Representatives of the Renaissance table. Features of High Renaissance Art

FRANCESCO PETRARCA (1304-1374) - founder of the Italian Renaissance, great poet and thinker, political activist. Coming from a Popolan family in Florence, he spent many years in Avignon under the papal curia, and the rest of his life in Italy. Petrarch traveled a lot throughout Europe, was close to popes and sovereigns. His political goals: reform of the church, ending wars, unity of Italy. Petrarch was an expert in ancient philosophy; he is credited with collecting manuscripts of ancient authors and processing them textologically.

Petrarch developed humanistic ideas not only in his brilliant, innovative poetry, but also in Latin prose works - treatises, numerous letters, including his main epistolary, “The Book of Everyday Affairs.”

It is customary to say about Francesco Petrarca that he is more focused on himself than anyone else - at least in his time. That he was not only the first “individualist” of the New Age, but much more than that - an amazingly complete egocentric.

In the works of the thinker, the theocentric systems of the Middle Ages were replaced by the anthropocentrism of Renaissance humanism. Petrarch's “discovery of man” provided an opportunity for a deeper knowledge of man in science, literature, and art.

LEONARDO DA VINCI (1454-1519) - brilliant Italian artist, sculptor, scientist, engineer. Born in Anchiano, near the village of Vinci; his father was a notary who moved to Florence in 1469. Leonardo's first teacher was Andrea Verrocchio.

Leonardo's interest in man and nature speaks of his close connection with humanistic culture. He considered man's creative abilities to be limitless. Leonardo was one of the first to substantiate the idea of ​​the cognizability of the world through reason and sensations, which firmly entered the ideas of thinkers of the 16th century. He himself said about himself: “I would comprehend all the secrets by getting to the essence!”

Leonardo's research covered a wide range of problems in mathematics, physics, astronomy, botany, and other sciences. His numerous inventions were based on a deep study of nature and the laws of its development. He was also an innovator in the theory of painting. Leonardo saw the highest manifestation of creativity in the activity of an artist who scientifically comprehends the world and reproduces it on canvas. The thinker’s contribution to Renaissance aesthetics can be judged by his “Book on Painting.” He was the embodiment of the “universal man” created by the Renaissance.

NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI (1469-1527) - Italian thinker, diplomat, historian.

A Florentine, he came from an ancient but impoverished patrician family. For 14 years he served as secretary of the Council of Ten, in charge of military and foreign affairs of the Florentine Republic. After the restoration of power in Florence, the Medici were removed from government activities. In 1513-1520 he was in exile. This period includes the creation of Machiavelli’s most significant works - “The Prince”, “Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livy”, “History of Florence”, which earned him European fame. Machiavelli's political ideal was the Roman Republic, in which he saw the embodiment of the idea of ​​a strong state, the people of which “are far superior to the sovereigns in both virtue and glory.” (“Discourses on the first decade of Titus Livy”).

The ideas of N. Machiavelli had a very significant influence on the development of political doctrines.

THOMAS MOP (1478-1535) - English humanist, writer, statesman.

Born into the family of a London lawyer, he was educated at Oxford University, where he joined the circle of Oxford humanists. Under Henry VIII he held a number of high government positions. His meeting and friendship with Erasmus of Rotterdam was very important for the formation and development of More as a humanist. He was accused of treason and executed on July 6, 1535.

The most famous work of Thomas More is “Utopia,” which reflects the author’s passion for ancient Greek literature and philosophy, and the influence of Christian thought, in particular Augustine’s treatise “On the City of God,” and also traces an ideological connection with Erasmus of Rotterdam, whose humanistic ideal was in is close to More in many ways. His ideas had a strong impact on public thought.

ERASM OF ROTTERDAM (1469-1536) - one of the most outstanding representatives of European humanism and the most versatile of the then scientists.

Erasmus, the illegitimate son of a poor parish priest, his early years spent in the Augustinian monastery, which he managed to leave in 1493. He studied the works of Italian humanists and scientific literature with great enthusiasm, and became a major expert in Greek and Latin.

Erasmus's most famous work is the satire “Praise of Folly” (1509), modeled on Lucian, which was written in just one week in the house of Thomas More. Erasmus of Rotterdam tried to synthesize the cultural traditions of antiquity and early Christianity. He believed in the natural goodness of man and wanted people to be guided by the demands of reason; among the spiritual values ​​of Erasmus are freedom of spirit, temperance, education, simplicity.

THOMAS MUNZER (circa 1490-1525) - German theologian and ideologist of the early Reformation and the Peasants' War of 1524-1526 in Germany.

The son of a craftsman, Münzer was educated at the universities of Leipzig and Frankfurt an der Oder, from where he graduated with a bachelor's degree in theology, and became a preacher. He was influenced by mystics, Anabaptists and Hussites. In the early years of the Reformation, Münzer was an adherent and supporter of Luther. He then developed his doctrine of the popular Reformation.

In Münzer's understanding, the main tasks of the Reformation were not to establish a new church dogma or new form religiosity, but in the proclamation of an imminent socio-political revolution, which must be carried out by the mass of peasants and the urban poor. Thomas Munzer strove for a republic of equal citizens, in which people would ensure that justice and law prevailed.

For Münzer, Holy Scripture was subject to free interpretation in the context of contemporary events, an interpretation directly addressed to spiritual experience reader.

Thomas Münzer was captured after the defeat of the rebels in an unequal battle on May 15, 1525 and, after severe torture, was executed.

Conclusion

Based on the first chapter, we can conclude that the main features of the Renaissance culture are:

anthropocentrism,

Humanism,

Modification of the medieval Christian tradition,

A special attitude towards antiquity - the revival of ancient monuments and ancient philosophy,

A new attitude towards the world.

As for humanism, its leaders emphasized the value of the human personality, the independence of personal dignity from origin and birth, man’s ability to constantly improve and confidence in his limitless capabilities.

The Reformation played only important role in the formation of world civilization and culture in general. It contributed to the process of the emergence of the man of bourgeois society - an autonomous individual with freedom of moral choice, independent and responsible in his beliefs and actions, thereby preparing the ground for the idea of ​​human rights. The bearers of Protestant ideas expressed a new, bourgeois type of personality with a new attitude to the world.

The figures of the Renaissance left us an extensive creative heritage that covers philosophy, art, political science, history, literature, natural sciences and many other areas. They made numerous discoveries that are a huge contribution to the development of world culture.

Thus, the Renaissance is a local phenomenon, but global in its consequences, which had a strong impact on the development of modern Western civilization and culture with its achievements: an effective market economy, civil society, a democratic legal state, a civilized way of life, and high spiritual culture.

[Francis Bacon's doctrine of "idols"

Idols and false concepts, which have already captivated the human mind and are deeply entrenched in it, so dominate the minds of people that they make it difficult for the truth to enter, but even if its entry is allowed and granted, they will again block the path during the very renewal of the sciences and will hinder it, unless the people, being warned, take arms against them as far as possible.

There are four kinds of idols that besiege the minds of people. In order to study them, let's give them names. Let us call the first type the idols of the clan, the second the idols of the cave, the third the idols of the square, and the fourth the idols of the theater.

The construction of concepts and axioms through true induction is, undoubtedly, genuine remedy in order to suppress and drive out idols. But pointing out idols is also very useful. The doctrine of idols is for the interpretation of nature what the doctrine of the refutation of sophisms is for generally accepted dialectics.

Idols of the family find their basis in the very nature of man, in the tribe or kind of people themselves, for it is false to assert that a person’s feelings are the measure of things. On the contrary, all perceptions, both of the senses and of the mind, rest on the analogy of man, and not on the analogy of the world. The human mind is like an uneven mirror, which, mixing its nature with the nature of things, reflects things in a distorted and disfigured form.

Idols of the Cave the essence of the delusion of an individual. After all, everyone, in addition to the mistakes inherent in the human race, has their own special cave, which weakens and distorts the light of nature. This occurs either from the special innate properties of each, or from upbringing and conversations with others, or from reading books and from the authorities before whom one bows, or due to the difference in impressions, depending on whether they are received by biased and predisposed souls or souls cool and calm, or for other reasons. So the spirit of a person, depending on how it is located in individuals, there is a thing that is changeable, unstable and seemingly random. This is why Heraclitus correctly said that people seek knowledge in small worlds, and not in the large or general world.

There are also idols that arise as if due to the mutual connectedness and community of people. We call these idols, meaning the communication and fellowship of people that gives rise to them, idols of the square. People unite through speech. Words are set according to the understanding of the crowd. Therefore, a bad and absurd statement of words besieges the mind in a surprising way. The definitions and explanations with which learned people are accustomed to arm themselves and protect themselves do not help the matter in any way. Words directly rape the mind, confuse everything and lead people to empty and countless disputes and interpretations.

Finally, there are idols that have entered the souls of people from various tenets of philosophy, as well as from perverse laws of evidence. We call them theater idols, for we believe that just as many philosophical systems have been accepted or invented, so many comedies have been staged and acted, representing fictional and artificial worlds. We say this not only about philosophical systems that exist now or once existed, since tales of this kind could be folded and composed in multitude; after all, in general, very different errors have almost the same causes. At the same time, we mean here not only general philosophical teachings, but also numerous principles and axioms of the sciences, which received force as a result of tradition, faith and carelessness. However, each of these types of idols should be discussed in more detail and definitely separately, in order to warn the human mind.

The human mind, by virtue of its inclination, easily assumes more order and uniformity in things than it finds. And while many things in nature are singular and completely without similarity, he comes up with parallels, correspondences and relationships that do not exist. Hence the rumor that everything in the heavens moves in perfect circles\...\

The mind of man attracts everything to support and agree with what he has once accepted, either because it is an object of common faith, or because it pleases him. Whatever be the strength and number of facts that testify to the contrary, the mind either does not notice them, or neglects them, or diverts and rejects them through discrimination with great and pernicious prejudice, so that the reliability of those previous conclusions remains unimpaired. And therefore the one who answered correctly was the one who, when they showed him the images of those who had escaped shipwreck by taking a vow displayed in the temple and at the same time sought an answer whether he now recognized the power of the gods, asked in turn: “Where are the images of those who died after made a vow? This is the basis of almost all superstitions - in astrology, in dreams, in beliefs, in predictions and the like. People who delight themselves with this kind of vanity celebrate the event that has come true, and pass without attention the one that deceived, although the latter happens much more often. This evil penetrates even deeper into philosophy and science. In them, what is once recognized infects and subjugates the rest, even if the latter were much better and firmer. In addition, even if these partiality and vanity that we indicated did not take place, the human mind is still constantly characterized by the delusion that it is more amenable to positive arguments than negative ones, whereas in justice it should treat both of them equally; even moreover, in the construction of all true axioms great strength at the negative argument.

The human mind is most affected by what can immediately and suddenly strike it; this is what usually excites and fills the imagination. He transforms the rest imperceptibly, imagining it to be the same as the little that controls his mind. The mind is generally neither inclined nor capable of turning to distant and heterogeneous arguments by means of which axioms are tested, as if by fire., until harsh laws and strong authorities dictate this to him.

The human mind is greedy. He can neither stop nor remain at peace, but rushes further and further. But in vain! Therefore, thought is not able to embrace the limit and end of the world, but always, as if by necessity, imagines something existing even further. \...\ This impotence of the mind leads to much more harmful results in the discovery of causes, for, although the most general principles in nature must exist as they were found, and in reality have no causes, yet the human mind, knowing no rest , and here is looking for a more famous one. And so, striving for what is further, he returns to what is closer to him, namely, final causes, which have their source rather in the nature of man than in the nature of the Universe, and, starting from this source, have amazingly distorted philosophy. But he who seeks reasons for the universal philosophizes lightly and ignorantly, just as he who does not seek lower and subordinate causes philosophizes.

The human mind is not dry light, it is sprinkled with will and passions, and this gives rise to what everyone desires in science. A person rather believes in the truth of what he prefers. He rejects the difficult because he has no patience to continue the research; sober - because it captivates hope; the highest in nature - because of superstition; the light of experience - because of arrogance and contempt for it, so that the mind does not turn out to be immersed in the base and fragile; paradoxes are due to conventional wisdom. In an infinite number of ways, sometimes unnoticeable, passions stain and corrupt the mind.

But to the greatest extent, the confusion and delusions of the human mind arise from inertia, inconsistency and deception of the senses, for what arouses the senses is preferred to what does not immediately arouse the senses, even if the latter is better. Therefore, contemplation ceases when the gaze ceases, so that the observation of invisible things is insufficient or absent altogether. Therefore, all the movement of spirits contained in tangible bodies remains hidden and inaccessible to people. In the same way, more subtle transformations in parts remain hidden. solids- what is usually called change, when in fact it is the movement of the smallest particles. Meanwhile, without research and clarification of these two things that we mentioned, nothing significant in nature can be achieved in a practical sense. Further, the very nature of air and all bodies that are thinner than air (and there are many of them) is almost unknown. Feeling in itself is weak and erroneous, and instruments designed to strengthen and sharpen feelings are worth little. The most accurate interpretation of nature is achieved through observations in appropriate, purposefully designed experiments. Here feeling judges only about experience, while experience judges nature and the thing itself.

The human mind by nature is focused on the abstract and thinks of the fluid as permanent. But it’s better to cut nature into pieces than to abstract. This is what the school of Democritus did, which penetrated deeper into nature than others. One should study more matter, its internal state and change of state, pure action and the law of action or motion, for forms are fictions human soul, unless we call these laws of action forms.

These are the idols we call idols of the race. They arise either from the uniformity of the substance of the human spirit, or from its prejudice, or from its limitations, or from its tireless movement, or from the instillation of passions, or from the incapacity of the senses, or from the way of perception.

Idols of the Cave come from the inherent properties of both soul and body, as well as from upbringing, from habits and accidents. Although this type of idols is varied and numerous, we will still point out those of them that require the most caution and are most capable of seducing and polluting the mind.

People love either those particular sciences and theories whose authors and inventors they consider themselves to be, or those in which they have invested the most work and to which they are most accustomed. If people of this kind devote themselves to philosophy and general theories, then under the influence of their previous plans they distort and spoil them. \...\

The biggest and, as it were, fundamental difference of minds in relation to philosophy and the sciences is the following. Some minds are stronger and more suitable for noticing differences in things, others - for noticing the similarities of things. Strong and sharp minds can focus their thoughts, lingering and dwelling on every subtlety of difference. And sublime and agile minds recognize and compare the subtlest similarities of things inherent everywhere. But both minds easily go too far in pursuit of either divisions of things or shadows.

Contemplation of nature and bodies in their simplicity crushes and relaxes the mind; contemplation of nature and bodies in their complexity and configuration deafens and paralyzes the mind. \...\ Therefore, these contemplations must alternate and replace each other so that the mind becomes both insightful and receptive and in order to avoid the dangers we have indicated and those idols that arise from them.

Caution in contemplation must be such as to prevent and expel the idols of the cave, which mainly arise either from the dominance of past experience, or from an excess of comparison and division, or from a tendency towards the temporary, or from the vastness and insignificance of objects. In general, let everyone who contemplates the nature of things consider doubtful that which has especially strongly captured and captivated his mind. Great care is necessary in cases of such preference, so that the mind remains balanced and pure.

But most painful of all idols of the square, which penetrate the mind along with words and names. People believe that their minds control their words. But it also happens that words turn their power against reason. This made science and philosophy sophistical and ineffective. Most of the words have their source in common opinion and divide things within the boundaries most obvious to the mind of the crowd. When a keener mind and a more diligent observation want to revise these boundaries so that they are more in accordance with nature, words become a hindrance. Hence it turns out that the loud and solemn disputes of scientists often turn into disputes regarding words and names, and it would be more prudent (according to the custom and wisdom of mathematicians) to begin with them in order to put them in order through definitions. However, even such definitions of things, natural and material, cannot cure this disease, for the definitions themselves consist of words, and words give birth to words, so it would be necessary to get to specific examples, their series and order, as I will soon say, when I move on to the method and way of establishing concepts and axioms.

Theater idols are not innate and do not penetrate the mind secretly, but are openly transmitted and perceived from fictitious theories and from perverse laws of evidence. However, an attempt to refute them would be decisively inconsistent with what we have said. After all, if we do not agree either on the grounds or on the evidence, then no arguments for the better are possible. The honor of the ancients remains unaffected, nothing is taken away from them, because the question concerns only the path. As they say, the lame man who walks on the road is ahead of the one who runs without a path. It is also obvious that the more dexterous and fast the off-road runner is, the greater his wanderings will be.

Our path of discovery of sciences is such that it leaves little to the sharpness and power of talents, but almost equalizes them. Just as in drawing a straight line or describing a perfect circle, firmness, skill and testing of the hand mean a lot if you use only your hand, it means little or nothing at all if you use a compass and ruler. This is the case with our method. However, although separate refutations are not needed here, something must be said about the types and classes of this kind of theory. Then also about the external signs of their weakness and, finally, about the reasons for such an unfortunate long and universal agreement in error, so that approaching the truth would be less difficult and so that the human mind would be more willing to purify itself and reject idols.

The idols of theater or theory are numerous, and there may be more of them, and someday there may be more of them. If for many centuries the minds of people had not been occupied with religion and theology and if civil authorities, especially monarchical ones, had not opposed such innovations, even speculative ones, and by turning to these innovations people had not incurred danger and suffered damage in their prosperity, not only not receiving rewards, but also being subjected to contempt and ill will, then, without a doubt, many more philosophical and theoretical schools would have been introduced, similar to those that once flourished in great variety among the Greeks. Just as many assumptions can be invented regarding the phenomena of the celestial ether, in the same way, and to an even greater extent, various dogmas can be formed and constructed regarding the phenomena of philosophy. The fictions of this theater are characterized by the same thing that happens in the theaters of poets, where the stories invented for the stage are more harmonious and beautiful and are more likely to satisfy everyone’s desires than true stories from the history.

The content of philosophy in general is formed by deducing a lot from a little or a little from a lot, so that in both cases philosophy is established on too narrow a basis of experience and natural history and makes decisions from less than it should. Thus, philosophers of the rationalist persuasion snatch from experience various and trivial facts, without knowing them exactly, but having studied them and without diligently weighing them. They assign everything else to reflection and the activity of the mind.

There are a number of other philosophers who, having worked diligently and carefully on a few experiments, dared to invent and derive their own philosophy from them, amazingly perverting and interpreting everything else in relation to it.

There is a third class of philosophers who, under the influence of faith and reverence, mix theology and traditions with philosophy. The vanity of some of them has reached the point that they derive science from spirits and geniuses. Thus, the root of the errors of false philosophy is threefold: sophistry, empiricism and superstition.

\...\ if people, prompted by our instructions and saying goodbye to sophistic teachings, seriously engage in experience, then, due to the premature and hasty fervor of the mind and its desire to ascend to the general and to the beginnings of things, a great danger may arise from philosophies of this kind . We must prevent this evil now. So, we have already spoken about certain types of idols and their manifestations. All of them must be rejected and abandoned by a firm and solemn decision, and the mind must be completely freed and purified from them. Let the entrance to the kingdom of man, based on science, be almost the same as the entrance to the kingdom of heaven, “where no one is given to enter without becoming like children.”

Enters period High Renaissance . If the Proto-Renaissance lasted almost a century and a half, the Early Renaissance lasted almost a century, then the High Renaissance lasted only 30-40 years. But it was the Cinqucento that gave the world a numerous galaxy of masters of rare genius and versatility: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Santi, Michelangelo Buanarrotti, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Andrea Verrocchio.

The art of the High Renaissance became an expression of the complexity and scale of the historical existence of the era. As if in contrast to the ever-increasing political and economic decline, the art of the Cinquecento is imbued with high and bright ideals. Never before have the heroes of picturesque and sculptural works were not so exalted, free and powerful. They embodied the titanic ideal of man new era, establishing himself in a harmonious and reasonably structured world. Therefore, it is distinguished from the previous period - the art of the Quattrocento - primarily by the large scale of the images. But that wasn't theirs main feature: both grandiose and small in size works of art were distinguished by their internal significance, depth, complexity, and special grandeur of the images. Such works were created by artists of a new type - active creative personalities, free from the previous workshop restrictions, aware of their high purpose; people of enormous knowledge, possessing all the cultural values ​​of their time.

Among the Cinqucento artists, three versatile thinkers and artists stand out - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo, whom their contemporaries called divine. They have become the personification of the main values Italian Renaissance: intelligence, harmony and power. All the ropes were great painters, they worked both in the field monumental painting(frescoes) and in the easel room. Each of them became the discoverer of ideas, images, and techniques that determined the further development of fine art. Three brilliant masters reflect different sides European culture: Leonardo - a daring breakthrough into the unknown, a thirst for knowledge of the world, penetration into the secrets of nature; Raphael - comprehension of the subtlest movements of the human soul; Michelangelo - titanic heroism, tragedy and majesty. At the same time, they embody the three main layers of painting: Leonardo - epic-narrative, Raphael - lyrical, Michelangelo - dramatic.

He is perhaps the most extraordinary figure in world history. artistic culture. Possessing versatile abilities and talents, he in every sense was Homo universale (universal man). At the same time, he was an artist, art theorist, sculptor, architect, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, anatomist and engineer, and proved himself to be an innovator in all fields. He will give the only example of a great painter for whom his art was not the main business of his life.

About 15 paintings authentically belonging to him have reached us. This is not because some of his works were lost, but rather because, endlessly experimenting, striving to achieve perfection, he often did not finish his works. Most of his endeavors remained in drawings and notes. Leonardo was multifaceted and impatient, he was captivated by the very process of knowledge and creativity: having made some invention or work, he discarded it to take on another.

His most important creations were the fresco " Last Supper"in one of the Milan monasteries, as well as worldwide famous portrait young Florentine Mona Lisa. In The Last Supper, Leonardo gives a new, different from traditional, solution to the biblical theme: he depicts for the first time psychological conflict, open manifestation strong feelings, the process itself dramatic event. Christ said to the apostles: “One of you will betray me.” Quattrocento artists usually represented the apostles sitting at this moment isolated from each other, in static and monotonous poses, and Judas was singled out by placing him separately on the opposite side of the table. In Leonardo's work, after the words of Christ, the apostles become very excited, which is expressed in movements and postures, hand gestures and facial expressions. They are amazed, shocked, indignant, doubtful, discussing. The artist divides the apostles into four groups of three each, and places Judas next to Christ’s beloved disciples, distinguished only by the shadow falling on his face. The violent movement and emotional tension of the apostles are combined with the noble calmness of Christ, which creates a harmonious completeness of the composition as a whole.

The most famous work Leonardo da Vinci and, perhaps, all world painting is a portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of the wealthy Florentine Francesco del Giocondo. This portrait, also known as “La Gioconda,” is associated with many legends, scientific hypotheses, and research. The traditional compositional scheme - the human figure in the foreground against the backdrop of the landscape - has acquired an unprecedented psychological depth of the image and has become the highest artistic embodiment human personality. The portrait fascinates and delights: despite the external immobility of the model, the life of the soul is conveyed, subtly changing shades of thoughts, feelings, and moods. Particularly obvious is the contrast between the unusually lively expression of Mona Lisa's face and the motionless, majestic pose, the character of which reflects the landscape.

Websites - an artist of a completely different type than Leonardo. He was not an innovator in art. His work was a synthesis of the achievements of previous artists and became the most striking expression of the classical line in the art of the Cinquicento. His works of art are harmonious and clear, the person in them is perfect, and the world is in balance. In his works, Raphael embodied the brightest and most sublime ideas of Renaissance humanism about man and his exceptional place in the world around him.

The artist’s favorite image was the image of the Madonna, in which he was able to most fully reveal his ideas about the nobility and perfection of man, about the harmony of external and internal beauty. Raphael painted paintings on this subject all his life. But as the artist became more mature, the character of the image also changed; touchingness, light lyricism, soft soulfulness, tenderness of his young madonnas early works replaced by the expression big mental strength, deep, selfless maternal love.

The most famous creation of Raphael and one of the most famous works world painting is his " Sistine Madonna"- a painting painted for the Church of St. Sixtus of one of the Italian monasteries. The traditional composition of the appearance of the Mother of God is presented by the artist in the form of a young Madonna, walking lightly bare feet through the clouds and carrying her son, Christ, to people. Madonna's soulful face expresses both endless love and foresight. tragic fate son, awareness of its inevitability and mournful readiness to sacrifice him for the sake of people. The artist combined deep religiosity with high humanity, creating the greatest and most beautiful embodiment of the theme of motherhood.

Buanarotti stands out even among greatest artists that era. His art marks the culmination of the Renaissance, but also marked its completion. More than 70 years old creative path Michelangelo coincided with a historical period full of upheaval. Very important on this path was the complete fusion for the artist of the concepts of man and fighter. Ability to heroic deed, the struggle for freedom served as the leitmotif of his work.

Michelangelo placed sculpture above all arts and wanted to be only a sculptor. But by the will of fate, he also became a painter and an architect. Striving to embody his main theme - the struggle between spirit and matter, he was the first in the history of sculpture to combine the ideal of bodily beauty with an abstract spiritual idea, finding the main form of its expression in the statue of David. Unlike his predecessors, Donatello and Verrocchio, Michelangelo portrayed the hero before accomplishing a feat. Giant figure represents limitless power free man, conveys both the beauty of an idealized body and the enormous internal tension at the moment of utmost concentration of strength and will.

The most outstanding and grandiose work of the master was the painting of the ceiling and walls Sistine Chapel Vatican Palace (total fresco area over 600 sq. m). On the ceiling of the chapel he depicted Old Testament scenes - from the Creation of the world to the Flood. On the sides they continued the plots of “David and Goliath”, “Judith and Olofsrn”, “The Execution of Haman” and “The Brazen Serpent”. During the Renaissance, lampshade painting was predominantly decorative character, limiting ourselves to simple topics. Michelangelo, on the contrary, depicted pictures of the creation of the world and the life of the first people on earth, episodes from the Bible, prophets and Sibyls (prophetesses), the ancestors of Christ. On the ceiling of the chapel he created a world of titans. His God is an inspired creator, creating the universe and man in a powerful impulse; the first people are powerful and beautiful in body and spirit, the prophets and sibyls are courageous in their insight into the future, no matter how formidable it may seem to them.

The most impressive fresco of the painting is the scene of the Last Judgment, located on the altar (eastern) wall of the chapel. The composition of “The Last Judgment” was conceived by the artist as a multitude of naked human figures, surrounding God in a halo of light. Central character fresco is the figure of Christ raising right hand in a threatening gesture. To his left are depicted open graves and the dead rising from them. Above are the souls rushing upward, above which are the righteous. At the very top of the fresco, angels carry the instruments of Christ’s torment. On the right side, below the angels, there are again the righteous, under whom are the rebel titans, and even lower is a boat with Charon, who drives sinners to hell. The entire image is permeated with movement.

Characteristics of the Renaissance

The Italian Renaissance is one of the most striking phenomena in the history of European culture. Controversy about his character historical roots, the stages of three centuries of development do not subside to this day. In the Soviet historical science The Renaissance is considered as an advanced culture, characteristic of the era of transition from feudal to capitalist relations, when the medieval church-scholastic system of thinking was replaced by the establishment of secular-rationalistic principles of the worldview History of Europe. T. 3. From the Middle Ages to modern times (end of the 15th - first half of the 17th century) - p. 455.

The entire Renaissance was divided into several periods: the Proto-Renaissance in Italy lasted about a century and a half, the Early Renaissance - about a century, the High Renaissance - only fifty years and last period, Late Renaissance, - until the 80s of the 16th century Concise Encyclopedia arts - p. 257.

In this work I would like to consider only the period High Renaissance.

The art of the High Renaissance developed in the first three decades of the 16th century. This period is called the "Golden Age" Italian art. Chronologically it was short, and only in Venice did it last longer, until the middle of the century.

The highest rise in culture took place during the most difficult historical period in the life of Italy, in conditions of a sharp economic and political weakening of the Italian states caused by the discovery of America and new trade routes to India and, as a consequence, the loss of the role of the most important shopping centers. Other reasons include the disunity and constant internecine hostility of the Italian states, which made them easy prey for the growing centralized northwestern states.

The invasion of French troops in 1494, the devastating wars of the first decades of the 16th century, and the defeat of Rome weakened Italy. There is a movement within the country of capital from trade and industry to agriculture, a gradual transformation of the bourgeoisie into the class of landowners interested in preserving the feudal order. All this contributed to the spread of feudal reaction. However, it was during this period, when the threat of its complete enslavement by foreigners loomed over the country, that national identity.

In these difficult conditions of the first decades of the 16th century, the principles of culture and art of a new style were formed.

Features of High Renaissance art

A distinctive feature of the culture of the High Renaissance was the extraordinary expansion of the social horizons of its creators, the scale of their ideas about the world and space. The view of a person and his attitude to the world changes. The very type of artist, his worldview, and position in society are decidedly different from that occupied by the masters of the 15th century, who were still largely associated with the class of artisans. Artists of the High Renaissance are not only people huge culture, but creative individuals, free from the framework of the guild foundation, forcing representatives of the ruling classes to reckon with their plans.

At the center of this art, summarized by artistic language, - the image is perfect wonderful person, perfect physically and spiritually, the image of a heroic person who managed to rise above the level of everyday life. In the name of this generalized image, in the name of the desire for a harmonious synthesis of the beautiful aspects of life, the art of the High Renaissance abandons particulars and insignificant details. At the heart of such art is an all-consuming belief in limitless possibilities a person for self-improvement, self-affirmation, faith in the rational structure of the world, in the triumph of progress. The problems of civic duty, high moral qualities, and heroism came to the fore.

The creators of this deeply humanistic art were people not only of great culture and broad outlook, but also creative individuals, free from the framework of the medieval guild foundation. The era gave birth creative individuals, in which there is a synthesis of science and art. The great creators of the High Renaissance were later called titans. In their creativity they reached such heights that no other era could achieve before or after them. Each of them is a whole world, complete, perfect, having absorbed all the knowledge, all the achievements of previous centuries and raised them to the pinnacle of art.

Even before their discovery and clear identification, some features of the High Renaissance style are, as it were, latently contained in art Early Renaissance. Sometimes certain trends, anticipating the art of the High Renaissance, make their way to the surface, affecting themselves in the aspirations of one or another painter and sculptor of the 15th century. to an increased degree of artistic generalization, to liberation from the power of details, then in the statement collective image instead of empirically following nature, finally, in a commitment to images of a monumental nature. In this sense, such masters as Masaccio, Castagno, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna are, as it were, successive milestones of art Early Renaissance on the way to a new style.

And yet the art of the High Renaissance itself does not arise in the process of smooth evolution, but as a result of a sharp qualitative leap that separates it from the previous stage. Transitional forms between the art of these two periods are expressed in the work of only a very few masters. With a few exceptions, the artists of the Early Renaissance seemed to have already been born as such, just like those of the 15th century painters who continued to work in the first decades of the 16th century. (including Botticelli, Mantegna, Luca Signorelli, Piero di Cosimo, Perugino) still remained artists of the Early Renaissance in their art.

Essentially, one master, Leonardo da Vinci, acted as the founder of the art of the High Renaissance, and it is deeply symptomatic that he, like no one else, was fully armed highest achievements material and spiritual culture of his time in all its areas. Leonardo's contribution to the art of the High Renaissance can be compared with the role of Giotto and Masaccio, the founders of the previous stages of Renaissance art, with the difference that, according to the conditions of the new era and the greater scope of Leonardo's talent, the meaning of his art became incomparably broader.

The highest rise of culture took place during the most difficult historical period in the life of Italy, in conditions of a sharp economic and political weakening of the Italian states. Turkish conquests in the East, the discovery of America and a new sea route to India deprive Italian cities of their role as the most important trading centers; disunity and constant internecine hostility make them easy prey for the increasingly centralized northwestern states. The movement of capital within the country from trade and industry to agriculture and the gradual transformation of the bourgeoisie into the class of landowners contributed to the spread of feudal reaction.

The invasion of French troops in 1494, the devastating wars of the first decades of the 16th century, and the defeat of Rome greatly weakened Italy. It was at this time, when the threat of its complete enslavement by foreign conquerors loomed over the country, that the strength of the people was revealed, entering the struggle for national independence, for a republican form of government, and its national self-awareness was growing. This is evidenced by the popular movements of the early 16th century in many Italian cities, and in particular in Florence, where republican rule was established twice: from 1494 to 1512 and from 1527 to 1530. A huge social upsurge served as the basis for the flowering of the powerful culture of the High Renaissance. In the difficult conditions of the first decades of the 16th century, the principles of culture and art of a new style were formed.

A distinctive feature of the culture of the High Renaissance was the extraordinary expansion of the social horizons of its creators, the scale of their ideas about the world and space. The view of a person and his attitude to the world changes. The very type of artist, his worldview, and position in society are decidedly different from that occupied by the masters of the 15th century, who were still largely associated with the class of artisans. The artists of the High Renaissance were not only people of great culture, but creative individuals, free from the guild framework, forcing representatives of the ruling classes to take their ideas into account.

At the center of their art, generalized in artistic language, is the image of an ideally beautiful person, perfect physically and spiritually, not abstracted from reality, but filled with life, inner strength and significance, the titanic power of self-affirmation. Along with Florence, the most important centers of new art at the beginning of the 16th century were papal Rome and patrician Venice. Since the 1530s, the feudal-Catholic reaction has been growing in Central Italy, and with it, a decadent movement in art, called mannerism, is spreading. And already in the second half of the 16th century, trends in anti-mannerist art emerged.

In that late period when only individual foci retain their role Renaissance culture, it is they who produce the most significant works of artistic merit. These are the late creations of Michelangelo, Palladio and the great Venetians.

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 fine 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 and it is as if its “rebirth” is taking 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 played a role in the formation of the Renaissance Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines who moved to Europe brought with them their libraries and works of art, unknown medieval Europe. Byzantium never broke with ancient culture.
Appearance humanism(a socio-philosophical movement that viewed man as 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). Central figure painting was Giotto. He was considered a reformer of painting: he filled religious forms secular content, made a gradual transition from planar images to three-dimensional and relief ones, turned to realism, introduced plastic volume of figures into painting, and depicted the interior in painting.

Early Renaissance

This is the period from 1420 to 1500. Artists of the Early Renaissance of Italy drew motifs from life, filled traditional religious subjects 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. Their creativity begins to develop freely standing statue, picturesque relief, portrait bust, equestrian monument.
IN Italian painting XV century (Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, A. del Castagno, P. Uccello, Fra Angelico, D. Ghirlandaio, A. Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Piero della Francesca, A. Mantegna, P. Perugino, etc.) are characterized by a sense of harmonious orderliness 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, attracted to his court best artists Italy.

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 scholars) that "The Renaissance as an integral historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527." Art late Renaissance presents a very complex picture of the struggle between various currents. 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.”
IN Southern Europe The Counter-Reformation triumphed, which did not welcome any free-thinking, including 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.