Renaissance - the time of intellectual flourishing in Italy, which influenced the development of mankind. This wonderful time gave its start in the XIV century and began to decline in the XVI century. It is impossible to find a single area of human activity that would not have been affected by the Renaissance. The flourishing of human culture, creativity, art, sciences. Politics, philosophy, literature, architecture, painting - all this has acquired a new breath and began to develop at an unusually fast pace. Most of the greatest artists who left an eternal memory of themselves in their works and developed most of the principles and laws of painting lived and worked at this particular time. The Renaissance became for people a breath of fresh air and the beginning of a new life, a real cultural revolution. The principles of life of the Middle Ages collapsed and a person began to strive for the high, as if realizing his real destiny on Earth - to create and develop.
Rebirth means nothing more than a return to the values of the past. The values of the past, including such as faith and sincere love for art, creation, creation, were rethought. Awareness of man in the universe: man as the crown of nature, the crown of divine creation, who himself is the creator.
The most famous Renaissance artists are Alberti, Michelangelo, Raphael, Albrecht Dürer and many others. With their work, they expressed the general concept of the universe, the concept of the origin of man, which were based on religion and myths. We can say that it was then that the desire of artists to learn how to create a realistic image of a person, nature, things, as well as intangible phenomena - feelings, emotions, moods, etc. appeared. Initially, Florence was considered the center of the Renaissance, but by the 16th century it captured Venice. It was in Venice that the most important benefactors or patrons of the Renaissance, such as the Medici, popes and others, were located.
There is no doubt that the Renaissance influenced the course of development of all mankind in every sense of the word. The works of art of that time are still among the most expensive, and their authors have left their names in history forever. Paintings and sculpture of the Renaissance are considered priceless masterpieces and are still a guide and example for any artist. The unique art impresses with its beauty and depth of intent. Each person must know about this extraordinary time that was in the history of our past, without the legacy of which it is absolutely impossible to imagine our present and future.
Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa (La Gioconda)
Raphael Santi - Madonna
Characteristic features in the art of the Renaissance
Perspective. To add three-dimensional depth and space to their work, Renaissance artists borrowed and greatly expanded the concepts of linear perspective, horizon line, and vanishing point.
§ Linear perspective. Painting with linear perspective is like looking out the window and painting exactly what you see on the window pane. Objects in the picture began to have their own dimensions, depending on the distance. Those that were farther from the viewer decreased, and vice versa.
§ Skyline. This is a line at the distance at which objects shrink to a point as thick as this line.
§ Vanishing point. This is the point at which parallel lines seem to converge far in the distance, often at the horizon line. This effect can be observed if you stand on the railroad tracks and look at the rails that go to yes. l.
Shadows and light. Artists played with interest in how light falls on objects and creates shadows. Shadows and light could be used to draw attention to a particular point in a painting.
Emotions. Renaissance artists wanted the viewer, looking at the work, to feel something, to experience an emotional experience. It was a form of visual rhetoric where the viewer felt inspired to become better at something.
Realism and naturalism. In addition to perspective, the artists sought to make objects, especially people, look more realistic. They studied human anatomy, measured proportions and searched for the ideal human form. The people looked real and showed genuine emotion, allowing the viewer to make inferences about what the people depicted were thinking and feeling.
The era of "Renaissance" is divided into 4 stages:
Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the 13th century - 14th century)
Early Renaissance (early 15th - late 15th century)
High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)
Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 1590s)
Proto-Renaissance
The Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages, in fact, it appeared in the Late Middle Ages, with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic traditions, this period was the forerunner of the Renaissance. It is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). Italian artist and architect, founder of the Proto-Renaissance era. One of the key figures in the history of Western art. Having overcome the Byzantine icon-painting tradition, he became the true founder of the Italian school of painting, developed a completely new approach to depicting space. Giotto's works were inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo. 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 planar images to three-dimensional and relief images, an increase in realism, introduced a plastic volume of figures into painting, depicted an interior in painting.
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 Giotto continued the work.
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.
The art of the proto-Renaissance first manifested itself in sculpture (Niccolò and Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano). Painting is represented by two art schools: Florence and Siena.
Early Renaissance
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 (the Middle Ages), but is trying to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, under the influence of more and more changing conditions of life and culture, did the artists completely abandon the 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.
Artists of the Early Renaissance
One of the first and most brilliant representatives of this period is considered to be Masaccio (Masaccio Tommaso Di Giovanni Di Simone Cassai), the famous Italian painter, the greatest master of the Florentine school, the reformer of painting of the Quattrocento era.
With his work, he contributed to the transition from Gothic to a new art, glorifying the greatness of man and his world. Masaccio's contribution to art was renewed in 1988 when his main creation - Frescoes in the Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence- have been restored to their original form.
- Resurrection of the son of Theophilus, Masaccio and Filippino Lippi
- Adoration of the Magi
- Miracle with stater
Other important representatives of this period were Sandro Botticelli. great Italian Renaissance painter, representative of the Florentine school of painting.
- Birth of Venus
- Venus and Mars
- Spring
- Adoration of the Magi
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, 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 sculptural works 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. Antiquity 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 the imitation of the ancients does not stifle their independence in the artists, and with great resourcefulness and liveliness of imagination, they freely process and apply to business 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, this is Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci great Italian Renaissance painter, representative of the Florentine school of painting. Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer, musician, one of the largest representatives of the art of the High Renaissance, a vivid example of the "universal man"
The Last Supper
Mona Lisa,
-Vitruvian Man ,
- Madonna Litta
- Madonna in the rocks
-Madonna with a spindle
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Michelangelo di Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni. Italian sculptor, painter, architect [⇨], poet [⇨], thinker [⇨]. . One of the greatest masters of the Renaissance [⇨] and early Baroque. His works were considered the highest achievements of Renaissance art during the life of the master himself. Michelangelo lived for almost 89 years, an entire era, from the High Renaissance to the origins of the Counter-Reformation. During this period, thirteen Popes were replaced - he carried out orders for nine of them.
Creation of Adam
Last Judgment
and Raphael Santi (1483-1520). great Italian painter, graphic artist and architect, representative of the Umbrian school.
- School of Athens
-Sistine Madonna
- Transformation
- Wonderful gardener
Late Renaissance
The Late Renaissance in Italy covers the period from the 1530s to the 1590s-1620s. The Counter-Reformation triumphed in Southern Europe ( counter-reformation(lat. Contrareformation; from contra- against and reformatio- transformation, reformation) - a Catholic church-political movement in Europe in the mid-16th-17th centuries, directed against the Reformation and aimed at restoring the position and prestige of the Roman Catholic Church.), which looked with caution at any free thought, including the chanting of the human body and 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. In Parma, where Correggio worked, Mannerism reached only after the death of the artist in 1534. The artistic traditions of Venice had their own logic of development; until the end of the 1570s, Palladio worked there (real name Andrea di Pietro). great Italian architect of the late Renaissance and Mannerism.( Mannerism(from Italian maniera, manner) - Western European literary and artistic style of the 16th - first third of the 17th century. It is characterized by the loss of Renaissance harmony between the bodily and spiritual, nature and man.) The founder of Palladianism ( Palladianism or Palladian architecture- an early form of classicism, which grew out of the ideas of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). The style is based on strict adherence to symmetry, taking into account perspectives and borrowing the principles of classical temple architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome.) And classicism. Probably the most influential architect in history.
The first independent work of Andrea Palladio, as a talented designer and gifted architect, is the Basilica in Vicenza, in which his original inimitable talent was manifested.
Among the country houses, the most outstanding creation of the master is the Villa Rotunda. Andrea Palladio built it in Vicenza for a retired Vatican official. It is notable for being the first secular building of the Renaissance, built in the form of an ancient temple.
Another example is the Palazzo Chiericati, which is unusual in that the first floor of the building was almost entirely given over to public use, which was consistent with the requirements of the city authorities of those times.
Among the famous urban constructions of Palladio, one should definitely mention the Olimpico Theatre, designed in the style of an amphitheatre.
Titian ( Titian Vecellio) Italian painter, the largest representative of the Venetian school of the High and Late Renaissance. The name of Titian is on a par with such Renaissance artists as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Titian painted pictures on biblical and mythological subjects, he became famous as a portrait painter. He was commissioned by kings and popes, cardinals, dukes and princes. Titian was not even thirty years old when he was recognized as the best painter in Venice.
From his place of birth (Pieve di Cadore in the province of Belluno, Republic of Venice), he is sometimes referred to as da cadore; also known as Titian the Divine.
- Ascension of the Virgin Mary
- Bacchus and Ariadne
- Diana and Actaeon
- Venus Urbino
- Abduction of Europa
whose work had little in common with the crisis phenomena in the art of Florence and Rome.
The Renaissance began in Italy. It acquired its name due to the sharp intellectual and artistic flourishing that began in the 14th century and greatly influenced European society and culture. The Renaissance was expressed not only in paintings, but also in architecture, sculpture and literature. The most prominent representatives of the Renaissance are Leonardo da Vinci, Botticelli, Titian, Michelangelo and Raphael.
In these times, the main goal of painters was a realistic depiction of the human body, so they mainly painted people, depicted various religious subjects. The principle of perspective was also invented, which opened up new opportunities for artists.
Florence became the center of the Renaissance, followed by Venice, and later, closer to the 16th century, Rome.
Leonardo is known to us as a talented painter, sculptor, scientist, engineer and architect of the Renaissance. For most of his life, Leonardo worked in Florence, where he created many masterpieces known throughout the world. Among them: "Mona Lisa" (otherwise - "Gioconda"), "Lady with an Ermine", "Madonna Benois", "John the Baptist" and "St. Anna with Mary and the Christ Child.
This artist is recognizable due to the unique style that he developed over the years. He also painted the walls of the Sistine Chapel at the personal request of Pope Sixtus IV. Botticelli painted famous paintings on mythological themes. Such paintings include "Spring", "Pallas and the Centaur", "The Birth of Venus".
Titian was the head of the Florentine school of artists. After the death of his teacher Bellini, Titian became the official, generally recognized artist of the Venetian Republic. This painter is known for his portraits on religious themes: "The Ascension of Mary", "Danae", "Earthly Love and Heavenly Love".
The Italian poet, sculptor, architect and artist depicted many masterpieces, of which is the famous statue of "David" made of marble. This statue has become a major attraction in Florence. Michelangelo painted the vault of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, which was a major commission from Pope Julius II. During the period of his work, he paid more attention to architecture, but gave us the "Crucifixion of St. Peter", "The Entombment", "The Creation of Adam", "The Soothsayer".
His work was formed under the great influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, thanks to whom he gained invaluable experience and skill. He painted the state rooms in the Vatican, representing human activity and depicting various scenes from the Bible. Among the famous paintings of Raphael are "Sistine Madonna", "Three Graces", "Saint Michael and the Devil".
Ivan Sergeevich Tseregorodtsev
The first forerunners of Renaissance art appeared in Italy in the 14th century. Artists of this time, Pietro Cavallini (1259-1344), Simone Martini (1284-1344) and (primarily) Giotto
(1267-1337), when creating paintings of traditional religious subjects, they began to use new artistic techniques: building a three-dimensional composition, using a landscape in the background, which allowed them to make images more realistic and lively. This sharply distinguished their work from the previous iconographic tradition, replete with conventions in the image.
The term is used to refer to their work. Proto-Renaissance (1300s - "Trecento")
.
Giotto di Bondone
(c. 1267-1337) - Italian painter and architect of the Proto-Renaissance era. One of the key figures in the history of Western art. Having overcome the Byzantine icon-painting tradition, he became the true founder of the Italian school of painting, developed a completely new approach to depicting space. Giotto's works were inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo.
Early Renaissance (1400s - "Quattrocento").
At the beginning of the 15th century Filippo Brunelleschi
(1377-1446), Florentine scholar and architect.
Brunelleschi wanted to make the perception of the terms and theaters reconstructed by him more visual and tried to create geometrically perspective pictures from his plans for a certain point of view. In these searches, direct perspective.
This allowed the artists to get perfect images of three-dimensional space on a flat canvas of the picture.
_________Another important step towards the Renaissance was the emergence of non-religious, secular art. Portrait and landscape established themselves as independent genres. Even religious subjects acquired a different interpretation - Renaissance artists began to consider their characters as heroes with pronounced individual traits and human motivation for actions.
The most famous artists of this period are Masaccio (1401-1428), Masolino (1383-1440), Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-1497), Piero Della Francesco (1420-1492), Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), Antonello da Messina (1430-1479), Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), Sandro Botticelli (1447-1515).
Masaccio
(1401-1428) - the famous Italian painter, the largest master of the Florentine school, the reformer of painting of the Quattrocento era.
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| Fresco. Miracle with the stater. |
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| Painting. crucifixion. |
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| Fresco. History of the Queen of Sheba. Church of San Francesco in Arezzo |
Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510) - great Italian painter, representative of the Florentine school of painting.
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| Spring. |
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| Birth of Venus. |
High Renaissance ("Cinquecento").
The highest flowering of Renaissance art came for the first quarter of the 16th century.
Works Sansovino (1486-1570), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Rafael Santi (1483-1520), Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), Giorgione (1476-1510), Titian (1477-1576), Antonio Correggio (1489-1534) constitute the golden fund of European art.
Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci (Florence) (1452-1519) - Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer.
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| self-portrait |
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| Lady with an ermine. 1490. Czartoryski Museum, Krakow |
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| Mona Lisa (1503-1505/1506) |
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| Madonna Litta. 1490-1491. Hermitage. |
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| Madonna Benois (Madonna with a flower). 1478-1480 |
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| Madonna with a Carnation. 1478 |
During his life, Leonardo da Vinci made thousands of notes and drawings on anatomy, but did not publish his work. Making an autopsy of the bodies of people and animals, he accurately conveyed the structure of the skeleton and internal organs, including small details. According to professor of clinical anatomy Peter Abrams, da Vinci's scientific work was 300 years ahead of its time and in many ways surpassed the famous Grey's Anatomy.
List of inventions, both real and attributed to him:
parachute, toolescovo castle,bicycle, tankh, llight portable bridges for the army, pprojector, toatapult, robot, dvohlenz telescope.
Later, these innovations were developed Rafael Santi (1483-1520) - a great painter, graphic artist and architect, a representative of the Umbrian school.
| Self-portrait. 1483 |
Michelangelo di Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni(1475-1564) - Italian sculptor, painter, architect, poet, thinker.
Paintings and sculptures by Michelangelo Buonarotti are full of heroic pathos and, at the same time, a tragic sense of the crisis of humanism. His paintings glorify the strength and power of man, the beauty of his body, while emphasizing his loneliness in the world.
The genius of Michelangelo left an imprint not only on the art of the Renaissance, but also on all further world culture. His activities are mainly associated with two Italian cities - Florence and Rome.
However, the artist was able to realize his most grandiose plans precisely in painting, where he acted as a true innovator of color and form.
By order of Pope Julius II, he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512), representing the biblical story from the creation of the world to the flood and including more than 300 figures. In 1534-1541, in the same Sistine Chapel for Pope Paul III, he performed the grandiose, dramatic fresco The Last Judgment.
Sistine Chapel 3D.
The work of Giorgione and Titian is distinguished by an interest in the landscape, the poeticization of the plot. Both artists achieved great skill in the art of portraiture, with the help of which they conveyed the character and rich inner world of their characters.
Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco ( Giorgione) (1476 / 147-1510) - Italian artist, representative of the Venetian school of painting.
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| Sleeping Venus. 1510 |
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| Judith. 1504 |
Titian painted pictures on biblical and mythological subjects, he became famous as a portrait painter. He was commissioned by kings and popes, cardinals, dukes and princes. Titian was not even thirty years old when he was recognized as the best painter in Venice.
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| Self-portrait. 1567 |
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| Venus Urbinskaya. 1538 |
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| Portrait of Tommaso Mosti. 1520 |
Late Renaissance.
After the sack of Rome by imperial troops in 1527, the Italian Renaissance entered a period of crisis. Already in the work of the late Raphael, a new artistic line is outlined, called mannerism.
This era is characterized by overstretched and broken lines, elongated or even deformed figures, often naked, tension and unnatural poses, unusual or bizarre effects associated with size, lighting or perspective, the use of a caustic chromatic scale, overloaded composition, etc. The first masters mannerism Parmigianino
, Pontormo
, Bronzino-
lived and worked at the court of the dukes of the Medici house in Florence. Later, Mannerist fashion spread throughout Italy and beyond.
Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola
(Parmigianino
- "inhabitant of Parma") (1503-1540,) Italian artist and engraver, representative of mannerism.
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| Self-portrait. 1540 |
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| Portrait of a woman. 1530. |
Pontormo (1494-1557) - Italian painter, representative of the Florentine school, one of the founders of mannerism.
Mannerism was replaced by art in the 1590s baroque (transitional figures - Tintoretto and El Greco ).
Jacopo Robusti, better known as Tintoretto (1518 or 1519-1594) - painter of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance.
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| The Last Supper. 1592-1594. Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice. |
El Greco ("Greek" Domenikos Theotokopoulos ) (1541-1614) - Spanish artist. By origin - a Greek, a native of the island of Crete.
El Greco had no contemporary followers, and his genius was rediscovered nearly 300 years after his death.
El Greco studied in the workshop of Titian, but, however, his painting technique differs significantly from that of his teacher. The works of El Greco are characterized by speed and expressiveness of execution, which bring them closer to modern painting.
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| Christ on the cross. OK. 1577. Private collection. |
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| Trinity. 1579 Prado. |
Renaissance (Renaissance). Italy. XV-XVI centuries. early capitalism. The country is ruled by wealthy bankers. They are interested in art and science.
The rich and powerful gather the talented and wise around them. Poets, philosophers, painters and sculptors have daily conversations with their patrons. For a moment it seemed that the people were ruled by sages, as Plato wanted.
They remembered the ancient Romans and Greeks. Which also built a society of free citizens. Where the main value is a person (not counting slaves, of course).
The Renaissance is not just copying the art of ancient civilizations. This is a mixture. Mythology and Christianity. Realism of nature and sincerity of images. Physical beauty and spiritual beauty.
It was just a flash. The period of the High Renaissance is about 30 years! From the 1490s to 1527 From the beginning of the flowering of Leonardo's creativity. Before the sack of Rome.
The mirage of an ideal world quickly faded. Italy was too fragile. She was soon enslaved by another dictator.
However, these 30 years determined the main features of European painting for 500 years ahead! Up to .
Image realism. Anthropocentrism (when a person is the main character and hero). Linear perspective. Oil paints. Portrait. Landscape…
Incredibly, in these 30 years, several brilliant masters worked at once. Which in other times are born one in 1000 years.
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian are the titans of the Renaissance. But it is impossible not to mention their two predecessors. Giotto and Masaccio. Without which there would be no Renaissance.
1. Giotto (1267-1337)
Paolo Uccello. Giotto da Bondogni. Fragment of the painting “Five Masters of the Florentine Renaissance”. Beginning of the 16th century. . XIV century. Proto-Renaissance. Its main character is Giotto. This is a master who single-handedly revolutionized art. 200 years before the High Renaissance. If not for him, the era that humanity is so proud of would hardly have come.
Before Giotto there were icons and frescoes. They were created according to the Byzantine canons. Faces instead of faces. flat figures. Proportional mismatch. Instead of a landscape - a golden background. As, for example, on this icon.
Guido da Siena. Adoration of the Magi. 1275-1280 Altenburg, Lindenau Museum, Germany. And suddenly Giotto's frescoes appear. They have big figures. Faces of noble people. Sad. Mournful. Surprised. Old and young. Various.
Frescoes by Giotto in the Scrovegni Church in Padua (1302-1305). Left: Lamentation of Christ. Middle: Kiss of Judas (detail). Right: Annunciation of St. Anne (Mary's mother), fragment.
The main creation of Giotto is a cycle of his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. When this church opened to parishioners, crowds of people poured into it. Because they've never seen anything like it.
After all, Giotto did something unprecedented. He kind of translated the biblical stories into a simple, understandable language. And they have become much more accessible to ordinary people.
Giotto. Adoration of the Magi. 1303-1305 Fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua, Italy. This is what will be characteristic of many masters of the Renaissance. Laconism of images. Live emotions of the characters. Realism.
Read more about the frescoes of the master in the article.
Giotto was admired. But his innovations were not further developed. The fashion for international gothic came to Italy.
Only after 100 years will a master appear, a worthy successor to Giotto.
2. Masaccio (1401-1428)
Masaccio. Self-portrait (fragment of the fresco “Saint Peter in the pulpit”). 1425-1427 The Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy. Beginning of the 15th century. The so-called Early Renaissance. Another innovator enters the scene.
Masaccio was the first artist to use linear perspective. It was designed by his friend, the architect Brunelleschi. Now the depicted world has become similar to the real one. Toy architecture is in the past.
Masaccio. Saint Peter heals with his shadow. 1425-1427 The Brancacci Chapel in Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy. He adopted the realism of Giotto. However, unlike his predecessor, he already knew anatomy well.
Instead of blocky characters, Giotto is beautifully built people. Just like the ancient Greeks.
Masaccio. Baptism of neophytes. 1426-1427 Brancacci Chapel, Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence, Italy. 
Masaccio. Exile from Paradise. 1426-1427 Fresco in the Brancacci Chapel, Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy. Masaccio lived a short life. He died, like his father, unexpectedly. At 27 years old.
However, he had many followers. Masters of the following generations went to the Brancacci Chapel to learn from his frescoes.
So the innovations of Masaccio were picked up by all the great titans of the High Renaissance.
3. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)
Leonardo da Vinci. Self-portrait. 1512 Royal Library in Turin, Italy. Leonardo da Vinci is one of the titans of the Renaissance. Which colossally influenced the development of painting.
It was he who raised the status of the artist himself. Thanks to him, representatives of this profession are no longer just artisans. These are the creators and aristocrats of the spirit.
Leonardo made a breakthrough primarily in portraiture.
He believed that nothing should distract from the main image. The eye should not wander from one detail to another. This is how his famous portraits appeared. Concise. Harmonious.
Leonardo da Vinci. Lady with an ermine. 1489-1490 Chertoryski Museum, Krakow. The main innovation of Leonardo is that he found a way to make images ... alive.
Before him, the characters in the portraits looked like mannequins. The lines were clear. All details are carefully drawn. A painted drawing could not possibly be alive.
But then Leonardo invented the sfumato method. He blurred the lines. Made the transition from light to shadow very soft. His characters seem to be covered in a barely perceptible haze. The characters came to life.
. 1503-1519 Louvre, Paris. Since then, sfumato will enter the active vocabulary of all the great artists of the future.
It is often believed that Leonardo, of course, is a genius. But he couldn't complete anything. And he often didn't finish painting. And many of his projects remained on paper (by the way, in 24 volumes). In general, he was thrown into medicine, then into music. And even the art of serving at one time was fond of.
However, think for yourself. 19 paintings. And he is the greatest artist of all times and peoples. Some of them are not even close in size. At the same time, having written 6000 canvases in his life. Obviously, who has a higher efficiency.
Read about the most famous painting of the master in the article.
4. Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Daniele da Volterra. Michelangelo (detail). 1544 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Michelangelo considered himself a sculptor. But he was a universal master. Like his other Renaissance colleagues. Therefore, his pictorial heritage is no less grandiose.
He is recognizable primarily by physically developed characters. Because he portrayed the perfect man. In which physical beauty means spiritual beauty.
Therefore, all his characters are so muscular, hardy. Even women and old people.
Michelangelo. Fragments of the Last Judgment fresco in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican.
Often Michelangelo painted the character naked. And then I added clothes on top. To make the body as embossed as possible.
He painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel himself. Although this is a few hundred figures! He didn't even let anyone rub the paint. Yes, he was a loner. Possessing a steep and quarrelsome character. But most of all, he was dissatisfied with ... himself.
Michelangelo. Fragment of the fresco "Creation of Adam". 1511 Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Michelangelo lived a long life. Surviving the decline of the Renaissance. For him it was a personal tragedy. His later works are full of sadness and sorrow.
In general, the creative path of Michelangelo is unique. His early works are the praise of the human hero. Free and courageous. In the best traditions of ancient Greece. Like his David.
In the last years of life - these are tragic images. A deliberately rough-hewn stone. As if we have before us monuments to the victims of fascism of the 20th century. Look at his "Pieta".
Sculptures by Michelangelo at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Left: David. 1504 Right: Pieta of Palestrina. 1555
How is this possible? One artist in one lifetime went through all the stages of art from the Renaissance to the 20th century. What will the next generations do? Well, go your own way. Knowing that the bar has been set very high.
5. Raphael (1483-1520)
. 1506 Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Raphael has never been forgotten. His genius has always been recognized. And during life. And after death.
His characters are endowed with sensual, lyrical beauty. It is he who is rightfully considered the most beautiful female images ever created. Their external beauty reflects the spiritual beauty of the heroines. Their meekness. Their sacrifice.
Raphael. . 1513 Old Masters Gallery, Dresden, Germany. The famous words “Beauty will save the world” Fyodor Dostoevsky said precisely about. It was his favorite picture.
However, sensual images are not Raphael's only strong point. He thought very carefully about the composition of his paintings. He was an unsurpassed architect in painting. Moreover, he always found the simplest and most harmonious solution in the organization of space. It seems that it cannot be otherwise.
Raphael. Athens school. 1509-1511 Fresco in the rooms of the Apostolic Palace, Vatican. Rafael lived only 37 years. He died suddenly. From caught colds and medical errors. But his legacy cannot be overestimated. Many artists idolized this master. Multiplying his sensual images in thousands of his canvases..
Titian was an unsurpassed colorist. He also experimented a lot with composition. In general, he was a bold and bright innovator.
For such a brilliance of talent, everyone loved him. Called "King of painters and painter of kings".
Speaking of Titian, I want to put an exclamation point after each sentence. After all, it was he who brought dynamics to painting. Pathos. Enthusiasm. Bright color. Shine of colors.
Titian. Ascension of Mary. 1515-1518 Church of Santa Maria Gloriosi dei Frari, Venice. Towards the end of his life, he developed an unusual writing technique. The strokes are fast and thick. The paint was applied either with a brush or with fingers. From this - the images are even more alive, breathing. And the plots are even more dynamic and dramatic.
Titian. Tarquinius and Lucretia. 1571 Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England. Doesn't this remind you of anything? Of course, it's a technique. And the technique of artists of the XIX century: Barbizon and. Titian, like Michelangelo, will go through 500 years of painting in one lifetime. That's why he's a genius.
Read about the famous masterpiece of the master in the article.
Renaissance artists are artists of great knowledge. To leave such a legacy, one had to know a lot. In the field of history, astrology, physics and so on.
Therefore, each of their images makes us think. Why is it shown? What is the encrypted message here?
Therefore, they are almost never wrong. Because they thoroughly thought out their future work. Using all the baggage of their knowledge.
They were more than artists. They were philosophers. Explaining the world to us through painting.
That is why they will always be deeply interesting to us.
