A distinctive feature of the Renaissance is the secular nature of culture and its anthropocentrism (that is, interest, first of all, in a person and his activities). There is an interest in ancient culture, there is, as it were, its “revival” - and this is how the term appeared.
Term rebirth found already among the Italian humanists, for example, in Giorgio Vasari. In its modern meaning, the term was coined by the 19th-century French historian Jules Michelet. Currently the term rebirth turned into a metaphor for cultural flourishing: for example, the 9th-century Carolingian Renaissance.
general characteristics
A new cultural paradigm arose as a result of fundamental changes in social relations in Europe.
The growth of city-republics led to an increase in the influence of estates that did not participate in feudal relations: artisans and artisans, merchants, bankers. All of them were alien to the hierarchical system of values created by the medieval, largely church culture and its ascetic, humble spirit. This led to the emergence of humanism - a socio-philosophical movement that considered a person, his personality, his freedom, his active, creative activity as the highest value and criterion for evaluating social institutions.
Secular centers of science and art began to appear in the cities, the activities of which were outside the control of the church. The new worldview turned to antiquity, seeing in it an example of humanistic, non-ascetic relations. The invention of printing in the middle of the century played a huge role in spreading the ancient heritage and new views throughout Europe.
Epoch periods
Early Renaissance
The period of the so-called "Early Renaissance" in Italy covers the time from to the year. During these eighty years, art has not yet completely renounced the traditions of the recent past, but is trying to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, and only little by little, under the influence of more and more changing conditions of life and culture, do artists completely abandon medieval foundations and boldly use examples of ancient art both in the general concept of their works and in their details.
Whereas art in Italy was already resolutely following the path of imitation of classical antiquity, in other countries it long held on to the traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, and also in Spain, the Renaissance does not come until the end of the 15th century, and its early period lasts until about the middle of the next century, without, however, producing anything particularly remarkable.
High Renaissance
The second period of the Renaissance - the time of the most magnificent development of his style - is commonly called the "High Renaissance", it extends in Italy from about 1580 to 1580. At this time, the center of gravity of Italian art from Florence moved to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II, an ambitious, courageous and enterprising man, who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court, occupied them with numerous and important works and gave others an example of love for the arts. . With this pope and his immediate successors, Rome becomes, as it were, the new Athens of the time of Pericles: many monumental buildings are created in it, magnificent sculptural works are performed, frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered pearls of painting; at the same time, all three branches of art harmoniously go hand in hand, helping one another and mutually acting on each other. The antique is now being studied more thoroughly, reproduced with greater rigor and consistency; tranquility and dignity are established instead of the playful beauty that was the aspiration of the previous period; reminiscences of the medieval completely disappear, and a completely classical imprint falls on all works of art. But imitation of the ancients does not stifle their independence in the artists, and they, with great resourcefulness and liveliness of imagination, freely process and apply to the case what they consider appropriate to borrow for it from Greco-Roman art.
Northern Renaissance
The Renaissance period in the Netherlands, Germany and France is usually singled out as a separate stylistic direction, which has some differences with the Renaissance in Italy, and called "Northern Renaissance".
The most noticeable stylistic differences in painting: unlike Italy, the traditions and skills of Gothic art were preserved in painting for a long time, less attention was paid to the study of the ancient heritage and the knowledge of human anatomy.
renaissance man
The science
In general, the pantheistic mysticism of the Renaissance, which prevailed in this era, created an unfavorable ideological background for the development of scientific knowledge. The final formation of the scientific method and the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century that followed it. associated with the Reformation movement, which was opposed to the Renaissance.
Philosophy
Philosophers of the Renaissance
Literature
The literature of the Renaissance most fully expressed the humanistic ideals of the era, the glorification of a harmonious, free, creative, comprehensively developed personality. The love sonnets of Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) revealed the depth of a person's inner world, the richness of his emotional life. In the XIV-XVI century, Italian literature flourished - the lyrics of Petrarch, the short stories of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the political treatises of Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the poems of Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) and Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) put forward her among the "classical" (along with ancient Greek and Roman) literature for other countries.
The literature of the Renaissance relied on two traditions: folk poetry and "bookish" ancient literature, so the rational principle was often combined in it with poetic fiction, and comic genres gained great popularity. This manifested itself in the most significant literary monuments of the era: Boccaccio's Decameron, Cervantes' Don Quixote, and François Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel.
The emergence of national literatures is associated with the Renaissance, in contrast to the literature of the Middle Ages, which was created mainly in Latin.
Theater and drama became widespread. The most famous playwrights of this time were William Shakespeare (1564-1616, England) and Lope de Vega (1562-1635, Spain)
art
The painting and sculpture of the Renaissance is characterized by the rapprochement of artists with nature, their closest penetration into the laws of anatomy, perspective, the action of light and other natural phenomena.
Renaissance artists, painting pictures of traditional religious themes, began to use new artistic techniques: building a three-dimensional composition, using a landscape in the background. This allowed them to make the images more realistic, lively, which showed a sharp difference between their work and the previous iconographic tradition, replete with conventions in the image.
Architecture
The main thing that characterizes this era is the return to cui
To the principles and forms of ancient, mainly Roman art. Of particular importance in this direction is given to symmetry, proportion, geometry and the order of the components, as evidenced by the surviving examples of Roman architecture. The complex proportion of medieval buildings is replaced by an orderly arrangement of columns, pilasters and lintels, asymmetrical outlines are replaced by a semicircle of an arch, a hemisphere of a dome, a niche, an aedicule.
Renaissance architecture experienced its greatest flowering in Italy, leaving behind two monument cities: Florence and Venice. Great architects worked on the creation of buildings there - Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti, Donato Bramante, Giorgio Vasari and many others.
Music
In the Renaissance (Renaissance), professional music loses the character of a purely church art and is influenced by folk music, imbued with a new humanistic worldview. The art of vocal and vocal-instrumental polyphony reaches a high level in the works of the representatives of "Ars nova" ("New Art") in Italy and France of the XIV century, in new polyphonic schools - English (XV century), Dutch (XV-XVI centuries. ), Roman, Venetian, French, German, Polish, Czech, etc. (XVI century).
Various genres of secular musical art appear - frottola and villanella in Italy, villancico in Spain, ballad in England, madrigal, which arose in Italy (L. Marenzio, J. Arcadelt, Gesualdo da Venosa), but became widespread, French polyphonic song (K Janequin, C. Lejeune). Secular humanistic aspirations also penetrate cult music - among the Franco-Flemish masters (Josquin Despres, Orlando di Lasso), in the art of composers of the Venetian school (A. and J. Gabrieli). During the period of the Counter-Reformation, the question was raised about the expulsion of polyphony from the religious cult, and only the reform of the head of the Roman school of Palestrina preserves polyphony for the Catholic Church - in a “purified”, “clarified” form. At the same time, the art of Palestrina also reflected some of the valuable achievements of the secular music of the Renaissance. New genres of instrumental music are taking shape, and national schools of performance on the lute, organ, and virginal are emerging. In Italy, the art of making bowed instruments with rich expressive possibilities is flourishing. The clash of various aesthetic attitudes is manifested in the "struggle" of two types of bowed instruments - the viola, which existed in an aristocratic environment, and
Renaissance, or Renaissance
- an era in the history of European culture, which replaced the culture of the Middle Ages and preceded the culture of modern times. The approximate chronological framework of the era is the beginning of the XIV - the last quarter of the XVI centuries and in some cases - the first decades of the XVII century. A distinctive feature of the Renaissance is the secular nature of culture and its anthropocentrism (interest, first of all, in a person and his activities). There is an interest in ancient culture, its “revival” is taking place - and this is how the term appeared.
The term Renaissance is already found among Italian humanists, for example, in Giorgio Vasari. In its modern meaning, the term was coined by the 19th-century French historian Jules Michelet. Nowadays, the term Renaissance has become a metaphor for cultural flourishing: for example, the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century.
Birth of the Italian Renaissance
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 became 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 the common 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 are already amazing. . Drawing and engraving, handwritten miniatures and the newly emerging printed graphics, decorative and applied art 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, which fall on the birth and development of Renaissance art, are widely used. 
Italy. The 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 Italy, unlike other European countries, the aesthetic ideal of the Renaissance man was formed very early, going back to the teaching of the humanists about homo 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. 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. 
Story
The Renaissance (Renaissance) is a period of cultural and ideological development of European countries. All European countries have gone through this period, but each country has its own historical framework for the Renaissance. The revival arose in Italy, where its first signs were noticeable as early as the 13th and 14th centuries (in the activities of the Pisano family, Giotto, Orcagni, etc.), but it was firmly established only from the 20s of the 15th century. In France, Germany and other countries, this movement began much later. By the end of the 15th century, it reached its peak. In the 16th century, a crisis of Renaissance ideas was brewing, resulting in the emergence of Mannerism and Baroque. The term "Renaissance" began to be used in the XVI century. in relation to fine arts. The author of "Lives of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (1550), the Italian artist D. Vasari wrote about the "revival" of art in Italy after many years of decline during the Middle Ages. Later, the concept of "Renaissance" acquired a broader meaning. Renaissance- this is the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of a new era, the beginning of the transition from a feudal medieval society to a bourgeois one, when the foundations of the feudal social way of life were shaken, and bourgeois-capitalist relations had not yet developed with all their commercial morality and soulless 
hypocrisy. Already in the depths of feudalism in the free cities there were large craft workshops, which became the basis of the manufacturing industry of the New Age, here the bourgeois class began to take shape. With particular consistency and strength, it manifested itself in Italian cities, which were already at the turn of the XIV - XV centuries. embarked on the path of capitalist development in the Dutch cities, as well as in some Rhenish and South German cities of the 15th century. Here, in conditions of incompletely formed capitalist relations, a strong and free urban society developed. Its development proceeded in a constant struggle, which was partly commercial competition and partly a struggle for political power. However, the circle of distribution of the Renaissance culture was much wider and covered the territories of France, Spain, England, the Czech Republic, Poland, where new trends manifested themselves with different strengths and in specific forms. This is the period of the formation of nations, since it was at this time that the royal power, relying on the townspeople, broke the power of the feudal nobility. From associations that were states only in a geographical sense, large monarchies are formed, based on a common historical destiny, on nationalities. Literature reached a high level, having received, with the invention of printing, previously unprecedented opportunities for distribution. It became possible to reproduce on paper any kind of knowledge and any achievements of science, which greatly facilitated learning.
The founders of humanism in Italy are Petrarch and Boccaccio - poets, scientists and connoisseurs of antiquity. The central place that the logic and philosophy of Aristotle occupied in the system of medieval scholastic education is now beginning to be occupied by rhetoric and Cicero. The study of rhetoric, according to the humanists, was supposed to give the key to the spiritual warehouse of antiquity; mastering the language and style of the ancients was considered as mastering their thinking and worldview and the most important stage in the liberation of the individual. The study of the works of ancient authors by humanists brought up the habit of thinking, of research, observation, studying the work of the mind. And new scientific works grew out of a better understanding of the values of antiquity and at the same time surpassed them. The study of Antiquity left its mark on religious beliefs and customs. Although many humanists were devout, blind dogmatism died. The Chancellor of the Florentine Republic, Caluccio Salutatti, declared that the Holy Scripture is nothing but poetry. The love of the nobility for wealth and splendor, the splendor of the cardinal palaces and the Vatican itself were defiant. Ecclesiastical offices were seen by many prelates as a convenient feeder and access to political power. Rome itself, in the eyes of some, turned into a real biblical Babylon, where corruption, unbelief and licentiousness reigned. This led to a split in the bosom of the church, to the emergence of reformist movements. The era of free urban communes was short-lived, they were replaced by tyrannies. The trade rivalry of the cities eventually turned into a bloody rivalry. Already in the second half of the 16th century, feudal-Catholic reaction began. 
The humanistic light ideals of the Renaissance are replaced by moods of pessimism and anxiety, intensified by individualistic tendencies. A number of Italian states are experiencing political and economic decline, they are losing their independence, social enslavement and impoverishment of the masses are taking place, and class contradictions are aggravating. The perception of the world becomes more complex, the dependence of a person on environment, ideas about the variability of life develop, the ideals of harmony and integrity of the universe are lost.
Renaissance culture or Renaissance
The culture of the Renaissance is based on the principle of humanism, the affirmation of the dignity and beauty of a real person, his mind and will, his creative forces. Unlike the culture of the Middle Ages, the humanistic life-affirming culture of the Renaissance was secular. The liberation from church scholasticism and dogma contributed to the rise of science. Passionate thirst for knowledge of the real world and admiration for it led to the display in art of the most diverse aspects of reality and gave majestic pathos to the most significant creations of artists. An important role for the formation of the art of the Renaissance was played by a new understanding of the ancient heritage. The influence of antiquity had the strongest effect on the formation of the Renaissance culture in Italy, where many monuments of ancient Roman art have been preserved. The victory of the secular principle in the culture of the Renaissance was a consequence of the social assertion of the growing bourgeoisie. However, the humanistic orientation of the art of the Renaissance, its optimism, the heroic and social nature of its images objectively expressed the interests not only of the young bourgeoisie, but of all progressive strata of society as a whole. Art 
The revival was formed in conditions when the consequences of the capitalist division of labor, which were detrimental to the development of the individual, had not yet manifested themselves, courage, intelligence, resourcefulness, strength of character had not yet lost their significance. This created the illusion of the infinity of the further progressive development of human abilities. The ideal of a titanic personality was affirmed in art. The all-round brightness of the characters of the people of the Renaissance, which is also reflected in art, is largely due precisely to the fact that “the heroes of that time have not yet become slaves to the division of labor, which limits, creates one-sidedness, the influence of which we so often observe in their successors.”
The new requirements facing art led to the enrichment of its types and genres. Fresco is widely used in monumental Italian painting. From the 15th century an increasing place is occupied by the easel painting, in the development of which the Dutch masters played a special role. Along with the previously existing genres of religious and mythological painting, filled with new meaning, a portrait is being put forward, historical and landscape painting is being born. In Germany and the Netherlands, where the popular movement aroused the need for art that quickly and actively responded to ongoing events, engraving was widely used, which was often used in the decoration of books. The process of isolation of sculpture, begun in the Middle Ages, is being completed; along with the decorative plastic that adorns buildings, an independent round sculpture appears - easel and monumental. The decorative relief acquires the character of a perspectively constructed multi-figured composition. Turning to the ancient heritage in search of an ideal, inquisitive minds discovered the world of classical antiquity, searched for the creations of ancient authors in the monastic vaults, dug up fragments of columns and statues, bas-reliefs and precious utensils. The process of assimilation and processing of the ancient heritage was accelerated by the resettlement of Greek scientists and artists from Byzantium, captured by the Turks in 1453, to Italy. In the saved manuscripts, in the dug out statues and bas-reliefs, a new world, hitherto unknown, opened up to amazed Europe - ancient culture with its ideal of earthly beauty, deeply human and tangible. This world gave birth in people a great love for the beauty of the world and a stubborn will to know this world.
Periodization of Renaissance art
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:
introductory period, Proto-Renaissance (“the era of Dante and Giotto”, ca. 1260-1320), partially coinciding with the Ducento period (XIII century)
Quattrocento (XV century)
and Cinquecento (XVI century) 
The chronological framework of the century does not quite coincide with certain periods of cultural development: for example, the Proto-Renaissance dates back to the end of the 13th century, the Early Renaissance ends in the 90s. XV century., And the High Renaissance is becoming obsolete by the 30s. 16th century It continues until the end of the 16th century. only in Venice; the term "late Renaissance" is more often used to this period. The era of the ducento, i.e. The 13th century was the beginning of the Renaissance culture of Italy - the Proto-Renaissance.
The more common periods are:
Early Renaissance, when new trends actively interact with Gothic, creatively transforming it;
Middle (or High) Renaissance;
Late Renaissance, of which Mannerism became a special phase.
The new culture of the countries located to the north and west of the Alps (France, the Netherlands, the Germanic-speaking lands) is collectively referred to as the Northern Renaissance; here the role of late Gothic was especially significant. The characteristic features of the Renaissance were also clearly manifested in the countries of Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, etc.), and affected Scandinavia. An original Renaissance culture developed in Spain, Portugal and England.
Characteristics of the Renaissance style
This style of interior, which was called by contemporaries of the Renaissance style, introduced a free new spirit and faith in the boundless possibilities of mankind into the culture and art of medieval Europe. Characteristic features of the interior in the Renaissance style were large rooms with rounded arches, carved wood trim, intrinsic value and relative independence of each individual detail, from which the whole is typed. Strict organization, logic, clarity, rationality of building a form. Clarity, balance, symmetry of parts relative to the whole. The ornament imitates antique patterns. Renaissance style elements were borrowed from the arsenal of Greco-Roman orders. Thus, windows began to be made with semicircular, and later with rectangular endings. The interiors of the palaces began to be distinguished by their monumentality, the splendor of marble stairs, as well as the richness of decorative decoration. Deep perspective, proportionality, harmony of forms are the mandatory requirements of Renaissance aesthetics. The character of the interior space is largely determined by vaulted ceilings, whose smooth lines are repeated in numerous semicircular niches. The color scheme of the Renaissance is soft, the halftones pass into each other, there are no contrasts, complete harmony. Nothing catches the eye. 
The main elements of the Renaissance style:
semicircular lines, geometric pattern (circle, square, cross, octagon) predominantly horizontal division of the interior;
steep or sloping roof with tower superstructures, arched galleries, colonnades, round ribbed domes, high and spacious halls, bay windows;
coffered ceiling; ancient sculptures; leaf ornament; wall and ceiling painting;
massive and visually stable structures; diamond rust on the facade;
the form of furniture is simple, geometric, solid, richly decorated;
colors: purple, blue, yellow, brown.
Renaissance periods
Revival is divided into 4 stages:
Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the XIII century - XIV century)
Early Renaissance (early 15th century - late 15th century)
High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)
Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 90s of the 16th century)
Proto-Renaissance
The Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Romanesque, Gothic traditions, this period was the preparation for the Renaissance. This period is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). The most important discoveries, the brightest masters live and work in the first period. The second segment is connected with the plague epidemic that hit Italy. All discoveries were made on an intuitive level. At the end of the 13th century, the main temple building, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was erected in Florence, the author was Arnolfo di Cambio, then the work was continued by Giotto, who designed the campanile of the Florence Cathedral. The art of the proto-Renaissance manifested itself in sculpture. Painting is represented by two art schools: Florence (Cimabue, Giotto) and Siena (Duccio, Simone Martini). The central figure of painting was Giotto. Renaissance artists considered him a reformer of painting.
Early Renaissance
The period covers in Italy the time from 1420 to 1500. During these eighty years, art has not yet completely renounced the traditions of the recent past, but is trying to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, and only little by little, under the influence of more and more changing conditions of life and culture, do artists completely abandon medieval foundations and boldly use examples of ancient art, both in the general concept of their works and in their details.
Art in Italy has already resolutely followed the path of imitation of classical antiquity, in other countries it has long adhered to the traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, as well as in Spain, the Renaissance does not come until the end of the 15th century, and its early period lasts until about the middle of the next century.
High Renaissance
The third period of the Renaissance - the time of the most magnificent development of his style - is commonly called the "High Renaissance". It extends into Italy from approximately 1500 to 1527. At this time, the center of influence of Italian art from Florence moved to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II - an ambitious, courageous and enterprising man, who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court, occupied them with numerous and important works and gave others an example of love for art. . Under this Pope and under his immediate successors, Rome becomes, as it were, the new Athens of the time of Pericles: many monumental buildings are built in it, magnificent sculptures are created, frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered the pearls of painting; at the same time, all three branches of art harmoniously go hand in hand, helping one another and mutually acting on each other. The antique is now being studied more thoroughly, reproduced with greater rigor and consistency; tranquility and dignity replace the playful beauty that was the aspiration of the preceding period; reminiscences of the medieval completely disappear, and a completely classical imprint falls on all works of art.
Late Renaissance
The late Renaissance in Italy covers the period from the 1530s to the 1590s-1620s. Some researchers rank the 1630s as the Late Renaissance, but this position is controversial among art critics and historians. The art and culture of this time are so diverse in their manifestations that it is possible to reduce them to one denominator only with a great deal of conventionality. In Southern Europe, the Counter-Reformation triumphed, which looked with caution at any free thought, including the chanting of the human body and the resurrection of the ideals of antiquity, as the cornerstones of the Renaissance ideology. Worldview contradictions and a general feeling of crisis resulted in Florence in the "nervous" art of far-fetched colors and broken lines - mannerism.
June 15, 1520. Rome, Piazza Navona. And at the beginning of the 16th century, the square could be easily recognized by its shape, even without the fountains and facades that give it its current, baroque appearance. However, in 1520, the Baroque era had not yet arrived, and the Renaissance had not yet ended - at least it seemed so. The impending catastrophe almost did not make itself felt, but people who had increased susceptibility already felt its approach, especially after the event that took place on this square.
That day, a huge fire blazed in the center of the square. Around him, in their priestly robes embroidered with gold, stood the highest ranks of the church. Feeling no remorse, they looked with a sense of satisfaction at the flame, which greedily devoured the creations of a man recognized as the most dangerous heretic. The representative of the pope read aloud a bull in which not only the blasphemer himself, but also all his books were cursed. The heretic's name was Martin Luther.
Under the bull was the signature of Pope Leo X of the Medici family, who finally deigned to break away from his too long hunt. However, he never managed to realize the extent of the crisis that engulfed the entire Western Christendom and extinguish it in time. The very language of the papal decree, against his will, betrays Leo X's all-out preoccupation with worldly pursuits. It began with these words: “Arise, O Lord, and judge this matter. A wild boar has broken into our vineyard.”
Luther, that wild boar, did exactly the same thing as the pope - he kindled his own fire, in which not only the papal bull, but the entire code of canon laws was burned. Luther initially rebelled against the sale of indulgences. Thanks to the trade in absolutions, the popes annually collected huge sums that went to the construction of luxurious Renaissance palaces. This time, money was needed to build a new St. Peter's Basilica, which thus became not only the largest Christian church in the world, but also required a huge number of human victims. The sale of indulgences gave impetus to the development of events, as a result of which the fire of war flared up in Europe for more than a hundred years and which led to a split in the dominant church in the Western world.
Some scholars believe that the seeds of schism flourished seven years after the burning of Luther's books in Piazza Navona. On Sunday - it should have happened on Sunday! - On May 5, 1527, the troops of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V attacked the holy city of Rome with a fury that even the barbarians did not know. The destruction of the city by Charles V in 1527 was unparalleled in the entire history of its existence. However, it would be unfair to say that it happened because the troops of Charles V were dominated by Protestants. The motives of the people who killed and robbed the townspeople and raped women cannot be justified or explained by their religious beliefs. However, churches and their decorations were destroyed all over the city - it is quite possible that the fire in which Luther's writings were burned inflamed the hearts of the invaders and forced them to sack Rome.
In any case, the defeat was terrible. The imperial army numbered about 35 thousand soldiers, while the Romans - men, women and children - were probably no more than 54 thousand. Realizing that he was not able to save the city, the pope ran along the wall that connected the Vatican with the Castel Sant'Angelo and locked himself there. From the parapets, he watched the city perish, how the flames devoured everything that came in his way, and listened to the cries of his flock, which he did not have the strength to protect. The suffering of the inhabitants of Rome can only be compared with the suffering of the first martyrs for the faith, who died at the stake or on the rack.
The impulse for the development of art, which gave Rome the Florentine Renaissance, reached its greatest strength in the first quarter of the 16th century, when Michelangelo and Raphael worked in the Eternal City. The debacle of 1527 marked the end of the High Renaissance in Rome. Most of the artists who came here from other areas of Italy fled home. Michelangelo returned to the Eternal City some time after the tragedy, but many others did not. The city was in a terrible state, and the villages surrounding it were depopulated.
This time, however, the restoration of Rome, in contrast to the Middle Ages, began almost immediately after the departure of the imperial army, and the new Rome far surpassed all its predecessors. It rose from the ashes thanks to the efforts of the Council of Thirty (Council of Trent, which worked from 1545 to 1564), which was organized and worked under the leadership of the then-reigning popes: Paul III, Pius IV and Pius V. They were engaged in reforming the Roman church. This was the first major renovation of the Catholic Church in modern times, the last being recently completed by the Second Vatican Council. The government of the popes was reorganized, and a spirit of change prevailed everywhere. The Catholic Reformation was a response to the Reformation initiated by Luther, but it was not a simple response. Inspired by the ideas of the Fathers of Trent (who were members of the Council of Trent) and generated by the high emotional mood that reigned in the order of Jesuit preachers that arose at the same time, the Counter-Reformation became the backdrop for the development of the art of the Baroque era.
Rome became the center of the spiritual revival, and the baroque style became that elegant instrument with which the renewed church expressed itself in art. The Eternal City was destined to become the majestic capital of the Baroque...
Renaissance(Renaissance)
Renaissance (Renaissance) (Renaissance), an era of intellectual and artistic flourishing that began in Italy in the 14th century, reaching a peak in the 16th century and having a significant impact on European culture. The term "Renaissance", which meant a return to the values of the ancient world (although interest in the Roman classics arose as early as the 12th century), appeared in the 15th century and received theoretical justification in the 16th century in the works of Vasari, dedicated to the work of famous artists, sculptors and architects. At this time, an idea was formed about the harmony reigning in nature and about man as the crown of her creation. Prominent representatives of this era include the painter Alberti; architect, artist, scientist, poet and mathematician Leonardo da Vinci.
The architect Brunelleschi, innovatively using Hellenistic (ancient) traditions, created several buildings that were not inferior in beauty to the best ancient examples. Very interesting are the works of Bramante, whom contemporaries considered the most talented architect of the High Renaissance, and Palladio, who created large architectural ensembles, distinguished by the integrity of the artistic conception and the variety of compositional solutions. Theater buildings and scenery were built on the basis of the architectural work of Vitruvius (about 15 BC) in accordance with the principles of the Roman theater. The playwrights followed strict classical canons. The auditorium, as a rule, resembled a horseshoe in shape, in front of it there was an elevation with a proscenium, separated from the main space by an arch. This was taken as a model theater building for the entire Western world for the next five centuries.
Renaissance painters created an integral concept of the world with internal unity, filled traditional religious subjects with earthly content (Nicola Pisano, late 14th century; Donatello, early 15th century). The realistic depiction of a person became the main goal of the artists of the Early Renaissance, as evidenced by the works of Giotto and Masaccio. The invention of a way to convey perspective contributed to a more truthful display of reality. One of the main themes of the paintings of the Renaissance (Gilbert, Michelangelo) was the tragic intransigence of conflicts, the struggle and death of the hero.
Around 1425, Florence became the center of the Renaissance (Florentine art), but by the beginning of the 16th century (High Renaissance), Venice (Venetian art) and Rome took the lead. Cultural centers were the courts of the Dukes of Mantua, Urbino and Ferrada. The main patrons were the Medici and the popes, especially Julius II and Leo X. The largest representatives of the "northern Renaissance" were Durer, Cranach the Elder, Holbein. Northern artists mostly imitated the best Italian examples, and only a few, such as Jan van Scorel, managed to create their own style, which was distinguished by a special elegance and grace, later called Mannerism.
Renaissance artists:
Famous paintings by artists of the Renaissance (Renaissance)
 Mona Lisa |
The Renaissance is usually divided into 4 stages:
Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the XIII century - XIV century)
Early Renaissance (beginning of the 15th century - the end of the 15th century)
High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)
Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 90s of the 16th century) Renaissance [electronic resource]. // Wikipedia: free encyclopedia: in Russian. // Access mode: http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C2%EE%E7%F0%EE%E6%E4%E5%ED%E8%E5. Retrieved 10.02.2013
Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Romanesque, Gothic traditions, this period was the preparation of the Renaissance. This period is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). The most important discoveries, the brightest masters live and work in the first period. The second segment is connected with the plague epidemic that hit Italy.
At the end of the 13th century, the main temple building, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, was erected in Florence, the author was Arnolfo di Cambio, then the work was continued by Giotto, who designed the campanile of the Florence Cathedral.
Previously, the art of the proto-Renaissance manifested itself in sculpture (Niccolò and Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano). Painting is represented by two art schools: Florence (Cimabue, Giotto) and Siena (Duccio, Simone Martini).
The central figure of painting was Giotto. Renaissance artists considered him a reformer of painting. Giotto outlined the path along which its development went: filling religious forms with secular content, a gradual transition from flat images to three-dimensional and relief images, an increase in realism. Giotto introduced the plastic volume of figures into painting, depicted the interior in painting.
The period of the so-called "Early Renaissance" in Italy covers the time from 1420 to 1500. During these eighty years, art has not yet completely renounced the traditions of the recent past, but is trying to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, and only little by little, under the influence of more and more changing conditions of life and culture, do artists completely abandon medieval foundations and boldly use examples of ancient art, both in the general concept of their works and in their details.
Whereas art in Italy was already resolutely following the path of imitation of classical antiquity, in other countries it long held on to the traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, as well as in Spain, the Renaissance does not come until the end of the 15th century, and its early period lasts until about the middle of the next century.
The third period of the Renaissance - the time of the most magnificent development of his style - is commonly called the "High Renaissance".
It extends into Italy from approximately 1500 to 1527.
At this time, the center of influence of Italian art from Florence moved to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II - an ambitious, courageous and enterprising man, who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court, occupied them with numerous and important works and gave others an example of love for art.
Under this Pope and under his immediate successors, Rome becomes, as it were, the new Athens of the time of Pericles: many monumental buildings are built in it, magnificent sculptures are created, frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered the pearls of painting; at the same time, all three branches of art harmoniously go hand in hand, helping one another and mutually acting on each other.
The antique is now being studied more thoroughly, reproduced with greater rigor and consistency; tranquility and dignity replace the playful beauty that was the aspiration of the preceding period; reminiscences of the medieval completely disappear, and a completely classical imprint falls on all works of art. But imitation of the ancients does not stifle their independence in artists, and they, with great resourcefulness and liveliness of imagination, freely process and apply to their work what they consider appropriate to borrow for themselves from ancient Greco-Roman art.
The work of three great Italian masters marks the pinnacle of the Renaissance, these are Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519), Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475 - 1564) and Raphael Santi (1483 - 1520).
The late Renaissance in Italy covers the period from the 1530s to the 1590s-1620s. Some researchers rank the 1630s as the Late Renaissance, but this position is controversial among art critics and historians. The art and culture of this time are so diverse in their manifestations that it is possible to reduce them to one denominator only with a great deal of conventionality.
During this period, the Counter-Reformation triumphed in Southern Europe, Mannerism was developing in Florence, and the artistic traditions of Venice had their own logic of development.
