, according to Alberti, is the path to a happy life.

Lorenzo Valla put forward a different ethical theory. He identified happiness with pleasure: a person should receive pleasure from all the joys of earthly existence. Asceticism is contrary to human nature itself; feelings and reason are equal in rights; their harmony should be achieved. From these positions, Valla made a decisive criticism of monasticism in the dialogue “On the Monastic Vow.”

At the end of the 15th - end of the 16th century. The direction associated with the activities of the Platonic Academy in Florence became widespread. The leading humanist philosophers of this movement, Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, exalted the human mind in their works based on the philosophy of Plato and the Neoplatonists. The glorification of personality became characteristic of them. Ficino considered man the center of the world, the connecting link (this connection is realized in knowledge) of a beautifully organized cosmos. Pico saw in man the only creature in the world endowed with the ability to shape himself, relying on knowledge - on ethics and the sciences of nature. In his “Speech on the Dignity of Man,” Pico defended the right to free thought and believed that philosophy, devoid of any dogmatism, should become the lot of everyone, and not a select few. Italian Neoplatonists approached the solution of a number of theological problems from new, humanistic positions. The invasion of humanism into the sphere of theology is one of the important features of European Renaissance XVI V.

The 16th century marked a new rise in Renaissance literature in Italy: Ludovico Ariosto became famous for his poem “The Furious Roland,” where reality and fantasy are intertwined, glorification of earthly joys and sometimes sad and sometimes ironic understanding of Italian life; Baldassare Castiglione wrote a book about ideal person of his era (“Courtier”). This is the time of creativity of the outstanding poet Pietro Bembo and the author of satirical pamphlets Pietro Aretino; at the end of the 16th century Torquato Tasso’s grandiose heroic poem “Jerusalem Liberated” was written, which reflected not only the gains of secular Renaissance culture, but also the emerging crisis of the humanistic worldview, associated with the strengthening of religiosity in the conditions of the Counter-Reformation, with the loss of faith in the omnipotence of the individual.

The art of the Italian Renaissance, which began with Masaccio in painting, Donatello in sculpture, and Brunelleschi in architecture, who worked in Florence in the 1st half of the 15th century, achieved brilliant successes. Their work is marked by brilliant talent, a new understanding of man, his place in nature and society. In the 2nd half of the 15th century. in Italian painting, along with the Florentine school, a number of others emerged - Umbrian, Northern Italian, Venetian. Each of them had its own characteristics; they were also characteristic of the work of the greatest masters - Piero della Francesca, Adrea Mantegna, Sandro Botticelli and others. All of them in different ways revealed the specifics of Renaissance art: the desire for life-like images based on the principle of “imitation of nature”, a wide appeal to the motifs of ancient mythology and secular interpretation of traditional religious subjects, interest in linear and aerial perspective, in the plastic expressiveness of images, harmonious proportions etc. Portrait became a common genre of painting, graphics, medal art, and sculpture, which was directly related to the affirmation of the humanistic ideal of man. The heroic ideal of the perfect person was embodied with particular completeness in Italian art High Renaissance in the first decades of the 16th century. This era brought forward the brightest, multifaceted talents - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo (see Art). A type of universal artist emerged, combining in his work a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and scientist. Artists of this era worked closely with humanists and showed great interest in the natural sciences, especially anatomy, optics, and mathematics, trying to use their achievements in their work. In the 16th century Venetian art experienced a special boom. Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto created beautiful canvases, notable for their coloristic richness and realism of images of man and the world around him. The 16th century was a time of active establishment of the Renaissance style in architecture, especially for secular purposes, which was characterized by a close connection with the traditions of ancient architecture (order architecture). A new type of building was formed - a city palace (palazzo) and a country residence (villa) - majestic, but also commensurate with the person, where the solemn simplicity of the facade is combined with spacious, richly decorated interiors. A huge contribution to Renaissance architecture was made by Leon Battista Alberti, Giuliano da Sangallo, Bramante, and Palladio. Many architects have created projects ideal city, based on new principles of urban planning and architecture that meet human needs for a healthy, well-equipped and beautiful living space. Not only individual buildings, but also entire old ones were rebuilt medieval cities: Rome, Florence, Ferrara, Venice, Mantua, Rimini.

Lucas Cranach the Elder. Female portrait.

Hans Holbein the Younger. Portrait of the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. 1523

Titian Vecellio. Saint Sebastian. 1570 Oil on canvas. State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg.

Illustration by Mr. Doré for the novel by F. Rabelais “Gargantua and Pantagruel”.

Michel Montaigne is a French philosopher and writer.

In the political and historical thought of the Italian Renaissance, the problem of a perfect society and state became one of the central ones. The works of Bruni and especially Machiavelli on the history of Florence, based on the study of documentary material, and the works of Sabellico and Contarini on the history of Venice revealed the merits of the republican structure of these city-states, while historians of Milan and Naples, on the contrary, emphasized the positive centralizing role of the monarchy. Machiavelli and Guicciardini explained all the troubles of Italy, which became in the first decades of the 16th century. arena of foreign invasions, its political decentralization and called on the Italians for national consolidation. A common feature of Renaissance historiography was the desire to see in people themselves the creators of their history, to deeply analyze the experience of the past and use it in political practice. Widespread in the 16th - early 17th centuries. received a social utopia. In the teachings of the utopians Doni, Albergati, and Zuccolo, an ideal society was associated with the partial elimination of private property, equality of citizens (but not all people), universal compulsory labor, and harmonious development of the individual. The most consistent expression of the idea of ​​socialization of property and equalization was found in Campanella’s “City of the Sun.”

New approaches to solving the traditional problem of the relationship between nature and God were put forward by natural philosophers Bernardino Telesio, Francesco Patrizi, and Giordano Bruno. In their works, the dogma of a creator God directing the development of the universe gave way to pantheism: God is not opposed to nature, but, as it were, merges with it; nature is seen as existing forever and developing according to its own laws. The ideas of the Renaissance natural philosophers met with sharp resistance from the Catholic Church. For his ideas about the eternity and infinity of the Universe, consisting of a huge number of worlds, for his sharp criticism of the church, which condones ignorance and obscurantism, Bruno was condemned as a heretic and committed to fire in 1600.

The Italian Renaissance had a huge impact on the development of Renaissance culture in other European countries. This was facilitated to a large extent by printing. The major centers of publishing were in the 16th century. Venice, where at the beginning of the century the printing house of Aldus Manutius became an important center of cultural life; Basel, where the publishing houses of Johann Froben and Johann Amerbach were equally significant; Lyon with its famous Etienne printing house, as well as Paris, Rome, Louvain, London, Seville. Printing became a powerful factor in the development of Renaissance culture in many European countries and opened the way to active interaction in the process of building a new culture of humanists, scientists, and artists.

The largest figure Northern Renaissance There was Erasmus of Rotterdam, with whose name the movement of “Christian humanism” is associated. He had like-minded people and allies in many European countries (J. Colet and Thomas More in England, G. Budet and Lefebvre d'Etaples in France, I. Reuchlin in Germany). Erasmus broadly understood the tasks of the new culture. In his opinion, this was not only the resurrection of the ancient pagan heritage, but also the restoration of early Christian teachings, he did not see any fundamental differences between them from the point of view of the truth to which a person should strive, like the Italian humanists, he connected the improvement of man with education, creative activity, and the revelation of everything inherent in him. abilities. His humanistic pedagogy received artistic expression in “Easy Conversations,” and his sharply satirical work “In Praise of Stupidity” was directed against ignorance, dogmatism, and feudal prejudices. Erasmus saw the path to people's happiness in peaceful life and the establishment of a humanistic culture based on all the values ​​of the historical experience of mankind.

In Germany, Renaissance culture experienced a rapid rise at the end of the 15th century. - 1st third of the 16th century. One of its features was the flowering of satirical literature, which began with Sebastian Brant’s essay “Ship of Fools,” in which sharp criticism mores of the time; the author led readers to the conclusion about the need for reforms in public life. satirical line in German literature continued “Letters of Dark People” - an anonymously published collective work of humanists, chief among whom was Ulrich von Hutten - where church ministers were subjected to devastating criticism. Hutten was the author of many pamphlets, dialogues, letters directed against the papacy, the dominance of the church in Germany, and the fragmentation of the country; his work contributed to the awakening of the national consciousness of the German people.

The largest artists of the Renaissance in Germany were A. Dürer, an outstanding painter and unsurpassed master of engraving, M. Niethardt (Grunewald) with his deeply dramatic images, portrait painter Hans Holbein the Younger, as well as Lucas Cranach the Elder, who closely associated his art with the Reformation.

In France, the Renaissance culture took shape and flourished in the 16th century. This was facilitated, in particular, by the Italian wars of 1494-1559. (they were fought between the kings of France, Spain and the German emperor for the mastery of Italian territories), which revealed to the French the richness of the Renaissance culture of Italy. At the same time, a feature of the French Renaissance was an interest in the traditions of folk culture, creatively mastered by humanists along with the ancient heritage. The poetry of C. Marot, the works of humanist philologists E. Dolet and B. Deperrier, who were part of the circle of Margaret of Navarre (sister of King Francis I), are imbued with folk motifs and cheerful freethinking. These trends were very clearly manifested in the satirical novel of the outstanding Renaissance writer Francois Rabelais “Gargantua and Pantagruel”, where plots drawn from ancient folk tales about cheerful giants are combined with ridicule of the vices and ignorance of contemporaries, with the presentation of a humanistic program of upbringing and education in the spirit of the new culture. Rise of the national French poetry associated with the activities of the Pleiades - a circle of poets led by Ronsard and Du Bellay. During the period of civil (Huguenot) wars (see Religious Wars in France), journalism that expressed differences in political position opposing forces of society. The largest political thinkers were F. Hautman and Duplessis Mornay, who opposed tyranny, and J. Bodin, who advocated the strengthening of a single national state headed by an absolute monarch. The ideas of humanism found deep understanding in Montaigne's Essays. Montaigne, Rabelais, Bonaventure Deperrier were prominent representatives secular freethinking, which rejected the religious foundations of the worldview. They condemned scholasticism, the medieval system of upbringing and education, scholasticism, and religious fanaticism. Main principle Montaigne's ethics - the free manifestation of human individuality, the liberation of the mind from subordination to faith, the fullness of emotional life. He associated happiness with the realization of the individual’s internal capabilities, which should be served by secular upbringing and education based on free-thinking. In the art of the French Renaissance, the genre of portrait came to the fore, the outstanding masters of which were J. Fouquet, F. Clouet, P. and E. Dumoustier. J. Goujon became famous in sculpture.

In the culture of the Netherlands during the Renaissance, rhetorical societies were a distinctive phenomenon, uniting people from different strata, including artisans and peasants. At meetings of societies, debates were held on political, moral and religious topics, performances were staged in folk traditions, there was a refined work on the word; Humanists took an active part in the activities of societies. Folk features were also characteristic of Dutch art. The greatest painter Pieter Bruegel, nicknamed “The Peasant,” in his paintings of peasant life and landscapes expressed with particular completeness the feeling of the unity of nature and man.

). It reached a high level in the 16th century. the art of theater, democratic in its orientation. In numerous public and private theaters they staged domestic comedies, historical chronicles, heroic dramas. The plays of C. Marlowe, in which majestic heroes challenge medieval morality, and B. Johnson, in which a gallery of tragicomic characters appears, prepared the appearance of the greatest playwright of the Renaissance, William Shakespeare. A perfect master of various genres - comedies, tragedies, historical chronicles, Shakespeare created unique images strong people, personalities who vividly embodied the traits of a Renaissance man, life-loving, passionate, endowed with intelligence and energy, but sometimes contradictory in his moral actions. Shakespeare's work exposed the deepening gap in the Late Renaissance between the humanistic idealization of man and the real world, filled with acute life conflicts. The English scientist Francis Bacon enriched Renaissance philosophy with new approaches to understanding the world. He opposed observation and experiment to the scholastic method as a reliable tool. scientific knowledge. Bacon saw the path to building a perfect society in the development of science, especially physics.

In Spain, Renaissance culture experienced a “golden age” in the 2nd half of the 16th century. - the first decades of the 17th century. Her highest achievements are associated with the creation of new Spanish literature and national folk theater, as well as with the work of the outstanding painter El Greco. The formation of new Spanish literature, which grew out of the traditions of knightly and picaresque novels, found a brilliant conclusion in brilliant novel Miguel de Cervantes "The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha." In the images of the knight Don Quixote and the peasant Sancho Panza, the main humanistic idea of ​​the novel is revealed: the greatness of man in his courageous struggle against evil in the name of justice. Cervantes's novel is both a kind of parody of the chivalric romance that is fading into the past, and the broadest canvas of the folk life of Spain in the 16th century. Cervantes was the author of a number of plays that made a great contribution to the creation of the national theater. To an even greater extent, the rapid development of the Spanish Renaissance theater is associated with the work of the extremely prolific playwright and poet Lope de Vega, the author of lyrical-heroic comedies of cloak and sword, imbued with the folk spirit.

Andrey Rublev. Trinity. 1st quarter of the 15th century

At the end of the XV-XVI centuries. Renaissance culture spread in Hungary, where royal patronage played an important role in the flowering of humanism; in the Czech Republic, where new trends contributed to the formation of national consciousness; in Poland, which became one of the centers of humanistic freethinking. The influence of the Renaissance also affected the culture of the Dubrovnik Republic, Lithuania, and Belarus. Certain pre-Renaissance tendencies also appeared in Russian culture of the 15th century. They were associated with a growing interest in human personality and its psychology. In art, this is primarily the work of Andrei Rublev and artists of his circle, in literature - “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom,” which tells about the love of the Murom prince and the peasant girl Fevronia, and the works of Epiphanius the Wise with his masterful “weaving of words.” In the 16th century Renaissance elements appeared in Russian political journalism (Ivan Peresvetov and others).

In the XVI - first decades of the XVII century. significant changes have occurred in the development of science. The beginning of new astronomy was laid by the heliocentric theory of the Polish scientist N. Copernicus, which revolutionized ideas about the Universe. It received further substantiation in the works of the German astronomer I. Kepler, as well as the Italian scientist G. Galileo. The astronomer and physicist Galileo constructed a telescope, using it to discover the mountains on the Moon, the phases of Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, etc. Galileo’s discoveries, which confirmed the teaching of Copernicus about the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, gave impetus to the more rapid spread of the heliocentric theory, which the church recognized as heretical; she persecuted her supporters (for example, the fate of D. Bruno, who was burned at the stake) and banned the works of Galileo. A lot of new things have appeared in the field of physics, mechanics, and mathematics. Stephen formulated the theorems of hydrostatics; Tartaglia successfully studied the theory of ballistics; Cardano discovered the solution of algebraic equations of the third degree. G. Kremer (Mercator) created more advanced geographic Maps. Oceanography emerged. In botany, E. Cord and L. Fuchs systematized a wide range of knowledge. K. Gesner enriched knowledge in the field of zoology with his “History of Animals”. Knowledge of anatomy was improved, which was facilitated by the work of Vesalius “On the structure of the human body.” M. Servet expressed the idea of ​​the presence of a pulmonary circulation. The outstanding physician Paracelsus brought medicine and chemistry closer together and made important discoveries in pharmacology. Mr. Agricola systematized knowledge in the field of mining and metallurgy. Leonardo da Vinci put forward a number of engineering projects that were far ahead of contemporary technical thought and anticipated some later discoveries (for example, the flying machine).

The history of the Renaissance begins in This period is also called the Renaissance. The Renaissance changed into culture and became the forerunner of the culture of the New Age. And the Renaissance ended in the 16th-17th centuries, since in each state it has its own start and end date.

Some general information

Representatives of the Renaissance are Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio. They became the first poets who began to express sublime images and thoughts in frank, common language. This innovation was received with great enthusiasm and spread to other countries.

Renaissance and art

The peculiarity of the Renaissance is that the human body became the main source of inspiration and subject of study for artists of this time. Thus, the emphasis was placed on the similarity of sculpture and painting with reality. The main features of the art of the Renaissance period include radiance, refined use of the brush, the play of shadow and light, care in the work process and complex compositions. For Renaissance artists, the main images were from the Bible and myths.

The resemblance of a real person to his image on a particular canvas was so close that the fictional character seemed alive. This cannot be said about the art of the twentieth century.

The Renaissance (its main trends are briefly outlined above) perceived the human body as an endless beginning. Scientists and artists regularly improved their skills and knowledge by studying the bodies of individuals. The prevailing view then was that man was created in the likeness and image of God. This statement reflected physical perfection. The main and important objects of Renaissance art were the gods.

Nature and beauty of the human body

Renaissance art paid great attention to nature. A characteristic element of the landscapes was varied and lush vegetation. The blue-hued skies, pierced by the sun's rays that penetrated the white clouds, provided a magnificent backdrop for the floating creatures. Renaissance art revered the beauty of the human body. This feature was manifested in the refined elements of the muscles and body. Difficult poses, facial expressions and gestures, a harmonious and clear color palette are characteristic of the work of sculptors and sculptors of the Renaissance period. These include Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and others.

Danae/ Titian

The Italian Renaissance entered a new stage of development at the turn of the 15th and 16th centuries. The culmination of art (the end of the 15th and the first decades of the 16th century), which presented the world with such great masters as Raphael, Titian, Giorgione and Leonardo da Vinci is called stage of the High Renaissance.

The focus of artistic life in Italy at the beginning of the 16th century moved to Rome. Among the large states of Italy, the papal region occupied one of the leading roles even at the end of the previous century. It was less developed economically than Venice and Florence, but had strength in international significance, becoming for some time the focus of national unification aspirations in the state.

Judith/Giorgione

The popes sought to unite all of Italy under the rule of Rome, making attempts to convert it into a cultural and leading political center. But, without ever becoming a political reference point, Rome is transformed for some time into the citadel of spiritual culture and art of Italy. The reason for this was also the patronage tactics of the popes, who attracted the best artists to Rome.

The Florentine school and many others (old local ones) were losing their former significance. The only exception was the rich and independent Venice, which demonstrated a vibrant cultural originality throughout the 16th century. The new role was harmoniously combined with the historical past of the city. Memories of the former greatness of the Roman Empire were not forgotten and with renewed vigor acquired new meaning. At the beginning of the 16th century, this served as an impetus for the development of interest in ancient world and historical development. For High Renaissance Inspiration for classical antiquity is very characteristic.

Mona Lisa/Leonardo da Vinci

Rome became the most favorable place for this hobby. Over the centuries, its countless ancient monuments have attracted various artists. The perception of the classical heritage in Rome was fully and to a deeper extent. Due to the constant connection with the great works of the archaic, art was freed from verbosity, often so characteristic creativity Quattrocento virtuosos. High Renaissance artists acquired the ability to omit small details that did not affect general meaning and strive to achieve harmony and combination in their creations best sides reality.

Ideals humanism permeated the art of the High Renaissance. Creativity is characterized by faith in the unlimited possibilities of man, in his individuality and in the rational world apparatus.

There is a change from the naive narrative style and everydayism common in Quattrocento art to problems affecting civic duty. The main motive High Renaissance art the image of a harmoniously developed and strong person both in body and spirit appears, who is above everyday routine. Artists strive to highlight the main plot and avoid details.

Last Judgment/Michelangelo

The beginning of the 16th century is characterized by the achievement of a higher level of harmony and unity in the new art form. It differs from the medieval style by having the same rights as sculptures And painting, so do architecture. Since sculpture and painting get rid of the unquestioning slavery of architecture, which gives life to the formation of new genres of art such as landscape, historical painting, portrait.

In this period architecture High Renaissance dials highest speed. Its characteristic features are: monumentality, representative grandeur, grandeur of plans (coming from Ancient Rome), which were intensively manifested in Bramant’s projects for St. Peter’s Cathedral and the reconstruction of the Vatican.