Renaissance artists ▲. Renaissance paintings
Renaissance (Renaissance). Italy. XV-XVI centuries. Early capitalism. The country is ruled by rich bankers. They are interested in art and science.
The rich and powerful gather around them the talented and wise. Poets, philosophers, artists and sculptors have daily conversations with their patrons. For a moment it seemed that the people were ruled by wise men, as Plato wanted.
They remembered the ancient Romans and Greeks. Who also built a society of free citizens. Where the main value is people (not counting slaves, of course).
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 High Renaissance period is approximately 30 years! From the 1490s to 1527 From the beginning of the heyday of Leonardo's creativity. Before the sack of Rome.
The mirage of an ideal world quickly faded. Italy turned out to be too fragile. She was soon enslaved by another dictator.
However, these 30 years determined the main features of European painting for 500 years to come! Up to .
Realism of the image. Anthropocentrism (when a person is the main character and hero). Linear perspective. Oil paints. Portrait. Scenery…
Incredibly, during these 30 years several brilliant masters worked at once. Which at other times are born once every 1000 years.
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian are the titans of the Renaissance. But we cannot fail 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 it were not for him, the era of which humanity is so proud would hardly have come.
Before Giotto there were icons and frescoes. They were created according to Byzantine canons. Faces instead of faces. Flat figures. Failure to comply with proportions. Instead of a landscape there is a golden background. Like, for example, on this icon.
Guido da Siena. Adoration of the Magi. 1275-1280 Altenburg, Lindenau Museum, Germany. And suddenly frescoes by Giotto appear. They have voluminous figures. Faces of noble people. Sad. Mournful. Surprised. Old and young. Different.
Frescoes by Giotto in the Church of Scrovegni in Padua (1302-1305). Left: Lamentation of Christ. Middle: Kiss of Judas (fragment). Right: Annunciation of St. Anne (Mother Mary), fragment.
Giotto's main work is the cycle of his frescoes in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua. When this church opened to parishioners, crowds of people poured into it. Because they have never seen anything like this.
After all, Giotto did something unprecedented. It was as if he translated biblical stories into 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 precisely what will be characteristic of many masters of the Renaissance. Laconic images. Lively emotions of the characters. Realism.
Read more about the master's frescoes in the article.
Giotto was admired. But his innovations were not developed further. 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 “St. Peter on the pulpit”). 1425-1427 Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy. Beginning of the 15th century. The so-called Early Renaissance. Another innovator is entering 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 a thing of the past.
Masaccio. Saint Peter heals with his shadow. 1425-1427 Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine, Florence, Italy. He adopted Giotto's realism. However, unlike his predecessor, he already knew anatomy well.
Instead of blocky characters, Giotto has 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. Expulsion from Paradise. 1426-1427 Fresco in the Brancacci Chapel, Church of 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 subsequent generations went to the Brancacci Chapel to study from his frescoes.
Thus, Masaccio’s innovations were taken 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 had a tremendous impact on 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 creators and aristocrats of the spirit.
Leonardo made a breakthrough primarily in portraiture.
He believed that nothing should distract from the main image. The gaze should not wander from one detail to another. This is how his famous portraits appeared. Laconic. Harmonious.
Leonardo da Vinci. Lady with an ermine. 1489-1490 Czertoryski Museum, Krakow. Leonardo's main innovation is that he found a way to make images... come alive.
Before him, characters in portraits looked like mannequins. The lines were clear. All details are carefully drawn. The painted drawing could not possibly be alive.
But then Leonardo invented the sfumato method. He shaded the lines. Made the transition from light to shadow very soft. His characters seem to be covered with a barely perceptible haze. The characters came to life.
. 1503-1519 Louvre, Paris. Since then, sfumato will be included in the active vocabulary of all the great artists of the future.
There is often an opinion that Leonardo, of course, is a genius. But he didn’t know how to finish anything. And I often didn’t finish paintings. And many of his projects remained on paper (in 24 volumes, by the way). And in general he was thrown either into medicine or into music. And at one time I was even interested in the art of serving.
However, think for yourself. 19 paintings. And he is the greatest artist of all time. And some are not even close to greatness. At the same time, having painted 6,000 canvases in his life. It is obvious who has the higher efficiency.
Read about the master's most famous painting in the article.
4. Michelangelo (1475-1564)
Daniele da Volterra. Michelangelo (fragment). 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 his physically developed characters. Because he portrayed a perfect man. In which physical beauty means spiritual beauty.
That’s why all his heroes are so muscular and resilient. Even women and old people.
Michelangelo. Fragments of the fresco “The Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel, Vatican.
Michelangelo often painted the character naked. And then he added clothes on top. So that the body is as sculpted as possible.
He painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel himself. Although these are several hundred figures! He didn’t even allow anyone to rub paint. Yes, he was a loner. Possessing a cool and quarrelsome character. But most of all he was dissatisfied with... himself.
Michelangelo. Fragment of the fresco “The Creation of Adam”. 1511 Sistine Chapel, Vatican. Michelangelo lived a long life. Having survived the decline of the Renaissance. For him it was a personal tragedy. His later works are full of sadness and sorrow.
In general, Michelangelo’s creative path is unique. His early works are a celebration of the human hero. Free and courageous. In the best traditions of ancient Greece. What's his name David?
In the last years of life these are tragic images. Intentionally rough-hewn stone. It’s as if we are looking at monuments to the victims of 20th century fascism. Look at his Pietà.
Michelangelo's sculptures at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence. Left: David. 1504 Right: Palestrina's Pietà. 1555
How is this possible? One artist in one life went through all stages of art from the Renaissance to the 20th century. What should subsequent generations do? Well, go your own way. Realizing that the bar is set very high.
5. Raphael (1483-1520)
. 1506 Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy. Raphael was never forgotten. His genius has always been recognized. And during life. And after death.
His characters are endowed with sensual, lyrical beauty. It is his who is rightfully considered the most beautiful female images ever created. Their external beauty also reflects the spiritual beauty of the heroines. Their meekness. Their sacrifice.
Raphael. . 1513 Old Masters Gallery, Dresden, Germany. Fyodor Dostoevsky said the famous words “Beauty will save the world” about. This was his favorite painting.
However, sensual images are not Raphael’s only strong point. He thought through the compositions of his paintings very carefully. He was an unsurpassed architect in painting. Moreover, he always found the simplest and most harmonious solution in organizing space. It seems that it cannot be any other way.
Raphael. Athens School. 1509-1511 Fresco in the Stanzas of the Apostolic Palace, Vatican. Raphael lived only 37 years. He died suddenly. From a caught cold and medical error. But his legacy is difficult to overestimate. 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 daring and brilliant innovator.
Everyone loved him for such brilliance of his talent. Called “The King of Painters and the Painter of Kings.”
Speaking about Titian, I want to put an exclamation point after every 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. I applied the paint either with a brush or with my fingers. This makes the images even more alive and breathing. And the plots are even more dynamic and dramatic.
Titian. Tarquin and Lucretia. 1571 Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, England. Doesn't this remind you of anything? Of course, this is technology. And the technique of 19th century artists: Barbizonians and. Titian, like Michelangelo, would go through 500 years of painting in one lifetime. That's why he's a genius.
Read about the master's famous masterpiece in the article.
Renaissance artists are artists of great knowledge. To leave such a legacy, you had to know a lot. In the field of history, astrology, physics and so on.
Therefore, every image of them makes us think. Why is this depicted? What is the encrypted message here?
Therefore, they almost never made mistakes. Because they thoroughly thought through their future work. Using all your 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.
During difficult times for Italy, the short-lived “golden age” of the Italian Renaissance began - the so-called High Renaissance, the highest point of the flowering of Italian art. The High Renaissance thus coincided with the period of fierce struggle of Italian cities for independence. The art of this time was permeated with humanism, faith in the creative powers of man, in the unlimited possibilities of his capabilities, in the reasonable structure of the world, in the triumph of progress. In art, the problems of civic duty, high moral qualities, heroic deeds, the image of a beautiful, harmoniously developed, strong in spirit and body hero man who managed to rise above the level of everyday life came to the fore. The search for such an ideal led art to synthesis, generalization, to the disclosure of general patterns of phenomena, to the identification of their logical relationship. The art of the High Renaissance abandons particulars and insignificant details in the name of a generalized image, in the name of the desire for a harmonious synthesis of the beautiful aspects of life. This is one of the main differences between the High Renaissance and the early one.
Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was the first artist to clearly embody this difference. Leonardo's first teacher was Andrea Verrocchio. The figure of an angel in the teacher’s painting “Baptism” already clearly demonstrates the difference in the artist’s perception of the world of the past era and the new era: no frontal flatness of Verrocchio, the finest cut-off modeling of volume and extraordinary spirituality of the image. . Researchers date the “Madonna with a Flower” (“Benois Madonna,” as it was previously called, after the owners) to the time of Verrocchio’s departure from the workshop. During this period, Leonardo was undoubtedly influenced for some time by Botticelli. From the 80s of the 15th century. Two unfinished compositions by Leonardo have survived: “The Adoration of the Magi” and “St. Jerome." Probably in the mid-80s, “Madonna Litta” was also created using the ancient tempera technique, in whose image the type of Leonardo’s female beauty was expressed: heavy, half-lowered eyelids and a subtle smile give the Madonna’s face a special spirituality.
Combining scientific and creative principles, possessing both logical and artistic thinking, Leonardo spent his whole life engaged in scientific research along with the fine arts; distracted, he seemed slow and left behind little art. At the Milanese court, Leonardo worked as an artist, scientific technician, inventor, mathematician and anatomist. The first major work he performed in Milan was “Madonna of the Rocks” (or “Madonna of the Grotto”). This is the first monumental altar composition of the High Renaissance, interesting also because it fully expressed the features of Leonardo's style of writing.
Leonardo's greatest work in Milan, the highest achievement of his art, was the painting of the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie on the subject of the Last Supper (1495-1498). Christ meets with his disciples for the last time at dinner to announce to them the betrayal of one of them. For Leonardo, art and science existed inseparably. While engaged in art, he did scientific research, experiments, observations, he went through perspective into the field of optics and physics, through problems of proportions - into anatomy and mathematics, etc. “The Last Supper” completes a whole stage in the artist’s scientific research. It is also a new stage in art.
Leonardo took time off from studying anatomy, geometry, fortification, land reclamation, linguistics, versification, and music to work on “The Horse,” an equestrian monument to Francesco Sforza, for which he primarily came to Milan and which he completed in full size in the early 90s in clay. The monument was not destined to be embodied in bronze: in 1499 the French invaded Milan and Gascon crossbowmen shot the equestrian monument. In 1499, the years of Leonardo’s wanderings began: Mantua, Venice and, finally, the artist’s hometown of Florence, where he painted the cardboard “St. Anna with Mary on her lap,” from which he creates an oil painting in Milan (where he returned in 1506)
In Florence, Leonardo began another painting: a portrait of the merchant del Giocondo's wife, Mona Lisa, which became one of the most famous paintings in the world.
Portrait of Mona Lisa Gioconda is a decisive step towards the development of Renaissance art
For the first time, the portrait genre became on the same level as compositions on religious and mythological themes. Despite all the undeniable physiognomic similarities, Quattrocento’s portraits were distinguished by, if not external, then internal constraint. The majesty of the Mona Lisa is conveyed by the mere juxtaposition of her emphatically voluminous figure, strongly pushed out to the edge of the canvas, with a landscape with rocks and streams visible as if from afar, melting, alluring, elusive and therefore, despite all the reality of the motif, fantastic.
In 1515, at the suggestion of the French king Francis I, Leonardo left for France forever.
Leonardo was the greatest artist of his time, a genius who opened new horizons of art. He left behind few works, but each of them was a stage in the history of culture. Leonardo is also known as a versatile scientist. His scientific discoveries, for example, his research in the field of aircraft, are of interest in our age of astronautics. Thousands of pages of Leonardo's manuscripts, covering literally every field of knowledge, testify to the universality of his genius.
The ideas of monumental art of the Renaissance, in which the traditions of antiquity and the spirit of Christianity merged, found their most vivid expression in the work of Raphael (1483-1520). In his art, two main tasks found a mature solution: the plastic perfection of the human body, expressing the inner harmony of a comprehensively developed personality, in which Raphael followed antiquity, and a complex multi-figure composition that conveys all the diversity of the world. Raphael enriched these possibilities, achieving amazing freedom in depicting space and the movement of the human figure in it, impeccable harmony between the environment and man.
None of the Renaissance masters perceived the pagan essence of antiquity as deeply and naturally as Raphael; It is not without reason that he is considered the artist who most fully connected ancient traditions with Western European art of the modern era.
Rafael Santi was born in 1483 in the city of Urbino, one of the centers of artistic culture in Italy, at the court of the Duke of Urbino, in the family of a court painter and poet, who was the first teacher of the future master
The early period of Raphael’s work is perfectly characterized by a small painting in the form of a tondo “Madonna Conestabile”, with its simplicity and laconism of strictly selected details (despite the timidity of the composition) and the special, inherent in all of Raphael’s works, subtle lyricism and a sense of peace. In 1500, Raphael left Urbino for Perugia to study in the workshop of the famous Umbrian artist Perugino, under whose influence The Betrothal of Mary (1504) was written. The sense of rhythm, proportionality of plastic masses, spatial intervals, the relationship between figures and background, coordination of basic tones (in “The Betrothal” these are golden, red and green in combination with a soft blue sky background) create the harmony that is already evident in Raphael’s early works and distinguishes him from the artists of the previous era.
Throughout his life, Raphael searched for this image in the Madonna; his numerous works interpreting the image of the Madonna earned him worldwide fame. The merit of the artist, first of all, is that he was able to embody all the subtlest shades of feelings in the idea of motherhood, to combine lyricism and deep emotionality with monumental grandeur. This is visible in all his Madonnas, starting with the youthfully timid “Madonna Conestabile”: in the “Madonna of the Greens”, “Madonna with the Goldfinch”, “Madonna in the Armchair” and especially at the pinnacle of Raphael’s spirit and skill - in the “Sistine Madonna”.
“The Sistine Madonna” is one of Raphael’s most perfect works in terms of language: the figure of Mary and Child, strictly silhouetted against the sky, is united by a common rhythm of movement with the figures of St. The barbarians and Pope Sixtus II, whose gestures are addressed to the Madonna, as are the views of two angels (more like putti, which is so characteristic of the Renaissance), are in the lower part of the composition. The figures are also united by a common golden color, as if personifying the Divine radiance. But the main thing is the type of face of the Madonna, which embodies the synthesis of the ancient ideal of beauty with the spirituality of the Christian ideal, which is so characteristic of the worldview of the High Renaissance.
The Sistine Madonna is a late work by Raphael.
At the beginning of the 16th century. Rome becomes the main cultural center of Italy. The art of the High Renaissance reaches its greatest flowering in this city, where, by the will of the patronizing popes Julius II and Leo X, artists such as Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphael simultaneously work.
Raphael paints the first two stanzas. In the Stanza della Segnatura (room of signatures, seals) he painted four fresco-allegories of the main spheres of human spiritual activity: philosophy, poetry, theology and jurisprudence. (“The School of Athens”, “Parnassus”, “Disputa”, “Measure, Wisdom and Strength” ". In the second room, called the "Stanza of Eliodorus", Raphael painted frescoes on historical and legendary scenes glorifying the popes: "The Expulsion of Eliodorus"
It was common for the art of the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance to depict sciences and arts in the form of individual allegorical figures. Raphael solved these themes in the form of multi-figure compositions, sometimes representing real group portraits, interesting both for their individualization and typicality
The students also helped Raphael in painting the Vatican loggias adjacent to the Pope’s rooms, painted according to his sketches and under his supervision with motifs of ancient ornaments, drawn mainly from newly discovered ancient grottoes (hence the name “grotesques”).
Raphael performed works of various genres. His gift as a decorator, as well as a director and storyteller, was fully manifested in a series of eight cardboards for tapestries for the Sistine Chapel on scenes from the life of the apostles Peter and Paul (“A Miraculous Catch of Fish,” for example). These paintings throughout the 16th-18th centuries. served as a kind of standard for classicists.
Raphael was also the greatest portrait painter of his era. (“Pope Julius II”, “Leo X”, the artist’s friend the writer Castiglione, the beautiful “Donna Velata”, etc.). And in his portrait images, as a rule, internal balance and harmony prevail.
At the end of his life, Raphael was disproportionately loaded with a variety of works and orders. It’s even hard to imagine that all this could be done by one person. He was a central figure in the artistic life of Rome; after the death of Bramante (1514), he became the chief architect of the Cathedral of St. Peter, was in charge of archaeological excavations in Rome and its environs and the protection of ancient monuments.
Raphael died in 1520; his premature death was unexpected for his contemporaries. His ashes are buried in the Pantheon.
The third greatest master of the High Renaissance - Michelangelo - far outlived Leonardo and Raphael. The first half of his creative career occurred during the heyday of the art of the High Renaissance, and the second during the Counter-Reformation and the beginning of the formation of Baroque art. Of the brilliant galaxy of artists of the High Renaissance, Michelangelo surpassed everyone with the richness of his images, civic pathos, and sensitivity to changes in public mood. Hence the creative embodiment of the collapse of Renaissance ideas.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) In 1488 in Florence he began to carefully study ancient sculpture. His relief “Battle of the Centaurs” is already a work of the High Renaissance in its internal harmony. In 1496, the young artist left for Rome, where he created his first works that brought him fame: “Bacchus” and “Pieta”. Literally captured by the images of antiquity. “Pieta” opens a whole series of works by the master on this subject and puts him forward among the first sculptors of Italy.
Returning to Florence in 1501, Michelangelo, on behalf of the Signoria, undertook to sculpt the figure of David from a block of marble damaged before him by an unlucky sculptor. In 1504, Michelangelo completed the famous statue, which the Florentines called the “Giant” and placed in front of the Palazzo Vecchia, the city hall. The opening of the monument turned into a national celebration. The image of David inspired many Quattrocento artists. But Michelangelo portrays him not as a boy, as in Donatello and Verrocchio, but as a young man in the full bloom of his strength, and not after a battle, with a giant’s head at his feet, but before the battle, at the moment of the highest tension of strength. In the beautiful image of David, in his stern face, the sculptor conveyed the titanic power of passion, unyielding will, civil courage, and the boundless power of a free man.
In 1504, Michelangelo (as already mentioned in connection with Leonardo) begins to work on the painting of the “Hall of the Five Hundred” in the Palazzo Signoria
In 1505, Pope Julius II invited Michelangelo to Rome to build his tomb, but then refused the order and ordered a less grandiose painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican Palace.
Michelangelo worked alone on the painting of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, from 1508 to 1512, painting an area of about 600 square meters. m (48x13 m) at a height of 18 m.
Michelangelo dedicated the central part of the ceiling to scenes of sacred history, starting from the creation of the world. These compositions are framed by the same painted cornice, but creating the illusion of architecture, and are separated, also by picturesque rods. Picturesque rectangles emphasize and enrich the real architecture of the ceiling. Under the picturesque cornice, Michelangelo painted prophets and sibyls (each figure is about three meters), in lunettes (arches above the windows) he depicted episodes from the Bible and the ancestors of Christ as simple people engaged in everyday affairs.
The nine central compositions unfold the events of the first days of creation, the story of Adam and Eve, the global flood, and all these scenes, in fact, are a hymn to the person inherent in him. Soon after the completion of work in Sistine, Julius II died and his heirs returned to the idea of a tombstone. In 1513-1516. Michelangelo performs the figure of Moses and slaves (captives) for this tombstone. The image of Moses is one of the most powerful in the work of the mature master. He invested in him the dream of a wise, courageous leader, full of titanic strength, expression, will-qualities, so necessary then for the unification of his homeland. The slave figures were not included in the final version of the tomb.
From 1520 to 1534, Michelangelo worked on one of the most significant and most tragic sculptural works - on the tomb of the Medici (Florentine church of San Lorenzo), expressing all the experiences that befell the master himself, his hometown, and the whole the country as a whole. Since the late 20s, Italy was literally torn apart by both external and internal enemies. In 1527, mercenary soldiers defeated Rome, Protestants plundered the Catholic shrines of the eternal city. The Florentine bourgeoisie overthrows the Medici, who ruled again from 1510
In a mood of severe pessimism, in a state of increasing deep religiosity, Michelangelo works on the Medici tomb. He himself built an extension to the Florentine church of San Lorenzo - a small but very high room, covered with a dome, and decorated two walls of the sacristy (its interior) with sculptural tombstones. One wall is decorated with the figure of Lorenzo, the opposite with Giuliano, and below at their feet there are sarcophagi decorated with allegorical sculptural images - symbols of fast-flowing time: “Morning” and “Evening” in Lorenzo’s tombstone, “Night” and “Day” in Giuliano’s tombstone .
Both images - Lorenzo and Giuliano - do not have a portrait resemblance, which is why they differ from the traditional solutions of the 15th century.
Paul III, immediately after his election, began to persistently demand that Michelangelo fulfill this plan, and in 1534, interrupting work on the tomb, which he completed only in 1545, Michelangelo left for Rome, where he began his second work in the Sistine Chapel - to the painting "The Last Judgment" (1535-1541) - a grandiose creation that expressed the tragedy of the human race. The features of the new artistic system appeared even more clearly in this work by Michelangelo. The creative judgment, the punishing Christ is placed in the center of the composition, and around him in a rotating circular motion are depicted sinners casting themselves into hell, the righteous ascending to heaven, and the dead rising from their graves to God's judgment. Everything is full of horror, despair, anger, confusion.
Painter, sculptor, poet, Michelangelo was also a brilliant architect. He completed the staircase of the Florentine Laurentian Library, designed the Capitol Square in Rome, erected the Pius Gate (Porta Pia), and since 1546 he has been working on the Cathedral of St. Peter, begun by Bramante. Michelangelo owns the drawing and drawing of the dome, which was executed after the master’s death and is still one of the main dominant features in the city’s panorama.
Michelangelo died in Rome at the age of 89. His body was taken at night to Florence and buried in the oldest church in his hometown of Santa Croce. The historical significance of Michelangelo's art, its impact on his contemporaries and on subsequent eras can hardly be overestimated. Some foreign researchers interpret him as the first artist and architect of the Baroque. But most of all he is interesting as a bearer of the great realistic traditions of the Renaissance.
Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, nicknamed Giorgione (1477-1510), is a direct follower of his teacher and a typical artist of the High Renaissance. He was the first on Venetian soil to turn to literary themes and mythological subjects. Landscape, nature and the beautiful naked human body became for him a subject of art and an object of worship.
Already in the first known work, “Madonna of Castelfranco” (circa 1505), Giorgione appears as a fully established artist; The image of the Madonna is full of poetry, thoughtful dreaminess, permeated with that mood of sadness that is characteristic of all female images of Giorgione. Over the last five years of his life, the artist created his best works, executed in oil technique, the main one in the Venetian school at that time. . In the 1506 painting “The Thunderstorm,” Giorgione depicts man as a part of nature. A woman nursing a child, a young man with a staff (who can be mistaken for a warrior with a halberd) are not united by any action, but are united in this majestic landscape by a common mood, a common state of mind. The image of “Sleeping Venus” (circa 1508-1510) is permeated with spirituality and poetry. Her body is written easily, freely, gracefully, it is not without reason that researchers talk about the “musicality” of Giorgione’s rhythms; it is not without sensual charm. "Rural Concert" (1508-1510)
Titian Vecellio (1477?-1576) is the greatest artist of the Venetian Renaissance. He created works on both mythological and Christian subjects, worked in the portrait genre, his coloristic talent is exceptional, his compositional inventiveness is inexhaustible, and his happy longevity allowed him to leave behind a rich creative heritage that had a huge influence on his descendants.
Already in 1516 he became the first painter of the republic, from the 20s - the most famous artist of Venice
Around 1520, the Duke of Ferrara ordered him a series of paintings in which Titian appears as a singer of antiquity, who was able to feel and, most importantly, embody the spirit of paganism (“Bacchanalia”, “Feast of Venus”, “Bacchus and Ariadne”).
Rich Venetian patricians commissioned Titian to create altarpieces, and he created huge icons: “The Assumption of Mary”, “Madonna of Pesaro”
"The Presentation of Mary into the Temple" (c. 1538), "Venus" (c. 1538)
(group portrait of Pope Paul III with nephews Ottavio and Alexander Farnese, 1545-1546)
He still writes a lot on ancient subjects (“Venus and Adonis”, “The Shepherd and the Nymph”, “Diana and Actaeon”, “Jupiter and Antiope”), but increasingly turns to Christian themes, to scenes of martyrdom in which pagan cheerfulness, ancient harmony is replaced by a tragic attitude (“The Flagellation of Christ”, “Penitent Mary Magdalene”, “St. Sebastian”, “Lamentation”),
But at the end of the century, the features of an approaching new era in art, a new artistic direction, are already obvious here. This can be seen in the work of two major artists of the second half of this century - Paolo Veronese and Jacopo Tintoretto.
Paolo Cagliari, nicknamed Veronese (he was born in Verona, 1528-1588), was destined to become the last singer of the festive, jubilant Venice of the 16th century.
: “Feast in the House of Levi” “Marriage in Cana of Galilee” for the refectory of the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore
Jacopo Robusti, known in art as Tintoretto (1518-1594) (“tintoretto”-dyer: the artist’s father was a silk dyer). "The Miracle of St. Mark" (1548)
(“The Rescue of Arsinoe”, 1555), “Introduction into the Temple” (1555),
Andrea Palladio (1508-1580, Villa Cornaro in Piombino, Villa Rotonda in Vicenza, completed after his death by students according to his design, many buildings in Vicenza). The result of his study of antiquity was the books “Roman Antiquities” (1554), “Four Books on Architecture” (1570-1581), but antiquity was a “living organism” for him, according to the fair observation of the researcher.
The Dutch Renaissance in painting begins with the “Ghent Altarpiece” by the brothers Hubert (died 1426) and Jan (c. 1390-1441) van Eyck, completed by Jan van Eyck in 1432. Van Eyck improved the oil technique: oil made it possible to convey more versatility brilliance, depth, richness of the objective world, which attracts the attention of Dutch artists, its colorful sonority.
Of the many Madonnas by Jan van Eyck, the most famous is the “Madonna of Chancellor Rollin” (circa 1435)
(“Man with a Carnation”; “Man in a Turban”, 1433; portrait of the artist’s wife Margaret van Eyck, 1439
Dutch art owes a lot in solving such problems to Rogier van der Weyden (1400?-1464). “The Descent from the Cross” is a typical work of Weyden.
In the second half of the 15th century. accounts for the work of a master of exceptional talent, Hugo van der Goes (circa 1435-1482) “The Death of Mary”).
Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516), creator of dark mystical visions, in which he also turns to medieval allegorism, “The Garden of Delights”
The pinnacle of the Dutch Renaissance was, undoubtedly, the work of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, nicknamed Muzhitsky (1525/30-1569) (“Kitchen of the Skinny”, “Kitchen of the Fat”). The “Winter Landscape” from the cycle “The Seasons” (other title - “Hunters in the Snow”, 1565), “The Battle of Carnival and Lent” (1559).
Albrecht Durer (1471-1528).
“The Feast of the Rosary” (another name is “Madonna with the Rosary”, 1506), “The Horseman, Death and the Devil”, 1513; "St. Jerome" and "Melancholia",
Hans Holbein the Younger (1497-1543), "The Triumph of Death" ("Dance of Death") portrait of Jane Seymour, 1536
Albrecht Altdorfer (1480-1538)
Renaissance Lucas Cranach (1472-1553),
Jean Fouquet (c. 1420-1481), Portrait of Charles VII
Jean Clouet (circa 1485/88-1541), son of François Clouet (circa 1516-1572) is the most important artist of France in the 16th century. portrait of Elizabeth of Austria, circa 1571, (portrait of Henry II, Mary Stuart, etc.)
The Renaissance, or Renaissance, is a historical milestone in European culture. This is a fateful stage in the development of world civilization, which replaced the darkness and obscurantism of the Middle Ages and preceded the emergence of the cultural values of the New Time. The Renaissance heritage is characterized by anthropocentrism - in other words, an orientation towards Man, his life and activities. Distancing itself from church dogmas and themes, art acquired a secular character, and the name of the era refers to the revival of ancient motifs in art.
The Renaissance, whose roots originated in Italy, is usually divided into three stages: early (“quattrocento”), high and later. Let us consider the features of the creativity of the great masters who worked in those ancient but significant times.
First of all, it should be noted that the creators of the Renaissance not only engaged in “pure” fine art, but also proved themselves to be talented researchers and discoverers. For example, an architect from Florence named Filippo Brunelleschi described a set of rules for constructing linear perspective. The laws he formulated made it possible to accurately depict the three-dimensional world on canvas. Along with the embodiment of progressive ideas in painting, its ideological content itself has changed - the heroes of the paintings have become more “earthly”, with pronounced personal qualities and characters. This even applied to works on topics related to religion.
Outstanding names of the Quattrocento period (second half of the 15th century) - Botticelli, Masaccio, Masolino, Gozzoli and others - rightfully secured their place of honor in the treasury of world culture.
During the High Renaissance (the first half of the 16th century), the entire ideological and creative potential of artists was fully revealed. A characteristic feature of this time is the reference of art to the era of antiquity. Artists, however, do not blindly copy ancient subjects, but rather use them to create and develop their own unique styles. Thanks to this, fine art acquires consistency and rigor, giving way to a certain frivolity of the previous period. Architecture, sculpture and painting of this time harmoniously complemented each other. Buildings, frescoes, and paintings created during the High Period of the Renaissance are true masterpieces. The names of universally recognized geniuses shine: Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael Santi, Michelangelo Buonarotti.
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The personality of Leonardo da Vinci deserves special attention. They say about him that he is a man far ahead of his time. Artist, architect, engineer, inventor - this is not a complete list of the incarnations of this multifaceted personality.
The modern man in the street knows Leonardo da Vinci primarily as a painter. His most famous work is the Mona Lisa. Using her example, the viewer can appreciate the innovation of the author’s technique: thanks to his unique courage and relaxed thinking, Leonardo developed fundamentally new ways of “revitalizing” an image.
Using the phenomenon of light scattering, he achieved a decrease in the contrast of minor details, which raised the realism of the image to a new level. The master paid remarkable attention to the anatomical accuracy of the embodiment of the body in painting and graphics - the proportions of the “ideal” figure are recorded in “Vitruvian Man”.
The second half of the 16th and first half of the 17th century is usually called the Late Renaissance. This period was characterized by very diverse cultural and creative trends, so it is difficult to judge it unambiguously. The religious trends of southern Europe, embodied in the Counter-Reformation, led to abstraction from the celebration of human beauty and ancient ideals. The contradiction of such sentiments with the established ideology of the Renaissance led to the emergence of Florentine mannerism. Painting in this style is characterized by a contrived color palette and broken lines. The Venetian masters of that time - Titian and Palladio - formed their own directions of development, which had few points of contact with the manifestations of the crisis in art.
In addition to the Italian Renaissance, attention should be paid to the Northern Renaissance. Artists living north of the Alps were less influenced by ancient art. Their work shows the influence of Gothic style, which persisted until the advent of the Baroque era. The great figures of the Northern Renaissance are Albrecht Durer, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Pieter Bruegel the Elder.
The cultural heritage of the great Renaissance artists is priceless. The name of each of them is reverently and carefully preserved in the memory of mankind, since the person who bore it was a unique diamond with many facets.
For Europeans, the period of the dark Middle Ages ended, giving way to the Renaissance. It made it possible to revive the almost extinct heritage of Antiquity and create great works of art. Scientists of the Renaissance also played an important role in the development of mankind.
Paradigm
The crisis and destruction of Byzantium led to the appearance of thousands of Christian emigrants in Europe, who brought books with them. These manuscripts contained knowledge of the ancient period, half-forgotten in the west of the continent. They became the basis of humanism, which placed man, his ideas and the desire for freedom at the forefront. Over time, in cities where the role of bankers, artisans, traders and craftsmen increased, secular centers of science and education began to emerge, which not only were not under the authority of the Catholic Church, but often fought against its dictates.
Painting by Giotto (Renaissance)
Artists in the Middle Ages created works of predominantly religious content. In particular, for a long time the main genre of painting was icon painting. The first who decided to depict ordinary people on his canvases, and also to abandon the canonical style of painting inherent in the Byzantine school, was Giotto di Bondone, who is considered a pioneer of the Proto-Renaissance. On the frescoes of the Church of San Francesco, located in the city of Assisi, he used the play of chiaroscuro and departed from the generally accepted compositional structure. However, Giotto's main masterpiece was the painting of the Arena Chapel in Padua. It is interesting that immediately after this order the artist was called to decorate the city hall. While working on one of the paintings, in order to achieve the greatest authenticity in the depiction of the “celestial sign,” Giotto consulted with the astronomer Pietro d’Abano. Thus, thanks to this artist, painting stopped depicting people, objects and natural phenomena according to certain canons and became more realistic.
Leonardo da Vinci
Many figures of the Renaissance had versatile talent. However, none of them can compare with Leonardo da Vinci in his versatility. He distinguished himself as an outstanding painter, architect, sculptor, anatomist, natural scientist and engineer.
In 1466, Leonardo da Vinci went to study in Florence, where, in addition to painting, he studied chemistry and drawing, and also acquired skills in working with metal, leather and plaster.
Already the artist’s first paintings distinguished him among his fellow workers. During his long, at that time, 68-year life, Leonardo da Vinci created such masterpieces as “Mona Lisa”, “John the Baptist”, “Lady with an Ermine”, “The Last Supper”, etc.
Like other prominent figures of the Renaissance, the artist was interested in science and engineering. In particular, it is known that the wheel pistol lock he invented was used until the 19th century. In addition, Leonardo da Vinci created drawings of a parachute, a flying machine, a searchlight, a telescope with two lenses, etc.
Michelangelo
When the question of what the Renaissance figures gave to the world is discussed, the list of their achievements necessarily contains the works of this outstanding architect, artist and sculptor.
Among the most famous creations of Michelangelo Buonarroti are the frescoes of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the statue of David, the sculpture of Bacchus, the marble statue of the Madonna of Bruges, the painting “The Torment of St. Anthony” and many other masterpieces of world art.
Rafael Santi
The artist was born in 1483 and lived only 37 years. However, the great legacy of Raphael Santi puts him at the top of any symbolic rating of “Outstanding Figures of the Renaissance.”
The artist’s masterpieces include “The Coronation of Mary” for the Oddi altar, “Portrait of Pietro Bembo”, “Lady with a Unicorn”, numerous frescoes commissioned for the Stanza della Segnatura, etc.
The pinnacle of Raphael's work is considered to be the "Sistine Madonna", created for the altar of the church of the monastery of St. Sixta in Piacenza. This picture makes an unforgettable impression on anyone who sees it, since the Mary depicted on it in an incomprehensible way combines the earthly and heavenly essences of the Mother of God.
Albrecht Durer
Famous figures of the Renaissance were not only Italian. These include the German painter and engraver Albrecht Dürer, who was born in Nuremberg in 1471. His most significant works are the “Landauer Altar”, a self-portrait (1500), the painting “Feast of Rose Wreaths”, and three “Workshop Engravings”. The latter are considered masterpieces of graphic art of all times and peoples.
Titian
The great figures of the Renaissance in the field of painting left us images of their most famous contemporaries. One of the outstanding portrait painters of this period of European art was Titian, who came from the famous Vecellio family. He immortalized on canvas Federico Gonzaga, Charles V, Clarissa Strozzi, Pietro Aretino, the architect Giulio Romano and many others. In addition, his brushes include canvases on subjects from ancient mythology. How highly the artist was valued by his contemporaries is evidenced by the fact that one day Emperor Charles V hastened to pick up a brush that had fallen from Titian’s hands. The monarch explained his action by saying that serving such a master is an honor for anyone.
Sandro Botticelli
The artist was born in 1445. Initially, he was going to become a jeweler, but then he ended up in the workshop of Andrea Verrocchio, who once studied with Leonardo da Vinci. Along with works of religious themes, the artist created several paintings of secular content. Botticelli's masterpieces include the paintings "The Birth of Venus", "Spring", "Pallas and the Centaur" and many others.
Dante Alighieri
The great figures of the Renaissance left their indelible mark on world literature. One of the most prominent poets of this period is Dante Alighieri, born in 1265 in Florence. At the age of 37, he was expelled from his hometown because of his political views and wandered until the last years of his life.
Even as a child, Dante fell in love with his peer Beatrice Portinari. Having matured, the girl married another man and died at the age of 24. Beatrice became the poet’s muse, and it was to her that he dedicated his works, including the story “New Life.” In 1306, Dante began creating his “Divine Comedy,” which he worked on for almost 15 years. In it, he exposes the vices of Italian society, the crimes of the popes and cardinals, and places his Beatrice in “paradise.”
William Shakespeare
Although Renaissance ideas arrived somewhat late in the British Isles, outstanding works of art were also created there.
In particular, one of the most famous playwrights in human history, William Shakespeare, worked in England. His plays have been performed on theater stages in all corners of the planet for more than 500 years. His pen includes the tragedies “Othello”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, “Macbeth”, as well as the comedies “Twelfth Night”, “Much Ado About Nothing” and many others. In addition, Shakespeare is famous for his sonnets dedicated to the mysterious Dark Lady.
Leon Battista Alberti
The Renaissance also contributed to changing the appearance of European cities. Great architectural masterpieces were created during this period, including the Roman Cathedral of St. Peter's, the Laurentian staircase, the Florence Cathedral, etc. Along with Michelangelo, the famous scientist Leon Battista Alberti is one of the famous architects of the Renaissance. He made enormous contributions to architecture, art theory and literature. His areas of interest also included problems of pedagogy and ethics, mathematics and cartography. He created one of the first scientific works on architecture, entitled “Ten Books on Architecture.” This work had a huge influence on subsequent generations of his colleagues.
Now you know the most famous cultural figures of the Renaissance, thanks to whom human civilization entered a new stage of its development.
The Renaissance began in Italy. It acquired its name due to the dramatic intellectual and artistic flowering 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 and depicted various religious subjects. The principle of perspective was also invented, which opened up new possibilities for artists.
Florence became the center of the Renaissance, Venice took second place, 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. Leonardo worked most of his life in Florence, where he created many masterpieces known throughout the world. Among them: “Mona Lisa” (otherwise known as “La Gioconda”), “Lady with an Ermine”, “Benois Madonna”, “John the Baptist” and “St. Anna with Mary and the Christ Child."
This artist is recognizable thanks to the unique style that he has developed over the years. He also painted the walls of the Sistine Chapel at the personal request of Pope Sixtus IV. Botticelli wrote famous paintings on mythological themes. Such paintings include “Spring”, “Pallas and the Centaur”, “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 painted many masterpieces, including 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 creativity, he paid more attention to architecture, but gave us “The Crucifixion of St. Peter”, “Entombment”, “The Creation of Adam”, “Forteller”.
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 of the Vatican, representing human activity and depicting various scenes from the Bible. Among Raphael's famous paintings are “The Sistine Madonna”, “The Three Graces”, “St. Michael and the Devil”.
Ivan Sergeevich Tseregorodtsev