History of Italy.

Renaissance.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, Italy, despite its political fragmentation, underwent profound, albeit gradual, transformations. Political turmoil, the accumulation of wealth in this center of world trade and, finally, the rich history of Italy contributed to the Renaissance - the revival of the traditions of the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome.

The growth of prosperity was accompanied by the formation of a society that was urban, secular and deeply individualistic. The cities, which had already arisen in the Roman era and never completely disappeared, were revived thanks to a huge upsurge in trade and industry. Moreover, the feuds between emperors and popes allowed the cities, by maneuvering between both sides, to free themselves from external control. Everywhere, with the exception of the south of the Apennine Peninsula, cities began to extend their power to the surrounding countryside. The feudal nobility had to abandon their habitual way of life and participate in intellectual and spiritual activities in the cities.

Politically, feudal anarchy gave way to complete chaos. With the exception of the Kingdom of Naples located in the south, the Apennine Peninsula was divided into many small city-states, almost completely independent of both the emperor and the pope. Of course, various kinds of seizures and mergers took place, but many cities could successfully stand up for themselves, and no agreements or forces could force them to unite. At the same time, sharp social contradictions in the cities themselves and the need to form a united front against external enemies contributed to the fall of many republican regimes, which made it easier for despots to seize power. People, tired of instability, themselves sought or approved the emergence of such tyrants who ruled with the help of mercenaries (condottieri), but at the same time sought to gain respect and support from the townspeople. During this period, there was a significant expansion of larger states at the expense of small ones, and by 1494 only five large states and even fewer city-states remained.

The Duchy of Milan, the Florentine and Venetian Republics, the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples were the most significant political formations of the Apennine Peninsula. Milan, under the rule of the Sforza family, became one of the richest states and a center of arts and education.

Just as Milan dominated the Lombard plain and controlled the Alpine passes leading to Northern Europe, Venice, built on the islands of the lagoon, dominated the Adriatic Sea. Keeping aloof from the complex vicissitudes of Italian politics, Venice, due to its geographical position, played the role of an intermediary in trade between Western and Eastern Europe. Venice was ruled by wealthy families who elected from their midst the doge, the head of the city for life, who ruled with the help of the Senate and the Council of Ten. Under the treaty of 1454 concluded between Venice and Milan, the latter recognized Venice as a mainland state in eastern Lombardy and on the northern shores of the Adriatic Sea.

Florence retained the appearance of a republican form of government, but frequent coups, strife between parties and the domination of the oligarchy, which consisted of a narrow circle of wealthy families, led to the recognition by the inhabitants of the city in 1434 of the power of the Medici family. Formally, the republican form of government was preserved, but in reality, Cosimo Medici and his successors behaved like real despots. The heyday of the dynasty was achieved under Lorenzo the Magnificent (r. 1469–1492), a poet, patron of the arts and sciences, statesman and diplomat.

The Papal States occupied a significant part of central Italy, including the Romagna, and in the east almost reached the borders of Venice. Nominally, this territory was ruled by the pope, but in fact it was fragmented into numerous fiefs, where the rulers established their own rules. Many Renaissance popes were as secular as the Italian sovereigns, and kept luxurious courts. Popes Nicholas V (1447–1455), who founded the Vatican Library, and Pius II (1458–1464) did much to revive education in the spirit of antiquity. The heyday of the Renaissance fell on the reigns of Popes Julius II (1503-1513) and Leo X (1513-1521). The Kingdom of Naples included the territory of Italy south of the borders of the Papal States. True, until 1435 Sicily was a separate kingdom, which was ruled by the Angevin dynasty of France until the transfer of power to King Alfonso I of the Aragonese dynasty. Under the reign of Alfonso, Naples experienced a period of economic upsurge and flourishing of the arts, although this kingdom was politically different from the city-states of northern Italy. In 1504 Naples was conquered by Spain and gradually lost its independence over the next two centuries.

During the Renaissance, Italy prospered due to the delicate balance of political and cultural factors that prevailed then in Europe and in the world as a whole. In the 14th - first half of the 15th century. The country was divided into many independent states. Dynastic, institutional and social factors prevented the transformation of the Italian cultural community into any real form of political unity. As Machiavelli and other Italian thinkers of this time argued, it is in the prevailing historical paradox that one should look for the roots of the brilliance and tragedy of the Italian Renaissance. The fall of the two universal power systems of the Middle Ages - the Holy Roman Empire and the papacy - repeatedly prompted attempts to unify Italy.

For more than a hundred years (1305-1414), energetic efforts were directed towards this, coming from the North, Center and South of Italy. Their goal was to achieve in one form or another the unity of the country, or at least to bring many states under a common political authority. The most significant of these efforts were successively supported by Roberto of Naples (1308–1343), Cola di Rienzo in Rome (1347–1354), Archbishop Giovanni Visconti of Milan (1349–1359), and Cardinal Egidio Albornoz (1352–1367) of Rome. The last two serious attempts in the North and South, respectively, were made under the leadership of Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan (1385–1402) and the Neapolitan king Vladislav (1402–1414). In all these cases, coalitions of other forces in Italy gathered under the banner of "freedom of Italy" and successfully resisted the desire to impose a single government on the country. After the defeat of Gian Galeazzo and Vladislav, a series of wars followed between the five largest Italian states.

In the middle of the 15th century Italy faced two new adverse factors in international life. In the West, beyond the Alps, the protracted struggle between the feudal dynasties of Europe, in particular the Anglo-French conflict, was coming to an end. Therefore, it was to be expected that large continental states - France, Spain and Austria - would soon intervene in Italian affairs. On the eastern - Mediterranean and Adriatic - flanks of Italy, there was a threat from the Ottomans.

Far-sighted statesmen in each of the five major Italian states soon realized that Italy's protracted "civil war" must be ended. Peace negotiations began. On the initiative of Cosimo de' Medici of Florence and Pope Nicholas V, Francesco Foscari, Doge of Venice, and Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, concluded the Peace of Lodia in April 1454. A federation was born, joined by the Neapolitan king Alfonso of Aragon and, eventually, the smaller Italian states under the rule of the pope. The Holy League of Italian States imposed a ban on conflicts within the Apennine Peninsula and created a new structure of peaceful coexistence.

For almost forty years, from 1454 to 1494, Italy enjoyed peace and the flowering of Renaissance culture, manifested in art, science and philosophy. Until 1492, Lorenzo Medici acted as an arbiter in politics and ruled Italy without involving it in alliances with foreign European powers. However, less than two years after the death of Lorenzo, fear, ambition and selfishness gave rise to an atmosphere of mutual distrust among the rulers of the Italian states.

The French King Charles VIII has taken it upon himself to rid Italy of the real and partly fictitious hardships provoked by the actions of selfish sovereigns. The Florentine religious leader Savonarola openly condemned these actions. In 1494 Charles VIII invaded Italy and on February 22, 1495 entered Rome; then other invasions followed. In 1527, Rome was sacked by the troops of Emperor Charles V of the Habsburg dynasty. Under the peace concluded at Cambrai in 1529, the French had to give up their claims in Italy, but later they made new, equally unsuccessful attempts to expel the Habsburgs from Italy. The Italian wars ended in 1559 with the Peace of Cato Cambresi, according to which most of Italy was included in the Habsburg Empire.

With the victory of Spain over France on the Apennine Peninsula, the independence of the Italian states was put to an end, many of which remained dependent on foreign powers for almost two centuries. The rapid development of Mediterranean trade, which nourished the cultural achievements of the Renaissance in Italy, slowed down in the 16th century, when, following the discovery of America, the main trade routes moved to the Atlantic. Genoa and Venice survived as independent republics, but their economies also declined. The most powerful of the Italian sovereigns was now the Pope, not only as the secular head of the Papal States, but also as the leader of the Counter-Reformation. The reform of the Catholic doctrine, adopted at the Council of Trent (1545-1563), influenced the political, cultural and religious life of Italy, and already under Pope Paul IV (1555-1559), the Catholic Church began to eradicate heresies. The activity of the Inquisition became more severe. Its victims included free-thinking Dominican priest Giordano Bruno, who was burned at the stake as a heretic, and Galileo Galilei, who was forced to abandon his pioneering scientific theories.

Spanish dominance in the Apennine Peninsula continued into the 17th century, although it was repeatedly challenged by France, especially under Louis XIV. However, when France was defeated in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), by the Peace of Utrecht in 1713 the Austrian Habsburgs became the main dominant force in Italy. The treaty concluded at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, which ended the War of the Austrian Succession, finally brought the long-awaited peace to the Italian states. Since then, their borders have hardly changed for more than 100 years until the beginning of the unification of the country. The most important event was the granting of real autonomy to Piedmont and Naples (in the first, the Savoy dynasty ruled, and in the second, the Spanish Bourbons). In the middle of the 18th century all of Italy experienced a period of economic and cultural revival, and Milan, Florence and Naples became major centers of European enlightenment. Composition by Cesare Beccaria (1738–1794) Crimes and punishments laid the foundations of modern criminology and criminal law and was soon translated into many European languages. This work helped in many ways to draw up a new code of laws introduced by Duke Leopold of Tuscany, one of the most progressive Italian rulers of the 18th century. In Naples, where the ruling Bourbons were also active reformers, Antonio Genovesi (1712–1769) was appointed head of Europe's first chair of political economy.

Thanks to the participation of so many Italians in the public life of the Enlightenment, Italy again became the leading force in European history, while the need for reform increased. Important social transformations were carried out by the Austrian government in Lombardy, as well as in the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Duchy of Tuscany and in the South, but met with local resistance in other parts of the Apennine Peninsula (especially in the Papal States, the Venetian and Genoese Republics), where the reforms did not have much success.

The French Revolution of 1789 had a decisive influence on the Italian states and their development. The revolution confirmed the need for a radical transformation of society, and when French troops led by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) invaded northern Italy in 1796, the supporters of the revolution were able to establish republican rule under the protection of French army. So, Genoa became the Ligurian Republic (June 1797), Milan became the center of the Cisalpine Republic (July 1797), the advance of the French army to the south led to the emergence of the Roman Republic (February 1798). Finally, the Parthenopian Republic was formed in Naples (January 1799).

This "republican" experiment, however, was short-lived. In April 1799, the combined Austro-Russian army under the command of General A.V. Suvorov defeated the French troops in Northern Italy. When the French retreated, the Italian republics fell, and those who supported the French suffered severe repression. However, the coup d'état in France by Napoleon in 1799 and his impressive victory over the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo in 1800 set the stage for a longer French occupation and subsequent redrawing of the map of the Apennine Peninsula. Piedmont was transformed into a state dependent on France on the site of the former Cisalpine Republic. It was called the Italian Republic, and since 1804, when Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor and accepted the crown of the King of Italy in the Milan Cathedral, it was renamed the Italian Kingdom. The Kingdom of Italy included Lombardy, Venice (Napoleon abolished the republic that had existed for many centuries) and most of Emilia. General Eugene Beauharnais (son of Empress Josephine) became viceroy. In 1806 Napoleon invaded Naples. The king and his court fled to Sicily, where until 1814 they remained under the protection of the British fleet. Napoleon appointed his brother Joseph King of Naples. However, in 1808 he moved to Madrid and became king of Spain, and the throne of Naples was transferred to Napoleon's son-in-law, Joachim Murat. The Papal States remained independent until the quarrel between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII (1800–1823) and the annexation of Rome to France in 1809.

Until 1814, the Italian states remained part of Napoleon's empire. French rule helped the Italians modernize the polity. The financial and administrative bodies were reorganized and the codes of law changed in the spirit of the French civil code. When the empire began to disintegrate after the defeat of Napoleon's army at the Battle of Leipzig (1813), opposition raised its head in Italy, demanding the creation of a constitutional government. At the end of the empire, Joachim Murat in 1814 from Rimini urged the Italians to unite in order to create an independent state. The works of the Italian writer Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827) testify to the growth of national self-consciousness. After the fall of the Napoleonic Empire, the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815), ignoring such appeals, restored the power of the former rulers of the Italian states. This suggested a return to the political situation that existed before the French Revolution, albeit with some changes. The Venetian Republic was not restored in its former form, and the lands once subject to Venice now formed part of the Lombard and Venetian Kingdom, which was ruled by an Austrian viceroy who settled in Milan. Although the Austrian domination and the aggressive policy of Metternich were the main target of the attacks of the Italian nationalists, at the beginning of the 19th century. it was Lombardy and Venice that favorably differed in the nature of government from other Italian lands.

In some places, the former rulers regained their thrones, but almost everywhere Austria stood behind them. Members of the Habsburg family ruled in Tuscany and the small duchies of Parma and Modena. The Pope restored his possessions in the Papal States and appointed his emissaries to the cities of Bologna and Ferrara. In the south, Naples and Sicily were united in a monarchy led by the Bourbons who returned to power, under the name of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Apart from Naples, only Piedmont (Kingdom of Sardinia) enjoyed some real autonomy, with the possessions of the Savoy dynasty expanding through the annexation of the former Republic of Genoa. However, the Piedmontese rulers were afraid of the revolution and considered Austria their main ally.

"Revival" - revival, return to life. At first glance, this is a rather strange definition for an era of cultural heyday. However, this is not an exaggeration at all. Such cardinal changes in the art and thinking of the European peoples had a banal and terrible reason - death.

Only three years in the middle of the XIV century became a sharp divider of eras. During this period of time, the population of Italian Florence was rapidly dying from the plague. The Black Death did not understand ranks and merits, there was not a single person left who would not bear the brunt of the loss of loved ones. Centuries-old foundations were collapsing, faith in the future was disappearing, there was no hope for God... When the pandemic receded and the nightmare ended, the residents of the city realized that it would no longer be possible to live in the old way.

The material world has changed a lot: even the poorest of the survivors had “extra” property inherited, the housing problem was resolved by itself due to the loss of the owners of the houses, the rested land turned out to be surprisingly generous, fertile soil without much effort gave excellent harvests, the demand for which now, however, was quite low. Factory managers and wealthy landowners began to experience a shortage of workers, who were now simply not enough, and commoners no longer sought to take on the first offer they came across, having the opportunity to choose and bargain for more favorable terms. So many Florentines have free time for reflection, communication and creativity.

In addition to the word "renasci" ("revive"), another word was used just as often in relation to the era: "reviviscere" ("revive"). Renaissance people believed that they were reviving the classics, and they themselves experienced a feeling of rebirth.

An even greater upheaval took place in the minds of people, the worldview changed dramatically: there was greater independence from the church, which showed itself helpless in the face of a catastrophe, thoughts turned to material existence, knowledge of oneself not as a creation of God, but as part of mother nature.

Florence lost about half of its population. However, this alone cannot explain the birth of the Renaissance in this city. There was a combination of reasons of different significance, as well as a random factor. Some historians attribute the merit of cultural flourishing to the Medici family, the most influential Florentine family of that time, who patronized artists and literally “brought up” new geniuses with their monetary donations. It is this policy of the rulers of Florence that still causes controversy among specialists: either the city was very lucky in the Middle Ages to give birth to talented people, or special conditions contributed to the development of geniuses, whose talents in ordinary society are unlikely to ever show themselves.

Literature

It is very easy to trace the beginning of the Renaissance in Italian literature - writers moved away from traditional methods and began to write in their native language, which, it should be noted, was very far from literary canons in those days. Until the beginning of the era, the basis of the libraries were Greek and Latin texts, as well as more modern works in French and Provençal. During the Renaissance, the formation of the Italian literary language was largely due to the translation of classical works. Even “combined” works appeared, the authors of which supplemented the ancient texts with their own reflections and imitations.

In the Renaissance, the combination of Christian subjects with physicality resulted in images of languid Madonnas. The angels looked like playful kids - "putti" - and like ancient cupids. The combination of sublime spirituality and sensuality was expressed in numerous "Venuses".

The "voice" of the early Renaissance in Italy was the great Florentines Francesco Petrarch and Dante Alighieri. In the "Divine Comedy" by Dante, there is a clear influence of the medieval worldview, a strong Christian motif. But Petrarch already represented the movement of Renaissance humanism, turning in his work to classical antiquity and modernity. In addition, Petrarch became the father of the Italian sonnet, the form and style of which was later adopted by many other poets, including the Englishman Shakespeare.

Petrarch's student, Giovanni Boccaccio, wrote the famous Decameron, an allegorical collection of one hundred short stories, among which there are tragic, philosophical, and erotic ones. This work of Boccaccio, as well as others, became a rich source of inspiration for many English writers.

Niccolo Machiavelli was a philosopher and political thinker. His contribution to the literature of that time consists of works of reflection, widely known in Western society. The treatise "The Sovereign" is the most discussed work of the political theorist, which became the basis for the theory of "Machiavellianism".

Philosophy

Petrarch, who worked at the dawn of the Renaissance, also became the main founder of the philosophical doctrine of that era - humanism. This trend put the mind and will of man in the first place. The theory did not contradict the foundations of Christianity, although it did not recognize the concept of original sin, considering people as initially virtuous beings.

Most of all, the new trend echoed ancient philosophy, giving rise to a wave of interest in ancient texts. It was at this time that the fashion for the search for lost manuscripts appeared. The hunt was sponsored by wealthy citizens, and each find was immediately translated into modern languages ​​and published in the form of a book. This approach not only filled the libraries, but also significantly increased the availability of literature and the size of the reading population. The overall level of education has risen markedly.

Although philosophy was of great importance during the Renaissance, these years are often characterized as a period of stagnation. Thinkers refuted the spiritual theory of Christianity, but did not have a sufficient basis to continue to develop the research of ancient ancestors. Usually the content of the works that have survived from that time is reduced to the admiration of classical theories and models.

There is also a rethinking of death. Now life becomes not a preparation for a “heavenly” existence, but a full-fledged path that ends with the death of the body. Renaissance philosophers are trying to convey the idea that "eternal life" will be given to those who can leave a mark after themselves, whether it be untold wealth or works of art.

The development of knowledge during the Renaissance greatly influenced people's ideas about the world today. Thanks to Copernicus and the Great Geographical Discoveries, ideas about the size of the Earth and its place in the Universe have changed. The works of Paracelsus and Vesalius gave rise to scientific medicine and anatomy.

The first step in the science of the Renaissance was the return to the classical theory of Ptolemy about the structure of the universe. There is a general desire to explain the unknown by material laws, most theories are based on building rigid logical sequences.

Of course, the most prominent scientist of the Renaissance is Leonardo da Vinci. He is known for outstanding research in a wide variety of disciplines. One of the most interesting works of the Florentine genius refers to the definition of human ideality. Leonardo shared the humanist view of the righteousness of the newborn, but the question of how to preserve all the traits of virtue and physical perfection remained a mystery. And for the final refutation of the divinity of man, it was necessary to find the true source of life and reason. Da Vinci made many discoveries in various scientific fields, his works are still the subject of study of descendants. And who knows what kind of legacy he would have left us if his life had been even longer.

Italian science of the late Renaissance was represented by Galileo Galilei. The young scientist, born in Pisa, did not immediately decide on the exact direction of his work. He entered the medical faculty, but quickly switched to mathematics. Having received a degree, he began teaching applied disciplines (geometry, mechanics, optics, etc.), more and more immersed in the problems of astronomy, the influence of planets and luminaries, and at the same time became interested in astrology. It was Galileo Galilei who first clearly drew analogies between the laws of nature and mathematics. In his work, he often used the method of inductive reasoning, using a logical chain to build transitions from particular provisions to more general ones. Some of the ideas put forward by Galileo turned out to be very erroneous, but most of them were conceived as confirmation of his main theory about the movement of the Earth around the Sun. The then academicians refuted it, and the brilliant Tuscan was "besieged" with the help of a powerful inquisition. According to the main historical version, the scientist publicly abandoned his theory by the end of his life.

The science of the Renaissance strove for "modernity", which was expressed mostly in technical achievements. Intelligence began to be considered the property of the rich. It was fashionable to have a scientist at court, and if he surpassed the knowledge of his neighbors, then it was prestigious. Yes, and yesterday's merchants themselves were not averse to plunging into science, sometimes choosing such "spectacular" areas as alchemy, medicine and meteorology. Science was often loosely mixed with magic and prejudice.

During the Renaissance, the @ sign was used. Then he denoted a measure of weight (arrub), equal to 12 - 13 kilograms.

It was during the Renaissance that alchemy appeared - an early form of chemistry, including no less supernatural positions than really scientific ones. Most alchemists were obsessed with the idea of ​​turning lead into gold, and this mythical process is still identified with the concept of alchemy. Long before the creation of the periodic system of elements, alchemists proposed their vision: all substances, in their opinion, consisted of a mixture of sulfur and mercury. Based on this assumption, all experiments were built. Later, a third was added to the two main elements - salt.

It is worth noting the geographical achievements of the XIV-XVII centuries. This is the time of the great geographical discoveries. A particularly noticeable mark in this area was left by the Portuguese and the famous Florentine Amerigo Vespucci, whose name is immortalized in the most significant discovery of that time - the American continents.

Painting, sculpture, architecture

The fine art of the Italian Renaissance spread from Florence, and to a large extent it determined the high cultural level of the city, which glorified it for many years. Here, as in other areas, there is a return to the ancient principles of classical art. Excessive pretentiousness disappears, the works become more “natural”. Artists depart from the strict canons of religious painting and create the greatest iconographic masterpieces in a new, freer and more realistic manner. In addition to deeper work with light and shadow than before, there is an active study of human anatomy.

Harmony, proportionality, symmetry are returning to architecture. The gothic bulks, expressing medieval religious fear, are fading into the past, giving way to classical arches, domes, and columns. The architects of the early Renaissance worked in Florence, but in later years they were actively invited to Rome, where many outstanding buildings were erected, which later became architectural monuments. At the end of the Renaissance, mannerism was born, a prominent representative of which was Michelangelo. A distinctive feature of this style is the emphasized monumentality of individual elements, which for a long time was perceived sharply negatively by representatives of classical art.

In sculpture, the return to antiquity was most clearly manifested. The model of beauty was the classical nude, which again began to be depicted in contraposta (the characteristic position of the body, leaning on one leg, which allows you to expressively convey the nature of the movement). Donatello and Michelangelo, who created the statue of David, became the pinnacle of Renaissance art.

During the Renaissance in Italy, women with large pupils were considered the most beautiful. The Italians would drip into their eyes an infusion of belladonna, a poisonous plant that dilated the pupils. The name "Belladonna" is translated from Italian as "beautiful woman".

Renaissance humanism influenced all aspects of social creativity. The music of the Renaissance ceased to be too academic, having undergone a great influence of folk motives. In church practice, choral polyphonic singing has become widespread.

A variety of musical styles led to the emergence of new musical instruments: viols, lutes, harpsichords. They were easy enough to use and could be used in companies or at small concerts. Church music, much more solemn, required an appropriate instrument, which in those years was the organ.

Renaissance humanism suggested new approaches to such an important stage in the formation of a person as learning. During the heyday of the Renaissance, there was a tendency to develop personal qualities from a young age. Group education was replaced by individual, when the student knew exactly what he wanted, and went to the intended goal, relying on his master teacher in everything.

The centuries of the Italian Renaissance were not only a source of incredible cultural progress, but also a time of strong contradictions: ancient philosophy and the conclusions of modern thinkers collided, which led to a radical change in both life itself and its perception.

Chapter "Introduction", section "The Art of Italy". General history of arts. Volume III. Renaissance art. Author: E.I. Rotenberg; under the general editorship of Yu.D. Kolpinsky and E.I. Rotenberg (Moscow, Art State Publishing House, 1962)

In the history of the artistic culture of the Renaissance, Italy made a contribution of exceptional importance. The very scale of the greatest flourishing that marked the Italian Renaissance seems especially striking in contrast to the small territorial dimensions of those urban republics where the culture of this era was born and experienced its high rise. Art in these centuries occupied a previously unprecedented position in public life. Artistic creation seemed to have become an insatiable need of the people of the Renaissance, an expression of their inexhaustible energy. In the advanced centers of Italy, a passion for art captured the widest sections of society - from the ruling circles to ordinary people. The construction of public buildings, the installation of monuments, the decoration of the main buildings of the city were a matter of national importance and the subject of attention of senior officials. The appearance of outstanding works of art turned into a major social event. The fact that the greatest geniuses of the era - Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo - received the name divino - divine from contemporaries - can testify to the general admiration for outstanding masters.

In terms of its productivity, the Renaissance, covering about three centuries in Italy, is quite comparable to the whole millennium during which the art of the Middle Ages developed. The very physical scale of everything that was created by the masters of the Italian Renaissance, majestic municipal buildings and huge cathedrals, magnificent patrician palaces and villas, works of sculpture in all its forms, countless monuments of painting - fresco cycles, monumental altar compositions and easel paintings, is already amazing. . Drawing and engraving, handwritten miniatures and the newly emerged printed graphics, decorative and applied arts in all its forms - there was, in essence, not a single area of ​​​​artistic life that would not experience a rapid upsurge. But perhaps even more striking is the unusually high artistic level of the art of the Italian Renaissance, its truly global significance as one of the pinnacles of human culture.

The culture of the Renaissance was not the property of Italy alone: ​​its scope covered many of the countries of Europe. At the same time, in one country or another, individual stages in the evolution of Renaissance art found their predominant expression. But in Italy, a new culture not only originated earlier than in other countries - the very path of its development was distinguished by an exceptional sequence of all stages - from the Proto-Renaissance to the late Renaissance, and in each of these stages Italian art gave high results, surpassing in most cases of achievement of art schools in other countries (In art history, by tradition, the Italian names of those centuries in which the birth and development of the Renaissance art of Italy falls are widely used (each of these centuries represents a certain milestone in this evolution). Thus, the 13th century is called ducento, the 14th - trecento, 15th - quattrocento, 16th - cinquecento.). Thanks to this, the Renaissance artistic culture in Italy reached a special fullness of expression, appearing, so to speak, in its most integral and classically finished form.

The explanation of this fact is connected with the specific conditions in which the historical development of Renaissance Italy proceeded. The social base that contributed to the emergence of a new culture was determined here extremely early. Already in the 12th-13th centuries, when Byzantium and the Arabs were pushed aside from the traditional trade routes in the Mediterranean region as a result of the Crusades, the northern Italian cities, and above all Venice, Pisa and Genoa, seized all the intermediary trade between Western Europe and East. In the same centuries, handicraft production experienced its rise in such centers as Mila, Florence, Siena and Bologna. The accumulated wealth was invested on a large scale in industry, trade, and banking. Political power in the cities was seized by the Polanian estate, that is, artisans and merchants united in workshops. Relying on their growing economic and political power, they began a struggle with local feudal lords, seeking the complete deprivation of their political rights. The strengthening of the Italian cities allowed them to successfully repel the onslaught from other states, primarily the German emperors.

By this time, the cities of other European countries also embarked on the path of defending their communal rights from the claims of powerful feudal lords. II, however, the rich Italian cities differed in this respect from the urban centers on the other side of the Alps in one decisive feature. In the exceptionally favorable conditions of political independence and freedom from feudal institutions, the forms of a new, capitalist way of life were born in the cities of Italy. The earliest forms of capitalist production manifested themselves most clearly in the cloth industry of the Italian cities, primarily in Florence, where forms of scattered and centralized manufactory were already being used, and the so-called senior workshops, which were unions of entrepreneurs, established a system of cruel exploitation of hired workers. Evidence of how far Italy was ahead of other countries on the path of economic and social development can be the fact that already in the 14th century. Italy knew not only the anti-feudal movements of the peasants that unfolded in certain regions of the country (for example, the uprising of Fra Dolcino in 1307), or the speeches of the urban plebs (the movement led by Cola di Rienzi in Rome in 1347-1354), but also the uprisings of the oppressed workers against entrepreneurs in the most advanced industrial centers (the ciompi uprising in Florence in 1374). In the same Italy, earlier than anywhere else, the formation of the early bourgeoisie began - that new social class, which was represented by popolansky circles. It is important to emphasize that this early bourgeoisie bore signs of a fundamental difference from the medieval burghers. The essence of this difference is associated primarily with economic factors, since it is in Italy that early capitalist forms of production arise. But no less important is the fact that in the advanced centers the Italian bourgeoisie of the 14th century. possessed all the fullness of political power, extending it to the land holdings adjacent to the cities. Such completeness of power was not known to the burghers in other European countries, whose political rights usually did not go beyond the limits of municipal privileges. It was the unity of economic and political power that gave the Polanian class of Italy those special features that distinguished it both from the medieval burghers and from the bourgeoisie of the post-Renaissance era in the absolutist states of the 17th century.

The collapse of the feudal estate system and the emergence of new social relations led to fundamental shifts in worldview and culture. The revolutionary character of the social upheaval, which was the essence of the Renaissance, manifested itself with exceptional clarity in the advanced urban republics of Italy.

In terms of social and ideological, the Renaissance in Italy was a complex and contradictory process of the destruction of the old and the formation of the new, when the reactionary and progressive elements were in a state of the most acute struggle, and legal institutions, social order, customs, as well as the worldview foundations themselves, have not yet acquired the inviolability consecrated by time and state-church authority. Therefore, such qualities of the people of that time as personal energy and initiative, courage and perseverance in achieving the set goal, found extremely favorable ground for themselves in Italy and could reveal themselves here with the greatest fullness. No wonder it was in Italy that the very type of Renaissance man developed in its greatest brightness and completeness.

The fact that Italy provided a unique example of the long and extremely fruitful evolution of Renaissance art in all its stages is primarily due to the fact that the real influence of progressive social circles in the economic and political sphere remained here until the first decades of the 16th century. This influence was also effective at a time when in many centers of the country a transition began (from the 14th century) from the communal system to the so-called tyrannies. The strengthening of centralized power by transferring it into the hands of one ruler (who came from feudal or the richest merchant families) was the result of an intensification of the class struggle between the ruling bourgeois circles and the mass of the urban lower classes. But the very economic and social structure of Italian cities was still largely based on previous conquests, and it was not without reason that the excesses of power on the part of those rulers who tried to establish a regime of open personal dictatorship were followed by active actions of wide sections of the urban population, often leading to the expulsion of tyrants. These or other changes in the forms of political power that took place during the period under review could not destroy the very spirit of the free cities, which persisted in the advanced centers of Italy until the tragic end of the Renaissance.

This situation distinguished Renaissance Italy from other European countries, where new social forces came to replace the old legal order later, and the chronological length of the Renaissance itself was therefore correspondingly smaller. And since the new social class could not occupy such strong positions in these countries as in Italy, the Renaissance upheaval expressed itself in less decisive forms and the shifts in artistic culture themselves did not have such a pronounced revolutionary character.

However, going ahead of other countries along the path of social and cultural progress, Italy turned out to be behind them in another important historical issue: the political unity of the country, its transformation into a strong and centralized state was unrealistic for it. This was the root of the historical tragedy of Italy. Since the time when the large monarchies neighboring it, and above all France, as well as the Holy Roman Empire, which included the German states and Spain, became powerful powers, Italy, divided into many warring regions, found itself defenseless against the onslaught of foreign armies. . The campaign against Italy undertaken by the French in 1494 ushered in a period of wars of conquest that ended in the middle of the 16th century. the capture by the Spaniards of almost the entire territory of the country and the loss of its independence for several centuries. Calls for the unification of Italy by the best minds of the country and individual practical attempts in this direction could not overcome the traditional separatism of the Italian states.

The roots of this separatism must be sought not only in the egoistic policy of individual rulers, especially the popes of Rome, those bitterest enemies of the unity of Italy, but above all in the very foundation of the economic and social system that was established during the Renaissance in the advanced regions and centers of the country. The spread of a new economic and social structure within the framework of a single all-Italian state turned out to be unfeasible at that time, not only because the forms of the communal system of the city republics could not be transferred to the management of the whole country, but also because of economic factors: the creation of a single economic system on a scale of the entire Italy at the then level of productive forces was impossible. The widespread development of the early bourgeoisie, characteristic of Italy, which had full political rights, could only take place within the boundaries of small urban republics. In other words, the fragmentation of the country was one of the inevitable prerequisites for the flourishing of such a powerful Renaissance culture as the culture of Italy, for such a flourishing was possible only in the conditions of individual independent city-states. As the course of historical events showed, in the centralized monarchies, Renaissance art did not acquire such a pronounced revolutionary character as in Italy. This conclusion is confirmed by the fact that if politically Italy turned out to be in the course of time dependent on such strong absolutist powers as France and Spain, then in terms of cultural and artistic - even during the period when Italy lost its independence - the dependence was reversed. .

Thus, in the very prerequisites for the greatest upsurge of the culture of the Italian Renaissance were laid the reasons for the collapse that awaited it. This, of course, does not mean at all that the calls for the unification of the country, which intensified especially during the period of Italy's severe political crisis in the first decades of the 16th century, were not of a progressive nature. These appeals not only corresponded to the aspirations of large sections of the population, whose social conquests and independence were threatened, they were also a reflection of the real process of the growing cultural consolidation of various regions of Italy. Disunited at the dawn of the Renaissance due to the unevenness of their cultural development, many regions of the country by the 16th century were already connected by a deep spiritual unity. What remained impossible in the state-political sphere was carried out in the ideological and artistic sphere. Republican Florence and papal Rome were warring states, but the largest Florentine masters worked both in Florence and in Rome, and the artistic content of their Roman works was at the level of the most progressive ideals of the freedom-loving Florentine Republic.

The exceptionally fruitful development of Renaissance art in Italy was facilitated not only by social, but also by historical and artistic factors. Italian Renaissance art owes its origin not to any one, but to several sources. In the pre-Renaissance period, Italy was a crossroads for several medieval cultures. In contrast to other countries, both main lines of medieval European art, Byzantine and Romano-Gothic, found equally significant expression here, complicated in certain areas of Italy by the influence of the art of the East. Both lines contributed to the development of Renaissance art. From Byzantine painting, the Italian Proto-Renaissance adopted the ideally beautiful structure of images and forms of monumental pictorial cycles; the Gothic figurative system contributed to the penetration into the art of the 14th century of emotional excitement and a more specific perception of reality. But even more important was the fact that Italy was the guardian of the artistic heritage of the ancient world. In one form or another, the ancient tradition found its refraction already in medieval Italian art, for example, in the sculpture of the Hohenstaufen period, but only in the Renaissance, starting from the 15th century, did ancient art open to the eyes of artists in its true light as an aesthetically perfect expression of the laws of reality itself. . The combination of these factors created in Italy the most favorable ground for the birth and rise of Renaissance art.

One of the indicators of the highest level of development of Italian Renaissance art was the broad development of scientific and theoretical thought characteristic of it. The early appearance of theoretical writings in Italy was in itself evidence of the important fact that the representatives of advanced Italian art realized the essence of the revolution that had taken place in culture. This awareness of creative activity to a very large extent stimulated artistic progress, for it allowed the Italian masters to move forward not by groping, but purposefully setting and solving certain tasks.

The interest of artists in scientific problems at that time was all the more natural because in their objective knowledge of the world they relied not only on its emotional perception, but also on a rational understanding of the laws underlying it. The fusion of scientific and artistic knowledge, characteristic of the Renaissance, was the reason that many of the artists were simultaneously outstanding scientists. In the most striking form, this feature is expressed in the personality of Leonardo da Vinci, but to one degree or another it was characteristic of very many figures of Italian artistic culture.

Theoretical thought in Renaissance Italy developed along two main lines. On the one hand, this is the problem of the aesthetic ideal, in solving which the artists relied on the ideas of Italian humanists about the high destiny of man, about ethical standards, about the place that he occupies in nature and society. On the other hand, these are practical questions of the embodiment of this artistic ideal by means of the new, Renaissance art. The knowledge of the masters of the Renaissance in the field of anatomy, perspective theory and the doctrine of proportions, which was the result of scientific comprehension of the world, contributed to the development of those means of pictorial language, with the help of which these masters were able to objectively reflect reality in art. In theoretical works devoted to various types of art, a wide variety of issues of artistic practice were considered. Suffice it to mention as examples the development of questions of mathematical perspective and its application in painting, carried out by Brunelleschi, Alberti and Piero della Francesca, a comprehensive body of artistic knowledge and theoretical conclusions, which are countless notes by Leonardo da Vinci, writings and statements about the sculpture of Ghiberti, Michelangelo and Cellini, architectural treatises by Alberti, Averlino, Francesco di Giorgio Martini, Palladio, Vignola. Finally, in the person of George Vasari, the culture of the Italian Renaissance put forward the first art historian who, in his biographies of Italian artists, made an attempt to comprehend the art of his era in historical terms. The content and breadth of coverage of these works is confirmed by the fact that the ideas and conclusions of Italian theorists retained their practical significance for many centuries after their appearance.

To an even greater extent, this applies to the very creative achievements of the masters of the Italian Renaissance, who made an important contribution to all types of plastic arts, often predetermining the path of their development in subsequent eras.

In the architecture of Renaissance Italy, the main types of public and residential buildings used since then in European architecture were created and those means of architectural language were developed that became the basis of architectural thinking over a long historical period. Dominance in Italian architecture of the secular beginning was expressed not only in the predominance of public and private buildings for secular purposes in it, but also in the fact that spiritualistic elements were eliminated in the very figurative content of religious buildings - they gave way to new, humanistic ideals. In secular architecture, the leading place was occupied by the type of residential city house-palace (palazzo) - originally the dwelling of a representative of wealthy merchant or business families, and in the 16th century. - the residence of a nobleman or ruler of the state. Acquiring over time the features of a building not only private, but also public, the Renaissance palazzo also served as a prototype for public buildings in subsequent centuries. In the church architecture of Italy, special attention was paid to the image of a centric domed structure. This image corresponded to the idea of ​​​​a perfect architectural form that prevailed in the Renaissance, which expressed the idea of ​​​​the Renaissance personality, which is in harmonious balance with the surrounding world. The most mature solutions to this problem were given by Bramante and Michelangelo in the designs of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome.

As for the language of architecture itself, the revival and development of the ancient order system on a new basis was decisive here. For the architects of Renaissance Italy, the order was an architectural system designed to visually express the tectonic structure of the building. The proportionality inherent in the order to a person was considered as one of the foundations of the humanistic ideological content of the architectural image. Italian architects expanded the compositional possibilities of the order in comparison with ancient masters, having managed to find an organic combination of it with a wall, an arch and a vault. The entire volume of the building is conceived by them as if permeated with an order structure, which achieves a deep figurative unity of the structure with its natural environment, since the classical orders themselves reflect certain natural patterns.

In urban planning, the architects of Renaissance Italy faced great difficulties, especially in the early period, since most cities had dense capital buildings already in the Middle Ages. However, the advanced theorists and practitioners of the architecture of the early Renaissance set themselves major urban planning problems, considering them as urgent tasks of tomorrow. If their bold general urban planning ideas were not fully feasible at that time and therefore remained the property of architectural treatises, then certain important tasks, in particular the problem of creating an urban center - the development of principles for building the main square of the city - were found in the 16th century. its brilliant solution, for example in Piazza San Marco in Venice and Capitoline Square in Rome.

In the fine arts, Renaissance Italy provided the most striking example of the self-determination of certain types of art, which, during the Middle Ages, were subordinate to architecture, but now have gained complete figurative independence. In terms of ideas, this process meant the liberation of sculpture and painting from the religious and spiritualistic dogmas of the Middle Ages that fettered them and an appeal to images saturated with new, humanistic content. In parallel with this, the emergence and formation of new types and genres of fine arts took place, in which a new ideological content found its expression. Sculpture, for example, after a millennium break, finally regained the basis of its figurative expressiveness, turning to a free-standing statue and a group. The scope of figurative coverage of sculpture has also expanded. Along with the traditional images associated with the Christian cult and ancient mythology, which reflected general ideas about a person, it also turned out to be a specific human individuality, which was manifested in the creation of monumental monuments to rulers and condottieres, as well as in the widespread sculptural portrait in the forms portrait bust. A radical transformation is also undergoing a type of sculpture, so developed in the Middle Ages, as a relief, the figurative possibilities of which, thanks to the use of methods of pictorial and perspective depiction of space, are expanded due to a more complete and comprehensive display of the living environment surrounding a person.

As for painting, here, along with the unprecedented flourishing of the monumental fresco composition, it is necessary to especially emphasize the fact of the emergence of easel painting, which marked the beginning of a new stage in the evolution of fine art. Of the pictorial genres, along with compositions on biblical and mythological themes, which occupied a dominant position in the Renaissance painting of Italy, one should single out the portrait, which survived its first flowering in this era. The first important steps were also taken in such new genres as historical painting in the proper sense of the word and landscape.

Having played a decisive role in the process of emancipation of certain types of fine arts, the Italian Renaissance at the same time preserved and developed one of the most valuable qualities of medieval artistic culture - the principle of synthesizing various types of art, combining them into a common figurative ensemble. This was facilitated by the heightened sense of artistic organization inherent in Italian masters, which manifests itself in them both in the general design of any complex architectural and artistic complex, and in every detail of an individual work included in this complex. At the same time, in contrast to the medieval understanding of synthesis, where sculpture and painting are subordinated to architecture, the principles of Renaissance synthesis are based on the peculiar equality of each of the art forms, due to which the specific qualities of sculpture and painting within the framework of a common artistic ensemble acquire an increased efficiency of aesthetic impact. It is important to emphasize here that the signs of belonging to a large figurative system are carried not only by works that are directly included in any artistic complex, but also separately taken independent monuments of sculpture and painting. Whether it's Michelangelo's colossal David or Raphael's miniature Connestabile Madonna, each of these works potentially contains qualities that make it possible to consider it as a possible part of some general artistic ensemble.

This specifically Italian monumental-synthetic warehouse of Renaissance art was facilitated by the very nature of the artistic images of sculpture and painting. In Italy, unlike other European countries, the aesthetic ideal of the Renaissance man was formed very early, dating back to the teaching of the humanists about uomo universale, about the perfect man, in which bodily beauty and fortitude are harmoniously combined. As the leading feature of this image, the concept of virtu (valor) is put forward, which has a very broad meaning and expresses the active principle in a person, the purposefulness of his will, the ability to implement his lofty plans in spite of all obstacles. This specific quality of the Renaissance figurative ideal is not expressed by all Italian artists in such an open form, as, for example, by Masaccio, Andrea del Castagno, Mantegna and Michalangelo - masters whose work is dominated by images of a heroic nature. But it is always present in the images of a harmonic warehouse, for example, in Raphael and Giorgione, because the harmony of the Renaissance images is far from relaxed rest - behind it, the hero’s inner activity and consciousness of his moral strength are always felt.

Throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, this aesthetic ideal did not remain unchanged: depending on the individual stages in the evolution of Renaissance art, its various aspects were outlined in it. In the images of the early Renaissance, for example, the features of an unshakable inner integrity are more pronounced. The spiritual world of the heroes of the High Renaissance is more complex and richer, giving the most striking example of the harmonious worldview inherent in the art of this period. In the following decades, with the growth of unresolvable social contradictions, internal tension intensifies in the images of Italian masters, a feeling of dissonance, a tragic conflict appears. But throughout the Renaissance, Italian sculptors and painters remained committed to a collective image, to a generalized artistic language. It is thanks to the desire for the most general expression of artistic ideals that the Italian masters managed, to a greater extent than the masters of other countries, to create images of such a broad sound. This is the root of the peculiar universality of their figurative language, which turned out to be a kind of norm and model of Renaissance art in general.

The enormous role for Italian art of deeply developed humanistic ideas was already manifested in the unconditionally dominant position that the human image found in it - one of the indicators of this was the admiration for the beautiful human body, characteristic of Italians, which was considered by humanists and artists as a receptacle for a beautiful soul. The domestic and natural environment surrounding a person in most cases did not become the object of such close attention for Italian masters. This pronounced anthropocentrism, the ability to reveal one's ideas about the world primarily through the image of a person, gives the heroes of the masters of the Italian Renaissance such a comprehensive depth of content. The path from the general to the individual, from the whole to the particular is characteristic of Italians not only in monumental images, where their very ideal qualities are a necessary form of artistic generalization, but also in such a genre as portraiture. And in his portrait works, the Italian painter proceeds from a certain type of human personality, in relation to which he perceives each specific model. In accordance with this, in the Italian Renaissance portrait, unlike portrait images in the art of other countries, the typifying principle prevails over the individualizing tendencies.

But the dominance of a certain ideal in Italian art did not at all mean leveling and excessive uniformity of artistic solutions. The unity of ideological and figurative premises not only did not exclude the diversity of creative talents of each of the huge number of masters who worked in this era, but, on the contrary, set off their individual characteristics even more clearly. Even within one, moreover, the shortest phase of Renaissance art - those three decades in which the High Renaissance falls, we can easily catch differences in the perception of the human image among the greatest masters of this period. Thus, the characters of Leonardo stand out for their deep spirituality and intellectual wealth; in the art of Raphael, a sense of harmonic clarity dominates; the titanic images of Michelangelo give the most vivid expression of the heroic effectiveness of the man of this era. If we turn to the Venetian painters, then the images of Giorgione attract with their subtlest lyricism, while Titian's sensual fullness and variety of emotional movements are more pronounced. The same applies to the pictorial language of Italian painters: if the Florentine-Roman masters are dominated by linear plastic means of expression, then the Venetians have a decisive importance in terms of color.

Separate aspects of the Renaissance figurative perception received different refraction in the art of the Italian Renaissance, depending on the various stages of its evolution and on the traditions that developed in individual territorial art schools. Since the economic and cultural development of the Italian states was not uniform, their contribution to the art of the Renaissance was also different during its individual periods. Of the many artistic centers of the country, three should be singled out - Florence, Rome and Venice, the art of which, in a certain historical sequence, represented the main line of the Italian Renaissance for three centuries.

The historical role of Florence in shaping the culture of the Renaissance is especially significant. Florence was at the forefront of new art from the time of the Proto-Renaissance until the High Renaissance. The capital of Tuscany turned out to be, as it were, the focus of the economic, political and cultural life of Italy from the 13th to the beginning of the 16th century, and the events of its history, having lost their purely local character, acquired an all-Italian significance. The same fully applies to the Florentine art of these centuries. Florence was the birthplace or place of creative activity of many of the greatest masters from Giotto to Michelangelo.

From the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th century. Rome, along with Florence, is put forward as the leading center of the country's artistic life. Using its special position as the capital of the Catholic world, Rome becomes one of the strongest states in Italy, claiming the leading role among them. Accordingly, the artistic policy of the Roman popes develops, which, in order to strengthen the authority of the Roman pontificate, attract the largest architects, sculptors and painters to their court. The rise of Rome as the main artistic center of the country coincided with the beginning of the High Renaissance; Rome retained its leading position during the first three decades of the 16th century. The best works of Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo and many other masters working in Rome, created during these years, marked the zenith of the Renaissance. But with the loss of political independence by the Italian states, during the crisis of the Renaissance culture, papal Rome turned into a stronghold of ideological reaction, which took the form of a counter-reformation. Since the 1940s, when the counter-reformation opened a wide offensive against the conquests of the Renaissance culture, the third largest artistic center, Venice, has been the guardian and successor of the progressive Renaissance ideals.

Venice was the last of the strong Italian republics to defend its independence and retain a large share of its enormous wealth. Remaining until the end of the 16th century. a major center of Renaissance culture, it was the stronghold of the hopes of enslaved Italy. It was Venice that was destined to give the most fruitful disclosure of the figurative qualities of the Italian late Renaissance. The work of Titian in the last period of his activity, as well as the largest representatives of the second generation of Venetian painters of the 16th century. - Veronese and Tintoretto was not only an expression of the realistic principles of Renaissance art at a new historical stage - it paved the way for those most historically promising elements of Renaissance realism that were continued and developed in a new great artistic era - in the painting of the 17th century.

Already for its time, the art of the Italian Renaissance had an exceptionally broad pan-European significance. Outstripping the rest of Europe on the path of evolution of Renaissance art in chronological terms. Italy was also ahead of them in solving many of the most important artistic tasks put forward by the era. Therefore, for all other national Renaissance cultures, the appeal to the work of Italian masters entailed a sharp leap in the formation of a new, realistic art. Already in the 16th century, achieving a certain level of artistic maturity in European countries was impossible without a deep creative assimilation of the conquests of Italian art. Such great painters as Dürer and Holbein in Germany, El Greco in Spain, such major architects as the Netherlander Cornelis Floris, the Spaniard Juan de Herrera, the Englishman Pnigo Jones, owe much to the study of the art of Renaissance Italy. The sphere of activity of the Italian architects and painters themselves, which spread throughout Europe from Spain to Ancient Rus', was exceptional in its vastness. But perhaps even more significant is the role of the Italian Renaissance as the foundation of the culture of modern times, as one of the highest incarnations of realistic art and the greatest school of artistic skill.

Art of the Italian Renaissance

The heyday of the Renaissance begins in Italy. Therefore, it is not surprising that it was in Italy that Renaissance art reached its highest rise. It was here that dozens of great geniuses and powerful talents wrote, sculpted, created.

The beginning of the Renaissance was the Proto-Renaissance - a kind of preparation for a new worldview and preparation for its reflection in art. The Proto-Renaissance is still closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Romanesque and Gothic, as well as Byzantine traditions. And even in the work of innovative artists it is not easy to draw a clear line separating the old from the new. The beginning of the Proto-Renaissance in Italian art is associated with the name Giotto di Bondone (1266-1337). Giotto, in fact, outlined the path along which the development of painting went: he predetermined the growth of realistic moments, the filling of religious forms with secular content, the gradual transition from flat images to three-dimensional and relief ones. Giotto is the founder of modern European painting. Breaking with medieval canons, he introduced an earthly principle into religious scenes, depicting gospel legends. One of the most touching images created by Giotto is rightfully considered the image of Christ in the Kiss of Judas scene (murals of the Arena Chapel in Padua).

The greatest masters of the Early Renaissance are Brunelleschi (1377-1446),Donatello (1386-1466),Verrocchio (1436- 1488),Masaccio (1401-1428),Mantegna (1431-1506),Botticelli (1444-1510) and others. In their work, the principles of the Renaissance are widely implemented, associated primarily with the idea of ​​the limitless development of human abilities. This was facilitated by the new artistic techniques used by the masters - the conquest of three-dimensional space by painting, the creation of the type of a self-standing round statue, not related to architecture, the movement towards simple, harmonious, graceful proportions, when the feeling of the heaviness of the stone, the resistance of the material completely disappears.

Florence became the birthplace of the Early Renaissance, and the “fathers” of the Early Renaissance are considered painter Masaccio, sculptor Donatello and architect Brunelleschi. The main creation of Masaccio are the frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria in Florence, but from the whole cycle, the fresco “Expulsion from Paradise” deserves special attention, where nude figures are depicted for the first time in Renaissance painting. Their movements, facial expressions express confusion, shame, remorse. The great authenticity and persuasiveness of Masaccio's images give special strength to the humanistic idea of ​​the dignity and significance of the human person.

A huge contribution to the development of architecture was made by the architect Philippe Brunelleschi (1377-1446). He laid the foundations of Renaissance architecture. One of his most famous creations is the Pazzi Chapel at the Church of Santa Croce.

The Florentine sculptor Donatello (1386-1466) revives the sculptural portrait and the image of the naked body, casts the first bronze monument to David. The images he created are the embodiment of the humanistic ideal of a harmoniously developed personality.

During the period of the High Renaissance, the geometrism inherent in the Early Renaissance does not disappear, but even deepens. But something new is added to it: spirituality, psychologism, the desire to convey the inner world of a person, his feelings, moods, states, character, temperament. An aerial perspective is being developed, the materiality of forms is achieved not only by volume and plasticity, but also by chiaroscuro. The art of the High Renaissance is most fully expressed by three artists: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo. They represent the main values ​​of the Italian Renaissance: Intelligence, Harmony and Power.

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) – painter, sculptor, architect, writer, musician, art theorist, military engineer, inventor, mathematician, anatomist, botanist. Vasari wrote with admiration about Leonardo da Vinci: “... there was so much talent in him and this talent was such that no matter what difficulties his spirit turned to, he resolved them with ease ... His thoughts and daring were always regal and generous, and the glory of his name grew so much that he was appreciated not only in his time, but also after his death ».

Leonardo worked in different types and genres of art, but painting brought him the greatest fame. One of the peaks of creativity is the fresco "The Last Supper" in the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie. Leonardo not only conveys the psychological state of the apostles and Christ depicted in the fresco, but does so at the moment when it reaches a critical point, turns into a psychological explosion and conflict. This explosion is caused by the words of Christ: "One of you will betray me." In this work, the artist fully used the method of concrete juxtaposition of figures, thanks to which each character is presented as a unique individuality and personality. Everyone knows another famous work of Leonardo - the portrait of "Mona Lisa" or "Giaconda". When creating it, the master brilliantly used the entire arsenal of means of artistic expression: sharp contrasts and soft midtones, frozen immobility of the pose and the subtlest psychological nuances and transitions. The genius of Leonardo was expressed in the surprisingly lively look of Mona Lisa, her mysterious and enigmatic half-smile, mystical haze covering the landscape. This work marked the beginning of the psychological portrait genre in European art, and is also one of the rarest masterpieces of art. 

Leonardo also developed many theoretical problems of art - such as the theory of aerial perspective, questions of pictorial light and color, proportions, the display of emotions in painting, the construction of a scientific anatomy of animals and people. He considered the aesthetic problems of art in the work "The Book of Painting".

Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564), the great master of the Renaissance, a versatile, versatile person: sculptor, architect, artist, poet. He deeply feels the spirit of his era, subtly understanding the state of culture, creating a unique and therefore inimitable artistic style and spirit of works. His works solve eternal ontological problems, they are philosophical, in a figurative form they give a solution to the most acute problems of their time. The works of Michelangelo are full of deep symbolism and represent an amazing interweaving of the beautiful, the tragic and the sublime.

Among the most famous works of Michelangelo is the statue "David" (the height of the sculpture is 5.5 meters). This statue is filled with inner life, energy and strength. It is a hymn to human masculinity, beauty, grace and grace. Among the highest achievements of Michelangelo are also the works created for the tomb of Pope Julius II. The sculptor worked on this tomb with a break for about 40 years, but never brought it to completion. In addition to sculptures, Michelangelo created beautiful paintings. The most significant of these are the murals of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

Rafael Santi (1483-1520) not only a talented, but also a versatile artist: an architect and muralist, a master of portraiture and a decorator. His admirers called him "divine". Raphael had great success, great fame, wealth and honor, but in the prime of life and creativity, he died unexpectedly. Unlike Leonardo, whose works are mysterious, mysterious, in the works of Raphael everything is clear, transparent, beautiful and perfect. Among the outstanding creations of Raphael are the paintings of the private papal chambers in the Vatican, dedicated to biblical subjects, as well as art and philosophy. However, the main theme of his work was the theme of the Madonna. The peak was the "Sistine Madonna" - a real hymn to the physical and spiritual perfection of man.

The term late Renaissance is usually applied to the Venetian Renaissance. Only Venice during this period (second half of the 16th century) remained independent, the rest of the Italian principalities lost their political independence. The Renaissance in Venice had its own peculiarities. The Venetian masters had little interest in scientific research and excavations of ancient antiquities; they were rather attracted by Byzantine culture and the art of the Arab East. (Venice has long maintained close trade relations with Byzantium, the Arab East, traded with India). Having reworked both Gothic and oriental traditions, Venice developed its own special style, which is characterized by brilliance, romantic picturesqueness, pomp and decorativeness. For the Venetians, color problems come to the fore, the materiality of the image is achieved by color gradations. The largest Venetian masters of the High and late Renaissance - Giorgione (1477-1510), Titian (1477-1576), Veronese (1528-1588),Tintoretto (1518-1594).

The ancestor of the Venetian school is Giorgione, in whose works the secular principle finally wins. Instead of biblical subjects, the artist prefers to write on mythological and literary themes. Giorgione also opened a new era in painting by starting to paint from nature. His most famous work was "Sleeping Venus", which glorifies the beauty and charm of the naked female body.

The head of the Venetian school is Titian (1489-1576), in whose work the art of the Renaissance reaches its highest rise and flourishing. He glorifies the carefree joy of life, the enjoyment of earthly goods (“Boy with Dogs”), and also sings of the sensual beginning of human flesh full of health, the eternal beauty of the body, the physical perfection of man (“Love on Earth and Heaven”, “Feast of Venus”). In later works, the sensual principle is preserved, but it is complemented by the growing psychologism and drama of the picture (“Lamentation of Christ”, “Saint Sebastian”).

Renaissance in Europe.

Periodization and characteristic features of the Renaissance.

Revival (Renaissance) - an era in the history of European culture of the 13th-16th centuries, which marked the onset of the New Age.

As an epoch of European history, it was marked by many significant milestones - including the strengthening of the economic and social liberties of cities, spiritual fermentation, which eventually led to the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, the Peasant War in Germany, the formation of an absolutist monarchy (the largest in France), the beginning of the era of the Great Geographic discoveries, the invention of European printing, the discovery of the heliocentric system in cosmology, etc. However, its first sign, as it seemed to contemporaries, was the “flourishing of the arts” after long centuries of medieval “decline”, the flourishing, which “revived” ancient artistic wisdom, precisely in this sense for the first time in the 16th century. uses the word rinascita (from which the French Renaissance and all its European counterparts come) the Italian artist and art critic Giorgio Vasari.

The periodization of the Renaissance is determined by the supreme role of art in its culture.

Stages in the history of art in Italy - the birthplace of the Renaissance - for a long time served as the main starting point. Specially distinguished:

1. Proto-Renaissance, (“the era of Dante and Giotto”, c.1260-1320) - (from the proto ... and the Renaissance), a period in the history of Italian art (13th - early 14th centuries), marked by the growth of secular realistic tendencies, an appeal to the ancient tradition . The earliest stage in the development of Renaissance art. Previously, the art of the Proto-Renaissance manifested itself in sculpture, and then in painting. It has a particularly tangible secular beginning, attention to historical themes, portrait, domestic and landscape genres. The work of the poet Dante, the architect Arnolfo di Cambio, the sculptor Niccolò Pisano, the painters Pietro Cavallini and especially Giotto in many respects paved the way for the art of the Renaissance. Within the framework of the proto-Renaissance, there are:

ducento(Italian ducento, lit. - two hundred, - Italian name of the 13th century) characterized by the growth of realistic trends in medieval art, the awakening of interest in the real world and the ancient heritage.

trecento(Italian trecento, lit. - three hundred - Italian name of the 14th century) - a period of intensive development of humanism in Italian culture; the art of the trecento, along with the growth of gothic features, is marked by the development of realistic quests

2. Early Renaissance or quattrocento(Italian quattrocento, lit. - four hundred - Italian name 15 c). became a time of experimental research, when new trends actively interact with the Gothic, overcoming and creatively transforming it. If in the era of the Proto-Renaissance the artist worked based on intuition, then the time of the Early Renaissance brought to the fore exact scientific knowledge. Art began to fulfill the role of universal knowledge of the surrounding world. In the 15th century a number of scientific treatises on art appeared. The first theorist in the field of painting and architecture was Leon Battista Alberti. He developed the theory of linear perspective, a truthful depiction of the depth of space in a picture. In the practical use of linear perspective, the work of the artist Paolo Uccello is of great interest.

3. Cinquecento(Italian cinquecento, lit. - five hundred - Italian name of the 16th century) - the heyday of the culture of the High and Late Renaissance and the spread of mannerism.

High (Medium) Revival- the period of the history of Italian art (late 15th - 1st quarter of the 16th centuries) - the classical phase of the artistic culture of the Renaissance. In the architecture, painting and sculpture of the High Renaissance (Bramante, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giorgione, Titian), Renaissance realism and humanism, heroic ideals received a generalized expression full of titanic power; the art of the High Renaissance is characterized by monumental grandeur, a combination of sublime ideality, harmony with the depth and vitality of images.

Late Renaissance(until the end of the 16th century), the continuation of the traditions of the High Renaissance, a special phase of which was Mannerism.

The main features of the Renaissance culture:

Anthropocentrism is a view according to which man is the center of the universe and the ultimate goal of the entire universe, i.e. the existing world was created for man.

Humanism is the recognition of the value of a person as a person.

Reformation of the medieval Christian tradition.

Revival of ancient monuments of art and ancient philosophy

Formation of a new attitude to the world.

The task of educating the "new man" is recognized as the main task of the era. The Greek word ("education") is the clearest analogue of the Latin humanitas (where "humanism" originates).

Humanitas in the Renaissance conception implies not only the mastery of ancient wisdom, which was of great importance, but also self-knowledge and self-improvement. Humanitarian and scientific and human, scholarship and worldly experience must be combined in a state of ideal virtu (in Italian, both “virtue” and “valor” - due to which the word carries a medieval chivalrous connotation). Reflecting these ideals in a nature-like way, the art of the Renaissance gives the educational aspirations of the era a convincingly sensual clarity. Antiquity (that is, the ancient heritage), the Middle Ages (with their religiosity, as well as the secular code of honor) and the New Age (which put the human mind, its creative energy at the center of its interests) are here in a state of sensitive and continuous dialogue.

It is natural that the time, which attached central importance to the "divine" human creativity, put forward in the art of personalities who - with all the abundance of talents of that time - became the personification of entire eras of national culture (personalities - "titans", as they were romantically called later). Giotto became the personification of the Proto-Renaissance, the opposite aspects of the Quattrocento - constructive rigor and sincere lyricism - were respectively expressed by Masaccio and Angelico with Botticelli. The "Titans" of the Middle (or "High") Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo are artists - symbols of the great milestone of the New Age as such. The most important stages of Italian Renaissance architecture - early, middle and late - are monumentally embodied in the works of F. Brunelleschi, D. Bramante and A. Palladio.

Italian Renaissance

Early Renaissance in Italy.

14-15th century for Italy - a time of rapid economic development. The Italian cities had a fairly developed industry in the form of manufactories, they were large trading centers connecting Italy with the countries of Europe and the East. In the cities there were banks that conducted operations of international importance. With the advent of a new attitude to trade and the emergence of banking houses, the cities revive and flourish: Pisa, Milan, Genoa, Venice, Naples, Florence.

The industrial, commercial and usurious bourgeoisie of the Italian cities needed the development of the exact sciences, natural sciences, and mathematics for their economic activity. At the same time, making huge fortunes, she sought to create comfortable living conditions for herself and decorate her palaces with works of art. The bourgeoisie and rulers (kings, popes, republican lords) needed educated officials, notaries, doctors, teachers - and in general, people of intellectual labor who could conduct trade and credit affairs at home and abroad.

Thus, along with the emerging bourgeoisie, intelligentsia appeared in Italian cities: writers, philosophers, historians, poets, musicians, architects, artists, engineers, doctors, etc., who had a decisive influence on the formation of a new ideology.

One of the most important features of the new ideology was individualism. The emerging bourgeoisie, strong and rich, now claimed that it was not the nobility and generosity, but the personal qualities of an individual Man: his mind, dexterity, courage, enterprise and energy ensure success in life. The worldview of the leaders of the new culture, which was expressed in their philosophical, political, scientific and literary views, is usually referred to as "humanism". Because a person was now considered as the blacksmith of his own happiness, the creator of all values, moving forward in defiance of fate and achieving success with the strength of his mind, firmness of spirit, activity, optimism. Man should enjoy nature, love, art, science. The representatives of the new ideology were alien to the idea of ​​the sinfulness of man, in particular his body; on the contrary, the harmony of the human soul and body becomes recognized.

In Italian society, a deep interest in ancient civilization and culture arose, where even the gods were endowed with a human appearance and human character. Hence the attempt to resurrect a bygone culture and put it on a pedestal.

Cultural figures tried in their writings to imitate the style of the Latin writers of the "golden age" of Roman literature, especially Cicero. There was an interest in Greek literature and the Greek language. Florence and Venice became the spiritual center of the Italian Renaissance.

The early Renaissance is inextricably linked with the names of Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio.

The founder of humanism in Italy is considered to be Francesco Petrarch(1304-1374). He was a collector of ancient manuscripts and monuments, a historian, a propagandist of ancient Roman culture (he tried to write the history of Rome in biographies (“On famous men” contains 21 biographies of the great Romans from Romulus to Caesar)). All the works of Petrarch can be divided into two unequal parts: Italian poetry ("Canzoniere") and various works written in Latin. "Canzonere" ("Book of Songs") includes sonnets, canzones, ballads, madrigals dedicated to Petrarch's love for Laura during her lifetime and after her death; several poems of political and religious content; and an allegorical picture of the poet's love - Triumphs, which depict the victory of love over man, chastity over love, death over chastity, glory over death, time over glory and eternity over time. "Canzoniere", which survived until the beginning of the 17th century. OK. 200 editions and commented by a whole host of scholars and poets determines the significance of Petrarch in the history of Italian and general literature. He created a truly artistic form for Italian lyric poetry: for the first time, poetry is for him the inner history of individual feeling. This interest in the inner life of a person runs like a red thread through the Latin works of Petrarch, which determine his significance as a humanist.

A contemporary of Petrarch, Gianvanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), became famous thanks to the Decameron, written in Italian, a collection of short stories on themes of Florentine urban life, which emphasizes the human right to happiness, to sensual joys, to love that knows no social partitions. The collection contains folk humor and freethinking, criticism of the ignorance and hypocrisy of the Catholic clergy. Boccaccio's "Decameron" has become a model of the perfection of language and style for Italian authors, classics of world literature. The Decameron is a hundred stories told on behalf of noble Florentine ladies and young men; The story takes place against the backdrop of a plague epidemic (“black death”), from which a noble society is hiding in a country estate, and is full of subtle psychologism and unexpected collisions.

Together with Dante, Petrarca and Boccaccio are the creators of the literary Italian language. Their works in the 15th century. were translated into many languages ​​​​of Europe and took pride of place in world literature.

The art of the early Renaissance was represented by new painting, sculpture and architecture.

An outstanding master of the early Renaissance, who continued the realistic tradition of Giotto, was a Florentine artist Masaccio(real name Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai) (1401-1428). He painted on church-religious subjects (mostly wall paintings inside temples), but he gave them realistic features with the help of chiaroscuro, plastic physicality, three-dimensionality, compositional linkage with the landscape, he transferred the action of religious subjects to the streets of Florence. For the first time in wall painting (the fresco "Trinity" in the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence), he creates a central-perspective building that gives the composition majesty and at the same time proportionality to human scales. His work became a model for the work of subsequent generations of artists.

Artist Sandro Botticelli was close to the Medici court and humanist circles in Florence. He wrote works on religious and mythological themes (“Spring”, “The Birth of Venus”, around 1483-1484), although his images are flat, they are marked by spiritualized poetry, the play of linear rhythms, subtle coloring, and a mood of sadness. But the sadness of Venus and the condescending smile of Spring are addressed to the audience, to his world, and not to the heavenly transparency as on the icons.

The largest sculptor of the early Renaissance - Florentine Donatello- comprehending the experience of ancient art, for the first time created classical forms and types of Renaissance sculpture: a new type of round statue and sculptural group (“St. George”, “David”, “Judith and Holofernes”), a monumental equestrian monument (statue of the condottiere Gattamelata in Padua - the first equestrian monument of the Renaissance), a picturesque relief (the altar of the church of Sant'Antonio in Padua), a sculptural portrait, a majestic tombstone (the tomb of Antipope John XXIII in the Florentine baptistery is a classic example for all later tombs of the Renaissance). His sculpture "David" is the first completely nude figure created during the Renaissance. The forms of Donatello's sculptures acquire plastic clarity, the volumes become solid, the typical expression of faces is replaced by portraiture, the folds of the robes naturally envelop the body and echo its curves and movement. He strove to give the features of real people to his sculptures: Christ looks like a peasant, Florentine citizens are depicted as evangelists and prophets. In creating sculptures, Donatello aims to reproduce the new ideal of the era - an individual heroic personality.

Architecture achieved great success in the early Renaissance. If the beginning of the Renaissance was marked by the erection of the symbol of the urban community - the cathedral, then by the end of the 15th century. The ruler's palace becomes the center of the city. The square from the place of the people's assembly turned into a front yard.

A type of secular palace (palazzo) is formed: quadrangular in plan, closed around the courtyard, which then becomes open on one side or is separated only by a portico. The memory of medieval fortress architecture was preserved in the use of masonry of rough stone blocks, which later became a common decorative element (“rust”), mainly in the laying of the basement lower floors.

Free development is being replaced by planned development. The new architecture of the Renaissance - huge buildings, high domes, a grandiose colonnade - required strict mathematical calculations. Thanks to the improvement of building technology, the construction of large buildings, cathedrals and palaces began to be carried out in shorter terms than in the Middle Ages, sometimes in a few years.

Major architects who created the Renaissance style of architecture were Filippo Brunulleschi and Leon Battista Alberti.

Three cities became the main centers of the new art of Northern Italy: Padua, Ferrara, Venice.

Padua was one of the oldest university cities in Europe. The University of Padua, founded in 1222, attracted many students from different countries. Here the heritage of antiquity was intensively studied. A circle of humanists, connoisseurs and lovers of antiquity was created at the university. Manuscripts of ancient authors were collected here, works of art were collected. Dante and Petrarch visited Padua. Giotto and Donatello came here to work and had a strong influence on local artists.

In Ferrara, the court of local rulers, the Dukes d'Este, became the center of humanistic culture.

Venice is a republic of merchants who trade with the whole world and who have concentrated in their hands most of the trade between East and West. The Venetians borrow everything beautiful from the Muslim East, decrepit Byzantium, "barbarian" Germany, and try to turn their city into the most brilliant and magnificent in the world. And financial well-being allows them not to skimp in the implementation of their plans.

High Renaissance.

At the turn of the 15th - 16th century. The Italian Renaissance entered a new phase of development. At the end of the 15th - the first decade of the 16th century. the highest rise of art. This stage was called the High Renaissance.

In the first decade of the 16th century the center of artistic life in Italy moves to Rome. Even at the end of the 15th century. The Papal States began to play an important role among the largest Italian states. Less developed economically than Florence or Venice, it had a high international importance (as the center of Catholicism). Dreaming of uniting all of Italy under the rule of Rome, the popes tried to turn it into a leading political and cultural center. This was facilitated by the philanthropic policy of the popes, which attracted the best artists to Rome. And the historical past of the "eternal city" perfectly matched its new role. The memory of the greatness of the Roman Empire, which did not die throughout the Middle Ages, has now acquired special significance. In this regard, at the beginning of the 16th century. revived interest in ancient history and culture. It was in Rome, with its numerous monuments that have always attracted artists, that the classical heritage was fully and deeply perceived.

The art of the High Renaissance absorbed the ideas of humanism, it is imbued with faith in the creative powers of man, in the unlimitedness of his possibilities, in the rational structure of the world. At the same time, the problem of civic duty and heroic feat is replacing the naive narrative and everydayism common in Quattrocento art. The leitmotif of culture is the image of a beautiful, harmoniously developed, strong in body and spirit of a person who rises below the level of everyday routine.

At the beginning of the 16th century a new type of synthesis of arts achieves harmonious unity, which, unlike the medieval one (when all types of art are subordinated to architecture), assumes the equality of painting and sculpture in relation to architecture. The liberation of painting and sculpture from strict subordination to architecture leads to the isolation and development of new genres of art: portraiture, landscape and historical painting.

The formation of the art of the High Renaissance began at the end of the 15th century. - Florence was its cradle, from where such major masters as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo came out. The traditions of the Florentine school and the early Quattrocento were the basis of the art of the 16th century.

At the beginning of 16 in the leading position in the development of architecture, painting and sculpture passes to Rome. The architecture of gardens, parks and country residences of the nobility is being developed. There are utopian city projects. The distinctive qualities of the architecture of the High Renaissance are: monumentality, inspired by ancient Rome, the impressive grandeur and grandeur of designs. This was most clearly manifested in the restructuring of the Vatican and the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral, the architect of which was Donato d'Angelo Bramante(1444-1514), who determined with his work the path of development of architecture of the 16th century. The small Temppietto chapel built by Bramante is one of the best works of architecture of the mature Renaissance, it is distinguished by the integrity of the composition, the refinement of proportions, and the drawing of details. The main cathedral of Rome (the Cathedral of St. Peter) Bramante also planned to make according to a centric plan, while he was guided not by practical considerations (convenience during worship), but by the concept of a centric composition that was beloved during this period, striving for balance, stability and completeness. But the construction of the cathedral began in 1506, so Bramante did not have time to complete the cathedral and the construction was successively involved: Raphael, Peruzzi, Antonio da Sangalo the Younger, Michelangelo.

Many cultural figures were the embodiment of "homo universal" - a universal person, gifted in all areas of creative and scientific activity, creating masterpieces of painting, sculpture, architecture, writing treatises on various scientific topics.

Leonardo da Vinci(1452-1519) - the greatest painter, sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer. Leonardo left few paintings, as scientific interests absorbed a lot of time and effort.

Already in his first paintings, the main features of Leonardo's art are present: interest in psychological solutions, conciseness, emphasis on spatial arrangement and volume of forms.

Combining the development of new means of artistic language with theoretical communication, Leonardo created a harmonious image of a person that meets humanistic ideals; thus he summed up the experience of the Quattrocento and laid the foundations for the art of the High Renaissance.

In the service of the ruler of Milan, Lodovico Moro, Leonardo da Vinci acts as a military engineer, hydraulic engineer, and organizer of court extravaganzas. The creative flowering of Leonardo the painter falls on the same period. In the Madonna in the Rocks, the finest chiaroscuro (“sfumato”), beloved by the master, appears as a new halo that replaces the medieval halos: it is both a divine-human and natural sacrament in equal measure, where a rocky grotto, reflecting Leonardo’s geological observations, plays not less dramatic role than the figures of saints in the foreground. In addition, Leonardo introduces a new motif into Italian painting - the image of the Virgin Mary with children in a landscape.

In the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, Leonardo creates the painting "The Last Supper". In The Last Supper, psychological conflict and mathematical calculation are introduced into art in the construction of a composition. The high religious and ethical content of the image, which represents the stormy, contradictory reaction of Christ's disciples to his words about the coming betrayal, is expressed in clear mathematical patterns of the composition, imperiously subjugating not only the painted, but also the real architectural space. The clear stage logic of facial expressions and gestures, the combination of strict rationality with an inexplicable mystery made The Last Supper one of the most significant works in the history of world art. Being also engaged in architecture, Leonardo develops various versions of the "ideal city" and the central-domed temple.

In the portrait of Mona Lisa ("Gioconda"), the image of a wealthy city dweller appears as the embodiment of the lofty ideal of femininity, without losing its intimate human charm; an important element of the composition becomes a cosmically vast landscape, melting in a cold haze. "La Gioconda" forms the basis of all subsequent Italian portraiture.

The late works of Leonardo da Vinci include St. Anne with Mary and the Christ Child, which completes the search for a master in the field of light-air perspective and harmonic pyramidal composition. The last picture of Leonardo, "St. John the Baptist" is full of erotic ambiguity: the young Forerunner here does not look like a holy ascetic, but like a tempter full of sensual charm.

The most important source for studying the views of Leonardo da Vinci are his notebooks and manuscripts (about 7 thousand sheets). These notes were systematized after the death of the artist by his student F. Melzi in the Treatise on Painting. This work had a huge impact on European artistic practice and theoretical thought.

A tireless scientist-experimenter and a brilliant artist, Leonardo da Vinci remained in the tradition of a person-symbol of the era.

Rafael Santi(1483-1520) - artist of synthesis and harmony. His art is distinguished by the balance of mind and feelings, reality and ideals, impeccable clarity of composition and forms; he is a classic incarnation of the High Renaissance. Already in the early paintings (“Madonna Conestabile”, “Dream of a Knight”, “Three Graces”, “Betrothal of Mary”), the harmonious warehouse of talent inherent in Raphael, his ability to find the perfect harmony of forms, rhythms, colors, movements, gestures, affected.

He glorified the earthly existence of man, the harmony of spiritual and physical forces in the paintings of the stanzas (ceremonial chambers) of the Vatican, achieving an impeccable sense of proportion, rhythm, proportions, harmony of color, unity of figures and majestic architectural backgrounds. In the majestic multi-figure compositions on the walls (combining from 40 to 60 characters) "Disputation" ("Dispute about the sacrament"), "Athenian school", "Parnassus", without repeating a single figure and pose, not a single movement, Raphael weaves them together flexible, free, natural rhythm, flowing from figure to figure, from one group to another. In The Miraculous Exposition of the Apostle Peter from the Dungeon, Raphael, with an unusual for the artist of Central Italy, painterly subtlety conveys the complex effects of night lighting - a dazzling radiance surrounding an angel, the cold light of the moon, the reddish flame of torches and their reflections on the armor of the guards.

Among the best works of Raphael the muralist are also the murals of the arches of the Chigi chapel in Rome and the fresco “Triumph of Galatea” full of pagan cheerfulness (Villa Farnesina, Rome).

One of the main themes of Raphael's painting was the Madonna and Child. In the works “Madonna with a Goldfinch”, “Madonna in the Green”, “Beautiful Gardener”, he uses the same motive in them - he depicts a young mother against the backdrop of an idyllic landscape and little children playing at her feet - Christ and John the Baptist, he unites figures with a stable, harmoniously balanced rhythm of the compositional pyramid, beloved by the masters of the Renaissance. A new, polyphonically complex interpretation of the image of the Madonna found its fullest expression in one of the most perfect creations of Raphael - the Sistine Madonna altarpiece.

Raphael left a noticeable mark on Italian architecture. He participated in the construction of the St. Peter in Rome. Among his buildings are the small church of San Eligio degli Orefici with its austere interior, the Chigi chapel in the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, the interior of which is an example of a rare even for the Renaissance unity of architectural design and decor developed by Raphael - murals, mosaics, sculptures.

Michelangelo Buonarotti(1475-1564) - sculptor, painter, architect, poet. Michelangelo far outlived his illustrious contemporaries (Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael) and witnessed the humiliation of Italy and the collapse of all ideals and hopes. Therefore, with the greatest force, he expressed the deeply human ideals of the High Renaissance, full of heroic pathos, as well as the tragic sense of the crisis of the humanistic worldview during the Late Renaissance.