Artists of the Early Renaissance. Great artists of the Renaissance Artists of Renaissance culture
The Renaissance is a phenomenal phenomenon in the history of mankind. Never again has there been such a brilliant outbreak in the field of art. Sculptors, architects and artists of the Renaissance (their list is long, but we will touch on the most famous), whose names are known to everyone, gave the world priceless Unique and exceptional people who showed themselves not in one field, but in several at once.
Early Renaissance painting
The Renaissance era has a relative time frame. It began first in Italy - 1420-1500. At this time, painting and all art in general are not much different from the recent past. However, elements borrowed from classical antiquity begin to appear for the first time. And only in subsequent years did sculptors, architects and artists of the Renaissance (the list of which is very long), under the influence of modern living conditions and progressive trends, finally abandon medieval foundations. They boldly adopt the best examples of ancient art for their works, both in general and in individual details. Their names are known to many; let’s focus on the most prominent personalities.
Masaccio - the genius of European painting
It was he who made a huge contribution to the development of painting, becoming a great reformer. The Florentine master was born in 1401 into a family of artistic artisans, so a sense of taste and the desire to create were in his blood. At the age of 16-17 he moved to Florence, where he worked in workshops. Donatello and Brunelleschi, great sculptors and architects, are rightfully considered his teachers. Communication with them and the skills adopted could not but affect the young painter. From the first, Masaccio borrowed a new understanding of the human personality, characteristic of sculpture. The second master has the basics. Researchers consider the “Triptych of San Giovenale” (in the first photo), which was discovered in a small church near the town where Masaccio was born, to be the first reliable work. The main work is the frescoes dedicated to the life story of St. Peter. The artist participated in the creation of six of them, namely: “The Miracle of the Statir”, “Expulsion from Paradise”, “Baptism of Neophytes”, “Distribution of Property and Death of Ananias”, “Resurrection of the Son of Theophilus”, “St. Peter Heals the Sick with His Shadow” and "St. Peter in the Pulpit."
Italian artists of the Renaissance were people who devoted themselves entirely to art, not paying attention to ordinary everyday problems, which sometimes led them to a poor existence. Masaccio is no exception: the brilliant master died very early, at the age of 27-28, leaving behind great works and a large number of debts.
Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)
This is a representative of the Paduan school of painters. He received the basics of his craft from his adoptive father. The style was formed under the influence of the works of Masaccio, Andrea del Castagno, Donatello and Venetian painting. This determined the somewhat harsh and harsh manner of Andrea Mantegna compared to the Florentines. He was a collector and connoisseur of cultural works of the ancient period. Thanks to his style, unlike any other, he became famous as an innovator. His most famous works: “Dead Christ”, “Triumph of Caesar”, “Judith”, “Battle of the Sea Deities”, “Parnassus” (pictured), etc. From 1460 until his death he worked as a court painter for the Dukes of Gonzaga.
Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510)
Botticelli is a pseudonym, his real name is Filipepi. He did not choose the path of an artist right away, but initially studied jewelry craftsmanship. In his first independent works (several “Madonnas”) one can feel the influence of Masaccio and Lippi. Later he also made a name for himself as a portrait painter; the bulk of orders came from Florence. The refined and sophisticated nature of his works with elements of stylization (generalization of images using conventional techniques - simplicity of form, color, volume) distinguishes him from other masters of that time. A contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci and the young Michelangelo, he left a bright mark on world art (“The Birth of Venus” (photo), “Spring”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Venus and Mars”, “Christmas”, etc.). His painting is sincere and sensitive, and his life path is complex and tragic. The romantic perception of the world at a young age gave way to mysticism and religious exaltation in adulthood. The last years of his life Sandro Botticelli lived in poverty and oblivion.
Piero (Pietro) della Francesca (1420-1492)
Italian painter and another representative of the early Renaissance, originally from Tuscany. The author's style was formed under the influence of the Florentine school of painting. In addition to his talent as an artist, Piero della Francesca had outstanding abilities in the field of mathematics, and devoted the last years of his life to it, trying to connect it with high art. The result was two scientific treatises: “On Perspective in Painting” and “The Book of Five Regular Bodies.” His style is distinguished by solemnity, harmony and nobility of images, compositional balance, precise lines and construction, and a soft range of colors. Piero della Francesca had an amazing knowledge of the technical side of painting and the peculiarities of perspective for that time, which earned him high authority among his contemporaries. The most famous works: “The History of the Queen of Sheba”, “The Flagellation of Christ” (pictured), “Altar of Montefeltro”, etc.
High Renaissance painting
If the Proto-Renaissance and the early era lasted almost a century and a half and a century, respectively, then this period covers only a few decades (in Italy from 1500 to 1527). It was a bright, dazzling flash that gave the world a whole galaxy of great, versatile and brilliant people. All branches of art went hand in hand, so many masters were also scientists, sculptors, inventors, and not just Renaissance artists. The list is long, but the peak of the Renaissance was marked by the work of L. da Vinci, M. Buanarotti and R. Santi.
The Extraordinary Genius of Da Vinci
Perhaps this is the most extraordinary and outstanding personality in the history of world artistic culture. He was a universal man in the full sense of the word and possessed the most versatile knowledge and talents. Artist, sculptor, art theorist, mathematician, architect, anatomist, astronomer, physicist and engineer - all this is about him. Moreover, in each of the areas, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) proved himself to be an innovator. Only 15 of his paintings, as well as many sketches, have survived to this day. Possessing amazing vital energy and a thirst for knowledge, he was impatient and fascinated by the process of learning itself. At a very young age (20 years old) he qualified as a master of the Guild of St. Luke. His most important works were the fresco “The Last Supper”, the paintings “Mona Lisa”, “Benois Madonna” (pictured above), “Lady with an Ermine”, etc.
Portraits of Renaissance artists are rare. They preferred to leave their images in paintings with many faces. Thus, controversy surrounding da Vinci’s self-portrait (pictured) continues to this day. There are versions that he made it at the age of 60. According to the biographer, artist and writer Vasari, the great master died in the arms of his close friend King Francis I in his castle of Clos-Lucé.
Raphael Santi (1483-1520)
Artist and architect originally from Urbino. His name in art is invariably associated with the idea of sublime beauty and natural harmony. In a fairly short life (37 years), he created many world-famous paintings, frescoes and portraits. The subjects he depicted were very diverse, but he was always attracted by the image of the Mother of God. Absolutely justifiably, Raphael is called the “master of Madonnas,” especially those painted by him in Rome. He worked in the Vatican from 1508 until the end of his life as an official artist at the papal court.
Comprehensively gifted, like many other great artists of the Renaissance, Raphael was also an architect and was also involved in archaeological excavations. According to one version, the latest hobby is directly related to premature death. Presumably, he contracted Roman fever at the excavations. The great master was buried in the Pantheon. The photo is his self-portrait.
Michelangelo Buoanarroti (1475-1564)
The long 70-year-old man was bright; he left to his descendants imperishable creations of not only painting, but also sculpture. Like other great Renaissance artists, Michelangelo lived in a time filled with historical events and upheaval. His art is a wonderful final note of the entire Renaissance.
The master put sculpture above all other arts, but by the will of fate he became an outstanding painter and architect. His most ambitious and extraordinary work is the painting (pictured) in the palace in the Vatican. The area of the fresco exceeds 600 square meters and contains 300 human figures. The most impressive and familiar is the Last Judgment scene.
Italian Renaissance artists had multifaceted talents. So, few people know that Michelangelo was also an excellent poet. This facet of his genius fully manifested itself towards the end of his life. About 300 poems have survived to this day.
Late Renaissance painting
The final period covers the time period from 1530 to 1590-1620. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Renaissance as a historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527. Around the same time, the Counter-Reformation triumphed in southern Europe. The Catholic movement looked with caution at any free-thinking, including the glorification of the beauty of the human body and the resurrection of the art of the ancient period - that is, everything that was the pillars of the Renaissance. This resulted in a special movement - mannerism, characterized by the loss of harmony of the spiritual and physical, man and nature. But even during this difficult period, some famous Renaissance artists created their masterpieces. Among them are Antonio da Correggio (considered the founder of classicism and Palladianism) and Titian.
Titian Vecellio (1488-1490 - 1676)
He is rightfully considered a titan of the Renaissance, along with Michelangelo, Raphael and da Vinci. Even before he turned 30, Titian gained the reputation of “king of painters and painter of kings.” The artist mainly painted paintings on mythological and biblical themes; moreover, he became famous as an excellent portrait painter. Contemporaries believed that to be captured by the brush of a great master meant to gain immortality. And indeed it is. Orders to Titian came from the most revered and noble persons: popes, kings, cardinals and dukes. Here are just a few of his most famous works: “Venus of Urbino”, “The Rape of Europa” (pictured), “Carrying the Cross”, “Crown of Thorns”, “Madonna of Pesaro”, “Woman with a Mirror”, etc.
Nothing is repeated twice. The Renaissance era gave humanity brilliant, extraordinary personalities. Their names are inscribed in the world history of art in golden letters. Architects and sculptors, writers and artists of the Renaissance - the list is very long. We touched only on the titans who made history and brought the ideas of enlightenment and humanism to the world.
With classical completeness, the Renaissance was realized in Italy, in the Renaissance culture of which there are periods: Proto-Renaissance or the times of pre-Renaissance phenomena, (“the era of Dante and Giotto”, around 1260-1320), partially coinciding with the period of Ducento (13th century), as well as Trecento (14th century). century), Quattrocento (15th century) and Cinquecento (16th century). More general periods are the Early Renaissance (14-15 centuries), when new trends actively interact with the Gothic, overcoming and creatively transforming it.
As well as the High and Late Renaissance, a special phase of which was Mannerism. During the Quattrocento era, the Florentine school, architects (Filippo Brunelleschi, Leona Battista Alberti, Bernardo Rossellino and others), sculptors (Lorenzo Ghiberti, Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, Antonio Rossellino, Desiderio da Settignano), painters (Masaccio) became the focus of innovation in all types of art , Filippo Lippi, Andrea del Castagno, Paolo Uccello, Fra Angelico, Sandro Botticelli) who created a plastically integral concept of the world with internal unity, which gradually spread throughout Italy (the work of Piero della Francesca in Urbino, Vittore Carpaccio, Francesco Cossa in Ferrara, Andrea Mantegna in Mantua, Antonello da Messina and the brothers Gentile and Giovanni Bellini in Venice).
It is natural that the time, which gave central importance to “divine” human creativity, brought forward personalities in art who, with all the abundance of talents of that time, became the personification of entire eras of national culture (personal “titans,” as they were romantically called later). Giotto became the personification of the Proto-Renaissance; the opposite aspects of the Quattrocento - constructive severity and soulful lyricism - were respectively expressed by Masaccio, Angelico and Botticelli. The "Titans" of the Middle (or "High") Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo are artists - symbols of the great turn 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.
During the Renaissance, medieval anonymity was replaced by individual, authorial creativity. The theory of linear and aerial perspective, proportions, problems of anatomy and light and shadow modeling is of great practical importance. The center of Renaissance innovations, the artistic “mirror of the era” was the illusory, life-like painting; in religious art it replaces the icon, and in secular art it gives rise to independent genres of landscape, everyday painting, and portrait (the latter played a primary role in the visual affirmation of the ideals of the humanistic virtu). The art of wood and metal engraving, which became truly widespread during the Reformation, gains its final intrinsic value. Drawing from a working sketch turns into a separate type of creativity; the individual style of stroke, stroke, as well as texture and the effect of incompleteness (non-finito) are beginning to be valued as independent artistic effects. Monumental painting also becomes picturesque, illusory and three-dimensional, gaining greater visual independence from the mass of the wall. All types of fine art now in one way or another violate the monolithic medieval synthesis (where architecture dominated), gaining comparative independence. Types of absolutely round statues, equestrian monuments, and portrait busts (in many ways reviving the ancient tradition) are being formed, and a completely new type of solemn sculptural and architectural tombstone is emerging.
During the High Renaissance, when the struggle for humanistic Renaissance ideals acquired an intense and heroic character, architecture and fine art were marked by the breadth of social sound, synthetic generality and the power of images full of spiritual and physical activity. In the buildings of Donato Bramante, Raphael, Antonio da Sangallo, perfect harmony, monumentality and clear proportionality reached their apogee; humanistic fullness, bold flight of artistic imagination, breadth of reality are characteristic of the work of the greatest masters of fine art of this era - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Giorgione, Titian. From the second quarter of the 16th century, when Italy entered a time of political crisis and disappointment in the ideas of humanism, the work of many masters acquired a complex and dramatic character. In the architecture of the Late Renaissance (Giacomo da Vignola, Michelangelo, Giulio Romano, Baldassare Peruzzi), interest in the spatial development of composition and the subordination of the building to a broad urban planning plan increased; in the richly and complexly developed public buildings, temples, villas, and palazzos, the clear tectonics of the Early Renaissance was replaced by the intense conflict of tectonic forces (buildings by Jacopo Sansovino, Galeazzo Alessi, Michele Sanmicheli, Andrea Palladio). The painting and sculpture of the Late Renaissance were enriched by an understanding of the contradictory nature of the world, an interest in depicting dramatic mass action, in spatial dynamics (Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Tintoretto, Jacopo Bassano); The psychological characteristics of images in the later works of Michelangelo and Titian reached unprecedented depth, complexity, and internal tragedy.
Venice school
The Venetian School, one of the main painting schools in Italy, with its center in the city of Venice (partly also in the small towns of Terraferma - areas of the mainland adjacent to Venice). The Venetian school is characterized by the predominance of the pictorial principle, special attention to the problems of color, and the desire to embody the sensual fullness and colorfulness of life. Closely connected with the countries of Western Europe and the East, Venice drew from foreign culture everything that could serve to decorate it: the elegance and golden shine of Byzantine mosaics, the stone surroundings of Moorish buildings, the fantastic nature of Gothic temples. At the same time, it developed its own original style in art, gravitating towards ceremonial colorfulness. The Venetian school is characterized by a secular, life-affirming principle, a poetic perception of the world, man and nature, and subtle colorism.
The Venetian school reached its greatest flowering in the era of the Early and High Renaissance, in the work of Antonello da Messina, who opened up for his contemporaries the expressive possibilities of oil painting, the creators of ideally harmonious images of Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione, the greatest colorist Titian, who embodied in his canvases the cheerfulness and colorfulness inherent in Venetian painting plethora. In the works of the masters of the Venetian school of the second half of the 16th century, virtuosity in conveying the multicolored world, love for festive spectacles and a diverse crowd coexist with obvious and hidden drama, an alarming sense of the dynamics and infinity of the universe (paintings by Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto). In the 17th century, the traditional interest in the problems of color for the Venetian school in the works of Domenico Fetti, Bernardo Strozzi and other artists coexisted with the techniques of Baroque painting, as well as realistic trends in the spirit of Caravaggism. Venetian painting of the 18th century is characterized by the flourishing of monumental and decorative painting (Giovanni Battista Tiepolo), the everyday genre (Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, Pietro Longhi), documentary-accurate architectural landscape - vedata (Giovan Antonio Canaletto, Bernardo Belotto) and lyrical, subtly conveying the poetic atmosphere daily life of Venice cityscape (Francesco Guardi).
Florence school
Florentine School, one of the leading Italian art schools of the Renaissance, centered in the city of Florence. The formation of the Florentine school, which finally took shape in the 15th century, was facilitated by the flourishing of humanistic thought (Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Lico della Mirandola, etc.), which turned to the heritage of antiquity. The founder of the Florentine school during the Proto-Renaissance was Giotto, who gave his compositions plastic persuasiveness and life-like authenticity.
In the 15th century, the founders of Renaissance art in Florence were the architect Filippo Brunelleschi, the sculptor Donatello, the painter Masaccio, followed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti, the sculptors Lorenzo Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, Desiderio da Settignano, Benedetto da Maiano and other masters. In the architecture of the Florentine school in the 15th century, a new type of Renaissance palazzo was created, and the search began for the ideal type of temple building that would meet the humanistic ideals of the era.
The fine art of the Florentine school of the 15th century is characterized by a fascination with problems of perspective, a desire for a plastically clear construction of the human figure (works by Andrea del Verrocchio, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno), and for many of its masters - special spirituality and intimate lyrical contemplation (painting by Benozzo Gozzoli , Sandro Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi,). In the 17th century, the Florentine school fell into decay.
Reference and biographical data of the "Small Bay Planet Art Gallery" were prepared on the basis of materials from the "History of Foreign Art" (edited by M.T. Kuzmina, N.L. Maltseva), "Art Encyclopedia of Foreign Classical Art", "Great Russian Encyclopedia".
Renaissance, which flourished in the 15th - 16th centuries, served as a new round in the development of art, and painting in particular. There is also a French name for this era - Renaissance. Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo are some of the famous names that represent that time period.
Renaissance artists depicted the characters in their paintings as accurately and clearly as possible.
Psychological context was not originally included in the image. The painters set themselves the goal of achieving vividness in what they depicted. Regardless of whether the dynamism of the human face or the details of the surrounding nature had to be conveyed in paint as accurately as possible. However, over time, the psychological aspect becomes clearly visible in Renaissance paintings, for example, from portraits one could draw conclusions about the character traits of the person depicted.
Achievement of artistic culture of the Renaissance
The undoubted achievement of the Renaissance was geometrically correct design of the picture. The artist built the image using the techniques he developed. The main thing for painters of that time was to maintain the proportions of objects. Even nature fell under mathematical techniques of calculating the proportionality of the image with other objects in the picture.
In other words, artists during the Renaissance sought to convey accurate image, for example, a person against the backdrop of nature. If we compare it with modern techniques of recreating a seen image on some canvas, then, most likely, photography with subsequent adjustments will help to understand what the Renaissance artists were striving for.
Renaissance painters believed that they had the right to correct flaws of nature, that is, if a person had ugly facial features, artists corrected them in such a way that the face became sweet and attractive.
Geometric approach in images leads to a new way of depicting spatiality. Before recreating the images on canvas, the artist marked their spatial location. This rule became established over time among the painters of that era.
The viewer was supposed to be impressed by the images in the paintings. For example, Raphael achieved full compliance with this rule by creating the painting “The School of Athens”. The vaults of the building are striking in their height. There is so much space that you begin to understand the size of this structure. And the depicted thinkers of antiquity with Plato and Aristotle in the middle indicate that in the Ancient world there was a unity of various philosophical ideas.
Subjects of Renaissance paintings
If you start getting acquainted with Renaissance painting, you can draw an interesting conclusion. The subjects of the paintings were based mainly on events described in the Bible. More often, painters of that time depicted stories from the New Testament. The most popular image is Virgin and Child- little Jesus Christ. 
The character was so alive that people even worshiped these images, although the people understood that these were not icons, they prayed to them and asked for help and protection. In addition to the Madonna, Renaissance painters were very fond of recreating images Jesus Christ, apostles, John the Baptist, as well as gospel episodes. For example, Leonardo da Vinci created the world-famous painting “The Last Supper.”
Why did Renaissance artists use subjects? from the Bible? Why didn’t they try to express themselves by creating portraits of their contemporaries? Maybe they were trying to portray ordinary people with their inherent character traits in this way? Yes, the painters of that time tried to show people that man is a divine being.
By depicting biblical scenes, Renaissance artists tried to make it clear that the earthly manifestations of man can be depicted more clearly if biblical stories are used. You can understand what the Fall, temptation, hell or heaven is if you start getting acquainted with the work of artists of that time. Same image of Madonna conveys to us the beauty of a woman, and also carries an understanding of earthly human love.
Leonardo da Vinci
The Renaissance became such thanks to the many creative personalities who lived at that time. Famous all over the world Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) created a huge number of masterpieces, the cost of which amounts to millions of dollars, and connoisseurs of his art are ready to contemplate his paintings for a long time. 
Leonardo began his studies in Florence. His first painting, painted around 1478, is "Madonna Benoit". Then there were such creations as “Madonna in the Grotto”, "Mona Lisa", the above-mentioned “Last Supper” and a host of other masterpieces, written by the hand of a titan of the Renaissance.
The rigor of geometric proportions and accurate reproduction of the anatomical structure of a person - this is what characterizes the paintings of Leonard da Vinci. According to his convictions, the art of depicting certain images on canvas is a science, and not just some kind of hobby.
Rafael Santi
Raphael Santi (1483 - 1520) known in the art world as Raphael created his works in Italy. His paintings are imbued with lyricism and grace. Raphael is a representative of the Renaissance, who depicted man and his existence on earth, and loved to paint the walls of the Vatican Cathedrals.
The paintings betrayed the unity of figures, the proportional correspondence of space and images, and the euphony of color. The purity of the Virgin was the basis for many of Raphael's paintings. His very first image of Our Lady- this is the Sistine Madonna, which was painted by a famous artist back in 1513. The portraits that were created by Raphael reflected the ideal human image.
Sandro Botticelli
Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510) also a Renaissance artist. One of his first works was the painting “Adoration of the Magi.” Subtle poetry and dreaminess were his initial manners in the field of conveying artistic images.
In the early 80s of the 15th century, the great artist painted walls of the Vatican Chapel. The frescoes made by his hand are still amazing.
Over time, his paintings became characterized by the calmness of the buildings of antiquity, the liveliness of the characters depicted, and the harmony of the images. In addition, Botticelli’s passion for drawings for famous literary works is known, which also only added fame to his work.
Michelangelo Buonarotti
Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475 - 1564)- Italian artist who also worked during the Renaissance. This man, known to many of us, did everything he could do. And sculpture, and painting, and architecture, and also poetry.
Michelangelo, like Raphael and Botticelli, painted the walls of the Vatican churches. After all, only the most talented painters of those times were involved in such important work as painting images on the walls of Catholic cathedrals.
More than 600 square meters of the Sistine Chapel he had to cover it with frescoes depicting various biblical scenes.
The most famous work in this style is known to us as "The Last Judgment". The meaning of the biblical story is expressed fully and clearly. Such precision in the transfer of images is characteristic of all of Michelangelo’s work.
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Italy is a country that has always been famous for artists. The great masters who once lived in Italy glorified art throughout the world. We can say for sure that if it were not for Italian artists, sculptors and architects, the world today would look completely different. Of course, it is considered the most significant in Italian art. Italy during the Renaissance or Renaissance achieved unprecedented growth and prosperity. Talented artists, sculptors, inventors, real geniuses who appeared in those days are still known to every schoolchild. Their art, creativity, ideas, and developments are today considered classics, the core on which world art and culture are built.
One of the most famous geniuses of the Italian Renaissance, of course, is the great Leonardo da Vinci(1452-1519). Da Vinci was so gifted that he achieved great success in many fields, including the fine arts and science. Another famous artist who is a recognized master is Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510). Botticelli's paintings are a true gift to humanity. Today, many of them are in the most famous museums in the world and are truly priceless. No less famous than Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli is Rafael Santi(1483-1520), who lived for 38 years, and during this time managed to create a whole layer of stunning painting, which became one of the striking examples of the Early Renaissance. Another great genius of the Italian Renaissance, without a doubt, is Michelangelo Buonarotti(1475-1564). In addition to painting, Michelangelo was engaged in sculpture, architecture and poetry, and achieved great results in these types of art. Michelangelo's statue called "David" is considered an unsurpassed masterpiece, an example of the highest achievement of the art of sculpture.
In addition to the artists mentioned above, the greatest artists of Renaissance Italy were such masters as Antonello da Messina, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Tintoretto, Domenico Fetti, Bernardo Strozzi, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi and others . All of them were shining examples of the delightful Venetian school of painting. The following artists belong to the Florentine school of Italian painting: Masaccio, Andrea del Verrocchio, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Benozzo Gozzoli, Sandro Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Piero di Cosimo, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea del Sarto.
To list all the artists who worked during the Renaissance, as well as during the late Renaissance, and centuries later, who became famous throughout the world and glorified the art of painting, developed the basic principles and laws that underlie all types and genres of the fine arts, Perhaps it will take several volumes to write, but this list is enough to understand that the Great Italian artists are the very art that we know, that we love and that we will appreciate forever!
Paintings of great Italian artists
Andrea Mantegna - Fresco in the Camera degli Sposi
Giorgione - Three Philosophers
Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa
Nicolas Poussin - The Magnanimity of Scipio
Paolo Veronese - Battle of Lepanto
August 7th, 2014
Students of art universities and people interested in art history know that at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries there was a sharp change in painting - the Renaissance. Around the 1420s, everyone suddenly became much better at drawing. Why did the images suddenly become so realistic and detailed, and why did light and volume appear in the paintings? No one thought about this for a long time. Until David Hockney picked up a magnifying glass.
Let us find out what he discovered...
One day he was looking at the drawings of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, the leader of the French academic school of the 19th century. Hockney became interested in seeing his small drawings on a larger scale, and he enlarged them on a photocopier. That's how he stumbled upon the secret side of the history of painting since the Renaissance.
Having made photocopies of Ingres's small (about 30 centimeters) drawings, Hockney was amazed at how realistic they were. And it also seemed to him that Ingres’s lines were something to him
remind. It turned out that they reminded him of Warhol's works. And Warhol did this - he projected a photo onto a canvas and outlined it.
Left: detail of Ingres's drawing. Right: Warhol drawing of Mao Zedong
Interesting stuff, says Hockney. Apparently, Ingres used Camera Lucida - a device that is a structure with a prism that is mounted, for example, on a stand to a tablet. Thus, the artist, looking at his drawing with one eye, sees the real image, and with the other - the actual drawing and his hand. The result is an optical illusion that allows you to accurately transfer real proportions onto paper. And this is precisely the “guarantee” of the realism of the image.
Drawing a portrait using a camera lucida, 1807
Then Hockney became seriously interested in this “optical” type of drawings and paintings. In his studio, he and his team hung hundreds of reproductions of paintings created over the centuries on the walls. Works that looked "real" and those that didn't. Arranging by time of creation and region - north at the top, south at the bottom, Hockney and his team saw a sharp change in painting at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries. In general, everyone who knows even a little about the history of art knows this - the Renaissance.
Maybe they used the same camera-lucida? It was patented in 1807 by William Hyde Wollaston. Although, in fact, such a device was described by Johannes Kepler back in 1611 in his work Dioptrice. Then maybe they used another optical device - a camera obscura? It has been known since the time of Aristotle and is a dark room into which light enters through a small hole and thus in the dark room a projection of what is in front of the hole is obtained, but inverted. Everything would be fine, but the image that is obtained when projected by a pinhole camera without a lens, to put it mildly, is not of high quality, it is not clear, it requires a lot of bright light, not to mention the size of the projection. But high-quality lenses were almost impossible to make until the 16th century, since there were no ways to obtain such high-quality glass at that time. Business, thought Hockney, who by that time was already struggling with the problem with the physicist Charles Falco.
However, there is a painting by Jan Van Eyck, a master from Bruges, a Flemish painter of the early Renaissance, that contains a clue. The painting is called "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple."
Jan Van Eyck "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple" 1434
The painting simply shines with a huge amount of detail, which is quite interesting, because it was painted only in 1434. And a clue as to how the author managed to make such a big step forward in the realism of the image is the mirror. And also a candlestick - incredibly complex and realistic.
Hockney was bursting with curiosity. He got a copy of such a chandelier and tried to draw it. The artist was faced with the fact that such a complex thing is difficult to draw in perspective. Another important point was the materiality of the image of this metal object. When depicting a steel object, it is very important to position the highlights as realistically as possible, as this gives great realism. But the problem with these highlights is that they move when the viewer's or artist's eye moves, meaning they are not easy to capture at all. And a realistic depiction of metal and glare is also a distinctive feature of Renaissance paintings; before that, artists had not even tried to do this.
By recreating an accurate 3D model of the chandelier, Hockney's team ensured that the chandelier in the Arnolfini Portrait was drawn accurately in perspective with a single vanishing point. But the problem was that such precise optical instruments as a camera obscura with a lens did not exist until about a century after the painting was created.
Fragment of Jan Van Eyck's painting "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple" 1434
The enlarged fragment shows that the mirror in the painting “Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple” is convex. This means there were also mirrors on the contrary - concave. Moreover, in those days such mirrors were made in this way - a glass sphere was taken, and its bottom was covered with silver, then everything except the bottom was cut off. The back side of the mirror was not darkened. This means that Jan Van Eyck’s concave mirror could be the same mirror that is depicted in the painting, just from the reverse side. And any physicist knows that such a mirror, when reflected, projects a picture of what is being reflected. This is where his friend physicist Charles Falco helped David Hockney with calculations and research.
A concave mirror projects an image of the tower outside the window onto the canvas.
The clear, focused part of the projection measures approximately 30 square centimeters - which is exactly the size of the heads in many Renaissance portraits.
Hockney outlines the projection of a man on canvas
This is the size, for example, of the portrait of “Doge Leonardo Loredan” by Giovanni Bellini (1501), the portrait of a man by Robert Campin (1430), the actual portrait of Jan Van Eyck “a man in a red turban” and many other early Dutch portraits.
Renaissance Portraits
Painting was a highly paid job, and naturally, all business secrets were kept in the strictest confidence. It was beneficial for the artist that all uninitiated people believed that the secrets were in the hands of the master and could not be stolen. The business was closed to outsiders - the artists were members of the guild, and it also included a variety of craftsmen - from those who made saddles to those who made mirrors. And in the Guild of Saint Luke, founded in Antwerp and first mentioned in 1382 (then similar guilds opened in many northern cities, and one of the largest was the guild in Bruges, the city where Van Eyck lived) there were also masters making mirrors.
This is how Hockney recreated how a complex chandelier from a Van Eyck painting could be painted. It is not at all surprising that the size of the chandelier Hockney projected exactly matches the size of the chandelier in the painting “Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple”. And of course, the highlights on the metal - on the projection they stand still and do not change when the artist changes position.
But the problem is still not completely solved, because the advent of high-quality optics, which is needed to use a camera obscura, was 100 years away, and the size of the projection obtained using a mirror is very small. How to paint paintings larger than 30 square centimeters? They were created like a collage - from many points of view, it was like a spherical vision with many vanishing points. Hockney understood this because he himself made such pictures - he made many photo collages that achieve exactly the same effect.
Almost a century later, in the 1500s it finally became possible to obtain and process glass well - large lenses appeared. And they could finally be inserted into a camera obscura, the principle of operation of which had been known since ancient times. The camera obscura lens was an incredible revolution in visual art because the projection could now be any size. And one more thing, now the image was not “wide-angle”, but approximately of a normal aspect - that is, approximately the same as it is today when photographed with a lens with a focal length of 35-50mm.
However, the problem with using a pinhole camera with a lens is that the forward projection from the lens is a mirror image. This led to a large number of left-handed painters in the early stages of the use of optics. Like in this painting from the 1600s from the Frans Hals Museum, where a left-handed couple is dancing, a left-handed old man is shaking his finger at them, and a left-handed monkey is looking under the woman’s dress.
Everyone in this picture is left-handed
The problem is solved by installing a mirror into which the lens is directed, thus obtaining the correct projection. But apparently, a good, smooth and large mirror cost a lot of money, so not everyone had it.
Another problem was focusing. The fact is that some parts of the picture, at one position of the canvas under the projection rays, were out of focus and not clear. In the works of Jan Vermeer, where the use of optics is quite obvious, his works generally look like photographs, you can also notice places out of “focus”. You can even see the pattern that the lens produces - the notorious “bokeh”. Like here, for example, in the painting “The Milkmaid” (1658), the basket, the bread in it and the blue vase are out of focus. But the human eye cannot see “out of focus.”
Some parts of the picture are out of focus
And in light of all this, it is not at all surprising that a good friend of Jan Vermeer was Anthony Phillips van Leeuwenhoek, a scientist and microbiologist, as well as a unique master who created his own microscopes and lenses. The scientist became the artist's posthumous steward. This suggests that Vermeer depicted his friend on two canvases - “Geographer” and “Astronomer”.
In order to see any part in focus, you need to change the position of the canvas under the projection rays. But in this case, errors in proportions appeared. As you can see here: the huge shoulder of “Anthea” by Parmigianino (circa 1537), the small head of “Lady Genovese” by Anthony Van Dyck (1626), the huge legs of a peasant in a painting by Georges de La Tour.
Errors in proportions
Of course, all artists used lenses differently. Some were for sketches, some were composed from different parts - after all, now it was possible to make a portrait, and finish everything else with another model or even with a mannequin.
There are almost no drawings left by Velazquez. However, his masterpiece remained - a portrait of Pope Innocent 10th (1650). There is a wonderful play of light on the pope's mantle - obviously silk. Blikov. And to write all this from one point of view, it took a lot of effort. But if you make a projection, then all this beauty will not run away anywhere - the highlights no longer move, you can paint with those wide and fast strokes like Velasquez’s.
Hockney reproduces Velazquez's painting
Subsequently, many artists were able to afford a camera obscura, and it ceased to be a big secret. Canaletto actively used the camera to create his views of Venice and did not hide it. These paintings, due to their accuracy, allow us to talk about Canaletto as a documentarian. Thanks to Canaletto, you can see not just a beautiful picture, but also the story itself. You can see what the first Westminster Bridge in London looked like in 1746.
Canaletto "Westminster Bridge" 1746
British artist Sir Joshua Reynolds owned a camera obscura and apparently didn't tell anyone about it, because his camera folds up and looks like a book. Today it is in the London Science Museum.
Camera obscura disguised as a book
Finally, at the beginning of the 19th century, William Henry Fox Talbot, using a camera lucida - the one in which you have to look with one eye and draw with your hands, cursed, deciding that such an inconvenience must be ended once and for all, and became one of the inventors of chemical photography, and later a popularizer who made it mass.
With the invention of photography, painting's monopoly on the realism of a picture disappeared; now photography has become a monopolist. And here, finally, painting freed itself from the lens, continuing the path from which it turned in the 1400s, and Van Gogh became the forerunner of all art of the 20th century.
Left: Byzantine mosaic from the 12th century. Right: Vincent Van Gogh, Portrait of Monsieur Trabuc, 1889.
The invention of photography is the best thing that happened to painting in its entire history. It was no longer necessary to create exclusively real images; the artist became free. Of course, it took the public a century to catch up with artists in their understanding of visual music and stop thinking people like Van Gogh were “crazy.” At the same time, artists began to actively use photographs as “reference material.” Then people like Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian avant-garde, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock appeared. Following painting, architecture, sculpture and music also liberated themselves. True, the Russian academic school of painting is stuck in time, and today in academies and schools it is still considered a disgrace to use photography as an aid, and the highest feat is considered to be the purely technical ability to paint as realistically as possible with bare hands.
Thanks to an article by journalist Lawrence Weschler, who was present during the research of David Hockney and Falco, another interesting fact is revealed: the portrait of the Arnolfini couple by Van Eyck is a portrait of an Italian merchant in Bruges. Mr. Arnolfini is a Florentine and, moreover, he is a representative of the Medici bank (practically the masters of Florence during the Renaissance, they are considered patrons of the art of that time in Italy). What does this mean? The fact that he could easily have taken the secret of the Guild of St. Luke - the mirror - with him to Florence, where, as is believed in traditional history, the Renaissance began, and artists from Bruges (and, accordingly, other masters) are considered “primitivists.”
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Hockney-Falco theory. But there is certainly a grain of truth in it. As for art critics, critics and historians, it’s hard to even imagine how many scientific works on history and art actually turned out to be complete nonsense, but this changes the entire history of art, all their theories and texts.
The facts of the use of optics do not in any way detract from the talents of artists - after all, technology is a means of conveying what the artist wants. And vice versa, the fact that these paintings contain the most real reality only adds weight to them - after all, this is exactly what people of that time, things, premises, cities looked like. These are the real documents.