The Renaissance or Renaissance gave us many great works of art. This was a favorable period for the development of creativity. The names of many great artists are associated with the Renaissance. Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo Da Vinci, Giotto, Titian, Correggio - these are only a small part of the names of the creators of that time.

The emergence of new styles and paintings is associated with this period. The approach to depicting the human body has become almost scientific. Artists strive for reality - they work out every detail. People and events in the paintings of that time look extremely realistic.

Historians distinguish several periods in the development of painting during the Renaissance.

Gothic - 1200s. Popular style at court. He was distinguished by pompousness, pretentiousness, and excessive colorfulness. Used as paints. The paintings were the subject of altar scenes. The most famous representatives Italian artists of this direction include Vittore Carpaccio and Sandro Botticelli.

Sandro Botticelli

Proto-Renaissance - 1300s. At this time, a restructuring of morals in painting took place. Religious themes are receding into the background, and secular ones are becoming increasingly popular. The painting takes the place of the icon. People are portrayed more realistically; facial expressions and gestures become important for artists. Appears new genre fine arts - . Representatives of this time are Giotto, Pietro Lorenzetti, Pietro Cavallini.

Earlier Renaissance - 1400s. The rise of non-religious painting. Even the faces on the icons become more alive - they acquire human traits faces. Artists of earlier periods tried to paint landscapes, but they served only as an addition, a background to the main image. During the Early Renaissance it became an independent genre. The portrait also continues to develop. Scientists discover the law of linear perspective, and artists build their paintings on this basis. On their canvases you can see the correct three-dimensional space. Prominent representatives of this period are Masaccio, Piero Della Francesco, Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna.

High Renaissance - Golden Age. The horizons of artists become even wider - their interests extend into the space of Space, they consider man as the center of the universe.

At this time, the “titans” of the Renaissance appeared - Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian, Raphael Santi and others. These are people whose interests were not limited to painting. Their knowledge extended much further. The most prominent representative was Leonardo Da Vinci, who was not only a great painter, but also a scientist, sculptor, and playwright. He created fantastic techniques in painting, for example “smuffato” - the illusion of haze, which was used to create the famous “La Gioconda”.

Leonardo Da Vinci

Late Renaissance- fading of the Renaissance (mid 1500s to late 1600s). This time is associated with change, a religious crisis. The heyday is ending, the lines on the canvases are becoming more nervous, individualism is disappearing. The crowd is increasingly becoming the image of the paintings. Talented works of that time were written by Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tinoretto.

Paolo Veronese

Italy gave the world the most talented artists Renaissance, they are most often mentioned in the history of painting. Meanwhile, in other countries during this period, painting also developed and influenced the development of this art. Painting in other countries during this period is called the Northern Renaissance.

Renaissance painting

The beginning of Renaissance painting is considered to be the era of Ducento, i.e. XIII century. The Proto-Renaissance is still closely connected with medieval Romanesque, Gothic and Byzantine traditions. Artists of the late XIII - early XIV centuries. are still far from scientific study of the surrounding reality. They express their ideas about it, also using conventional images of the Byzantine pictorial system - rocky hills, symbolic trees, conventional turrets. But sometimes the appearance architectural structures reproduced so accurately that it indicates the existence of sketches from life. Traditional religious characters begin to be depicted in a world endowed with the properties of reality - volume, spatial depth, material substance. The search begins for methods of transmission on the plane of volume and three-dimensional space. The masters of this time revived the principle of light and shadow modeling of forms, known from antiquity. Thanks to it, figures and buildings acquire density and volume.

Apparently, the first to use ancient perspective was the Florentine Cenni di Pepo (information from 1272 to 1302), nicknamed Cimabue. Unfortunately, his most significant work - a series of paintings on the themes of the Apocalypse, the life of Mary and the Apostle Peter in the Church of San Francesco in Assisi has reached us in an almost destroyed state. It's better preserved altar compositions, which are located in Florence and in the Louvre Museum. They also go back to Byzantine prototypes, but they clearly show the features of a new approach to religious painting. Cimabue returns from Italian painting

XIII century, which adopted Byzantine traditions to their immediate origins. He felt in them what remained inaccessible to his contemporaries - the harmonious beginning of the sublime Hellenic beauty of images.

Rigidity and schematism give way to musical smoothness of lines. The figure of Madonna no longer seems ethereal. In medieval painting, angels were interpreted as signs, as attributes of the Mother of God; they were depicted as small symbolic figures. In Cimabue, they acquire a completely new meaning, they are included in the scene, these are beautiful young creatures, anticipating those graceful angels that will appear among the masters of the 15th century.

Cimabue's work was the starting point of those new processes that determined the further development of painting. But the history of art cannot be explained only in evolutionary terms. Sometimes there are sharp jumps in it. Great artists appear as bold innovators who reject the traditional system. Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337) should be recognized as such a reformer in Italian painting of the 14th century. This is a genius who rises high above his contemporaries and many of his followers.

A Florentine by birth, he worked in many cities in Italy. The most famous of Giotto's works that have come down to us is a cycle of paintings in the Arena Chapel in Padua, dedicated to the gospel stories about the life of Christ. This unique pictorial ensemble is one of the landmark works in the history of European art. Instead of disparate individual scenes and figures characteristic of medieval painting, Giotto created a single epic cycle. 38 scenes from the life of Christ and Mary (“Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth”, “Kiss of Judas”, “Lamentation”, etc.) are connected into a single narrative using the language of painting. Instead of the usual golden Byzantine background, Giotto introduces a landscape background. The figures no longer float in space, but find solid ground under their feet. And although they are still inactive, they show a desire to convey the anatomy of the human body and the naturalness of movement. Giotto gives the forms an almost sculptural palpability, heaviness, and density. It models the relief, gradually lightening the main colorful background. This principle of chiaroscuro modeling, which made it possible to work with clean, bright colors without dark shadows, became dominant in Italian painting until the 16th century.

The reform carried out in Giotto's painting made a deep impression on all his contemporaries.

Giotto's influence acquired its strength and fruitfulness only a century later. The Quattrocento artists accomplished the tasks set by Giotto. The Early Renaissance stage is called a triumphant period in the history of art. Generosity, scope artistic creativity in Italy of the 15th century creates the impression of unprecedented creative activity of sculptors and painters.

The glory of the founder of painting Quattrocento belongs to to the Florentine artist Masaccio, who died very young (1401-1428). In his frescoes, figures painted according to the laws of anatomy are connected with each other and with the landscape. Its hills and trees stretch into the distance, forming a natural air environment. The life of people and nature is connected into a single whole, into a single dramatic action. This is a new word in the world art of painting.

Florence school for a long time remained a leader in the art of Italy. There was also a more conservative movement within it. The artists of this movement were monks, which is why in the history of art they were called monastic. One of the most famous among them was Giovanni Beato's brother Angelico da Fiesole (1387-1455).

A characteristic feature of late Quattrocento painting is the variety of schools and directions. At this time, the Florentine, Umbian (Piero della Francesca, Pinturicchio, Perugino), Northern Italian (Mantegni), Venetian (Giovanni Bellini) schools took shape.

One of the most outstanding artists Quattrocento - Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) - exponent of the aesthetic ideals of the court of the famous tyrant, politician, philanthropist, poet and philosopher Lorenzo Medici, nicknamed the Magnificent. The courtyard of this uncrowned sovereign was the center artistic culture, which united famous philosophers, scientists, and artists.

In Botticelli's art there is a peculiar synthesis of medieval mysticism with ancient tradition, the ideals of Gothic and Renaissance. In his mythological images there is a revival of symbolism. He depicts beautiful ancient goddesses not in sensual forms of earthly beauty, but in romantic, spiritualized, sublime images. The painting that made him famous is “The Birth of Venus.” Here we see a peculiar female image Botticelli, which cannot be confused with the works of other artists. Botticelli amazingly combined pagan sensuality and heightened spirituality, sculptural femininity and gentle fragility, sophistication, linear precision and emotionality, variability. He is one of the most poetic artists in art history. He prefers symbolic, allegorical themes, likes to dream and express himself in hints.

The early Renaissance lasted about a century. It ends with a period High Renaissance, which accounts for only about 30 years. Main center artistic life at this time Rome becomes.

If the art of the Quattrocento is analysis, searches, discoveries, the freshness of a youthful worldview, then the art of the High Renaissance is the result, synthesis, wise maturity. The search for an artistic ideal during the Quattrocento period led art to generalization, to the discovery of general patterns. The main difference between the art of the High Renaissance is that it abandons particulars, details, details in the name of a generalized image. All experience, all searches for predecessors are compressed by the great masters of the Cinquecento in a grandiose generalization.

The image of a beautiful, strong-willed person constitutes the main content of the art of that time. Unlike the art of the 15th century, it is characterized by the desire to comprehend and embody the general pattern of life phenomena.

This was the era of the Renaissance titans, which gave world culture the work of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. In the history of world culture, these three geniuses, despite all their dissimilarity, personify creative individuality main value Italian Renaissance - harmony of beauty, power and intelligence. Their lives are evidence of the change in society's attitude towards creative personality artist, which is characteristic of the Renaissance. Masters of art became noticeable and valuable figures in society; they were rightly considered the most educated people of their time.

This characteristic, perhaps more than other figures of the Renaissance, applies to Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519). He combined artistic and scientific genius. Leonardo was a scientist who studied nature not for the sake of art, but for the sake of science. That is why so few completed works of Leonardo have reached us. He started paintings and abandoned them as soon as the problem seemed clearly formulated to him. Many of his observations anticipate the development of European science and painting by entire centuries. Modern scientific discoveries fuel interest in his sci-fi engineering drawings.

His Madonna in the Grotto is the first monumental altarpiece of the High Renaissance. This big picture a format common in Renaissance painting that resembles a window rounded at the top.

A new stage in art was the painting of the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria del Grazie based on the plot of the Last Supper, which was painted by many Quattrocento artists. “The Last Supper” is the cornerstone of classical art; it carried out the program of the High Renaissance. Leonardo worked on this work for 16 years. The huge fresco, where the figures are painted one and a half times larger than life-size, became an example of a wise understanding of the laws of monumental painting associated with the real space of the interior. It embodied the artist’s scientific research in the fields of physics, optics, mathematics, and anatomy, necessary to solve problems of proportions and perspective in a vast pictorial space. Most importantly, Leonardo’s brilliant work has enormous psychological power. None of the artists depicting the Last Supper before Leonardo set such a difficult task - through reaction different people, personalities, temperaments, emotional responses to show the unified meaning of this great moment. 12 apostles, 12 different characters manifest themselves differently at the moment of mental shock. Through their emotional reactions, expressed in movement, the eternal questions of man are revealed: about love and hatred, devotion and betrayal, nobility and meanness.

One of the most famous paintings Leonardo's work "La Gioconda" became famous in the world. This portrait of the merchant del Giocondo’s wife has attracted attention for centuries, hundreds of pages of commentary have been written about it, it has been stolen, forged, copied, and witchcraft powers have been attributed to it. The elusive expression on Gioconda's face defies precise description and reproduction. This portrait became a masterpiece of Renaissance art.

For the first time in the history of world art portrait genre stood on the same level with compositions on a religious theme.

The ideas of monumental art of the Renaissance found vivid expression in the work of Raphael Santi (1483-1520). Leonardo created the classical style, Raphael approved and popularized it. Raphael's art is often defined as the "golden mean".

Raphael's work is distinguished by classic qualities - clarity, noble simplicity, harmony. In its entirety, it is connected with the spiritual culture of the Renaissance. He was 30 years younger than Leonardo, and died almost simultaneously with him, having accomplished so much in the history of art that it is difficult to imagine that one person could have accomplished it all. A versatile artist, architect, monumentalist, master of portraits and multi-figure compositions, a talented decorator, he was central figure artistic life of Rome. The pinnacle of his mastery was the “Sistine Madonna,” painted in 1516 for the Benedictine monastery in Piacenza (now the painting is in Dresden). For many, it is the measure of the most beautiful that art can create.

This altar composition has been perceived for centuries as a formula of beauty and harmony. Tragic feeling emanates from the amazingly spiritual faces of the Madonna and the Baby God, whom she gives as atonement for human sins. Madonna's gaze is directed as if through the viewer, it is full of mournful foresight. This image embodies the synthesis of the ancient ideal of beauty with the spirituality of the Christian ideal.

The historical merit of Raphael's art is that he connected two worlds into one - the Christian world and the pagan world. From that time on, the new artistic ideal was firmly established in the religious art of Western Europe.

Renaissance sculpture

The bright genius of Raphael was far from psychological depth in inner world a person like Leonardo, but even more alien to Michelangelo’s tragic worldview. Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) lived a long, difficult and heroic life. His genius manifested itself in architecture, painting, poetry, but most clearly in sculpture. He perceived the world plastically; in all areas of art he is primarily a sculptor. The human body seems to him the most worthy subject of depiction. But this is a man of a special, powerful, heroic breed. Michelangelo's art is dedicated to the glorification of the human fighter, his heroic activities and suffering. His art is characterized by gigantomania, a titanic beginning. This is the art of squares, public buildings, and not palace halls, art for the people, and not for court aristocrats.

The 15th century was the heyday of monumental sculpture in Italy. It emerges from the interiors onto the facades of churches and civil buildings, onto the city square, and becomes part of the city ensemble.

One of Michelangelo's earliest and most famous works is the five-meter statue of David in the square in Florence, symbolizing the victory of young David over the giant Goliath. The opening of the monument turned into a popular celebration, because the Florentines saw in David a hero close to them, a citizen and defender of the republic.

Renaissance sculptors turned not only to traditional Christian images, but also to living people, contemporaries. The development of the genre is associated with this desire to perpetuate the image of a real contemporary sculptural portrait, gravestone monument, portrait medal, equestrian statue. These sculptures decorated city squares, changing their appearance.

Renaissance sculpture returns to the ancient traditions of sculpture. Monuments of ancient sculpture become an object of study, an example of plastic language. Sculpture, before painting, departs from medieval canons and stands on new way development. Perhaps this is explained by the place it occupied in medieval churches. During the construction of large cathedrals, workshops were created that trained sculptors and decorators who worked here. good preparation. Sculptors' workshops were leading centers of artistic life and played a major role in the study of antiquity and the anatomy of the human body. The achievements of sculpture of the Early Renaissance had a great influence on painters who perceived a living person through the prism of plasticity. Renaissance sculptors achieve full meaning the human body, they free it from under the mass of clothing in which medieval Gothic hid the figures. The path that Hellas traveled in three centuries was completed by three generations of masters during the Renaissance.

The beginning of Renaissance painting is considered to be the era of Ducento, i.e. end of the 13th century. The Proto-Renaissance is still closely connected with the medieval Romanesque. Gothic and Byzantine traditions. Artists of the late XIII - early XIV centuries. are still far from scientific study of the surrounding reality. They express their ideas about it, also using conventional images of the Byzantine pictorial system - rocky hills, symbolic trees, conventional turrets. But sometimes the appearance of architectural structures is so accurately reproduced that this indicates the existence of sketches from life. Traditional religious characters begin to be depicted in a world endowed with the properties of reality - volume, spatial depth, material substance. The search begins for methods of transmission on the plane of volume and three-dimensional space. The masters of this time revived the principle of light and shadow modeling of forms, known from antiquity. Thanks to it, figures and buildings acquire density and volume.

Apparently, the first to use ancient perspective was the Florentine Cenni di Pepo (information from 1272 to 1302), nicknamed Cimabue. Unfortunately, his most significant work - a series of paintings on themes from the Apocalypse, the life of Mary and the Apostle Peter in the Church of San Francesco in Assisi has reached us in an almost destroyed state. His altar compositions, which are located in Florence and in the Louvre Museum, are better preserved. They also go back to Byzantine prototypes, but they clearly show the features of a new approach to religious painting. Cimabue returns from Italian painting of the 13th century, which adopted Byzantine traditions, to their immediate origins. He felt in them what remained inaccessible to his contemporaries - the harmonious principle and the sublime Hellenic beauty of the images.

Great artists appear as bold innovators who reject the traditional system. Such a reformer in Italian painting of the 14th century should be recognized Giotto di Bondone(1266-1337). He is the creator of a new pictorial system, the great transformer of all European painting, the true founder of new art. This is a genius who rises high above his contemporaries and many of his followers.

A Florentine by birth, he worked in many cities in Italy: from Padua and Milan in the north to Naples in the south. The most famous of Giotto's works that have come down to us is a cycle of paintings in the Arena Chapel in Padua, dedicated to the gospel stories about the life of Christ. This unique pictorial ensemble is one of the landmark works in the history of European art. Instead of disconnected individual scenes and figures characteristic of medieval painting, Giotto created a single epic cycle. 38 scenes from the life of Christ and Mary (“Meeting of Mary and Elizabeth”, “Kiss of Judas”, “Lamentation”, etc.) through the language of painting are connected into a single narrative . Instead of the usual golden Byzantine background, Giotto introduces a landscape background. The figures no longer float in space, but find solid ground under their feet. And although they are still inactive, they show a desire to convey the anatomy of the human body and the naturalness of movement.

The reform carried out by Giotto in painting made a deep impression on all his contemporaries. Unanimous reviews of him as a great painter, an abundance of customers and patrons, honorary commissions in many cities in Italy - all this suggests that his contemporaries perfectly understood the significance of his art. But the coming generations imitated Giotto like timid students, borrowing details from him.

Giotto's influence acquired its strength and fruitfulness only a century later. The Quattrocento artists accomplished the tasks set by Giotto.

The glory of the founder of painting Quattrocento belongs to the Florentine artist Masaccio, who died very young (1401-1428). He was the first to solve the main problems of Renaissance painting - linear and aerial perspective. In his frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in the Florentine church of Santa Maria del Carmine, figures painted according to the laws of anatomy are connected with each other and with the landscape.

The Church of Santa Maria del Carmine became a kind of academy where generations of artists who were influenced by Masaccio studied: Paolo Uccello, Andrei Castagno, Domenico Veniziano and many others up to Michelangelo.

The Florentine school remained leading in Italian art for a long time. There was also a more conservative movement within it. Some artists of this movement were monks, which is why in the history of art they were called monastic. One of the most famous among them was fra (i.e. brother - the address of monks to each other) Giovanni Beato Angelico da Fiesole(1387-1455). His images of biblical characters are written in the spirit of medieval traditions; they are full of lyricism, calm dignity and contemplation. His landscape backgrounds are imbued with the sense of joie de vivre characteristic of the Renaissance.

One of the most prominent artists of the Quattrocento - Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510) - exponent of the aesthetic ideals of the court of the famous tyrant, politician, philanthropist, poet and philosopher Lorenzo Medici, nicknamed the Magnificent. The court of this uncrowned sovereign was a center of artistic culture, uniting famous philosophers, scientists, and artists.

The early Renaissance lasted about a century. It ends with the High Renaissance, which lasts only about 30 years. Rome became the main center of artistic life at this time.

By the turn of the XV-XVI centuries. refers to the beginning of a long-term foreign intervention in Italy, the fragmentation and enslavement of the country, the loss of independence of free cities, and the strengthening of the feudal-Catholic reaction. But a patriotic feeling grew among the Italian people, promoting political activity and the growth of national consciousness, and the desire for national unification. This rise of popular consciousness created a wide folk basis High Renaissance culture.

The end of the Cinquecento is associated with 1530, when the Italian states lost their freedom, becoming the prey of powerful European monarchies. The socio-political and economic crisis of Italy, which is based not on the industrial revolution, but on international trade, has been prepared for a long time. The discovery of America and new trade routes deprived Italian cities of advantages in international trade. But, as is known, in the history of culture, periods of flowering of art do not coincide with the general socio-economic development of society. And in a period of economic decline and political enslavement, in difficult times for Italy, a short-lived century of the Italian Renaissance began - the High Renaissance. It was at this time that the humanistic culture of Italy became a worldwide property and ceased to be a local phenomenon. Italian artists began to enjoy the pan-European popularity that they truly deserved.

If the art of the Quattrocento is analysis, searches, discoveries, the freshness of a youthful worldview, then the art of the High Renaissance is the result, synthesis, wise maturity. The search for an artistic ideal during the Quattrocento period led art to generalization, to the discovery of general patterns. The main difference between the art of the High Renaissance is that it abandons particulars, details, details in the name of a generalized image. All experience, all searches for predecessors are compressed by the great masters of the Cinquecento in a grandiose generalization.

The realistic method of High Renaissance artists is unique. They are convinced that the significant can only exist in a beautiful shell. Therefore, they strive to see only exceptional phenomena that rise above everyday life. Italian artists created images of heroic personalities, beautiful and strong-willed people.

This was the era of the Renaissance titans, which gave world culture the work of Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo. In the history of world culture, these three geniuses, despite all their dissimilarity and creative individuality, personify the main value of the Italian Renaissance - the harmony of beauty, power and intelligence. The fates of these artists (whose powerful human and artistic individuality forced them to act as rivals and to treat each other with hostility) had much in common. All three were formed in the Florentine school, and then worked at the courts of patrons of the arts, mainly the popes. Their life is evidence of the change in society's attitude towards the creative personality of the artist, which is characteristic of the Renaissance. Masters of art became noticeable and valuable figures in society; they were rightly considered the most educated people of their time.

This characteristic, perhaps more than other figures of the Renaissance, suits Leonardo da Vinci(1452-1519). He combined artistic and scientific genius. Leonardo was a scientist who studied nature not for the sake of art, but for the sake of science. That is why so few completed works of Leonardo have reached us. He started paintings and abandoned them as soon as the problem seemed clearly formulated to him. Many of his observations anticipate the development of European science and painting by entire centuries. Modern scientific discoveries fuel interest in his sci-fi engineering drawings. Leonardo's theoretical reflections on colors, which he outlined in his Treatise on Painting, anticipate the main premises of impressionism of the 19th century. Leonardo wrote about the purity of the sound of colors only on the light side of an object, about the mutual influence of colors, about the need for painting on outdoors. These observations by Leonardo are not used at all in his painting. He was more of a theorist than a practitioner. Only in the 20th century did the active collection and processing of his huge manuscript heritage (about 7,000 pages) begin. Its study will undoubtedly lead to new discoveries and explanations of the mysteries of the legendary creativity of this Renaissance titan.

A new stage in art was the painting of the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie on the subject of the Last Supper, which was painted by many Quattrocento artists. "The Last Supper" is the cornerstone of classical art; it carried out the program of the High Renaissance. It influences with absolute thoughtfulness, coherence of parts and the whole, and the power of its spiritual concentration.

Leonardo worked on this work for 16 years.

One of the most famous paintings in the world was Leonardo's La Gioconda. This portrait of the merchant del Giocondo’s wife has attracted attention for centuries, hundreds of pages of commentary have been written about it, it has been stolen, forged, copied, and witchcraft powers have been attributed to it. The elusive expression on Gioconda's face defies precise description and reproduction. The slightest change in shades (which may simply depend on the lighting of the portrait) in the corners of the lips, in the transitions from the chin to the cheek, changes the character of the face. In different reproductions, Gioconda looks slightly different, sometimes a little softer, sometimes more ironic, sometimes more thoughtful. There is elusiveness in the very appearance of Mona Lisa, in her penetrating gaze, as if inextricably following the viewer, in her half-smile. This portrait became a masterpiece of Renaissance art. For the first time in the history of world art, the portrait genre stood on the same level as compositions on a religious theme.

The ideas of monumental art of the Renaissance found vivid expression in creativity Rafael Santi(1483-1520). Leonardo created the classical style, Raphael approved and popularized it. Raphael's art is often defined as the "golden mean". His composition surpasses everything that was created in European painting with its absolute harmony of proportions. For five centuries, Raphael's art has been perceived as the highest reference point in the spiritual life of mankind, as one of the examples of aesthetic perfection. Raphael's work is distinguished by classic qualities - clarity, noble simplicity, harmony. In its entirety, it is connected with the spiritual culture of the Renaissance.

The most outstanding of Raphael's monumental works are the paintings of the Vatican apartments of the pope. Multi-figure large-scale compositions cover all the walls of three halls. Raphael's students helped him in painting. He executed the best frescoes, such as the “School of Athens,” with his own hands. The subjects of the painting included fresco allegories of the main spheres of human spiritual activity: philosophy, poetry, theology and justice. In Raphael's paintings and frescoes there is an ideally sublime depiction of Christian images, ancient myths and human history. He knew how to combine the values ​​of earthly existence and ideal ideas like no other of the Renaissance masters. The historical merit of his art is that he connected two worlds into one - the Christian world and the pagan world. From that time on, the new artistic ideal was firmly established in the religious art of Western Europe.

The bright genius of Raphael was far from the psychological depth into the inner world of man, like Leonardo, but he was even more alien to the tragic worldview of Michelangelo. In the work of Michelangelo, the collapse of the Renaissance style was marked and the sprouts of a new artistic worldview emerged. Michelangelo Buonarroti(1475-1564) lived a long, difficult and heroic life. His genius manifested itself in architecture, painting, poetry, but most clearly in sculpture. He perceived the world plastically; in all areas of art he is primarily a sculptor. The human body seems to him the most worthy subject of depiction. But this is a man of a special, powerful, heroic breed. Michelangelo's art is dedicated to the glorification of the human fighter, his heroic activities and suffering. His art is characterized by gigantomania, a titanic beginning. This is the art of squares, public buildings, and not palace halls, art for the people, and not for court aristocrats.

The most ambitious of his works was the painting of the vault Sistine Chapel. Michelangelo accomplished a truly titanic work - within four years he alone painted an area of ​​about 600 square meters. meters. Day after day, he wrote at a height of 18 meters, standing on scaffolding and throwing his head back. After finishing the painting, his health was completely undermined, and his body was disfigured (his chest fell in, his body arched, his goiter grew; for a long time the artist could not look straight ahead and read while raising a book above his head). The grandiose painting is dedicated to scenes of sacred history, starting from the creation of the world. Michelangelo painted about 200 figures and figurative compositions on the ceiling. Never and nowhere has there been anything comparable to Michelangelo's plan in scope and integrity. On the vault of the Sistine Chapel, he created a hymn in honor of heroic humanity. His heroes are living people, there is nothing supernatural about them, but at the same time, they are wonderful, powerful, titanic personalities. The Quattrocento masters, long before Michelangelo, illustrated various episodes of church tradition on the walls of the chapel; Michelangelo wanted to represent the fate of humanity before redemption on the vault.

Any idea that the picture is a plane disappears. The figures move freely in space. Michelangelo's frescoes break through the plane of the wall. This illusion of space and movement was a huge achievement of European art. Michelangelo's discovery that decoration can push forward or cause walls and ceilings to recede is later exploited decorative arts baroque.

Art, true to the traditions of the Renaissance, continues to live in the 16th century in Venice, the city that retained its independence the longest. In this rich patrician-merchant republic, which had long maintained trade relations with Byzantium and the Arab East, oriental tastes and traditions were processed in their own way. The main impact of Venetian painting is in its extraordinary color. The love of color gradually led artists Venetian school to a new pictorial principle. The volume and materiality of the image are achieved not by cut-off modeling, but by the art of color modeling.

The Renaissance is a phenomenal phenomenon in the history of mankind. Never again has there been such a brilliant outbreak in the field of art. Sculptors, architects and artists of the Renaissance (their list is long, but we will touch on the most famous), whose names are known to everyone, gave the world priceless Unique and exceptional people who showed themselves not in one field, but in several at once.

Early Renaissance painting

The Renaissance era has a relative time frame. First of all, it began in Italy - 1420-1500. At this time, painting and all art in general are not much different from the recent past. However, elements borrowed from classical antiquity begin to appear for the first time. And only in subsequent years, sculptors, architects and artists of the Renaissance (the list of which is very long) were influenced modern conditions life and progressive trends finally abandon medieval foundations. They boldly adopt the best examples of ancient art for their works, both in general and in individual details. Their names are known to many; let’s focus on the most prominent personalities.

Masaccio - the genius of European painting

It was he who made a huge contribution to the development of painting, becoming a great reformer. The Florentine master was born in 1401 into a family of artistic artisans, so a sense of taste and the desire to create were in his blood. At the age of 16-17 he moved to Florence, where he worked in workshops. Donatello and Brunelleschi, great sculptors and architects, are rightfully considered his teachers. Communication with them and the skills adopted could not but affect the young painter. From the first, Masaccio borrowed a new understanding of the human personality, characteristic of sculpture. The second master has the basics. Researchers consider the “Triptych of San Giovenale” (in the first photo), which was discovered in a small church near the town where Masaccio was born, to be the first reliable work. The main work is the frescoes dedicated to the life story of St. Peter. The artist participated in the creation of six of them, namely: “The Miracle of the Statir”, “Expulsion from Paradise”, “Baptism of Neophytes”, “Distribution of Property and Death of Ananias”, “Resurrection of the Son of Theophilus”, “St. Peter Heals the Sick with His Shadow” and "St. Peter in the Pulpit."

Italian artists of the Renaissance were people who devoted themselves entirely to art, not paying attention to ordinary everyday problems, which sometimes led them to a poor existence. Masaccio is no exception: the brilliant master died very early, at the age of 27-28, leaving behind great works and a large number of debts.

Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)

This is a representative of the Paduan school of painters. He received the basics of his craft from his adoptive father. The style was formed under the influence of the works of Masaccio, Andrea del Castagno, Donatello and Venetian painting. This determined the somewhat harsh and harsh manner of Andrea Mantegna compared to the Florentines. He was a collector and connoisseur of cultural works of the ancient period. Thanks to his style, unlike any other, he became famous as an innovator. His most famous works: “Dead Christ”, “Triumph of Caesar”, “Judith”, “Battle of the Sea Deities”, “Parnassus” (pictured), etc. From 1460 until his death he worked as a court painter for the Dukes of Gonzaga.

Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510)

Botticelli is a pseudonym real name- Filipepi. He did not choose the path of an artist right away, but initially studied jewelry craftsmanship. In his first independent works (several “Madonnas”) one can feel the influence of Masaccio and Lippi. Later he also made a name for himself as a portrait painter; the bulk of orders came from Florence. The refined and sophisticated nature of his works with elements of stylization (generalization of images using conventional techniques - simplicity of form, color, volume) distinguishes him from other masters of that time. A contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci and the young Michelangelo, he left a bright mark on world art (“The Birth of Venus” (photo), “Spring”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Venus and Mars”, “Christmas”, etc.). His painting is sincere and sensitive, and life path complex and tragic. The romantic perception of the world at a young age gave way to mysticism and religious exaltation in adulthood. The last years of his life Sandro Botticelli lived in poverty and oblivion.

Piero (Pietro) della Francesca (1420-1492)

Italian painter and another representative of the era early Renaissance originally from Tuscany. The author's style was formed under the influence of the Florentine school of painting. In addition to his talent as an artist, Piero della Francesca had outstanding abilities in the field of mathematics, and recent years dedicated his life to her, trying to connect her with high art. The result was two scientific treatises: “On Perspective in Painting” and “The Book of Five the right bodies" His style is distinguished by solemnity, harmony and nobility of images, compositional balance, precise lines and construction, and a soft range of colors. Piero della Francesca had amazing knowledge for that time technical side painting and perspective features, which earned him high authority among his contemporaries. The most famous works: “The History of the Queen of Sheba”, “The Flagellation of Christ” (pictured), “Altar of Montefeltro”, etc.

High Renaissance painting

If the Proto-Renaissance and the early era lasted almost a century and a half and a century, respectively, then this period covers only a few decades (in Italy from 1500 to 1527). It was a bright, dazzling flash that gave the world a whole galaxy of great, versatile and brilliant people. All branches of art went hand in hand, so many masters were also scientists, sculptors, inventors, and not just Renaissance artists. The list is long, but the peak of the Renaissance was marked by the work of L. da Vinci, M. Buanarotti and R. Santi.

The Extraordinary Genius of Da Vinci

Perhaps this is the most extraordinary and outstanding personality in the history of world artistic culture. He was a universal man in the full sense of the word and possessed the most versatile knowledge and talents. Artist, sculptor, art theorist, mathematician, architect, anatomist, astronomer, physicist and engineer - all this is about him. Moreover, in each of the areas, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) proved himself to be an innovator. Only 15 of his paintings, as well as many sketches, have survived to this day. Possessing amazing vital energy and a thirst for knowledge, he was impatient and fascinated by the process of learning itself. At a very young age (20 years old) he qualified as a master of the Guild of St. Luke. His most important works were the fresco “The Last Supper”, the paintings “Mona Lisa”, “Benois Madonna” (pictured above), “Lady with an Ermine”, etc.

Portraits of Renaissance artists are rare. They preferred to leave their images in paintings with many faces. Thus, controversy surrounding da Vinci’s self-portrait (pictured) continues to this day. There are versions that he made it at the age of 60. According to the biographer, artist and writer Vasari, the great master died in the arms of his close friend King Francis I in his castle of Clos-Lucé.

Raphael Santi (1483-1520)

Artist and architect originally from Urbino. His name in art is invariably associated with the idea of ​​sublime beauty and natural harmony. In a fairly short life (37 years), he created many world-famous paintings, frescoes and portraits. The subjects he depicted were very diverse, but he was always attracted by the image of the Mother of God. Absolutely justifiably, Raphael is called the “master of Madonnas,” especially those painted by him in Rome. He worked in the Vatican from 1508 until the end of his life as an official artist at the papal court.

Comprehensively gifted, like many other great artists of the Renaissance, Raphael was also an architect and was also involved in archaeological excavations. According to one version, the latest hobby is directly related to premature death. Presumably, he contracted Roman fever at the excavations. The great master was buried in the Pantheon. The photo is his self-portrait.

Michelangelo Buoanarroti (1475-1564)

The long 70-year-old man was bright; he left to his descendants imperishable creations of not only painting, but also sculpture. Like other great Renaissance artists, Michelangelo lived in a time full of historical events and shocks. His art is a wonderful final note of the entire Renaissance.

The master put sculpture above all other arts, but by the will of fate he became an outstanding painter and architect. His most ambitious and extraordinary work is the painting (pictured) in the palace in the Vatican. The area of ​​the fresco exceeds 600 square meters and contains 300 human figures. The most impressive and familiar is the Last Judgment scene.

Italian Renaissance artists had multifaceted talents. So, few people know that Michelangelo was also an excellent poet. This facet of his genius fully manifested itself towards the end of his life. About 300 poems have survived to this day.

Late Renaissance painting

The final period covers the time period from 1530 to 1590-1620. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Renaissance is like historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527. Around the same time, the Counter-Reformation triumphed in southern Europe. The Catholic movement looked with caution at any free-thinking, including the glorification of the beauty of the human body and the resurrection of the art of the ancient period - that is, everything that was the pillars of the Renaissance. This resulted in a special movement - mannerism, characterized by the loss of harmony of the spiritual and physical, man and nature. But even in this difficult period, some famous artists The Renaissance created their masterpieces. Among them are Antonio da Correggio (considered the founder of classicism and Palladianism) and Titian.

Titian Vecellio (1488-1490 - 1676)

He is rightfully considered a titan of the Renaissance, along with Michelangelo, Raphael and da Vinci. Even before he turned 30, Titian gained the reputation of “king of painters and painter of kings.” The artist mainly painted paintings on mythological and biblical themes; moreover, he became famous as an excellent portrait painter. Contemporaries believed that to be captured by the brush of a great master meant to gain immortality. And this is true. Orders to Titian came from the most revered and noble persons: popes, kings, cardinals and dukes. Here are just a few of his most famous works: “Venus of Urbino”, “The Rape of Europa” (pictured), “Carrying the Cross”, “Crown of Thorns”, “Madonna of Pesaro”, “Woman with a Mirror”, etc.

Nothing is repeated twice. The Renaissance era gave humanity brilliant, extraordinary personalities. Their names are included in world history art in gold letters. Architects and sculptors, writers and artists of the Renaissance - the list is very long. We touched only on the titans who made history and brought the ideas of enlightenment and humanism to the world.

Renaissance painting constitutes the golden fund of not only European but also world art. The Renaissance period replaced the dark Middle Ages, subordinate to the core of church canons, and preceded the subsequent Enlightenment and the New Age.

It is worth calculating the duration of the period depending on the country. The era of cultural flourishing, as it is commonly called, began in Italy in the 14th century, and then spread throughout Europe and reached its apogee by the end of the 15th century. Historians divide this period in art into four stages: Proto-Renaissance, early, high and late Renaissance. Of particular value and interest is, of course, italian painting Renaissance, however, one should not lose sight of French, German, and Dutch masters. It is about them in the context of the time periods of the Renaissance that will be discussed further in the article.

Proto-Renaissance

The Proto-Renaissance period lasted from the second half of the 13th century. to the 14th century It is closely connected with the Middle Ages, in the late stage of which it originated. The Proto-Renaissance is the predecessor of the Renaissance and combines Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic traditions. Before all the trends new era appeared in sculpture, and only then in painting. The latter was represented by two schools of Siena and Florence.

The main figure of the period was the artist and architect Giotto di Bondone. The representative of the Florentine school of painting became a reformer. He outlined the path along which it further developed. The features of Renaissance painting originate precisely in this period. It is generally accepted that Giotto managed to overcome the style of icon painting common to Byzantium and Italy in his works. He made the space not two-dimensional, but three-dimensional, using chiaroscuro to create the illusion of depth. The photo shows the painting “The Kiss of Judas”.

Representatives of the Florentine school stood at the origins of the Renaissance and did everything to bring painting out of the long medieval stagnation.

The Proto-Renaissance period was divided into two parts: before and after his death. Until 1337, the brightest masters worked and the most important discoveries took place. Afterwards, Italy is hit by a plague epidemic.

Renaissance Painting: Briefly about the Early Period

The Early Renaissance covers a period of 80 years: from 1420 to 1500. At this time, it has not yet completely departed from past traditions and is still associated with the art of the Middle Ages. However, the breath of new trends is already felt; masters are beginning to turn more often to elements of classical antiquity. Ultimately, artists completely abandon the medieval style and begin to boldly use the best examples ancient culture. Note that the process went rather slowly, step by step.

Bright representatives of the early Renaissance

The work of the Italian artist Piero della Francesca entirely belongs to the early Renaissance period. His works are distinguished by nobility, majestic beauty and harmony, accurate perspective, soft colors filled with light. In the last years of his life, in addition to painting, he studied mathematics in depth and even wrote two of his own treatises. His student was another famous painter, Luca Signorelli, and the style was reflected in the works of many Umbrian masters. In the photo above is a fragment of a fresco in the Church of San Francesco in Arezzo, “The History of the Queen of Sheba.”

Domenico Ghirlandaio is another prominent representative of the Florentine school of Renaissance painting of the early period. He was the founder of a famous artistic dynasty and the head of the workshop where young Michelangelo began. Ghirlandaio was a famous and successful master who was engaged not only in fresco painting (Tornabuoni Chapel, Sistine), but also in easel painting (“Adoration of the Magi”, “Nativity”, “Old Man with Grandson”, “Portrait of Giovanna Tornabuoni” - pictured below).

High Renaissance

This period, in which the style developed magnificently, falls on 1500-1527. At this time, the center of Italian art moved to Rome from Florence. This is connected with the ascension to the papal throne of the ambitious, enterprising Julius II, who attracted the most best artists Italy. Rome became something like Athens during the time of Pericles and experienced an incredible growth and construction boom. At the same time, there is harmony between the branches of art: sculpture, architecture and painting. The Renaissance brought them together. They seem to go hand in hand, complementing each other and interacting.

Antiquity is studied more thoroughly during the High Renaissance and reproduced with maximum accuracy, rigor and consistency. Dignity and calm replace flirtatious beauty, and medieval traditions are completely forgotten. The pinnacle of the Renaissance is marked by the work of three of the greatest Italian masters: Raphael Santi (the painting “Donna Velata” in the image above), Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci (“Mona Lisa” - in the first photo).

Late Renaissance

The Late Renaissance covers the period from the 1530s to the 1590s to the 1620s in Italy. Art critics and historians reduce the works of this time to a common denominator with a large degree of convention. Southern Europe was under the influence of the Counter-Reformation that triumphed in it, which perceived with great caution any free-thinking, including the resurrection of the ideals of antiquity.

In Florence, there was a dominance of Mannerism, characterized by artificial colors and broken lines. However, he reached Parma, where Correggio worked, only after the death of the master. had its own development path Venetian painting Renaissance late period. Palladio and Titian, who worked there until the 1570s, are its brightest representatives. Their work had nothing in common with new trends in Rome and Florence.

Northern Renaissance

This term is used to describe the Renaissance throughout Europe, outside Italy in general and in German-speaking countries in particular. It has a number of features. The Northern Renaissance was not homogeneous and was characterized by specific features in each country. Art historians divide it into several directions: French, German, Dutch, Spanish, Polish, English, etc.

The awakening of Europe took two paths: the development and spread of a humanistic secular worldview, and the development of ideas for the renewal of religious traditions. Both of them touched, sometimes merged, but at the same time they were antagonists. Italy chose the first path, and Northern Europe- second.

The Renaissance had virtually no influence on the art of the north, including painting, until 1450. From 1500 it spread throughout the continent, but in some places the influence of late Gothic remained until the advent of the Baroque.

The Northern Renaissance is characterized by a significant influence of the Gothic style, less close attention to the study of antiquity and human anatomy, and a detailed and careful writing technique. The Reformation had an important ideological influence on him.

French Northern Renaissance

The closest to Italian is french painting. The Renaissance was an important stage for French culture. At this time, the monarchy and bourgeois relations were actively strengthening, the religious ideas of the Middle Ages faded into the background, giving way to humanistic tendencies. Representatives: Francois Quesnel, Jean Fouquet (pictured is a fragment of the master's "Melen Diptych"), Jean Clouse, Jean Goujon, Marc Duval, Francois Clouet.

German and Dutch Northern Renaissance

Outstanding works of the Northern Renaissance were created by German and Flemish-Dutch masters. Religion continued to play a significant role in these countries, and it greatly influenced painting. The Renaissance took a different path in the Netherlands and Germany. Unlike the work of Italian masters, the artists of these countries did not place man at the center of the universe. Throughout almost the entire 15th century. they portrayed him in the Gothic style: light and ethereal. The most prominent representatives of the Dutch Renaissance are Hubert van Eyck, Jan van Eyck, Robert Campen, Hugo van der Goes, the German - Albert Durer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Hans Holbein, Matthias Grunewald.

The photo shows a self-portrait of A. Durer from 1498.

Despite the fact that the works of northern masters differ significantly from the works of Italian painters, they are in any case recognized as priceless exhibits of fine art.

Renaissance painting, like all culture as a whole, is characterized by a secular character, humanism and so-called anthropocentrism, or, in other words, a primary interest in man and his activities. During this period, there was a real flowering of interest in ancient art, and its revival took place. The era gave the world a galaxy of brilliant sculptors, architects, writers, poets and artists. Never before or since has cultural flourishing been so widespread.