Classicism in art (XVII-XIX centuries). Classicism in literature

Classicism (from the Latin classicus – exemplary) – art style and the direction in the art of Europe in the 17th – 19th centuries. It is based on the ideas of rationalism, the main goal of which is to educate the public on the basis of a certain ideal, model, which is similar to. The culture of the ancient world served as such an example. The rules and canons of classicism were of paramount importance; they had to be observed by all artists working within this direction and style.

History of origin

As a movement, classicism embraced all types of art: painting, music, literature, architecture.

Classicism, the main goal of which is to educate the public on the basis of a certain ideal and compliance with all generally accepted canons, is completely opposite, which denied all the rules and was a rebellion against any artistic tradition in any direction.

In its development, classicism went through 3 stages:

1. Early classicism(1760s – early 1780s);
2. Strict classicism(1780s – 1790s);
3. Late classicism, called (the first 30 years of the 19th century).

The photo shows the Arc de Triomphe in Paris - a striking example of classicism.

Style features

Classicism is characterized by clear geometric shapes, high-quality materials, noble finishes and restraint. Majesty and harmony, grace and luxury - these are the main distinctive features classicism. later displayed in minimalist interiors.

General style features:

• smooth walls with soft floral motifs;
• elements of antiquity: palaces and columns;
• stucco;
• exquisite parquet;
• fabric wallpaper on the walls;
• elegant, graceful furniture.

The peculiarities of the Russian classic style were calm rectangular shapes, restrained and at the same time varied decorative design, precise proportions, dignified appearance, harmony and taste.

Exterior

The external signs of classicist architecture are clearly expressed and can be identified at the first glance at the building.

• Designs: stable, massive, rectangular and arched. The compositions are clearly planned, strict symmetry is observed.
• Shapes: clear geometry, volume and monumentality; statues, columns, niches, rotunda, hemispheres, pediments, friezes.
• Lines: strict; regular planning system; bas-reliefs, medallions, smooth pattern.
• Materials: stone, brick, wood, stucco.
• Roof: complex, intricate shape.
• Predominant colors: rich white, green, pink, purple, sky blue, gold.
• Characteristic elements: restrained decor, columns, pilasters, antique ornaments, marble staircase, balconies.
• Window: semicircular, rectangular, elongated upward, modestly decorated.
• Doors: rectangular, paneled, often decorated with statues (lion, sphinx).
• Decor: carving, gilding, bronze, mother-of-pearl, inlay.

Interior

The interior of the premises of the classicism era contains nobility, restraint and harmony. However, all interior items do not look like museum pieces, but only emphasize the subtle artistic taste and respectability of the owner.

The room has the correct shape, filled with an atmosphere of nobility, comfort, warmth, and exquisite luxury; not overloaded with details.

The central place in interior decoration is occupied by natural materials, mainly valuable wood, marble, stone, and silk.

• Ceilings: light, tall, often multi-level, with stucco and ornaments.
• Walls: decorated with fabrics, light but not bright, pilasters and columns, stucco or painting are possible.
• Flooring: parquet made of valuable wood species (merbau, camsha, teak, jatoba) or marble.
• Lighting: chandeliers made of crystal, stone or expensive glass; gilded chandeliers with candle-shaped shades.
• Mandatory interior attributes: mirrors, fireplaces, cozy low armchairs, low tea tables, light handmade carpets, paintings with ancient scenes, books, massive, stylized as antiquity floor vases, tripod stands for flowers.

Antique motifs are often used in the decor of the room: meanders, festoons, laurel garlands, strings of pearls. Expensive textiles are used for decoration, including tapestries, taffeta and velvet.

Furniture

Furniture from the Classical era is distinguished by its quality and respectability, made of expensive materials, mainly valuable wood. It is noteworthy that the texture of wood acts not only as a material, but also as a decorative element. Furniture items are made by hand, decorated with carvings, gilding, inlay, precious stones and metals.

But the form is simple: strict lines, clear proportions. The dining room tables and chairs are made with elegant carved legs. The dishes are porcelain, thin, almost transparent, with a pattern and gilding. A secretary with a cubic body on high legs was considered one of the most important attributes of furniture.

Classicism turned to the fundamentals of ancient architecture, using not only elements and motifs, but also patterns in design. The basis of the architectural language is the order with its strict symmetry, proportionality of the created composition, regularity of layout and clarity of volumetric form.

Classicism is the complete opposite with its pretentiousness and decorative excesses.

Unfortified palaces and garden and park ensembles were created, which became the basis of the French garden with its straightened alleys, trimmed lawns in the shape of cones and balls. Typical details of classicism are accented stairs, classic antique decor, a dome in public buildings.

Late classicism (Empire style) acquires military symbols (“Arc de Triomphe” in France). In Russia, St. Petersburg can be called the canon of the architectural style of classicism; in Europe, these are Helsinki, Warsaw, Dublin, Edinburgh.

Sculpture

In the era of classicism, public monuments embodying military valor and the wisdom of statesmen became widespread. Moreover, the main solution for sculptors was the image model famous figures in the image of ancient gods (for example, Suvorov - in the form of Mars).

It became popular among private individuals to commission tombstones from sculptors to perpetuate their names. In general, the sculptures of the era are characterized by calmness, restraint of gestures, dispassionate expressions, and purity of lines.

Fashion

Interest in antiquity in clothing began to manifest itself in the 80s of the 18th century. This was especially evident in the women's costume. A new ideal of beauty emerged in Europe, one that celebrated natural forms and the beautiful feminine lines. The finest smooth fabrics in light colors, especially white, have come into fashion. Women's dresses lost frames, padding and petticoats and took the form of long, pleated tunics, cut at the sides and tied with a belt under the bust.

They were worn over flesh-colored tights. Sandals with ribbons served as footwear. Hairstyles have been copied since antiquity.

Powder, which was used to cover the face, hands, and décolleté, is still in fashion.

Men's fashion developed under the influence of the British. English cloth tailcoats, redingotes (outerwear resembling a frock coat), jabots and cuffs are becoming popular. It was in the era of classicism that men's ties came into fashion.

Art

In painting, classicism is also characterized by restraint and severity. The main elements of form are line and light and shade. Local color emphasizes the plasticity of objects and figures and divides the spatial plan of the picture. The greatest master of the 17th century. – Lorraine Claude, famous for his “ideal landscapes.” Civic pathos and lyricism united in “decorative landscapes” French painter Jacques Louis David (XVIII century). Among Russian artists one can single out Karl Bryullov, who combined classicism with (19th century).

Classicism in music is associated with such great names as Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, who determined the further development of musical art.

Literature

The literature of the classic era promoted reason conquering feelings. The conflict between duty and passions is the basis of the plot of a literary work. Language reforms were carried out in many countries and the foundations of poetic art were laid. Leading representatives of the direction are Francois Malherbe, Corneille, Racine. The main compositional principle of the work is the unity of time, place and action.

In Russia, classicism develops under the auspices of the Enlightenment, the main ideas of which were equality and justice. The most prominent representative of the literature of the era of Russian classicism is M. Lomonosov, who laid the foundations of versification. The main genre was comedy and satire. Fonvizin and Kantemir worked in this direction.

The “Golden Age” is considered the era of classicism for theatrical art, which developed very dynamically and was improved. The theater was quite professional, and the actor on stage did not just act, but lived, experienced, while remaining himself.

The theatrical style was proclaimed the art of declamation.

Personalities

• Among the brightest classicists one can also highlight such names as:
• Jacques-Ange Gabriel, Piranesi, Jacques-Germain Soufflot, Bazhenov, Carl Rossi, Andrey Voronikhin, (architecture);
• Antonio Canova, Thorvaldsen, Fedot Shubin, Boris Orlovsky, Mikhail Kozlovsky (sculpture);
• Nicolas Poussin, Lebrun, Ingres (painting);

Voltaire, Samuel Johnson, Derzhavin, Sumarokov, Khemnitser (literature).

Video review of classicism

Ideas from the era of classicism are successfully used in modern design. It retains nobility and elegance, beauty and grandeur. The main features are wall paintings, drapery, stucco, furniture made of natural wood. There are few decorations, but they are all luxurious: mirrors, paintings, massive chandeliers.

In general, the style still characterizes the owner as a respectable, far from poor person.

Later, another appears, which marked the arrival of a new era - this. became a combination of several modern styles, which include not only classical, but also baroque (in painting), ancient culture, and the Renaissance. from lat. classicus, lit. - belonging to the first class of Roman citizens; in a figurative sense - exemplary) - arts. direction and the corresponding aesthetic. theory, the emergence of which dates back to the 16th century, its heyday - to the 17th century, its decline - to the beginning of the 19th century. K. is the first direction in art in the history of modern times, in which aesthetic. theory preceded the arts. practice and dictated its laws to it. K.'s aesthetics are normative and boil down to the following. provisions: 1) the basis of art. creativity is the mind, the requirements of which must be subordinated to all components of art; 2) the goal of creativity is to know the truth and reveal it in an artistic and visual form; there can be no discrepancy between beauty and truth; 3) art must follow nature, “imitate” it; what is ugly in nature should become aesthetically acceptable in art; 4) art is moral by its very nature and by the entire structure of art. the work affirms the moral ideal of society; 5) cognitive, aesthetic. and ethical the quality of the claim dictates the definition. art system. techniques that best contribute to practical implementation of the principles of K.; the rules of good taste determine the characteristics, norms and limits of each type of art and each genre within a given type of art; 6) arts. the ideal, according to K. theorists, is embodied in antiquity. claim. That's why achieve the arts. perfection - imitate classical examples. art of antiquity. Title "K." comes from the principle of imitation of antiquity adopted by this direction. classics. K. is partly characteristic of ancient aesthetics: theorists of imperial Rome came out with demands to imitate the Greek. samples, be guided in the process by the principles of reason, etc. The cult of antiquity re-emerges during the Renaissance, when interest in antiquity intensifies. a culture partially destroyed and partially forgotten in the Middle Ages. Humanists studied the monuments of antiquity, trying to find support in the pagan worldview of antiquity in the struggle against spiritualism and scholasticism of the Middle Ages. feud. ideology. “In manuscripts saved during the fall of Byzantium, in ancient statues dug out of the ruins of Rome, he appeared before the astonished West. new world – Greek antiquity; before her bright images the ghosts of the Middle Ages disappeared" (F. Engels, see K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 20, pp. 345–46). Major significance for the formation of the aesthetic theory of humanism of the era The Renaissance included the study of treatises on the poetics of Aristotle and Horace, which were accepted as a set of indisputable laws of art. In particular, the theory of drama, primarily tragedy, and the theory of the epic, received great development already in the 16th century. They are given primary attention in the surviving text of Aristotle's Poetics. Minturpo, Castelvetro, Scaliger, and other commentators of Aristotle lay the foundations of the poetics of K. and established the rules of composition of drama and epic, typical for this art, as well as other literary genres. depicted in art and architecture there is a turn from the Gothic of the Middle Ages to the style of ancient examples, which is reflected in the theoretical works of Leon Battista Alberti, however, the theory of K. experienced only aesthetic. the initial period of its formation. It was not recognized as a universally obligatory art. practice largely deviated from it. As in literature, drama, and in depiction. art and architecture, arts. the achievements of antiquity were used to the extent that they corresponded to the ideological and aesthetic. aspirations of figures in the art of humanism. In the 17th century K. is transformed into an indisputable doctrine, and adherence to it becomes mandatory. If the initial stage of the formation of K. takes place in Italy, then the design of K. into a complete aesthetic. The doctrine was accomplished in France in the 17th century. Socio-political The basis of this process was the regulation of all spheres of life, carried out by the absolutist state. Cardinal Richelieu created an Academy in France (1634), which was charged with monitoring the purity of the French. language and literature. The first document that officially approved the doctrine of K. was “The opinion of the French Academy on the tragicomedy (P. Corneille) “The Cid”” (“Les sentiments de l´Acad?mie fran?aise sur la tragi-com?die du Cid”, 1638 ), where the rules of three unities in drama were proclaimed (unity of place, time and action). Simultaneously with K.'s establishment in literature and theater, he also conquered the spheres of architecture, painting and sculpture. In France, the Academy of Painting and Sculpture is being created, at its meetings the rules of painting and sculpture are formulated. lawsuit-wah. In France, 17th century. K. finds its classic. form not only due to the state. support, but also due to the general nature of the development of spiritual culture of that time. The defining aspect of the content of K.'s claim was the idea of ​​establishing statehood. It arose as a counterweight to the feud. separatism and in this respect represented a progressive principle. However, the progressiveness of this idea was limited, because it boiled down to an apology for the monarchy. autocracy. The bearer of the principle of statehood was the absolute monarch and his person embodied humanity. ideal. The stamp of this concept lies on the entire art of K., which was even later sometimes called “court K.”. Although the king's court was indeed the center from which ideological ideas emanated. directives of the lawsuit, K. as a whole was by no means only a noble-aristocratic. claim K.'s aesthetics are under the meaning. influenced by the philosophy of rationalism. Ch. representative of the French rationalism of the 17th century. R. Descartes had a decisive influence on the formation of aesthetics. doctrines of K. Ethical. K.'s ideals were aristocratic only in appearance. Their essence was humanistic. ethics that recognized the need for compromise with the absolutist state. However, within the limits of what was available to them, K.’s supporters fought against the vices of the noble-monarchist. society and cultivated a sense of morality. everyone's responsibility to society, including the king, who was also portrayed as a person who renounced personal interests in the name of the interests of the state. This was the first form of the civic ideal available at that stage of society. development, when the rising bourgeoisie was not yet strong enough to oppose the absolutist state. On the contrary, using it internally. contradictions, primarily the struggle of the monarchy against the self-will of the nobility and the Fronde, leading figures of the bourgeois-democratic. cultures supported the monarchy as a centralizing state. a beginning capable of moderating feud. oppression or, at least, bring it into some kind of framework. If in some types and genres of art and literature external pomp and elation of form prevailed, then in others freedom was allowed. According to the nature of the class state, there was also a hierarchy of genres in art, which were divided into higher and lower. Among the lowest in literature were comedy, satire, and fable. However, it was in them that the most democratic development took place. trends of the era (Moliere's comedies, Boileau's satires, La Fontaine's fables). But even in the high genres of literature (tragedy) both contradictions and advanced morals were reflected. ideals of the era (early Corneille, the work of Racine). In principle, K. claimed to have created an aesthetic. a theory imbued with a comprehensive unity, but in practice the arts. The culture of the era is characterized by striking contradictions. The most important of them was the constant discrepancy between modern. content and antique the shape into which it was squeezed. Heroes of classicist tragedies, despite the antiquity. names were 17th century French. by way of thinking, morals and psychology. If such a masquerade was occasionally beneficial for covering up attacks against the authorities, at the same time it prevented the direct reflection of modern times. reality in the “high genres” of classicism. lawsuit Therefore, the greatest realism is characteristic of the lower genres, in which the depiction of the “ugly” and “base” was not prohibited. Compared to the multifaceted realism of the Renaissance, K. represented a narrowing of the sphere of life covered by art. culture. However, aesthetic. K.'s theory is credited with revealing the importance of the typical in art. True, the principle of typification was understood in a limited way, because its implementation was achieved at the cost of the loss of the individual principle. But the essence life phenomena and human. characters receive such an embodiment in K., which makes both cognitive and educational activities truly possible. product function. Their ideological content becomes clear and precise, the intelligibility of ideas gives the works of art a direct ideological quality. character. The lawsuit turns into a tribune of moral, philosophical, religious. and political ideas. Feudal crisis. monarchy gives birth to a new form of anti-feud. ideologies – enlightenment. A new variation of this art is emerging. directions – so-called educational K., which is characterized by the preservation of all aesthetics. principles of K. 17th century. The poetics of enlightenment poetry, as it was finally formulated by Boileau (the poetic treatise “Poetic Art” - “L´art po?tique”, 1674), remains a code of inviolable rules for the enlightenment classicists, led by Voltaire. New in K. 18th century. is primarily its socio-political. orientation. An ideal civic hero emerges, caring not about the good of the state, but about the good of society. Not serving the king, but caring for the people becomes the center of moral and political politics. aspirations. Voltaire's tragedies, Addison's "Cato", Alfieri's tragedies, and to some extent Russian. classicists of the 18th century (A. Sumarokov) affirm life concepts and ideals that conflict with the principles of feudalism. statehood and abs. monarchy. This civic current in France is transformed in France on the eve and during the first burgh. revolution in K. republican. The reasons that led to the renewal of K. during the French period. bourgeois revolutions were deeply revealed by Marx, who wrote: “In the classically strict traditions of the Roman Republic, the gladiators of bourgeois society found the ideals and artistic forms, the illusions they needed in order to hide from themselves the bourgeois-limited content of their struggle, in order to maintain their inspiration at the height of a great historical tragedy" ("The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte", see K. Marx and F. Engels, Works, 2nd ed., vol. 8, p. 120). For the republican K. period of the first bourgeoisie. The revolution was followed by the Napoleonic Empire, which created the Empire style. All this was a historical masquerade covering up the bourgeoisie. the content of the social revolution that was taking place at that time. K. 18th century freed from certain features of dogmatism inherent in the poetics of the 17th century. It was during the Enlightenment, in connection with a deeper study of art, classical. antiquity cult of antiquity in plastic. lawsuit is gaining especially great development. In Germany, Winckelmann and then Lessing established that aesthetic. The beauty of ancient monuments is associated with political. building the Greek policy: only democracy and the psychology of a free citizen can give birth to such a wonderful art. From now on in it. theoretical thoughts, the idea of ​​a connection between aesthetics is affirmed. ideal and political. freedom, which received its clearest expression in F. Schiller’s “Letters on Aesthetic Education” (“?ber die ?sthetische Erziehung lier Menschen, in einer Reihe von Briefen”, 1795). However, for him this idea appears in an idealistically perverted form: civil freedom is achieved through aesthetics. education. This formulation of the question was associated with the backwardness of Germany and the lack of prerequisites for bourgeoisie. coup. However, even in this form, late mute. classicism, so-called Weimar classicism of Goethe and Schiller represented a progressive, albeit limited, ideological art. phenomenon. In general, K. was an important stage in the development artistic practice and theoretical thoughts. In antiquity the shell was put on by the advanced bourgeois-democratic. ideology of the era of the rise of the bourgeoisie. society. The constraining nature of the doctrinaire teachings of the classicists was already clear at the end of the 17th century, when Saint-Evremond rebelled against it. In the 18th century Lessing dealt crushing blows precisely to dogmatism. elements of K., protecting, however, the “soul” of K., his beautiful ideal of a free, harmoniously developed person. This was precisely the core of the Weimar classicism of Goethe and Schiller. But in the first third of the 19th century, after the victory and approval of the bourgeoisie. building in the West Europe, K. is losing its importance. The collapse of enlightenment illusions about the advent of the kingdom of reason after the victory of the bourgeoisie. revolution makes clear the illusory nature of the classic. ideal in the kingdom of the bourgeois. prose. Historical The role of overthrowing K. was performed by the aesthetics of romanticism, which opposed the dogmas of K. The struggle against K. reached its greatest severity in France at the end of 1820 - early. 1830, when the romantics won ended. victory over K. as an art. direction and aesthetic. theory. This, however, did not mean the complete disappearance of K.’s ideas in art. At the end of the 19th century, as well as in the 20th centuries. aesthetic movements of the West. Europe there are relapses of the department. ideas, the roots of which go back to K. They are anti-realistic. and aesthetic character ("neoclassical" trends in French poetry of the 2nd half of the 19th century) or serve as a mask for ideological. reactions, eg. in the theories of the decadent T. S. Eliot after the 1st World War. The most stable were the aesthetic ones. K.'s ideals in architecture. Classic the architectural style was repeatedly reproduced in architectural construction in the 1930s and 40s, e.g. in the development of architecture in the USSR. Lit.: Marx K. and Engels F., On Art, vol. 1–2, M., 1957; Plekhanov G.V., Art and Literature, [Sb. ], M., 1948, p. 165–87; Kranz [E. ], Experience in the philosophy of literature. Descartes and French Classicism, trans. [from French ], St. Petersburg, 1902; Lessing G. E., Hamburg Drama, M.–L., 1936; Pospelov G.N., Sumarokov and the Russian problem. classicism, "Moscow State University Academic Record", 1948, issue. 128, book. 3; Kupreyanova E. N., On the issue of classicism, in the book: XVIII century, collection. 4, M.–L., 1959; Ernst F., Der Klassizismus in Italien, Frankreich und Deutschland, Z., 1924; Peyre H., Qu´est-ce que le classicisme?, P., 1942; Kristeller P. O., The classics and Renaissance thought, Camb., (Mass.), 1955. A. Anikst. Moscow.

Queen's House - Queen's House, 1616-1636) in Greenwich. Architect Inigo Jones

The time has come, and the high mysticism of Gothic, having gone through the trials of the Renaissance, gives way to new ideas based on the traditions of ancient democracies. The desire for imperial greatness and democratic ideals was transformed into a retrospection of imitation of the ancients - this is how classicism appeared in Europe.

At the beginning of the 17th century, many European countries became trading empires, middle class, democratic transformations are taking place. Religion is increasingly subordinated to secular power. There were many gods again, and the ancient hierarchy of divine and worldly power came in handy. Undoubtedly, this could not but affect trends in architecture.

In the 17th century in France and England, a new style arose almost independently - classicism. Just like the contemporary Baroque, it became a natural result of the development of Renaissance architecture and its transformation in different cultural, historical and geographical conditions.

Classicism(French classicisme, from Latin classicus - exemplary) - artistic style and aesthetic direction in European art late XVII- early 19th centuries

Classicism is based on ideas rationalism emanating from philosophy Descartes. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. Of interest to classicism is only the eternal, the unchangeable - in each phenomenon it strives to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual characteristics. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art. Classicism takes many rules and canons from ancient art (Aristotle, Plato, Horace...).

Baroque was closely associated with the Catholic Church. Classicism, or the restrained forms of the Baroque, proved more acceptable in Protestant countries such as England, the Netherlands, Northern Germany, and also in Catholic France, where the king was much more important than the Pope. The possessions of an ideal king should have ideal architecture, emphasizing the true greatness of the monarch and his real power. “France is I,” proclaimed Louis XIV.

In architecture, classicism is understood as an architectural style common in Europe in the 18th - early 19th centuries, main feature which was an appeal to the forms of ancient architecture as a standard of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity, monumentality and reasonableness of filling space. The architecture of classicism as a whole is characterized by regularity of layout and clarity of volumetric form. The basis of the architectural language of classicism was the order, in proportions and forms close to antiquity, symmetrical axial compositions, restraint of decorative decoration, and a regular system of city planning.

Usually divided two periods in the development of classicism. Classicism developed in the 17th century in France, reflecting the rise of absolutism. The 18th century is considered a new stage in its development, since at that time it reflected other civic ideals based on the ideas of the philosophical rationalism of the Enlightenment. What unites both periods is the idea of ​​a reasonable pattern of the world, of a beautiful, ennobled nature, the desire to express great social content, sublime heroic and moral ideals.

The architecture of classicism is characterized by rigor of form, clarity of spatial solutions, geometric interiors, soft colors and laconicism of external and internal decoration of buildings. Unlike Baroque buildings, the masters of classicism never created spatial illusions that distorted the proportions of the building. And in park architecture the so-called regular style, where all lawns and flower beds have the correct shape, and green spaces are placed strictly in a straight line and carefully trimmed. ( Garden and park ensemble of Versailles)

Classicism is characteristic of the 17th century. for countries in which there was an active process of formation of national states and the strength of capitalist development was growing (Holland, England, France). Classicism in these countries carried new features of the ideology of the rising bourgeoisie, fighting for a stable market and expanding the productive forces, interested in centralization and national unification of states. Being an opponent of class inequalities that infringed on the interests of the bourgeoisie, its ideologists put forward the theory of a rationally organized state based on the subordination of the interests of classes. Recognition of reason as the basis of the organization of state and public life supported by the arguments of scientific progress, which the bourgeoisie promotes by all means. This rationalistic approach to assessing reality was transferred to the field of art, where the ideal of citizenship and the triumph of reason over elemental forces became an important theme. Religious ideology is increasingly subordinate to secular power, and in a number of countries it is being reformed. The adherents of classicism saw an example of a harmonious social order in the ancient world, and therefore, to express their socio-ethical and aesthetic ideals, they turned to examples of ancient classics (hence the term classicism). Developing traditions Renaissance, classicism took a lot from the heritage baroque.

Architectural classicism of the 17th century developed in two main directions:

• the first was based on the development of the traditions of the late Renaissance classical school (England, Holland);
• the second - reviving classical traditions, developed the Roman Baroque traditions (France) to a greater extent.

English classicism

The creative and theoretical heritage of Palladio, who revived the ancient heritage in all its breadth and tectonic integrity, especially appealed to the classicists. It had a great impact on the architecture of those countries that took the path earlier than others architectural rationalism. Already from the first half of the 17th century. in the architecture of England and Holland, which were relatively weakly influenced by the Baroque, new features were determined under the influence Palladian classicism. He played a particularly important role in the development of the new style. English architect Inigo Jones (Inigo Jones) (1573-1652) - the first bright creative individual and the first truly new phenomenon in English architecture of the 17th century. He owns the most outstanding works of English XVII classicism century.

In 1613 Jones went to Italy. Along the way he visited France, where he was able to see many of the most significant buildings. This trip, apparently, became a decisive impetus in the movement of the architect Jones in the direction indicated by Palladio. It was to this time that his notes on the margins of Palladio’s treatise and in the album date back.

It is characteristic that the only general judgment about architecture among them is devoted to a reasoned criticism of certain trends in the late Renaissance architecture of Italy: Jones reproaches Michelangelo and his followers that they initiated the excessive use of complex decoration, and argues that monumental architecture, c. unlike scenography and short-lived light buildings, it must be serious, free from affectation and based on rules.

In 1615, Jones returned to his homeland. He is appointed inspector general of the Ministry of Royal Works. IN next year he begins to build one of his best works Queen's House - Queen's House, 1616-1636) in Greenwich.

In the Queens House, the architect consistently develops the Palladian principles of clarity and classical clarity of order divisions, visible constructiveness of forms, balance of proportional structure. The general combinations and individual forms of the building are classically geometric and rational. The composition is dominated by a calm, metrically dissected wall, built in accordance with an order commensurate with the scale of a person. Balance and harmony reign in everything. The plan shows the same clarity of division of the interior into simple, balanced spaces.

This was Jones's first building that has come down to us, which had no precedents in its severity and naked simplicity, and also contrasted sharply with previous buildings. However, the building should not (as is often done) be assessed by its current state. At the whim of the customer (Queen Anne, wife of James I Stuart), the house was built directly on the old Dover Road (its position is now marked by long colonnades adjacent to the building on both sides) and originally consisted of two buildings separated by the road, connected over it by a covered bridge. The complexity of the composition once gave the building a more picturesque, “English” character, emphasized by the vertical stacks of chimneys arranged in traditional clusters. After the death of the master, in 1662, the gap between the buildings was built up. This is how the resulting volume was square in plan, compact and dry in architecture, with a loggia decorated with columns on the Greenwich Hill side, with a terrace and staircase leading to a two-story hall on the Thames side.

All this hardly justifies the far-reaching comparisons between the Queenhouse and the square, centric villa at Poggio a Caiano near Florence, built by Giuliano da Sangallo the Elder, although the similarities in the drawing of the final plan are undeniable. Jones himself mentions only the Villa Molini, built by Scamozzi near Padua, as the prototype of the façade on the river side. The proportions - the equality of the width of the risalits and the loggia, the greater height of the second floor compared to the first, rustication without breaking into individual stones, a balustrade over the cornice and a curvilinear double staircase at the entrance - are not in the character of Palladio, and are slightly reminiscent of Italian mannerism, and at the same time rationally ordered compositions of classicism.

Famous Banqueting House in London (Banqueting House - Banquet Hall, 1619-1622) in appearance it is much closer to the Palladian prototypes. Due to its noble solemnity and consistent order structure throughout the entire composition, it had no predecessors in England. At the same time, in terms of its social content, this is an original type of structure, passing through English architecture since the 11th century. Behind the two-tiered order façade (at the bottom - Ionic, at the top - composite) there is a single two-light hall, along the perimeter of which there is a balcony, which provides a logical connection between the exterior and the interior. Despite all the similarity to the Palladian facades, there are significant differences here: both tiers are the same in height, which is never found in the Vincentian master, and the large glazing area with small recessed windows (an echo of local half-timbered construction) deprives the wall of the plasticity characteristic of the Italian prototypes, giving it a clearly national look. English features. The luxurious ceiling of the hall, with deep coffers ( later painted by Rubens), differs significantly from the flat ceilings of English palaces of that time, decorated with light reliefs of decorative panels.

With name Inigo Jones, a member of the Royal Building Commission since 1618, is associated with the most important urban planning event for the 17th century - laying out of the first London square created according to a regular plan. Already its common name is Piazza Covent Garden- speaks about the Italian origins of the idea. Placed along the axis of the western side of the square, the Church of St. Paul (1631), with its high pediment and two-columned Tuscan portico in the antes, is an obvious, naive in its literalness, imitation of the Etruscan temple in the image of Serlio. Open arcades in the first floors of the three-story buildings that framed the square from the north and south are presumably echoes of the square in Livorno. But at the same time, the homogeneous, classicist design of the urban space could have been inspired by the Parisian Place des Vosges, built just thirty years earlier.

St. Paul's Cathedral on the square Covent Garden (Covent Garden), the first temple built line by line in London after the Reformation, reflects in its simplicity not only the desire of the customer, the Duke of Bedford, to fulfill cheaply his obligations to the members of his parish, but also the essential requirements of the Protestant religion. Jones promised the customer to build “the most beautiful barn in England.” Nevertheless, the facade of the church, restored after the fire of 1795, is large-scale, majestic despite its small size, and its simplicity undoubtedly has a special charm. It is curious that the high doorway under the portico is false, since on this side of the church there is an altar

The Jones ensemble, unfortunately, has been completely lost, the space of the square has been built up, the buildings have been destroyed, only the building erected later, in 1878, in the northwestern corner allows us to judge the scale and nature of the original plan.

If Jones's first works suffer from a dry rigorism, then his later, estate buildings are less constrained by the ties of classical formalism. With their freedom and plasticity, they partly anticipate the English Palladianism of the 18th century. This is, for example, Wilton House (Wilton House, Wiltshire), burned down in 1647 and rebuilt John Webb, Jones's longtime assistant.

I. Jones’s ideas were continued in subsequent projects, of which the architect’s London reconstruction project should be highlighted Christopher Wren (Christopher Wren) (1632-1723) being the first grandiose reconstruction project of a medieval city after Rome (1666), which was almost two centuries ahead of the grandiose reconstruction of Paris. The plan was not implemented, but the architect contributed to the general process of the emergence and construction of individual nodes of the city, completing, in particular, the ensemble conceived by Inigo Jones hospital in greenwich(1698-1729). Ren's other major building is Cathedral of St. Paul's in London- London Cathedral of the Church of England. Cathedral of St. Pavel is the main urban development focus in the area of ​​the reconstructed City. Since the consecration of the first Bishop of London, St. Augustine (604) on this site, according to sources, several were erected Christian churches. The immediate predecessor of the current cathedral, the old cathedral of St. St. Paul's, consecrated in 1240, was 175 m long, 7 m longer than Winchester Cathedral. In 1633–1642 Inigo Jones carried out extensive renovations to the old cathedral and added a west façade in classical Palladian style. However, this old cathedral was completely destroyed during the Great Fire of London in 1666. The present building was built by Christopher Wren in 1675-1710; The first service took place in the unfinished church in December 1697.

From an architectural point of view, the Cathedral of St. Paul's is one of the largest domed buildings in the Christian world, standing on a par with the Florence Cathedral, the Cathedrals of St. Sophia in Constantinople and St. Peter's in Rome. The cathedral has the shape of a Latin cross, its length is 157 m, width 31 m; transept length 75 m; total area 155,000 sq. m. In the middle cross at a height of 30 m, the foundation of a dome with a diameter of 34 m was laid, which rises to 111 m. When designing the dome, Ren used a unique solution. Directly above the middle cross, he erected the first dome in brick with a 6-meter round hole at the top (oculus), completely commensurate with the proportions of the interior. Above the first dome, the architect built a brick cone that serves as a support for a massive stone lantern, the weight of which reaches 700 tons, and above the cone is a second dome covered with lead sheets on a wooden frame, proportionally correlated with the external volumes of the building. An iron chain is placed at the base of the cone, which takes on the lateral thrust. A slightly pointed dome, resting on a massive circular colonnade, dominates the appearance of the cathedral.

The interior is mainly finished with marble cladding, and since there is little color, it looks austere. Along the walls there are numerous tombs of famous generals and naval commanders. The glass mosaics of the vaults and walls of the choir were completed in 1897.

Huge scope for construction activities opened up after the fire of London in 1666. The architect presented his city ​​reconstruction plan and received an order to restore 52 parish churches. Ren proposed various spatial solutions; some buildings are built with truly baroque pomp (for example, St. Stephen's Church in Walbrook). Their spiers along with the towers of St. Paul form a spectacular panorama of the city. Among these are the churches of Christ in Newgate Street, St. Bride's in Fleet Street, St. James's in Garlick Hill and St. Vedast in Foster Lane. If special circumstances required it, as in the construction of St Mary Aldermary or Christ Church College in Oxford (Tom's Tower), Wren could use late Gothic elements, although, in his own words, he did not like to “deviate from the best style”.

In addition to the construction of churches, Ren carried out private orders, one of which was the creation of a new library Trinity College(1676–1684) in Cambridge. In 1669 he was appointed chief warden of the royal buildings. In this position he received a number of important government contracts, such as the construction of hospitals in the Chelsea and Greenwich areas ( Greenwich Hospital) and several buildings included in Kensington Palace complexes And Hampton Court Palace.

During his long life, Wren was in the service of five successive kings on the English throne and left his position only in 1718. Wren died at Hampton Court on February 26, 1723 and was buried in St. John's Cathedral. Pavel. His ideas were picked up and developed by architects of the next generation, in particular N. Hawksmore and J. Gibbs. He had a significant influence on the development of church architecture in Europe and the USA.

Among the English nobility, a real fashion arose for Palladian mansions, which coincided with the philosophy of the early Enlightenment in England, which preached the ideals of rationality and orderliness, most fully expressed in ancient art.

Palladian English villa was a compact volume, most often three-story. The first one was rusticated, the main one was the front floor, there was a second floor, it was combined on the facade with a large order with the third - the residential floor. The simplicity and clarity of Palladian buildings, the ease of reproducing their forms, made similar ones very common both in suburban private architecture and in the architecture of urban public and residential buildings.

The English Palladians made a great contribution to the development park art. In place of fashionable, geometrically correct " regular"The gardens have arrived" landscape parks, later called “English”. Picturesque groves with foliage of different shades alternate with lawns, natural ponds, and islands. The paths of the parks do not provide an open perspective, and behind each bend they prepare an unexpected view. Statues, gazebos, and ruins hide in the shade of trees. Their main creator in the first half of the 18th century was William Kent

Landscape or landscape parks were perceived as the beauty of natural nature intelligently corrected, but the corrections should not be noticeable.

French classicism

Classicism in France was formed in more complex and contradictory conditions, local traditions and the influence of the Baroque had a stronger impact. The emergence of French classicism in the first half of the 17th century. took place against the backdrop of a peculiar refraction in architecture of Renaissance forms, late Gothic traditions and techniques borrowed from the emerging Italian Baroque. This process was accompanied by typological changes: a shift in emphasis from the non-urban castle construction of the feudal nobility to the urban and suburban construction of housing for the official nobility.

The basic principles and ideals of classicism were laid in France. We can say that everything started from the words of two famous people, the Sun King (i.e. Louis XIV), who said “ The state is me!” and the famous philosopher Rene Descartes, who said: “ I think, therefore I exist"(in addition and counterbalance to Plato's saying - " I exist therefore I think"). It is in these phrases that the main ideas of classicism lie: loyalty to the king, i.e. to the fatherland, and the triumph of reason over feeling.

The new philosophy demanded its expression not only in the mouth of the monarch and philosophical works, but also in art accessible to society. Heroic images were needed, aimed at instilling patriotism and rationality in the thinking of citizens. Thus began the reform of all facets of culture. Architecture created strictly symmetrical forms, subjugating not only space, but also nature itself, trying to get at least a little closer to the created Claude Ledoux utopian ideal city of the future. Which, by the way, remained exclusively in the architect’s drawings (it is worth noting that the project was so significant that its motifs are still used in various movements of architecture).

The most prominent figure in the architecture of early French classicism was Nicolas Francois Mansart(Nicolas François Mansart) (1598-1666) - one of the founders of French classicism. His merit, in addition to the direct construction of buildings, is the development of a new type of urban dwelling for the nobility - a “hotel” - with a cozy and comfortable layout, including a vestibule, a main staircase, and a number of enfiladed rooms, often enclosed around a courtyard. The Gothic-style vertical sections of the facades have large rectangular windows, a clear division into floors and rich order plasticity. A special feature of the Mansar hotels are the high roofs, under which additional living space was located - the attic, named after its creator. An excellent example of such a roof is a palace Maison-Laffite(Maisons-Laffitte, 1642–1651). Mansar's other works include: Hotel de Toulouse, Hotel Mazarin and Paris Cathedral Val de Grace(Val-de-Grace), completed according to his design Lemerce And Le Muet.

The heyday of the first period of classicism dates back to the second half of the 17th century. The concepts of philosophical rationalism and classicism put forward by bourgeois ideology represented by absolutism Louis XIV takes as official state doctrine. These concepts are completely subordinate to the will of the king and serve as a means of glorifying him as the highest personification of the nation, united on the principles of reasonable autocracy. In architecture, this has a twofold expression: on the one hand, the desire for rational order compositions, tectonically clear and monumental, freed from the fractional “multi-obscurity” of the previous period; on the other hand, an ever-increasing tendency towards a single volitional principle in the composition, towards the dominance of an axis that subordinates the building and adjacent spaces, to the subordination to the will of man not only of the principles of organizing urban spaces, but also of nature itself, transformed according to the laws of reason, geometry, “ideal” beauty . Both trends are illustrated by two major events in the architectural life of France in the second half of the 17th century: the first - the design and construction of the eastern facade of the royal palace in Paris - Louvre (Louvre); the second - the creation of a new residence of Louis XIV, the most grandiose architectural and landscape ensemble in Versailles.

The eastern facade of the Louvre was created as a result of a comparison of two projects - one that came to Paris from Italy Lorenzo Bernini(Gian Lorenzo Bernini) (1598-1680) and Frenchman Claude Perrault(Claude Perrault) (1613-1688). Preference was given to Perrault's project (implemented in 1667), where, in contrast to the baroque restlessness and tectonic duality of Bernini's project, the extended facade (170.5 m long) has a clear order structure with a huge two-story gallery, interrupted in the center and on the sides by symmetrical risalits . The paired columns of the Corinthian order (height 12.32 meters) carry a large, classically designed entablature, completed with an attic and balustrade. The base is interpreted in the form of a smooth basement floor, the design of which, as in the elements of the order, emphasizes the structural functions of the main load-bearing support of the building. A clear, rhythmic and proportional structure is based on simple relationships and modularity, and the lower diameter of the columns is taken as the initial value (module), as in the classical canons. The height dimensions of the building (27.7 meters) and the overall large scale of the composition, designed to create a front square in front of the facade, give the building the majesty and representativeness necessary for a royal palace. At the same time, the entire structure of the composition is distinguished by architectural logic, geometricity, and artistic rationalism.

Ensemble of Versailles(Château de Versailles, 1661-1708) - the pinnacle of architectural activity of the time of Louis XIV. The desire to combine the attractive aspects of city life and life in the lap of nature led to the creation of a grandiose complex, including a royal palace with buildings for the royal family and government, a huge park and a city adjacent to the palace. The palace is a focal point in which the axis of the park converges - on one side, and on the other - three rays of the city's highways, of which the central one serves as the road connecting Versailles with the Louvre. The palace, the length of which from the side of the park is more than half a kilometer (580 m), is sharply pushed forward in its middle part, and in height it has a clear division into the basement part, the main floor and the attic. Against the background of order pilasters, Ionic porticoes play the role of rhythmic accents that unite the facades into a coherent axial composition.

The axis of the palace serves as the main disciplinary factor in the transformation of the landscape. Symbolizing the boundless will of the reigning owner of the country, she subjugates the elements of geometrized nature, alternating in in strict order with architectural elements for park purposes: stairs, pools, fountains, various small architectural forms.

Inherent in Baroque and Ancient Rome the principle of axial space is realized here in the grandiose axial perspective of green parterres and alleys descending in terraces, leading the observer’s gaze deeper into the canal located in the distance, cross-shaped in plan, and further to infinity. Bushes and trees trimmed in the shape of pyramids emphasized the linear depth and artificiality of the created landscape, turning into natural only beyond the border of the main perspective.

Idea " transformed nature" corresponded to the new way of life of the monarch and the nobility. It also led to new urban planning plans - a departure from the chaotic medieval city, and ultimately to a decisive transformation of the city based on the principles of regularity and the introduction of landscape elements into it. The consequence was the spread of the principles and techniques developed in the planning of Versailles to the reconstruction of cities, especially Paris.

André Le Nôtre(André Le Nôtre) (1613-1700) - creator of the garden and park ensemble Versailles- belongs to the idea of ​​regulating the layout central region Paris, adjacent from the west and east to the Louvre and Tuileries palaces. Louvre - Tuileries axis, coinciding with the direction of the road to Versailles, determined the meaning of the famous “ Parisian diameter", which later became the main thoroughfare of the capital. The Tuileries Garden and part of the avenue - the avenues of the Champs Elysees - were laid out on this axis. In the second half of the 18th century, the Place de la Concorde was created, uniting the Tuileries with the Avenue des Champs-Élysées, and in the first half of the 19th century. The monumental Arch of the Star, placed at the end of the Champs Elysees in the center of the round square, completed the formation of the ensemble, the length of which is about 3 km. Author Palace of Versailles Jules Hardouin-Mansart(Jules Hardouin-Mansart) (1646-1708) also created a number of outstanding ensembles in Paris at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. These include round Victory Square(Place des Victoires), rectangular Place Vendôme(Place Vendome), complex of the Invalides hospital with a domed cathedral. French classicism of the second half of the 17th century. adopted the urban development achievements of the Renaissance and especially the Baroque, developing and applying them on a more grandiose scale.

In the 18th century, during the reign of Louis XV (1715-1774), the Rococo style developed in French architecture, as in other forms of art, which was a formal continuation of the pictorial trends of the Baroque. The originality of this style, close to baroque and elaborate in its forms, manifested itself mainly in interior decoration, which corresponded to the luxurious and wasteful life of the royal court. The state rooms acquired a more comfortable, but also more ornate character. In the architectural decoration of premises, mirrors and stucco decorations made of intricately curved lines, flower garlands, shells, etc. were widely used. This style was also greatly reflected in furniture. However, already in mid-18th century century, there is a departure from the elaborate forms of Rococo towards greater rigor, simplicity and clarity. This period in France coincides with the widespread social movement, directed against the monarchical socio-political system and received its permission in the French bourgeois revolution of 1789. The second half of the 18th and the first third of the 19th centuries in France mark a new stage in the development of classicism and its wide spread in European countries.

CLASSICISM OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE XVIII century in many ways developed the principles of architecture of the previous century. However, the new bourgeois-rationalist ideals - simplicity and classical clarity of forms - are now understood as a symbol of a certain democratization of art, promoted within the framework of the bourgeois enlightenment. The relationship between architecture and nature is changing. Symmetry and axis, which remain the fundamental principles of composition, no longer have the same importance in the organization of the natural landscape. Increasingly, the French regular park is giving way to the so-called English park with a picturesque landscape composition imitating the natural landscape.

The architecture of buildings is becoming somewhat more humane and rational, although the enormous urban scale still determines a broad ensemble approach to architectural tasks. The city with all its medieval buildings is considered as an object of architectural influence as a whole. Ideas for an architectural plan for the entire city are put forward; At the same time, the interests of transport, issues of sanitary improvement, location of trade and industrial facilities, and other economic issues begin to occupy a significant place. In work on new types of urban buildings, much attention is paid to multi-story residential building. Despite the fact that the practical implementation of these urban planning ideas was very limited, increased interest in the problems of the city influenced the formation of ensembles. In a large city, new ensembles try to include large spaces in their “sphere of influence” and often acquire an open character.

The largest and most characteristic architectural ensemble of French classicism of the 18th century - Place de la Concorde in Paris, created according to the project Ange-Jacques Gabriel (Ange-Jacque Gabriel(1698 - 1782) in the 50-60s of the 18th century, and received its final completion during the second half of the 18th - first half of the 19th century. The huge square serves as a distribution space on the banks of the Seine between the Tuileries Garden adjacent to the Louvre and the wide boulevards of the Champs Elysees. Pre-existing dry ditches served as the boundary of a rectangular area (dimensions 245 x 140 m). The “graphic” layout of the square with the help of dry ditches, balustrades, and sculptural groups bears the imprint of the planar layout of the Versailles Park. In contrast to the closed squares of Paris in the 17th century. (Place Vendôme, etc.), Place de la Concorde is an example of an open square, limited only on one side by two symmetrical buildings built by Gabriel, which formed a transverse axis passing through the square and the Rue Royale formed by them. The axis is fixed in the square by two fountains, and at the intersection of the main axes a monument to King Louis XV was erected, and later a high obelisk). The Champs Elysees, the Tuileries Garden, the space of the Seine and its embankments are, as it were, a continuation of this architectural ensemble, enormous in scope, in a direction perpendicular to the transverse axis.

Partial reconstruction of centers with the establishment of regular “royal squares” also covers other cities of France (Rennes, Reims, Rouen, etc.). The Royal Square in Nancy (Place Royalle de Nancy, 1722-1755) especially stands out. Urban planning theory is developing. In particular, it is worth noting the theoretical work on city squares by the architect Patt, who processed and published the results of the competition for Place Louis XV in Paris, held in the mid-18th century.

The space-planning development of buildings of French classicism of the 18th century cannot be conceived in isolation from the urban ensemble. The leading motif remains a large order that correlates well with the adjacent urban spaces. The constructive function is returned to the order; it is more often used in the form of porticoes and galleries, its scale is enlarged, covering the height of the entire main volume of the building. Theorist of French classicism M. A. Laugier M. A. fundamentally rejects the classical column where it really does not bear the load, and criticizes placing one order on top of another if it is really possible to get by with one support. Practical rationalism receives broad theoretical justification.

The development of theory has become a typical phenomenon in the art of France since the 17th century, since the establishment of the French Academy (1634), the formation of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture (1648) and the Academy of Architecture (1671). Particular attention in theory is paid to orders and proportions. Developing the doctrine of proportions Jacques Francois Blondel(1705-1774) - a French theorist of the second half of the 17th century, Laugier creates a whole system of logically substantiated proportions, based on the rationally meaningful principle of their absolute perfection. At the same time, in proportions, as in architecture in general, the element of rationality, based on speculatively derived mathematical rules of composition, is enhanced. Interest in the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance is growing, and in specific examples of these eras they strive to see a logical confirmation of the principles put forward. The Roman Pantheon is often cited as an ideal example of the unity of utilitarian and artistic functions, and the most popular examples of Renaissance classics are the buildings of Palladio and Bramante, in particular the Tempietto. These samples are not only carefully studied, but also often serve as direct prototypes of the buildings being erected.

Built in the 1750s-1780s according to the design Jacques Germain Soufflot(Jacques-Germain Soufflot) (1713 - 1780) Church of St. Genevieve in Paris, which later became the national French Pantheon, one can see the return to the artistic ideal of antiquity and the most mature examples of the Renaissance inherent in this time. The composition, cruciform in plan, is distinguished by the consistency of the overall scheme, the balance of the architectural parts, and the clarity and clarity of construction. The portico goes back in its forms to the Roman to the Pantheon, a drum with a dome (span 21.5 meters) resembles a composition Tempietto. The main façade completes the vista of a short, straight street and serves as one of the most prominent architectural landmarks in Paris.

Interesting material illustrating the development of architectural thought in the second half of the 18th - early 19th centuries is the publication in Paris of competitive academic projects awarded the highest award (Grand prix). A common thread running through all these projects is reverence for antiquity. Endless colonnades, huge domes, repeated porticos, etc., speak, on the one hand, of a break with the aristocratic effeminacy of Rococo, on the other, of the flowering of a unique architectural romance, for the implementation of which, however, there was no basis in social reality.

The eve of the Great French Revolution (1789-94) gave rise in architecture to a desire for austere simplicity, a bold search for monumental geometricism, and a new, orderless architecture (C. N. Ledoux, E. L. Bullet, J. J. Lequeu). These searches (also marked by the influence of the architectural etchings of G.B. Piranesi) served as the starting point for the later phase of classicism - Empire style.

During the years of the revolution, almost no construction was carried out, but a large number of projects were born. The general tendency towards overcoming canonical forms and traditional classical schemes is determined.

Culturological thought, having gone through another round, ended in the same place. The painting of the revolutionary trend of French classicism is represented by the courageous drama of historical and portrait images J. L. David. During the years of the empire of Napoleon I, magnificent representativeness in architecture increases (C. Percier, L. Fontaine, J. F. Chalgrin)

The international center of classicism of the 18th century - early 19th century was Rome, where the academic tradition dominated in art, with a combination of nobility of forms and cold, abstract idealization, not uncommon for academicism (German painter A. R. Mengs, Austrian landscape painter J. A. Koch, sculptors - Italian A. Canova, Dane B. Thorvaldsen).

In the 17th and early 18th centuries, classicism was formed in Dutch architecture- architect Jacob van Kampen(Jacob van Campen, 1595-165), which gave rise to a particularly restrained version of it. Cross-connections with French and Dutch classicism, as well as with the early Baroque, resulted in a short brilliant flowering classicism in Swedish architecture late 17th - early 18th century - architect Nicodemus Tessin the Younger(Nicodemus Tessin Younger 1654-1728).

In the middle of the 18th century, the principles of classicism were transformed in the spirit of Enlightenment aesthetics. In architecture, the appeal to “naturalness” put forward the requirement for constructive justification of order elements of the composition, in the interior - the development of a flexible layout for a comfortable residential building. The ideal setting for the house was the landscape of an “English” park. The rapid development of archaeological knowledge about Greek and Roman antiquity (excavations of Herculaneum, Pompeii, etc.) had a huge influence on the classicism of the 18th century; The works of I. I. Winkelman, I. V. Goethe, and F. Militsiya made their contribution to the theory of classicism. In French classicism of the 18th century, new architectural types were defined: an exquisitely intimate mansion, a ceremonial public building, open city square.

In Russia classicism went through several stages in its development and reached an unprecedented scale during the reign of Catherine II, who considered herself an “enlightened monarch,” corresponded with Voltaire and supported the ideas of the French Enlightenment.

The ideas of significance, grandeur, and powerful pathos were close to the classical architecture of St. Petersburg.

Classicism(from Latin classicus - exemplary) - the artistic style of European art of the 17th-19th centuries, one of the most important features of which was the appeal to ancient art as the highest example and reliance on the traditions of the High Renaissance. The art of classicism reflected the ideas of the harmonious structure of society, but in many ways lost them in comparison with the culture of the Renaissance. Conflicts between personality and society, ideal and reality, feelings and reason testify to the complexity of the art of classicism. The artistic forms of classicism are characterized by strict organization, balance, clarity and harmony of images.

A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and logic of the universe itself. Of interest to classicism is only the eternal, the unchangeable - in each phenomenon it strives to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual characteristics. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art.

The direction is headed by the Paris Academy of Arts, which is responsible for the creation of a set of artificial dogmatic rules and supposedly unshakable laws of drawing composition. This Academy also established rationalistic principles for the depiction of emotions (“passions”) and the division of genres into “high” and “low”. “High” genres included historical, religious and mythological genres, “low” genres included portrait, landscape, everyday life, and still life.

How a certain direction was formed in France, in the 17th century. French classicism freed man from religious and church influence, affirming personality as the highest value of existence. Russian classicism not only adopted Western European theory, but also enriched it with national characteristics.

Classicism was formed as an antagonistic movement in relation to the magnificent and virtuosic art of the Baroque. But when, in the second half of the 17th century, classicism became the official art of the absolutist monarchy, it absorbed elements of the Baroque. This was manifested in the architecture of Versailles, in the work of the painter C. Lebrun, sculptures by F. Girardon, and A. Coisevox.

In the mid-18th century, against the backdrop of the educational movement, on the eve of the French Revolution, a new direction of classicism arose, opposing itself to the art of Rococo and the work of its epigones - academicians. A feature of this direction was the manifestation of features of realism, the desire for clarity and simplicity, reflection educational ideal"natural humanity".

The period of late classicism - Empire - falls on the first third of the 19th century. It is distinguished by its pomp and splendor, expressed in architecture and applied art. This period is distinguished as independent.

IN painting classicism, the logical development of the plot, a clear balanced composition, a clear transfer of volume, with the help of chiaroscuro the subordinate role of color, the use of local colors (N. Poussin, C. Lorrain) acquired the main importance.

The demarcation of plans in landscapes was also revealed with the help of color: the foreground had to be brown, the middle one must be green, and the distant one must be blue.

At the beginning of the 17th century, young foreigners flocked to Rome to get acquainted with the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. The most prominent place among them was occupied by the Frenchman Nicolas Poussin, in his paintings, mainly on the themes of ancient antiquity and mythology, which provided unsurpassed examples of geometrically precise composition and thoughtful relationships between color groups. The themes of Poussin's paintings are varied: mythology, history, New and Old Testaments. Poussin's heroes are people of strong characters and majestic deeds, with a high sense of duty to society and the state. The social purpose of art was very important to Poussin. All these features are included in the emerging program of classicism. Another Frenchman, Claude Lorrain, in his antique landscapes of the environs of the “eternal city”, organized the pictures of nature by harmonizing them with the light of the setting sun and introducing peculiar architectural scenes.

The discovery of “genuine” ancient painting during the excavations of Pompeii, the deification of antiquity by the German art critic Winckelmann and the cult of Raphael, preached by the artist Mengs, who was close to him in views, breathed new breath into classicism in the second half of the 18th century (in Western literature this stage is called neoclassicism). The largest representative of the “new classicism” was Jacques-Louis David; his extremely laconic and dramatic artistic language served with equal success to promote the ideals of the French Revolution (“The Death of Marat”) and the First Empire (“The Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I”).

In the 19th century, classicist painting entered a period of crisis and became a force holding back the development of art, not only in France, but also in other countries. David's artistic line was successfully continued by Ingres, who, while maintaining the language of classicism in his works, often turned to romantic subjects with oriental flavor; his portrait works marked by a subtle idealization of the model. Artists in other countries (like, for example, Karl Bryullov) also filled works that were classic in form with the spirit of reckless romanticism; this combination was called academicism. Numerous art academies served as its breeding grounds.

Sculpture The era of classicism is distinguished by severity and restraint, coherence of forms, calmness of poses, when even movement does not violate the formal closure (E. Falconet, J. Houdon).

The impetus for the development of classicist sculpture in the mid-18th century was the writings of Winckelmann and archaeological excavations of ancient cities, which expanded the knowledge of contemporaries about ancient sculpture. In France, such sculptors as Pigalle and Houdon vacillated on the verge of Baroque and Classicism. Classicism reached its highest embodiment in the field of plastic art in the heroic and idyllic works of Antonio Canova, who drew inspiration mainly from the statues of the Hellenistic era (Praxiteles). In Russia, Fedot Shubin, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Boris Orlovsky, and Ivan Martos gravitated towards the aesthetics of classicism.

Public monuments, which became widespread in the era of classicism, gave sculptors the opportunity to idealize military valor and the wisdom of statesmen. Fidelity to the ancient model required sculptors to depict models naked, which conflicted with accepted norms

Morals. To resolve this contradiction, modern figures were initially depicted by classicist sculptors in the form of naked ancient gods: Under Napoleon, the issue was resolved by moving to depicting modern figures in ancient togas (such are the figures of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of the Kazan Cathedral).

Private customers of the Classical era preferred to immortalize their names in tombstones. The popularity of this sculptural form was facilitated by the arrangement of public cemeteries in the main cities of Europe. In accordance with the classicist ideal, figures on tombstones are usually in a state of deep repose. The sculpture of classicism is generally alien to sudden movements and external manifestations of emotions such as anger.

Late, Empire classicism, represented primarily by the prolific Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen, is imbued with a dryish pathos. Purity of lines, restraint of gestures, and dispassionate expressions are especially valued. In choosing role models, the emphasis shifts from Hellenism to the archaic period. Religious images are coming into fashion, which, in Thorvaldsen’s interpretation, produce a somewhat chilling impression on the viewer. Tombstone sculpture of late classicism often bears a slight touch of sentimentality.

The main feature architecture classicism was an appeal to the forms of ancient architecture as a standard of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity and monumentality. The architecture of classicism as a whole is characterized by regularity of layout and clarity of volumetric form. The basis of the architectural language of classicism was the order, in proportions and forms close to antiquity. Classicism is characterized by symmetrical axial compositions, restraint of decorative decoration, and a regular system of city planning.

The architectural language of classicism was formulated at the end of the Renaissance by the great Venetian master Palladio and his follower Scamozzi.

The most significant interiors in the classicist style were designed by the Scot Robert Adam, who returned to his homeland from Rome in 1758. He was greatly impressed by both the archaeological research of Italian scientists and the architectural fantasies of Piranesi. In Adam’s interpretation, classicism was a style hardly inferior to rococo in the sophistication of its interiors, which gained it popularity not only among democratically minded circles of society, but also among the aristocracy. Like his French colleagues, Adam preached a complete rejection of details devoid of constructive function.

The architects of Napoleonic France drew inspiration from majestic images military glory left behind by imperial Rome, such as the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus and Trajan's Column. By order of Napoleon, these images were transferred to Paris in the form triumphal arch Carrousel and Vendôme Column. In relation to monuments of military greatness of the era Napoleonic wars The term “imperial style” is used - Empire style. In Russia, Carl Rossi, Andrei Voronikhin and Andreyan Zakharov proved themselves to be outstanding masters of the Empire style. In Britain, the empire style corresponds to the so-called. “Regency style” (the largest representative is John Nash).

The aesthetics of classicism favored large-scale urban planning projects and led to the streamlining of urban development on the scale of entire cities. In Russia, almost all provincial and many county towns were redeveloped into

In accordance with the principles of classic rationalism. Cities such as St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Warsaw, Dublin, Edinburgh and a number of others have turned into genuine open-air museums of classicism. Throughout the entire space from Minusinsk to Philadelphia, a single architectural language, going back to Palladio. Ordinary development was carried out in accordance with albums of standard projects.

Literature. The founder of the poetics of classicism is the Frenchman Francois Malherbe (1555-1628), who carried out the reform French and verse and developed poetic canons. The leading representatives of classicism in drama were the tragedians Corneille and Racine (1639-1699), whose main subject of creativity was the conflict between public duty and personal passions. “Low” genres also achieved high development - fable (J. Lafontaine), satire (Boileau), comedy (Molière 1622-1673).

Classicism of the 18th century developed under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. The work of Voltaire (1694-1778) is directed against religious fanaticism, absolutist oppression, and is filled with the pathos of freedom. The goal of creativity is to change the world in better side, construction in accordance with the laws of classicism of society itself. From the standpoint of classicism, the Englishman Samuel Johnson reviewed contemporary literature, around whom a brilliant circle of like-minded people formed.

In Russia, classicism originated in the 18th century, after the reforms of Peter I. Lomonosov carried out a reform of Russian verse, developed the theory of “three calms,” which was essentially an adaptation of French classical rules to the Russian language. The images in classicism are devoid of individual features, since they are designed primarily to capture stable generic characteristics that do not pass over time, acting as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.

Classicism in Russia developed under the great influence of the Enlightenment - the ideas of equality and justice have always been the focus of attention of Russian classic writers. Therefore, in Russian classicism, genres that require the author’s obligatory assessment of historical reality have received great development: comedy (D. I. Fonvizin), satire (A. D. Kantemir), fable (A. P. Sumarokov, I. I. Khemnitser), ode (Lomonosov, G. R. Derzhavin).

In literature, classicism originated and spread in France in the 17th century. Nicolas Boileau is considered a theorist of classicism, who formed the basic principles of the style in the article “Poetic Art.” The name comes from the Latin “classicus” - exemplary, which emphasizes the artistic basis of the style - the images and forms of antiquity, to which they began to have a special interest at the end of the Renaissance. The emergence of classicism is associated with the formation of the principles of a centralized state and the ideas of “enlightened” absolutism in it.

Classicism glorifies the concept of reason, believing that only with the help of the mind can one obtain and organize a picture of the world. Therefore, the main thing in a work becomes its idea (that is, the main idea and the form of the work must be in harmony), and the main thing in the conflict of reason and feelings is reason and duty.

The basic principles of classicism, characteristic of both foreign and domestic literature:

• Forms and images from ancient (ancient Greek and Roman) literature: tragedy, ode, comedy, epic, poetic odic and satirical forms.
• A clear division of genres into “high” and “low”. The “high” ones include ode, tragedy and epic, the “low” ones, as a rule, are funny - comedy, satire, fable.
• A distinctive division of heroes into good and bad.
• Compliance with the principle of the trinity of time, place, action.

Classicism in Russian literature

XVIII century

In Russia, classicism appeared much later than in European countries, since it was “imported” along with European works and enlightenment. The existence of style on Russian soil is usually placed within the following framework:

1. The end of the 1720s, the literature of Peter the Great’s time, secular literature, different from the church literature that had previously dominated in Russia.

The style began to develop first in translated works, then in original works. The names of A.D. Kantemir, A.P. Sumarokov and V.K. Trediakovsky (reformers and developers of the literary language, they worked on poetic forms - odes and satires) are associated with the development of the Russian classical tradition.

1. 1730-1770 - the heyday of the style and its evolution. Associated with the name of M.V. Lomonosov, who wrote tragedies, odes, and poems.
2. The last quarter of the 18th century saw the emergence of sentimentalism and the beginning of the crisis of classicism. The time of late classicism is associated with the name of D. I. Fonvizin, the author of tragedies, dramas and comedies; G. R. Derzhavin (poetic forms), A. N. Radishchev (prose and poetic works).

(A. N. Radishchev, D. I. Fonvizin, P. Ya. Chaadaev)

D. I. Fonvizin and A. N. Radishchev became not only developers, but also destroyers of the stylistic unity of classicism: Fonvizin in comedies violates the principle of the trinity, introducing ambiguity in the assessment of heroes. Radishchev becomes the harbinger and developer of sentimentalism, providing psychologism to the narrative, rejecting its conventions.

(Representatives of classicism)

19th century

It is believed that classicism existed by inertia until the 1820s, but during late classicism the works created within its framework were classical only formally, or its principles were used deliberately to create a comic effect.

Russian classicism of the early 19th century is moving away from its breakthrough features: affirmation of the primacy of reason, civic pathos, opposition to the arbitrariness of religion, against its oppression over reason, criticism of the monarchy.

Classicism in foreign literature

Initial classicism was based on the theoretical developments of ancient authors - Aristotle and Horace (“Poetics” and “Epistle to the Piso”).

In European literature, with identical principles, the style ends its existence in the 1720s. Representatives of classicism in France: Francois Malherbe (poetic works, reformation of poetic language), J. Lafontaine (satirical works, fable), J.-B. Moliere (comedy), Voltaire (drama), J.-J. Rousseau (late classicist prose writer, harbinger of sentimentalism).

There are two stages in the development of European classicism:

• The development and flourishing of the monarchy, contributing to the positive development of the economy, science and culture. At this stage, representatives of classicism see their task as glorifying the monarch, establishing her inviolability (Francois Malherbe, Pierre Corneille, leading genres - ode, poem, epic).
• The crisis of the monarchy, the discovery of shortcomings in the political system. Writers do not glorify, but rather criticize the monarchy. (J. Lafontaine, J.-B. Moliere, Voltaire, leading genres - comedy, satire, epigram).