Renaissance - Italian revival (painting). Titans and masterpieces of Renaissance culture - abstract The largest painters of the early Renaissance

In the first decades of the 15th century, a decisive turning point occurred in the art of Italy. The emergence of a powerful center of the Renaissance in Florence entailed a renewal of the entire Italian artistic culture. The work of Donatello, Masaccio and their associates marks the victory of Renaissance realism, which differed significantly from the “realism of detail” that was characteristic of the art of the late Trecento. The works of these masters are imbued with the ideals of humanism. They exalt a person, raise him above the level of everyday life. In their struggle with the Gothic tradition, artists of the early Renaissance sought support in antiquity and the art of the Proto-Renaissance. What the masters of the Proto-Renaissance sought only intuitively, by touch, is now based on precise knowledge. Italian art of the 15th century is distinguished by great diversity. The diversity of conditions in which local schools are formed gives rise to a variety of artistic movements. The new art, which triumphed in advanced Florence at the beginning of the 15th century, did not immediately gain recognition and spread in other regions of the country. While Bruneleschi, Masaccio, and Donatello worked in Florence, the traditions of Byzantine and Gothic art were still alive in northern Italy, only gradually supplanted by the Renaissance.

Quattrocento

From the end of the 14th century. Power in Florence passes to the house of Medici bankers. Its head, Cosimo de' Medici, became the unofficial ruler of Florence. Writers, poets, scientists, architects and artists flock to the court of Cosimo de' Medici (and later of his grandson Lorenzo, nicknamed the Magnificent). The age of medical culture begins. The first signs of a new, bourgeois culture and the emergence of a new, bourgeois worldview were especially clearly manifested in the 15th century, during the Quattrocento period. But precisely because the process of the formation of a new culture and a new worldview was not completed during this period (this happened later, in the era of the final decomposition and collapse of feudal relations), the 15th century is full of creative freedom, bold daring, and admiration for human individuality. This is truly the age of humanism. In addition, this is an era full of faith in the limitless power of the mind, an era of intellectualism. The perception of reality is tested by experience, experiment, and controlled by reason. Hence the spirit of order and measure that is so characteristic of the art of the Renaissance. Geometry, mathematics, anatomy, the study of the proportions of the human body are of great importance for artists; it is then that they begin to carefully study the structure of man; in the 15th century Italian artists also solved the problem of rectilinear perspective, which had already matured in the art of the Trecento. Antiquity played a huge role in the formation of the secular culture of the Quattrocento. The 15th century demonstrates direct connections with the Renaissance culture. Since 1439, since the ecumenical church council held in Florence, to which the Byzantine Emperor John Palaiologos and the Patriarch of Constantinople arrived, accompanied by a magnificent retinue, and especially after the fall of Byzantium in 1453, when many scientists who fled from the East found refuge in Florence, this city becomes one of the main centers in Italy for the study of the Greek language, as well as the literature and philosophy of Ancient Greece. The Platonic Academy is founded in Florence; the Laurentian Library contains a rich collection of ancient manuscripts. And yet, the leading role in the cultural life of Florence in the first half and mid-15th century undoubtedly belonged to art. The first art museums appeared, filled with statues, fragments of ancient architecture, marbles, coins, and ceramics. Ancient Rome is being restored. The beauty of the suffering Laocoon, the beautiful Apollo (Belvedere) and Venus (Medicine) appears before the astonished Europe.

Sculpture

In the 15th century Italian sculpture was flourishing. It acquired an independent meaning, independent of architecture, and new genres appeared in it. The practice of artistic life began to include orders from wealthy merchant and craft circles for the decoration of public buildings; art competitions acquired the character of broad public events. The event that opens a new period in the development of Italian Renaissance sculpture is considered to be the competition that took place in 1401 to make the second northern doors of the Florentine Baptistery in bronze. Among the participants in the competition were young masters - Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti (circa 1381-1455). The brilliant draftsman Ghiberti won the competition. One of the most educated people of his time, the first historian of Italian art, Ghiberti, in whose work the main thing was the balance and harmony of all elements of the image, devoted his life to one type of sculpture - relief. His quest reached its peak in the manufacture of the eastern doors of the Florentine Baptistery (1425-1452), which Michelangelo called the “Gates of Paradise.” The ten square compositions made of gilded bronze that make up them convey the depth of space in which figures, nature, and architecture merge. They resemble paintings in their expressiveness. Ghiberti's workshop became a real school for a whole generation of artists. Young Donatello, the future great reformer of Italian sculpture, worked in his workshop as an assistant. Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi, called Donatello (c. 1386-1466), was born in Florence into the family of a wool carder. He worked in Florence, Siena, Rome, Padua. However, enormous fame did not change his simple lifestyle. It was said that the selfless Donatello hung a wallet with money at the door of his workshop, and his friends and students took from the wallet as much as they needed.

On the one hand, Donatello longed for truth in life in art. On the other hand, he gave his works features of sublime heroism. These qualities were already evident in the master’s early works - statues of saints intended for the external niches of the facades of the Church of Or San Michele in Florence, and the Old Testament prophets of the Florentine campanile. The statues were in niches, but they immediately attracted attention with the harsh expressiveness and inner strength of the images. Especially famous is “Saint George” (1416) - a young warrior with a shield in his hand. He has a concentrated, deep gaze; he stands firmly on the ground, legs spread wide. In the statues of the prophets, Donatello especially emphasized their characteristic features, sometimes rough, unadorned, even ugly, but alive and natural. Donatello's prophets Jeremiah and Habakkuk are integral and spiritually rich natures. Their strong figures are hidden by heavy folds of cloaks. Life furrowed Avvakum’s faded face with deep wrinkles; he became completely bald, for which reason in Florence they nicknamed him Zuccone (Pumpkin). In 1430, Donatello created David, the first nude statue in Italian Renaissance sculpture. The statue was intended for a fountain in the courtyard of the Palazzo Medici. The biblical shepherd, the winner of the giant Goliath, is one of the favorite images of the Renaissance. In depicting his youthful body, Donatello undoubtedly proceeded from ancient models, but reworked them in the spirit of his time. Thoughtful and calm, David, wearing a shepherd’s hat shading his face, tramples Goliath’s head with his foot and seems not yet aware of the feat he has accomplished. A trip to Rome with Brunelleschi greatly expanded Donatello’s artistic capabilities; his work was enriched with new images and techniques, which were influenced by antiquity. A new period has begun in the master’s work. In 1433 he completed the marble pulpit of the Florence Cathedral. The entire field of the pulpit is occupied by a jubilant round dance of dancing putti - something like ancient cupids and at the same time medieval angels in the form of naked boys, sometimes winged, depicted in motion. This is a favorite motif in the sculpture of the Italian Renaissance, which later spread in the art of the 17th-18th centuries. For almost ten years, Donatello worked in Padua, the old university city, one of the centers of humanistic culture, the birthplace of St. Anthony of Padua, deeply revered in the Catholic Church. For the city cathedral dedicated to St. Anthony, Donatello completed it in 1446-1450. a huge sculpted altar with many statues and reliefs. The central place under the canopy was occupied by a statue of the Madonna and Child, but on both sides there were six statues of saints. At the end of the 16th century. the altar was dismantled. Only part of it has survived to this day, and now it is difficult to imagine what it looked like originally. The four altar reliefs that have come down to us, depicting the miraculous deeds of St. Anthony, allow us to appreciate the unusual techniques used by the master. This is a type of flat, seemingly flattened relief. Crowded scenes are presented in a single movement in a real life setting. The backdrop is huge city buildings and arcades. Thanks to the transfer of perspective, the impression of depth of space appears, as in paintings. At the same time, Donatello made in Padua an equestrian statue of the condottiere Erasmo de Narni, a native of Padua who was in the service of the Venetian Republic. The Italians nicknamed him Gattamelata (Sly Cat). This is one of the first Renaissance equestrian monuments. Calm dignity is poured throughout the appearance of Gattamelata, dressed in Roman armor, with his head naked in the Roman style, which is a magnificent example of portrait art. The almost eight-meter statue on a high pedestal is equally expressive from all sides. The monument is placed parallel to the facade of the Cathedral of Sant'Antonio, which allows it to be seen either against the background of the blue sky, or in spectacular juxtaposition with the powerful forms of the domes.

In his last years in Florence, Donatello experienced a mental crisis, his images became more and more dramatic. He created the complex and expressive group “Judith and Holofernes” (1456-1457); the statue of “Mary Magdalene” (1454-1455) in the form of a decrepit old woman, an emaciated hermit in animal skin - tragic reliefs for the Church of San Lorenzo, completed by his students. Among the largest sculptors of the first half of the 15th century. one cannot ignore Jacopo della Quercia (1374-1438), an older contemporary of Ghiberti and Donatello. His work, rich in many discoveries, stood as if apart from the general path along which the art of the Renaissance developed. A native of Siena, Quercia worked in Lucca. There, in the city cathedral, there is a rare beautiful tombstone of the young Ilaria del Careto, made by this master. In 1408 - 1419 Quercia created sculptures for the monumental fountain Fonte Gaia in Piazza Campo in Siena. Then the master lived in Bologna, where his main work was the reliefs for the portal of the Church of San Petronio (1425-1438). Made from dark gray hard local stone, they are distinguished by a powerful monumentality, anticipating the images of Michelangelo. The second generation of Florentine sculptors gravitated towards a more lyrical, peaceful, secular art. The leading role in it belonged to the della Robbia family of sculptors. The head of the family, Lucca della Robbia (1399 or 1400-1482), a contemporary of Brunelleschi and Donatello, became famous for his use of glaze techniques in circular sculpture and relief, often combining them with architecture. The technique of glaze (majolica), known since ancient times to the peoples of Western Asia, was brought to the Iberian Peninsula and the island of Majorca in the Middle Ages, which is why it got its name, and then spread widely in Italy. Lucca della Robbia created medallions with reliefs on a deep blue background for buildings and altars, garlands of flowers and fruits, majolica busts of the Madonna, Christ, and John the Baptist. The cheerful, elegant, kind art of this master received well-deserved recognition from his contemporaries. His nephew Andrea della Robbia (1435-1525) also achieved great perfection in the majolica technique.

Painting

The huge role that Brunelleschi played in the architecture of the early Renaissance, and Donatello in sculpture, belonged to Masaccio in painting. Brunelleschi and Donatello were at their creative peak when Masaccio was born. According to Vasari, “Masaccio sought to depict figures with great liveliness and the greatest spontaneity, like reality.” Masaccio died young, not reaching the age of 27, and yet managed to do so many new things in painting that no other master could manage in his entire life. Tommaso di Giovanni di Simone Cassai, nicknamed Masaccio (1401 - 1428), was born in the town of San Valdarno near Florence, where he went as a young man to study painting. There was an assumption that his teacher was Masolino de Panicale, with whom he then collaborated; it has now been rejected by researchers. Masaccio worked in Florence, Pisa and Rome. A classic example of an altar composition was his “Trinity” (1427-1428), created for the church of Santa Maria Novella in Florence. The fresco was painted on a wall going deep into the chapel, which was built in the shape of a Renaissance arched niche. The painting shows a crucifix, the figures of Mary and John the Baptist. The image of God the Father overshadows them. In the foreground of the fresco, kneeling customers are depicted, as if they were in the church building itself. Located at the bottom of the fresco is an image of a sarcophagus on which a skeleton lies Adam. The inscription above the sarcophagus contains the traditional medieval saying: “I was once like you, and you will be like me.” Until the 50s. XX century this work of Masaccio in the eyes of art lovers and scientists receded into the background in front of his famous cycle of paintings of the Brancacci Chapel. After the fresco was moved to its original place in the temple in 1952, washed, restored, and when its lower part with a sarcophagus was discovered, the “Trinity” attracted the close attention of researchers and art lovers. Masaccio's creation is remarkable in every way. The majestic detachment of the images is combined here with a previously unseen reality of space and architecture, with the volume of the figures, the expressive portrait characteristics of the faces of the customers and with the image of the Mother of God, amazing in its power of restrained feeling. In the same years, Masaccio (in collaboration with Masolino) created the Brancacci Chapel murals in the church of Santa Maria del Carmine, named after a wealthy Florentine customer. The painter was faced with the task of constructing a space using linear and aerial perspective, placing powerful figures of characters in it, truthfully depicting their movements, poses, gestures, and then connecting the scale and color of the figures with the natural or architectural background. Masaccio not only successfully coped with this task, but also managed to convey the internal tension and psychological depth of the images. The subjects of the paintings are mainly devoted to the history of the Apostle Peter. The most famous composition, “The Miracle of the Stater,” tells how a tax collector stopped Christ and his disciples at the gates of the city of Capernaum, demanding money from them to maintain the temple. Christ commanded the Apostle Peter to catch fish in Lake Gennesaret and extract a statir from it. On the left in the background the viewer sees this scene. On the right, Peter hands the money to the collector. Thus, the composition connects three episodes at different times, in which the apostle appears three times. In the essentially innovative painting of Masaccio, this technique is a belated tribute to the medieval tradition of pictorial storytelling; many masters had already abandoned it at that time and more than a century ago Giotto himself. But this does not disturb the impression of bold novelty, which distinguishes the entire figurative structure of the painting, its dramaturgy, vitally convincing, slightly rude characters. Sometimes in expressing the strength and acuity of feeling, Masaccio is ahead of his time. Here is the fresco “The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise” in the same Brancacci Chapel. The viewer believes that Adam and Eve, who violated the Divine prohibition, are actually expelled from paradise by an angel with a sword in their hands. The main thing here is not the biblical plot and external details, but the feeling of boundless human despair that engulfs Adam, covering his face with his hands, and sobbing Eve, with sunken eyes and a dark hole in her mouth distorted by a scream. In August 1428, Masaccio left for Rome without finishing the painting, and soon died suddenly. The Brancacci Chapel became a place of pilgrimage for painters who adopted Masaccio's techniques. However, a lot of it is creative; Masaccio's legacy was only appreciated by subsequent generations. In the work of his contemporary Paolo Uccello (1397-1475), who belonged to the generation of masters who worked after Masaccio’s death, the desire for elegant fairy tales sometimes acquired a naive shade. This feature of the artist’s creative style has become his unique calling card. His early small painting “St. George” is charming. A green dragon with a screw-shaped tail and patterned wings, as if carved from tin, walks decisively on two legs. He's not scary, but funny. The artist himself probably smiled while creating this picture. But in Uccello’s work, wayward fantasy was combined with a passion for studying perspective. Vasari described the experiments, drawings, and sketches to which he devoted sleepless nights as eccentricities. Meanwhile, Paolo Uccello entered the history of painting as one of those painters who first began to use the technique of linear perspective in his canvases. In his youth, Uccello worked in Ghiberti's workshop, then made mosaics for the Cathedral of San Marco in Venice, and upon returning to Florence, he became acquainted with Masaccio's paintings in the Brancacci Chapel, which had a huge influence on him. His fascination with perspective was reflected in Uccello’s first work, a portrait he painted in 1436 of the English condottiere John Hawkwood, known to Italians as Giovanni Acuto. The huge monochrome (one-color) fresco depicts not a living person, but an equestrian statue of him, which the viewer looks at from the bottom up. Uccello's bold quests found expression in three of his famous paintings, commissioned by Cosimo de' Medici and dedicated to the battle of two Florentine commanders with the troops of Siena at San Romano. In Uccello’s amazing paintings, against the backdrop of a toy landscape, horsemen and warriors clashed in a fierce battle, spears, shields, and banner poles were mixed up. And yet, the battle looks conventional, frozen in an extremely beautiful, glittering gold decoration with figures of horses in red, pink and even blue.

Federal Agency for Education

St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Department of History

Discipline: Cultural Studies

Titans and masterpieces of Renaissance culture

Student group 1 ES 2

E. Yu. Nalivko

Supervisor:

k.i. Sc., teacher

I. Yu. Lapina

Saint Petersburg

Introduction……………………………………………………3

Early Renaissance Art………………………..4

High Renaissance period…………………………….5

Sandro Botticelli……………………………………….5

Leonardo Da Vinci……………………………………7

Michelangelo Buonarroti …….………………………10

Raffaello Santi…………....…………………………….13

Conclusion……………………………………………………………..15

List of used literature………………………....16

Introduction

The Renaissance is an important period in world culture. Initially, a new phenomenon in European cultural life looked like a return to the forgotten achievements of ancient culture in the field of science, philosophy, and literature. The phenomenon of the Renaissance lies in the fact that the ancient heritage turned into a weapon for the overthrow of church canons and prohibitions. Essentially, we must talk about a grandiose cultural revolution, which lasted two and a half centuries and ended with the creation of a new type of worldview and a new type of culture. Nothing like this was observed outside the European region at that time. Therefore, this topic aroused my great interest and desire to analyze this period in more detail.

In my essay I want to focus on such outstanding people as Sandro Botticelli, Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Raffaello Santi. They became the most prominent representatives of the main stages of the Italian Renaissance.

1. Early Renaissance Art

In the first decades of the 15th century, a decisive turning point occurred in the art of Italy. The emergence of a powerful center of the Renaissance in Florence entailed a renewal of the entire Italian artistic culture.

The work of Donatello, Masaccio and their associates marks the victory of Renaissance realism, which was significantly different from the “realism of detail” that was characteristic of the Gothic art of the late Trecento. The works of these masters are imbued with the ideals of humanism. They heroize and exalt a person, raising him above the level of everyday life.

In their struggle with the Gothic tradition, artists of the early Renaissance sought support in antiquity and the art of the Proto-Renaissance. What the masters of the Proto-Renaissance sought only intuitively, by touch, is now based on precise knowledge.

Italian art of the 15th century is distinguished by great diversity. The new art, which triumphed in advanced Florence at the beginning of the 15th century, did not immediately gain recognition and spread in other regions of the country. While Bruneleschi, Masaccio, and Donatello worked in Florence, the traditions of Byzantine and Gothic art were still alive in northern Italy, only gradually supplanted by the Renaissance.

The main center of the early Renaissance was Florence. Florentine culture of the first half and mid-15th century is diverse and rich. Since 1439, since the ecumenical church council held in Florence, to which the Byzantine Emperor John Palaiologos and the Patriarch of Constantinople arrived, accompanied by a magnificent retinue, and especially after the fall of Byzantium in 1453, when many scientists who fled from the East found refuge in Florence, this city becomes one of the main centers in Italy for the study of the Greek language, as well as the literature and philosophy of Ancient Greece. And yet, the leading role in the cultural life of Florence in the first half and mid-15th century undoubtedly belonged to art. 1

2. High Renaissance period

This period of time represents the apogee of the Renaissance. It was a short period that lasted about 30 years, but in terms of quantity and quality, this period of time was like centuries. The art of the High Renaissance is a summation of the achievements of the 15th century, but at the same time it is a new qualitative leap, both in the theory of art and in its implementation. The extraordinary “density” of this period can be explained by the fact that the number of brilliant artists working simultaneously (in one historical period) is a kind of record even for the entire history of art. It is enough to name such names as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael and Michelangelo.

3. Sandro Botticelli

The name of Sandro Botticelli is known throughout the world as one of the most remarkable artists of the Italian Renaissance.

Sandro Botticelli was born in 1444 (or 1445) in the family of a tanner, Florentine citizen Mariano Filippepi. Sandro was the youngest, fourth son of Filippepi. Unfortunately, almost nothing is known about where and when Sandro underwent artistic training and whether, as old sources report, he really first studied jewelry and then began to paint. In 1470, he already had his own workshop and independently carried out orders received.

The charm of Botticelli's art always remains a little mysterious. His works evoke a feeling that the works of other masters do not evoke.

Botticelli was inferior to many artists of the 15th century, some in courageous energy, others in the truthful accuracy of details. His images (with very rare exceptions) are devoid of monumentality and drama; their exaggeratedly fragile forms are always a little conventional. But like no other painter of the 15th century, Botticelli was endowed with the ability for the most subtle poetic understanding of life. For the first time, he was able to convey the subtle nuances of human experiences. Joyful excitement is replaced in his paintings by melancholic dreaminess, gusts of fun - by aching melancholy, calm contemplation - by uncontrollable passion.

Botticelli's new direction of art received its extreme expression in the last period of his activity, in the works of the 1490s and early 1500s. Here the techniques of exaggeration and dissonance become almost unbearable (for example, “The Miracle of St. Zenobius”). The artist either plunges into the abyss of hopeless sorrow (“Pieta”), or surrenders to enlightened exaltation (“Communion of St. Jerome”). His painting style is simplified almost to iconographic conventions, distinguished by some kind of naive tongue-tiedness. Both the drawing, taken in its simplicity to the limit, and the color with its sharp contrasts of local colors are completely subordinate to the planar linear rhythm. The images seem to lose their real, earthly shell, acting as mystical symbols. And yet, in this thoroughly religious art, the human element makes its way with tremendous force. Never before has an artist put so much personal feeling into his works; never before have his images had such a high moral significance.

With the death of Botticelli, the history of Florentine painting of the Early Renaissance ends - this true spring of Italian artistic culture. A contemporary of Leonardo, Michelangelo and the young Raphael, Botticelli remained alien to their classical ideals. As an artist, he belonged entirely to the 15th century and had no direct successors in High Renaissance painting. However, his art did not die with him. It was the first attempt to reveal the spiritual world of man, a timid attempt that ended tragically, but which, through generations and centuries, received its infinitely multifaceted reflection in the work of other masters.

Botticelli's art is the poetic confession of a great artist, which excites and will always excite the hearts of people. 2

4. Leonardo Da Vinci

In the history of mankind it is not easy to find another person as brilliant as the founder of High Renaissance art, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519). The comprehensive nature of the activities of this great artist and scientist became clear only when scattered manuscripts from his legacy were examined. A colossal amount of literature has been devoted to Leonardo, and his life has been studied in detail. And yet, much of his work remains mysterious and continues to excite people’s minds.

Leonardo Da Vinci was born in the village of Anchiano near Vinci: not far from Florence. He was the illegitimate son of a wealthy notary and a simple peasant woman. Noticing the boy’s extraordinary abilities in painting, his father sent him to the workshop of Andrea Verrocchio. In the teacher’s painting “The Baptism of Christ,” the figure of a spiritualized blond angel belongs to the brush of the young Leonardo.

Among his early works is the painting “Madonna with a Flower” (1472), executed in oil painting, then rare in Italy.

Around 1482, Leonardo entered the service of the Duke of Milan, Lodovico Moro. The master recommended himself first of all as a military engineer, architect, specialist in the field of hydraulic engineering, and only then as a painter and sculptor. However, the first Milanese period of Leonardo's work (1482-1499) turned out to be the most fruitful. The master became the most famous artist in Italy, studied architecture and sculpture, and turned to frescoes and altar paintings.

Leonardo's paintings from the Milanese period have survived to this day. The first altar composition of the High Renaissance was “Madonna in the Grotto” (1483-1494). The painter departed from the traditions of the fifteenth century: in whose religious paintings solemn constraint prevailed. In Leonardo's altarpiece there are few figures: a feminine Mary, the Infant Christ blessing little John the Baptist, and a kneeling angel, as if looking out from the picture. The images are ideally beautiful, naturally connected with their environment. This is like a grotto among dark basalt rocks with a gap in the depths - a generally fantastically mysterious landscape typical of Leonardo. The figures and faces are shrouded in an airy haze, giving them a special softness. The Italians called this technique of Leonardo sfumato.

In Milan, apparently, the master created the painting “Madonna and Child” (“Madonna Lita”). Here, in contrast to “Madonna with a Flower,” he strived for greater generalization of the ideality of the image. What is depicted is not a specific moment, but a certain long-term state of calm joy in which a young beautiful woman is immersed. A cold, clear light illuminates her thin, soft face with a half-lowered gaze and a light, barely perceptible smile. The painting is painted in tempera, which adds sonority to the tones of Mary’s blue cloak and red dress. The Baby’s fluffy, dark-golden curly hair is amazingly depicted, and his attentive gaze directed at the viewer is not childishly serious.

When Milan was taken by French troops in 1499, Leonardo left the city. The time of his wandering has begun. For some time he worked in Florence. There, Leonardo’s work seemed to be illuminated by a bright flash: he painted a portrait of Mona Lisa, the wife of the wealthy Florentine Francesco di Giocondo (circa 1503). The portrait is known as “La Gioconda” and has become one of the most famous works of world painting.

A small portrait of a young woman, shrouded in an airy haze, sitting against the backdrop of a bluish-green landscape, is full of such lively and tender trepidation that, according to Vasari, you can see the pulse beating in the hollow of Mona Lisa’s neck. It would seem that the picture is easy to understand. Meanwhile, in the extensive literature dedicated to La Gioconda, the most opposing interpretations of the image created by Leonardo collide.

In the last years of his life, Leonardo da Vinci worked little as an artist. Having received an invitation from the French king Francis 1, he left for France in 1517 and became a court painter. Leonardo soon died. In a self-portrait-drawing (1510-1515), the gray-bearded patriarch with a deep, mournful look looked much older than his age.

The scale and uniqueness of Leonardo’s talent can be judged by his drawings, which occupy one of the honorable places in the history of art. Not only manuscripts devoted to the exact sciences, but also works on the theory of art are inextricably linked with Leonardo da Vinci's drawings, sketches, sketches, and diagrams. Much space is given to the problems of chiaroscuro, volumetric modeling, linear and aerial perspective. Leonardo da Vinci owns numerous discoveries, projects and experimental studies in mathematics, mechanics, and other natural sciences.

The art of Leonardo da Vinci, his scientific and theoretical research, the uniqueness of his personality have passed through the entire history of world culture and science and have had a huge influence. 3

5. Michelangelo Buonarroti

Among the demigods and titans of the High Renaissance, Michelangelo occupies a special place. As a creator of new art, he deserves the title of Prometheus of the 16th century

The beautiful marble sculpture, known as the Pieta, remains to this day a monument to the first stay in Rome and the full maturity of the 24-year-old artist. The Holy Virgin sits on a stone, on her lap rests the lifeless body of Jesus, taken from the cross. She supports him with her hand. Under the influence of ancient works, Michelangelo discarded all the traditions of the Middle Ages in depicting religious subjects. He gave harmony and beauty to the body of Christ and the whole work. The death of Jesus should not have caused horror, only a feeling of reverent surprise for the great sufferer. The beauty of the naked body benefits greatly from the effect of light and shadow produced by the skillfully arranged folds of Mary's dress. In the face of Jesus, depicted by the artist, they even found similarities with Savonarola. The Pieta remained an eternal testament of struggle and protest, an eternal monument to the hidden suffering of the artist himself.

Michelangelo returned to Florence in 1501, at a difficult moment for the city, where from a huge block of Carrara marble, which was intended for a colossal statue of the biblical David to decorate the dome of the cathedral, he decided to create a complete and perfect work, without reducing its size, and namely David. In 1503, on May 18, the statue was installed in the Piazza della Señoria, where it stood for more than 350 years.

In Michelangelo's long and dreary life there was only one period when happiness smiled on him - this was when he worked for Pope Julius II. Michelangelo, in his own way, loved this rude warrior pope, who had not at all papal harsh manners. The tomb of Pope Julius did not turn out as magnificent as Michelangelo intended. Instead of the Cathedral of St. Peter she was placed in the small church of St. Petra, where it did not even enter entirely, and its individual parts dispersed to different places. But even in this form it is rightfully one of the most famous creations of the Renaissance. Its central figure is the biblical Moses, the liberator of his people from Egyptian captivity (the artist hoped that Julius would liberate Italy from the conquerors). All-consuming passion, superhuman strength strain the hero’s powerful body, will and determination, a passionate thirst for action are reflected on his face, his gaze is directed towards the promised land. A demigod sits in Olympian majesty. One of his hands rests powerfully on the stone tablet on his knees, the other rests here with the carelessness worthy of a man for whom the movement of his eyebrows is enough to make everyone obey. As the poet said, “before such an idol the Jewish people had the right to prostrate themselves in prayer.” According to contemporaries, Michelangelo’s “Moses” actually saw God.

At the request of Pope Julius, Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican with frescoes depicting the creation of the world. His paintings are dominated by lines and bodies. 20 years later, on one of the walls of the same chapel, Michelangelo painted the fresco “The Last Judgment” - a stunning vision of the appearance of Christ at the Last Judgment, at the wave of whose hand sinners fall into the abyss of hell. The muscular, Herculean giant resembles not the biblical Christ, who sacrificed himself for the good of humanity, but the personification of retribution of ancient mythology. The fresco reveals the terrible abysses of a desperate soul, the soul of Michelangelo.

Michelangelo's works express the pain caused by the tragedy of Italy, merging with the pain about his own sad fate. Michelangelo found beauty, which is not mixed with suffering and misfortune, in architecture. After Bramante's death, Michelangelo took over the construction of St. Peter's Basilica. A worthy successor to Bramante, he created a dome that is to this day unsurpassed in either size or grandeur,

Michelangelo had neither students nor a so-called school. But there remains a whole world created by him. 4

6. Raphael

The work of Raphael Santi belongs to those phenomena of European culture that are not only covered with world fame, but have also acquired special significance - the highest landmarks in the spiritual life of mankind. For five centuries, his art has been perceived as one of the examples of aesthetic perfection.

Raphael's genius was revealed in painting, graphics, and architecture. Raphael's works represent the most complete, vivid expression of the classical line, the classical principle in the art of the High Renaissance (Appendix 3). Raphael created a “universal image” of a beautiful person, perfect physically and spiritually, embodying the idea of ​​the harmonious beauty of existence.

Raphael (more precisely, Raffaello Santi) was born on April 6, 1483 in the city of Urbino. He received his first painting lessons from his father, Giovanni Santi. When Raphael was 11 years old, Giovanni Santi died and the boy was left an orphan (he lost the boy 3 years before the death of his father). Apparently, over the next 5-6 years he studied painting with Evangelista di Piandimeleto and Timoteo Viti, minor provincial masters.

The first works of Raphael known to us were performed around 1500 - 1502, when he was 17-19 years old. These are miniature-sized compositions “The Three Graces” and “The Knight’s Dream”. These simple-minded, still student-timid things are marked by subtle poetry and sincerity of feeling. From the very first steps of his creativity, Raphael's talent is revealed in all its originality, and his own artistic theme is outlined.

The best works of the early period include Madonna Conestabile. Compositions depicting the Madonna and Child brought Raphael wide fame and popularity. The fragile, meek, dreamy Madonnas of the Umbrian period were replaced by more earthly, full-blooded images, their inner world became more complex, rich in emotional shades. Raphael created a new type of image of the Madonna and Child - monumental, strict and lyrical at the same time, giving this topic unprecedented significance.

He glorified the earthly existence of man, the harmony of spiritual and physical forces in the paintings of stanzas (rooms) of the Vatican (1509-1517), achieving an impeccable sense of proportion, rhythm, proportions, euphony of color, unity of figures and the majesty of architectural backgrounds. There are many images of the Mother of God (“Sistine Madonna”, 1515-19), artistic ensembles in the paintings of the Villa Farnesina (1514-18) and the loggias of the Vatican (1519, with students). In portraits he creates the ideal image of a Renaissance man (“Baldassare Castiglione”, 1515). Designed the Cathedral of St. Peter, built the Chigi Chapel of the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo (1512-20) in Rome.

Raphael's painting, its style, its aesthetic principles reflected the worldview of the era. By the third decade of the 16th century, the cultural and spiritual situation in Italy had changed. Historical reality destroyed the illusions of Renaissance humanism. The revival was coming to an end. 5

Conclusion

During the Renaissance, interest in the art of ancient Greece and Rome was awakened, which prompted changes in Europe that marked the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. This period was not only a time of “revival” of the ancient past, it was a time of discovery and research, a time of new ideas. Classic examples inspired new thinking, with special attention paid to the human personality, the development and manifestation of abilities, rather than their limitations, which was characteristic of the Middle Ages. Teaching and research were no longer solely the work of the church. New schools and universities arose, natural science and medical experiments were carried out. Artists and sculptors strove in their work for naturalness, for a realistic recreation of the world and man. Classical statues and human anatomy were studied. Artists began to use perspective, abandoning flat images. The objects of art were the human body, classical and modern subjects, as well as religious themes. Capitalist relations were emerging in Italy, and diplomacy began to be used as a tool in relations between city-states. Scientific and technological discoveries, such as the invention of printing, contributed to the spread of new ideas. Gradually new ideas took hold of all of Europe.

Epochs Renaissance(XIV-XVI/XVII centuries) ... this is a great contribution to art Renaissance.TITANS THE HIGH RENAISSANCE LEONARDO DA VINCIAt the end... his unique contribution to era Renaissance and created its own masterpieces. IN culture XV-XVI centuries ...

Culture era Renaissance Renaissance

Test >> Culture and art

A person, making him like titanium, they separated it from... a marble copy. MEANING CULTURES AGES REVIVAL Thus, in an effort to know culture Renaissance, the secrets of it... fingers is also one of masterpieces Simone Martini. Its beauty...

European culture era Renaissance (2)

Lecture >> Culture and art

Humanism. 3. Titans era Renaissance. Titanism as a cultural phenomenon. 4. “Baroque” – culture luxury and confusion... crafts, both in literature and in artistic creativity. Classic masterpieces Leonardo, Michelangelo, Brunalleschi, Titian, Raphael...

era Renaissance (11)

Abstract >> Culture and art

Time" (F. Engels). The greatest masterpiece poet, immortalized his name, ... the result of the development of medieval culture and the approach to a new one culture era Renaissance. Faith in earthly things... sounds in the latter’s poem titanium Renaissance, written on behalf of him...

Comparative characteristics crops eras

Abstract >> Culture and art

... era Augusta became the 142nd volume historical work Tita Libya... Worlds are considered masterpieces world culture. Architectural and construction monuments era early... urban medieval culture. The name is conditional: it appeared in era Renaissance and it meant...

Spring/ Botticelli

A turning point in events in art was observed at the beginning of the 15th century. Then the powerful birth of the Renaissance took place in Florence, which served as the impetus for revising the entire Italian artistic culture. The work of such authors as Masaccio, Donatello and their associates speaks of the victory of Renaissance realism, which had serious differences from the “realism of detail” inherent in the Gothic art of the late Trecento. The ideals of humanism penetrate the works of great masters. A person, rising, becomes above the level of everyday life. Most of the artists' attention is occupied by the color of individual character and the strength of human experiences. Meticulous detailing is replaced by generalization and monumentality of forms. It is worth noting that the heroism and monumentality that characterized the works of the great authors who opened the Italian Renaissance era were retained in the art of the Quattrocento only for some time and developed further only in High Renaissance period.

David/ Donatello

The artistic reform of the early 15th century cut off the possibility of turning to both old forms and medieval spiritualism. From this time stage art of Italy becomes realistically oriented and takes on an optimistic secular character, which is a defining feature of the Renaissance.

To stop turning to the Gothic traditions of the early Renaissance, a search for ideas begins in antiquity and in the art of the Proto-Renaissance. This happens with one difference. Thus, if earlier the appeal to antiquity was rather episodic in nature, and was often just a simple copying of style, now the use of the ancient heritage was approached from a creative position.

The characteristic features of the art of the early 15th century are akin to the Proto-Renaissance, the legacy of which is widely used. Moreover, if earlier masters of the Proto-Renaissance were looking for ideas blindly, now their creative style is based on accurate knowledge.

Madonna and Child/Mazzacho

In the 15th century there was a convergence of art and science. Artists strive to understand and study the world around them, which leads to broadening their horizons and moving away from the narrow focus of the guild craft. This also contributes to the emergence of auxiliary disciplines.

Great architects and artists (Donatello, Philippe Brunelleschi, Leona Battista Alberti and others) develop the theory of linear perspective.

This period is marked by a systematic study of the structure of the human body and the emergence of the theory of proportions. In order to correctly and realistically depict the human figure and space, sciences such as anatomy, mathematics, anatomy and optics are used.

Lazzi Chapel of Santa Croce Cathedral in Florence/Brunelleschi

At the end of the 14th and beginning of the 15th centuries, the Renaissance style was emerging in architecture and a departure from old traditions took place. Like fine art, the call to antiquity played a dominant role in the renewal. Of course, the new style was not just a second life for antiquity. Renaissance architecture was created in accordance with the new spiritual and material needs of people.

Initially Renaissance architecture found her ideas for development in monuments that were subject to the influence of ancient architecture. Together with new ideas, the creators of the Renaissance, despite the rejection of old foundations, adopted some of the properties of Gothic architecture.

Byzantine architecture also influenced the formation of a new style, the most striking example being church construction. Transformation process and development of Renaissance architecture stems from attempts to change external decorative parts to a complete reworking of key architectural forms.

Madonna and Child/Gentile da Fabriano

Italian art of the 15th century is distinguished by its heterogeneity. The different conditions of local schools lead to a variety of artistic movements. If in advanced Florence the new art was warmly received, this does not mean at all that it received recognition in other parts of the country. Simultaneously with the works of the authors of Florence (Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Donatello), the traditions of Byzantine and Gothic art continued to exist in northern Italy, only gradually being displaced by the Renaissance.
The simultaneous presence of innovative and conservative tendencies is characteristic of both local schools of sculpture and painting, as well as the architecture of the 15th century.

ATTENTION: THERE IS VERY HIGH TRAFFIC UNDER THE CAP
Maybe the moderators can break it down into several?
Thank you in advance.
RENAISSANCE
Italian Renaissance

ANGELICO Fra Beato
GIOTTO di Bondone
MANTEGNA Andrea
BELLINI Giovani
BOTTICELLI Sandro
VERONESE Paolo
da VINCI Leonardo
JORDONE
CARPACCIO Vittore
MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI
RAFAEL Santi
TITIAN

Renaissance, or Renaissance -
(French Renaissance, Italian Rinascimento) -
era in European cultural history,
which replaced the culture of the Middle Ages and
preceding the culture of modern times.
The approximate chronological framework of the era is XIV-XVI centuries.
A distinctive feature of the Renaissance is the secular nature of culture
and its anthropocentrism (that is, interest, first of all,
to a person and his activities).
There is an interest in ancient culture,
it is as if its “rebirth” is taking place - that’s how the term appeared.

With classical completeness, the Renaissance was realized in Italy,
in the Renaissance culture of which there are periods of pre-Renaissance
phenomena at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. (Proto-Renaissance), Early Renaissance (15th century),
High Renaissance (end of the 15th – 1st quarter of the 16th centuries),
Late Renaissance (16th century).
In the Early Renaissance, the focus of innovation
in all forms of art the Florentine school became
architects (F. Brunelleschi, L.B. Alberti, B. Rossellino, etc.),
sculptors (L. Ghiberti, Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, A. Rossellino,
Desiderio da Settignano and others), painters (Masaccio, Filippo Lippi,
Andrea del Castagno, Paolo Uccello, Fra Angelico,
Sandro Botticelli and others) which created a plastically integral,
a concept of the world that has internal unity,
gradually spreading throughout Italy
(works of Piero della Francesca in Urbino, Vittore Carpaccio,
F. Cossa in Ferrara, A. Mantegna in Mantua, Antonello da Messina
and the brothers Gentile and Giovanni Bellini in Venice).
During the High Renaissance, when the struggle for humanistic
Renaissance ideals acquired an intense and heroic character,
architecture and fine arts were noted for their breadth
public sound, synthetic generality and power of images,
full of spiritual and physical activity.
In the buildings of D. Bramante, Raphael, Antonio da Sangallo they reached
its apogee of perfect harmony, monumentality and clear proportionality;
humanistic fullness, bold flight of artistic imagination,
breadth of coverage of reality is characteristic of the creativity of the largest
masters of fine art of this era - Leonardo da Vinci,
Raphael, Michelangelo, Giorgione, Titian.
From the 2nd 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 (Michelangelo, G. da Vignola,
Giulio Romano, V. Peruzzi) increased interest in spatial development
composition, subordination of the building to a broad urban planning plan;
in richly and complexly designed public buildings, temples,
villas, palazzos, the clear tectonics of the Early Renaissance gave way to
intense conflict of tectonic forces (buildings by J. Sansovino,
G. Alessi, M. Sanmicheli, A. Palladio).
Painting and sculpture of the Late Renaissance were enriched
understanding of the contradictory nature of the world, interest in the image
dramatic mass action, to spatial dynamics
(Paolo Veronese, J. Tintoretto, J. Bassano);
reached unprecedented depth, complexity, internal tragedy
psychological characteristics of images in later works
Michelangelo and Titian.

Venice school

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 picturesque principle,
special attention to the problems of color, the desire to implement
sensual fullness and colorfulness of being.
The Venetian school reached its greatest flourishing during the era
Early and High Renaissance, in the works of Antonello da Messina,
who opened up the expressive possibilities of oil painting for his contemporaries,
creators of ideally harmonious images Giovanni Bellini and Giorgione,
the greatest colorist Titian, who embodied in his canvases
the cheerfulness and colorful plethora inherent in Venetian painting.
In the works of masters of the Venetian school of the 2nd 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 feeling of the dynamics and infinity of the universe
(painting by Paolo Veronese and J. Tintoretto).
At 17, the traditional Venice School interest in problems of color
in the works of D. Fetti, B. Strozzi and others, it coexists with the techniques of Baroque painting,
as well as realistic trends in the spirit of Caravaggism.
For Venetian painting of the 18th century. characterized by flourishing
monumental and decorative painting (G.B. Tiepolo),
everyday genre (G.B. Piazzetta, P. Longhi),
documented - accurate architectural landscape - vedata
(G. A. Canaletto, B. Belotto) and lyrical,
subtly conveying the poetic atmosphere of everyday life
Venice cityscape (F. Guardi).

Florence school

Florence School, one of the leading Italian art schools
Renaissance, centered in the city of Florence.
The formation of the Florentine school, which finally took shape in the 15th century,
contributed to the flourishing of humanistic thought
(F. Petrarca, G. Boccaccio, Lico della Mirandola, etc.),
turning to the heritage of antiquity.
The founder of the Florentine school during the Proto-Renaissance was Giotto,
giving his compositions plastic persuasiveness and
life authenticity.
In the 15th century founders of Renaissance art in Florence
spoke by architect F. Brunelleschi, sculptor Donatello,
painter Masaccio, followed by architect L.B. Alberti,
sculptors L. Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, Desiderio da Settignano,
Benedetto da Maiano et al.
In the architecture of the Florentine school in the 15th century. a new type was created
Renaissance palazzo, the search began for the ideal type of temple building,
corresponding to the humanistic ideals of the era.
For the fine arts of the Florentine school of the 15th century. characteristic
passion for problems of perspective, desire for plastically clear
building the human figure
(works by A. del Verrocchio, P. Uccello, A. del Castagno and others),
and for many of its masters - a special spirituality and intimate lyrical
contemplation (painting by B. Gozzoli, Sandro Botticelli,
Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Piero di Cosimo, etc.).
The search for masters of the 15th century. completed by the great artists of the Renaissance
Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, who raised artistic quests
The Florence school to a new quality level. In the 1520s.
the gradual decline of the school begins, despite the fact that
that a number of major artists continued to work in Florence
(painters Fra Bartolommeo and Andrea del Sarto, sculptor A. Sansovino);
from the 1530s The Florentine school becomes one of the main centers
art of mannerism (architect and painter G. Vasari,
painters A. Bronzino, J. Pontormo).
In the 17th century, the Florentine school fell into decay.

Early Renaissance

The period of the so-called “Early Renaissance” covers
in Italy the time is from 1420 to 1500.
During these eighty years, art has not yet completely renounced
from the legends of the recent past, but tries to mix into them elements
borrowed from classical antiquity.
Only later, and only little by little, under the influence of more and more
and stronger than changing living conditions and culture,
artists completely abandon medieval foundations and boldly use
examples of ancient art as in the general concept of their works,
and in their details.

While art in Italy was already decisively following the path of imitation
classical antiquity, in other countries it lasted for a long time
traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, also in Spain,
The Renaissance came only at the end of the 15th century,
and its early period lasts until about the middle of the next century,
without producing, however, anything particularly remarkable.

High Renaissance

The second period of the Renaissance is the time of the most magnificent development of his style -
commonly called the "High Renaissance"
it extends in Italy from approximately 1500 to 1580.
At this time the center of gravity of Italian art from Florence
moves to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II,
an ambitious, courageous and enterprising person,
who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court,
which occupied them with numerous and important works and gave them
to others an example of love for the arts. At the same time, the pope and his immediate successors,
Rome becomes, as it were, the new Athens of the time of Pericles:
many monumental buildings are created in it,
magnificent sculptural works are performed,
frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered the pearls of painting;
at the same time, all three branches of art harmoniously go hand in hand,
helping one another and mutually influencing each other.
Antiquity is now being studied more thoroughly,
reproduced with greater rigor and consistency;
calmness and dignity are installed instead of playful beauty,
which constituted the aspiration of the preceding period;
recollections of the medieval completely disappear, and quite classical
the imprint falls on all creations of art.
But imitation of the ancients does not drown out their independence in artists,
and they, with great resourcefulness and vivid imagination,
freely process and apply to business what
what they consider appropriate to borrow for him from Greco-Roman art.

Late Renaissance

Third period of the Renaissance,
the so-called “late Renaissance” period,
is distinguished by some kind of passionate, restless desire of artists
develop completely arbitrarily, without reasonable consistency
and combine antique motifs, achieve imaginary picturesqueness
exaggeration and pretentiousness of forms.
Signs of this desire, which gave rise to the Baroque style,
and then, in the 18th century, the Rococo style was shown back in
the previous period, largely due to the involuntary fault
the great Michelangelo, with his brilliant, but too subjective
creativity that gave a dangerous example of an extremely free attitude
to the principles and forms of ancient art; but now the direction
this is made universal.

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ANGELICO, FRA BEATO -
(Fra Giovanni da Fiesole) (Angelico, fra Beato; fra Giovanni da Fiesole)
(c. 1400–1455), Italian painter of the Florentine school.
His works combined deep religious content and sophistication of style;
Gothic pictorial tradition and features of the new art of the Renaissance.
Fra Angelico, known in the world as Guido di Piero,
was born in the town of Vicchio in Tuscany around 1400. In a document dating back to 1417,
he is already mentioned as an artist; it is also known
that before 1423 in Fiesole he entered the Dominican Order, receiving the name Fra Giovanni da Fiesole,
and subsequently was abbot of the monastery of San Marco in Florence.
Many works attributed to the early period of Fra Angelico's work
are now considered to be the works of his students, variations on themes of his compositions.
One of the artist’s first major works is the Linaiuoli triptych from the monastery
San Marco in Florence (1433–1435), in the central part of which the Virgin and Child is represented
on the throne, and on the side doors there are two saints. The figure of the Mother of God is shown traditionally,
and in the depiction of the standing saints, the influence of Masaccio’s painting is noticeable, with its heavy and rigid modeling of faces.
In the 1430s–1440s, Fra Angelico was one of the first to use a new type of altar image,
which became very popular during the Renaissance - sacra conversazione (holy conversation).
From 1438 to 1445, the artist painted frescoes in the Florentine monastery of San Marco.
This monastery, given to the Dominican Order by Pope Eugene IV, was rebuilt by the architect
Michelozzo commissioned by Duke Cosimo de' Medici. The theme of the paintings is related to the Dominican Order,
its history, charter, especially revered saints.
An example is the frescoes of the cloister (Dead Christ; Christ in the form of a wanderer,
who is received by two Dominican friars; St. Peter the Martyr (chief saint of the Dominicans);
St. Dominic kneeling at the Crucifixion).
In the chapter hall Fra Angelico painted a large composition, Crucifixion with Two Thieves
on either side of Christ and a crowd of saints from all eras of Christianity gathered at the foot of the cross.
Their mournful faces are turned to the ground, not one looks up at Christ;
the artist depicted the Crucifixion not as a historical event, but as a mystical image,
living in human consciousness.
The frescoes of the monastery of San Marco are filled with the spirit of the Imitation of Christ - a mystical religious treatise,
written by the Augustinian canon Thomas à Kempis.
Each cell was also decorated with frescoes, which were intended for the edification of the brethren,
for example, the composition The Mockery of Christ. The mood of these frescoes corresponds to the simplicity and
calm restraint of painting.
Fra Angelico spent the last ten years of his life in Rome, where he decorated the chapel with frescoes
Pope Nicholas V (1445–1448). The subjects of the paintings were fragments of the lives of St. Lawrence and St. Stefan.
These were intended to be narrative scenes rather than prayer images.
They use complex architectural backgrounds, in the construction of which one can feel the knowledge
master of ancient art, and in precisely calibrated perspective constructions one can see the influence
Masaccio and Brunelleschi.

Coronation of the Virgin Mary

The Torment of St. Cosmas and Damian

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Giotto di Bondone - born 1266 or 1267
in the village of Vespignano near Florence in the family of a small landowner.
Supposedly at the age of 10 Giotto began to study painting
in the studio of Cimabue, a famous Florentine painter.
Giotto was a citizen of Florence, although he also worked in Assisi, Rome, Padua,
Naples and Milan. His talent as an artist and practical business acumen ensured
he is in good condition. Despite the fact that Giotto's workshop flourished,
history has preserved only a few paintings signed with his name,
and even those, according to experts, most likely belong to the hands of his assistants.
The bright personality of Giotto stands out among the Italian masters of the Proto-Renaissance,
first of all, a penchant for innovation, for creating a new artistic style,
predetermined the classical style of the coming Renaissance.
His painting embodies the idea of ​​humanity and carries the first rudiments of humanism.
In 1290-99. Giotto created the paintings of the Upper Church of San Francesco in Assisi -
25 frescoes depicting scenes from the Old Testament, as well as episodes from the life of Francis of Assisi
(“The Miracle of the Source”). The frescoes are distinguished by their clarity, uncomplicated narrative,
the presence of everyday details that add vitality and naturalness to the depicted scenes.
Rejecting the church canon that dominated the art of that time,
Giotto portrays his characters as similar to real people:
with proportional, squat bodies, round (rather than elongated) faces,
correct eye shape, etc. His saints do not hover above the ground, but stand firmly on it with both feet.
They think more about earthly things than about heavenly things, experiencing completely human feelings and emotions.
For the first time in the history of Italian painting, the state of mind of the characters in a painting
conveyed by facial expressions, gestures, and posture.
Instead of the traditional golden background, Giotto's frescoes depict a landscape
interior or sculptural groups on the facades of basilicas.
In each composition the artist depicts only one moment of action,
rather than a sequence of different scenes, as many of his contemporaries did.
In the early 1300s. the artist visited Rome.
Acquaintance with late antique painting and the works of P. Cavallini
contributed to the development of his creative method.
Giotto's creative achievements were further developed in the paintings of the Scrovegni Chapel
(Capella del Arena) in Padua, completed by him in 1304-06.
Located on the walls of the chapel in 3 tiers,
frescoes depict scenes from the life of Joachim and Anna
(“Joachim among the shepherds”, “Joachim’s Sacrifice”, “Joachim’s Dream”, “Meeting at the Golden Gate”),
Virgin Mary and Christ (“Nativity”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Flight into Egypt”,
"Massacre of the Innocents", "Baptism of Christ", "Raising of Lazarus",
"Judas Receiving Payment for Betrayal", "Kiss of Judas",
"Carrying the Cross", "Crucifixion", "Mourning of Christ", "Resurrection"),
as well as scenes of the Last Judgment.
These paintings are the main work and the pinnacle of the artist’s creativity.
In 1300-02. Giotto paints the church of Badia in Florence.
By 1310-20 researchers attribute the famous altar image to the Ognissanti Madonna.
The composition is not signed, but researchers unanimously attribute it to Giotto.
In the 1320s. Giotto paints the Peruzzi and Bardi chapels
in the Florentine Church of Santa Croce on themes from the lives of John the Baptist,
John the Evangelist and Francis of Assisi
(“The Stigmatization of St. Francis”, “The Death and Ascension of St. Francis”).
In 1328-33 Giotto, with the help of numerous students, painted the
the Neapolitan court of King Robert of Anjou, who granted the artist the title of “courtier”.
From 1334 Giotto supervised the construction of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore
and city fortifications in Florence, which gained wide recognition among
contemporaries and citizens of Florence. Giotto is credited with the design of the Campanile
(bell tower) of the Florence Cathedral (started in 1334, construction continued
in 1337-43 Andrea Pisano, completed around 1359 by F. Talenti).
Giotto was married twice and had eight children.
In 1337 Giotto died.

1. Joachim retires into the desert

2.Madonna and Child

3.Mourning Angel 1

4.St. Clara of Assisi

5.Stigmatization of St. Franziska

6.St. Stephen

7. Nativity of Christ

8. Nativity of the Virgin Mary

9. Presentation of Mary into the Temple

10.Pieta, fragment

11.The Virgin and Child Enthroned

12.Evangelist John on Patmos

MANTEGNA ANDREA -
(Mantegna, Andrea) (c. 1431–1506),
one of the largest Renaissance painters in Northern Italy.
Mantegna combined the main artistic aspirations of the Renaissance masters of the 15th century:
passion for antiquity, interest in precision and thoroughness, down to the smallest details,
transmission of natural phenomena and selfless faith in linear perspective
as a means of creating the illusion of space on a plane.
His work became the main link between the early Renaissance in Florence
and the later flowering of art in Northern Italy.
Mantegna was born ca. 1431; between 1441 and 1445 he was enrolled in the workshop of painters in Padua
as the adopted son of Francesco Squarcione, a local artist and antique dealer,
in whose workshop he worked until 1448.
In 1449 Mantegna began creating the fresco decoration of the Church of the Eremitani in Padua.
In 1454 Mantegna married Nicolosa, daughter of the Venetian painter Jacopo Bellini,
sister of two outstanding masters of the 15th century. – Gentile and Giovanni Bellini.
Between 1456 and 1459 he painted an altarpiece for the church of San Zeno in Verona. In 1460,
Having accepted the invitation of the Marquis of Mantua Lodovico Gonzaga, Mantegna settled at his court.
In 1466–1467 he visited Tuscany, and in 1488–1490 Rome,
where, at the request of Pope Innocent VIII, he decorated his chapel with frescoes.
Elevated to knighthood, occupying a high position at court,
Mantegna served the Gonzaga family until the end of his life. Mantegna died on September 13, 1506.
On May 16, 1446, Mantegna and three other artists received an order to paint the Ovetari Chapel
in Padua's Eremitani Church (destroyed during World War II).
Mantegna was responsible for most of the work on the creation of frescoes (1449–1455),
and it is his artistic style that dominates the ensemble.
The scene of Saint James before Herod Agrippa in the Ovetari Chapel represents an example of the style
Mantegna's early period of creativity.
In other paintings by Mantegna of this time, such as the painting Prayer for the Cup
(London, National Gallery), not only human figures are executed in a rigid linear manner,
but also a landscape, where every stone and blade of grass is carefully examined and painted by the artist,
and the rocks are riddled with fractures and cracks.
The altarpiece of the Church of San Zeno (1457–1459) in Verona is a pictorial interpretation
the famous sculptural Altar of St. Anthony, created by Donatello
for the Basilica of Sant'Antonio (Santo) in Padua. Mantegna's triptych has a frame,
made in high relief and imitating elements of classical architecture.
One of the most remarkable examples of spatial illusionistic painting
Mantegna's painting of the Camera degli Sposi in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, completed in 1474.
The square room is visually transformed by frescoes into a light, airy pavilion,
as if closed on both sides by curtains written on the walls, and opening on the other two sides
an image of the Gonzaga courtyard and a landscape panorama in the background.
Mantegna divided the vault into compartments and placed them in a frame of rich antique
ornaments depicting busts of Roman emperors and scenes from classical mythology.
At the top of the vault there is a round window through which the sky can be seen;
richly dressed characters look down from a balustrade, given in strong perspective reduction.
This fresco ensemble is remarkable not only as one of the first in the new European art
examples of creating an illusory space on a plane, but also as a collection very sharp and precise
interpreted portraits (members of the Gonzaga family).
The cycle of monochrome paintings The Triumph of Caesar (1482–1492) was commissioned by Francesco Gonzaga
and was intended to decorate the palace theater in Mantua; these paintings are poorly preserved
and are currently located at Hampton Court Palace in London.
Nine large canvases depict a long procession with a huge number of ancient sculptures,
armor, trophies. Her movement culminates in a solemn passage before the victorious Caesar. The paintings reflect Mantegna's extensive knowledge of ancient art and classical literature.
In this cycle and in the Madonna della Vittoria (1496, Paris, Louvre), written in memory of the military victory of Gonzaga,
Mantegna's art reached its greatest monumentality. Their forms are voluminous, their gestures are convincing and clear,
space is interpreted broadly and freely.
For the studioo (cabinet) of Isabella d'Este, wife of Francesco Gonzaga, Mantegna wrote two compositions
on mythological themes (the third remained unfinished): Parnassus (1497) and Minerva,
expelling vices (1502, both in the Louvre). Some softening of Mantegna's style is noticeable in them,
associated with a new understanding of landscape. Fresco decoration of the Belvedere Chapel,
executed by Mantegna for Pope Innocent VIII in 1488, was unfortunately lost during
expansion of the Vatican Palace during the pontificate of Pius VI.
Despite the fact that only seven engravings can be considered undoubtedly to belong to the hand of Mantegna,
The master's influence on the development of this art form is enormous. His engraving of the Madonna and Child shows
how organically an artist’s style can exist in graphic technology,
with its inherent elasticity and sharpness of the line, recording the movement of the engraver's cutter.
Other engravings attributed to Mantegna - Battle of the Sea Gods (London, British Museum)
and Judith (Florence, Uffizi Gallery).

1.Crucifixion, 1457-1460.

2.Madonna and Child.
1457-59. Fragment

3.Prayer for the cup.
Around 1460

4.Portrait of Cardinal Carlo Medici.
Between 1450 and 1466

5.Camera degli Sposi.
Oculus. 1471-74

6.Camera degli Sposi. Fragment of the northern wall.

7.Camera degli Sposi. Fragment of the eastern wall.

8. Battle of the sea deities.
1470s

9.St. Sebastian.
Around 1480

10. Madonna of the Rocks.
1489-90

12.Madonna della Vittoria.
1496

13.Parnassus.
1497, Louvre, Paris

14.Samson and Delilah. About 1500
National Gallery, London

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BELLINI Giovanni -
Bellini, a family of Italian painters,
founders of Renaissance art in Venice.
Head of the family – Jacopo Bellini (circa 1400–1470/71)
with the soft lyricism of the images, he maintained a connection with the traditions of Gothic
(“Madonna and Child”, 1448, Brera Gallery, Milan).
In his drawings, full of live observations
(sketches of ancient monuments, architectural fantasies),
reflected interest in the problems of perspective, the influence of A. Mantegna and P. Uccello.
With the name of Gentile Bellini (c. 1429–1507), son of Jacopo Bellini,
associated with the origin of the Venetian genre-historical painting,
(“Procession in Piazza San Marco”, 1496, “Miracle of the Holy Cross”, 1500, –
both in the Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice). Giovanni Bellini (circa 1430–1516),
the second son of Jacopo Bellini, the largest master of the Venetian school, who founded
foundations of the art of the High Renaissance in Venice.
Dramatically sharp, cool-colored early works by Giovanni Bellini
(“Lamentation of Christ”, circa 1470, Brera Gallery, Milan) towards the end of the 1470s
are replaced by harmoniously clear paintings in which majestic human images
the inspired landscape is in tune (the so-called “Madonna of the Lake”, 1490s, Uffizi;
“Feast of the Gods”, National Gallery of Art, Washington).
Works by Giovanni Bellini, including his many Madonnas
(“Madonna with Trees”, 1487, Galleria dell’Accademia, Venice; “Madonna”, 1488,
Accademia Carrara, Bergamo), are distinguished by the soft harmony of sonorous,
as if saturated colors permeated with the sun and subtlety of light and shadow gradations,
calm solemnity, lyrical contemplation and clear poetry of images.
In the work of Giovanni Bellini, along with classically ordered composition
Renaissance altar painting (“Madonna enthroned surrounded by saints”, 1505,
Church of San Zaccaria, Venice) formed full of interest in man
(portrait of Doge L. Loredan, 1502, National Gallery, London;
portrait of a condottiere, 1480, National Gallery, Washington).

1. "St. George and the Dragon" Detail of the Altar, 1470

2. "Greek Madonna"
1460

3. "Portrait of a condottiere"
1480

4. "Feast of the Gods"
1514

5. "Crucifixion"
1501-1503

6. "Madonna and Child"
1480

7. "Virtue"
1500

8. "St. Jerome reading in nature"
1460

9. "Transfiguration"
1485

10. "Prayer for the Cup"
(Agony in the Garden) Around 1470

11. "Madonna and Child with Blessing"
1510, Brera Collection, Milan

12. "Allegory of Purgatory" (left fr.)
1490-1500, Uffizi Gallery

13."Four Allegories
Persistence and Fate", 1490

14. "Allegory of Purgatory" (right French)
1490-1500, Uffizi Gallery

15."Four Allegories
Prudence and Deceit", 1490

16."Naked young woman with a mirror"
1505-1510, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

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Botticelli Sandro -
[actually Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi, Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi]
(1445–1510), Italian painter of the Early Renaissance.
Belonged to the Florentine school, around 1465–1466 he studied with Filippo Lippi;
in 1481–1482 he worked in Rome. Botticelli's early works are characterized by
clear construction of space, clear cut-off modeling, interest in everyday details
(“Adoration of the Magi,” circa 1476–1471,). From the end of the 1470s, after the rapprochement of Botticelli
with the court of the Medici rulers of Florence and the circle of Florentine humanists,
in his work the features of aristocracy and sophistication intensify, paintings appear
on ancient and allegorical themes, in which sensual pagan images are imbued
sublime and at the same time poetic, lyrical spirituality
(“Spring”, circa 1477–1478, “Birth of Venus”, circa 1483–1485, both in the Uffizi).
The animation of the landscape, the fragile beauty of the figures, the musicality of light, quivering lines,
the transparency of exquisite colors, as if woven from reflexes, creates an atmosphere in them
dreaminess and slight sadness.
In the frescoes executed by Botticelli in 1481–1482 in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican
(“Scenes from the life of Moses”, “The Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron”, etc.)
the majestic harmony of the landscape and ancient architecture is combined with
internal plot tension, sharpness of portrait characteristics, characteristic,
along with the search for subtle nuances of the inner state of the human soul,
and easel portraits of the master (portrait of Giuliano Medici, 1470s, Bergamo;
portrait of a young man with a medal, 1474, Uffizi Gallery, Florence).
In the 1490s, during the era of social unrest and mystical-asceticism that shook Florence
sermons of the monk Savonarola, notes of drama appear in Botticelli’s art
and religious exaltation (“Slander”, after 1495, Uffizi), but his drawings
to Dante’s “Divine Comedy” (1492–1497, Engraving Cabinet, Berlin, and Vatican Library)
with acute emotional expressiveness, they retain lightness of line and Renaissance clarity of images.

1."Portrait of Simoneta Vespucci" About 1480

2. "Allegory of Virtue"
1495

3. "The Story of Lucretia"
About 1500

4."Portrait of a young man with a medal"

5. "Mystical Christmas"
About 1500

6. "Punishment of Korah, Dathan and Abiron"

7. "St. Augustine the Blessed"
circa 1480

8. "Annunciation"
circa 1490

9. "Madonna Magnificat"
1486

10. "Madonna with Pomegranate"
1487

11. "Adoration of the Magi"
Altar of Zanobi 1475

12. "Slander"
1495

13. "Venus and Mars"
1482-1483

14. "Spring" 1477-1478
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

15. "Madonna with a book" 1485
Poldi Pezzoli Museum, Milan

16. "Pallas Athena and Centaur" 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

17. "Birth of Venus" circa 1482
Uffizi Gallery, Florence

18.Fresco of the Sistine Chapel
(detail) 1482 Rome, Vatican

19. "History of Nastagio degli Onesti"
circa 1485 Prado, Madrid

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VERONESE Paolo -(Veronese; Cagliari proper, Caliari) Paolo (1528–1588),
Italian painter of the Late Renaissance.
He studied with the Verona painter A. Badile; worked mainly in Venice, as well as in Verona, Mantua, Vicenza, Padua, and in 1560 he may have visited Rome. Veronese’s artistic style, which had developed by the mid-1550s, embodied the best features of the Venetian school of painting: light, artistically sophisticated design and plasticity of form were combined with an exquisite color scheme based on complex combinations of pure colors, united by a luminous silver tone.

1. "The Finding of Moses"
1580

2. "The Temptation of Saint Anthony"
1567

3. "The Death of St. Justinia"
1573

4."Portrait of Daniele Barbaro"
1569

5. "Christ and the Samaritan woman" (fragment)
1582

6. "Golgotha"
1570s

7. "Mars and Venus"
1570s

8. "Allegory of love. Treason"
1570

9. "Saint Lucia"
1580

10. "Christ in Emmaus"
1570s

11. "Execution of Saints Mark and Marcillian"
1578

12. "Feast in the house of Simon"
circa 1581

13. "Angels"
(phragm "The Woman from Zebediah and Christ")

14. "Susanna's Bath"
1570s, Louvre, Paris

15. "Don't touch me!" 1570s
Art Museum, Grenoble

16. "The Bathing of Bathsheba" 1570s
Museum of Fine Arts, Lyon

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LEONARDO DA VINCI -
(Leonardo da Vinci) (1452-1519),
Italian painter, sculptor, architect, scientist and engineer.
Founder of the artistic culture of the High Renaissance,
Leonardo da Vinci developed as a master,
studying in Florence with A. del Verrocchio.
Working methods in Verrocchio's studio, where artistic practice
interfaced with technical experiments,
as well as friendship with the astronomer P. Toscanelli contributed
the emergence of the scientific interests of young da Vinci.

1. "Madonna with a spinning wheel" 1501

2. "Virgin and Child with St. Anne"
circa 1507

3. "Bacchus"
1510-1513

4. "John the Baptist"
1513-1517

5. "Leda and the Swan"
1490-1500s

6."Madonna of the Carnation" 1473

7."Portrait of Beatrice d'Este"
1490s

8."Portrait of Ginevra Benci"
1476

9. "Annunciation"
1472-1475

10. "The Last Supper"
(central fragment) 1495-1497, Milan

11. Restoration version of the fresco "The Last Supper"
(central fragment)

12. "Madonna Litta"
About 1491, Hermitage, St. Petersburg

13. "Lady with an ermine" 1485-1490
National Museum, Krakow

14. "Portrait of a Musician" 1490
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan

15. "Mona Lisa" (La Gioconda)
1503-1506, Louvre, Paris

16."Madonna Benois" 1478
Hermitage, St. Petersburg

17. "Portrait of an unknown woman"
About 1490, Louvre, Paris

18. "Madonna of the Rocks" Approx. 1511
National Gallery, London

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GIORGIONE -
(Giorgione; actually Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco,
Barbarelli da Castelfranco) (1476 or 1477–1510),
Italian painter, one of the founders
art of the High Renaissance.
He probably studied with Giovanni Bellini
was close to the circle of Venetian humanists,
He was also famous as a singer and musician.
Along with compositions on religious themes
(“Adoration of the Shepherds”, National Gallery of Art, Washington).
Giorgione created paintings on secular, mythological subjects,
It was in his work that they received predominant importance.

1. "Thunderstorm"
1505

2. "Warrior with his squire"
1509

3."Madonna enthroned
and saints" 1505

4. "Madonna against the backdrop of a landscape"
1503

5. "Three ages of life"
1510

6. "Madonna with a book"
1509-1510

7. "The Finding of Moses"
1505

8. "Adoration of the Shepherds"
circa 1505

9."Portrait of Antonio Broccardo"

10. "Rural concert"
1510

11. "Portrait of an old woman"
circa 1510

12. "Ceres"
circa 1508

13. "Portrait of a young man"
circa 1506

14. "At sunset"
1506

15. "Madonna and Child and Saints"
1510

16. "Judith" About 1504
Hermitage, St. Petersburg

17. "Laura" 1506
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

18. "Sleeping Venus"
About 1510, Dresden Gallery

19. "Three Philosophers" 1508
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

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CARPACCIO Vittore -
(Carpaccio) Vittore
(about 1455 or 1456 - about 1526),
Italian painter of the Early Renaissance.
Studied with Gentile Bellini; worked in Venice.
Carpaccio interpreted the legendary sacred events as real scenes,
deployed in the space of contemporary Venice,
included city landscapes and interiors, numerous genre details,
vividly recreating the life of the townspeople (cycles of paintings from the life of St. Ursula, 1490-1495,
Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice, as well as St. George and St. Jerome, 1502-1507,
Scuola di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni, Venice).
The desire to create a holistic picture of the universe coexists in the works
Carpaccio with a fascinating narrative,
poetic and somewhat naive freshness of details.
Subtly conveying the softening effect of the light-air environment
sound of local color spots,
Carpaccio prepared the coloristic discoveries of the Venetian school of painting of the 16th century.

1."The arrival of the pilgrims
to Cologne"
1490

2."Madonna, John the Baptist and saints"
1498

3. "Lion of St. Mark"
(fragment)
1516

4. "Disputation of St. Stephen"
Life of St. Stephen
1514

5. "The Savior and the Four Apostles"
1480

6. "Saint George Slaying the Dragon"
1502-1508

7. "The Apotheosis of Saint Ursula"
1491

8. "The Slaying of Ten Thousand"
1515

9. "Baptism of the Selenites by St. George"
1507

10. "Young Knight" 1510,
Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Madrid

11. "Allegory. The Passion of Christ"
1506 Metropolitan, New York

12. "Meeting of pilgrims with the Pope"
1493, Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice

13. "Miracle of the Holy Cross"
1494, Galleria dell'Accademia, Venice

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MICHELANGELO Buonarotti -
(Michelangelo Buonarroti; otherwise Michelangelo di Lodovico di Lionardo di Buonarroto Simoni)
(1475-1564), Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet
.In the art of Michelangelo they were embodied with enormous expressive power as deeply human,
the ideals of the High Renaissance, full of heroic pathos, and the tragic sense of crisis
humanistic worldview, characteristic of the late Renaissance era.
Michelangelo studied in Florence in the workshop of D. Ghirlandaio (1488-1489) and
by the sculptor Bertoldo di Giovanni (1489-1490),
however, his acquaintance was decisive for Michelangelo’s creative development
with works by Giotto, Donatello, Masaccio, Jacopo della Quercia,
study of monuments of ancient sculpture.
The work of Michelangelo,
which became the brilliant final stage of the Italian Renaissance,
played a huge role in the development of European art,
largely prepared the formation of mannerism,
had a great influence on the formation of the principles of the Baroque.

1.Painting the vault of the Sistine Chapel

2.Lunettes (prophets and popes)

3.Detail of the painting “The Creation of Adam”

4.Detail “Prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah”

5.Detail of the painting “The Creation of Eve”

6. “Holy Family” 1506

7.Sistine Chapel
"Flood"

8.Sistine Chapel
"Libyan Sibyl"

9.Sistine Chapel
"Separation of Light from Darkness"

10.Sistine Chapel
"The Fall"

11.Sistine Chapel
"Eritrean Sibyl"

12.Sistine Chapel
"Prophet Zechariah"

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RAFAEL Santi -
(actually Raffaello Santi or Sanzio, Raffaello Santi, Sanzio)
(1483-1520), Italian painter and architect.
His work embodied with the greatest clarity
humanistic ideas of the High Renaissance
about a beautiful and perfect person living in harmony with the world,
ideals of life-affirming beauty characteristic of the era.
Raphael, son of the painter Giovanni Santi, spent his early years in Urbino,
in 1500-1504 he studied with Perugino in Perugia.
The works of this period are marked by subtle poetry
and the soft lyricism of landscape backgrounds.
The art of Raphael, which had a huge influence on European painting XVI-XIX
and, partly, of the 20th century, has preserved for artists and viewers for centuries
the meaning of unquestioned artistic authority and example.

1. "Madonna Granduca"
1504

2."Madonna del Impannata"
1504

3. "Madonna in green"
circa 1508

4. "Holy Family under the Oak"
1518

5. "Altar of St. Nicholas"
(phragm.) 1501

6. "Battle of St. George with the dragon"
1502

7. "Three Graces"
1502

8. "A Knight's Dream"
1502

9. "The Triumph of Galatea"
1514

10. "Madonna Ansidei"
circa 1504

11. "Carrying the Cross"
1516

12. "St. Michael and the Dragon"
1514

13. "Adam and Eve"
1509-1511

14. "John of Aragon"
1518

15. "Lady with a unicorn"
circa 1502

16. "Portrait of Margarita Luti"
1519

17."Portrait of Balthasar Castiglione" 1515

18."Madonna Canigiani" 1508
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

19. "Madonna Conestabile" 1502-1504
Hermitage, St. Petersburg

20. "Vision of Ezekiel" 1515
Palazzo Pitti, Florence

21. "Sistine Madonna" 1514
Art gallery, Dresden

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TITIAN -
(actually Tiziano Veccellio, Tiziano Veccellio),
(1476/77 or 1480s - 1576),
Italian painter of the era
High and Late Renaissance.
Studied in Venice with Giovanni Bellini,
in whose workshop he became close to Giorgione;
worked in Venice, as well as in Padua, Ferrara, Mantua, Urbino, Rome and Augsburg.
Closely associated with Venetian artistic circles
(Giorgione, J. Sansovino, writer P. Aretino, etc.),
outstanding master of the Venetian school of painting,
Titian embodied the humanistic ideals of the Renaissance in his work.
His life-affirming art is multifaceted,
the breadth of reality, the revelation of the deep dramatic conflicts of the era.
Titian's painting technique had an exceptional influence on the future
up to the 20th century, the development of world fine art.

1. "Secular love"
(Vanity) 1515

2. "Diana and Callisto"
1556 - 1559

3. "Bacchus and Ariadne"
1523-1524

4. "The Kidnapping of Europa"
1559 - 1562

5. "The Fall"
1570

6. "Flora"
1515

7. "Iolanta"
(La Bella Gatta)

8."Federigo Gonzaga of Mantua"
1525

9. "Venus with a mirror" 1555

10. "Danae and Cupid"
1546

11. "Love earthly and heavenly"
1510

12."Portrait of a young woman"
About 1530, Hermitage, St. Petersburg

13. "Penitent Mary Magdalene"
1560s, Hermitage, St. Petersburg

14. "Diana and Actaeon" 1556
National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh

15. "Bacchanalia"
1525, Louvre Museum, Paris

16. "Venus of Urbino"
1538, Uffizi, Florence

17. "Venus and Adonis"
1554, Prado, Madrid

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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. At some point, it seemed that people were ruled by wise men, as Plato wanted.

We remembered the ancient Romans and Greeks. They 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. Beauty physical and spiritual.

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 the center of the world is Man). Linear perspective. Oil paints. Portrait. Scenery…

Incredibly, during these 30 years several brilliant masters worked at once. At other times they 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. Old and young. Sad. Mournful. Surprised. 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. They had never seen anything like this.

After all, Giotto did something unprecedented. 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 innovation was not developed further. The fashion for international gothic came to Italy.

Only after 100 years will a worthy successor to Giotto appear.

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 innovation was taken up by all the great artists 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. He had a tremendous influence on the development of painting.

It was da Vinci 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... 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.

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.

Sfumato will be included in the active vocabulary of all great artists of the future.

There is often an opinion that Leonardo, of course, is a genius, but did not know how to complete 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. 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 someone doesn’t even come close in terms of greatness, yet he 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. He portrayed a perfect man in whom 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 alone. Although these are several hundred figures! He didn’t even allow anyone to rub paint. Yes, he was unsociable. He had a tough 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. 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? 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 was always recognized: both 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. 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. And they multiplied his sensual images in thousands of their canvases..

Titian was an unsurpassed colorist. He also experimented a lot with composition. In general, he was a daring 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.

Does 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 the owners of great knowledge. To leave such a legacy, there was a lot to learn. 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?

They were almost never wrong. Because they thoroughly thought through their future work. We used all our knowledge.

They were more than artists. They were philosophers. They explained the world to us through painting.

That is why they will always be deeply interesting to us.