Culture of Western Europe in the 17th century. Culture of European countries in the 16th-17th centuries Culture of Europe in the 16th century briefly
The Middle Ages is a period that lies between the decline of ancient culture and the revival of its elements in earlier modern times. The culture of this period is based on a dialogue between the heritage of antiquity and the “barbarian” cultures of the Franks, Britons, Saxons, Goths and other tribes of Europe.
Main features of culture:
Feudalism is conditional ownership of land. The king gave the feudal lords lower in the hierarchy of titles the inheritable right to use and dispose of the “feud” (land with peasants), in return receiving their assistance in the war or other participation in court life
Theocentrism is the dominance of the religious picture of the world in all areas of life. Time, space, corporeality, attitude towards death are formed through the prism of Christian dogmatics.
XVI century for Europe it was a time of struggle between feudalism and growing capitalism, economic changes. The manufacturing industry and trade developed, economic needs increased - all this contributed to the activation of the exact and natural sciences. This time is characterized by great discoveries. Galileo Galilei (Italian scientist) laid the foundations of modern mechanics and made a telescope with 32x magnification. The German astronomer Johannes Kepler compiled planetary tables, established the laws of planetary motion, and laid the foundations for the theory of eclipses.
Gottfried Leibniz created differential calculus and anticipated the principles of modern mathematical logic. The English mathematician Isaac Newton discovered the dispersion of light, the law of universal gravitation, chromatic aberration, created the foundations of celestial mechanics, and the theory of light. Christiaan Huygens created the wave theory of light, a pendulum clock with an escapement mechanism, established the laws of oscillation of the physical pendulum, and discovered the ring of Saturn. During this period there was a powerful growth in philosophical thought. The worldviews of Francis Bacon, John Locke, Thomas Hobbes in England, Benedict Spinoza in Holland, and Rene Descartes in France made a huge contribution to the formation of leading social ideas and the establishment of materialism. In the 17th century fiction was distinguished by a huge variety of genres, for example, short story, domestic comedy, high tragedy, epic drama, ode, novel, satire, etc. The work of Cervantes and Shakespeare is associated with the beginning of the century, and the next generation includes John Milton (“Paradise Lost”) in England, Pedro Caldera de la Barca (“Life is a Dream”) in Spain and Pierre Corneille (“Cid”), Jean Racine (“Phaedra”), Moliere (“Don Juan”) in France. In accordance with the formation of national states in Western Europe, national art schools are being formed. The highest achievements of Western European art of this time relate to the art of Flanders, Holland, Italy, France, Spain, and Italy.
In the 17th century Various types of portraits appeared, genres developed that reflected a person’s environment, and a distinct social connotation of images was given. There was a direct connection with nature. Images and phenomena were transmitted in motion. The variety of forms of artistic reflection of reality led to the fact that in the 17th century. The problem of style became acute. Two style systems emerged: classicism and baroque; regardless of this, a realistic movement in art emerged. The Baroque style is characterized by the pathetic nature of the images and emotional elation. To achieve this, curved walls, pediments, pilasters, various forms of architectural decoration, statues, paintings, stucco moldings, bronze and marble finishing are used.
During this period, methods of urban planning, an integral urban ensemble, and palace and park complexes were created. In architecture, the most prominent representative of this style was Lorenzo Bernini; in painting, this style was followed by the Caracci brothers, Guido, Guercino, Reni, Pietro da Nortona, and others. In the era of Louis IV, classicism took a dominant place in France. This style is characterized by logic, harmony of composition, simplicity and rigor. In fine art, one of the main themes was duty, heroism, and valor. This style does not allow for exaggerated emotional expressiveness. The most famous painters of this style were Poussin and Claude Rollin (landscape), Charles Lebrun (paintings), Rigaud (ceremonial portrait). In parallel with classicism and baroque in the 17th century. “realism” emerges in painting. In this style, images are associated with reality. Among the artists we can highlight Velazquez, Rembrandt, Frans Hals. New genres of fine art emerged: different forms of landscape, everyday life, still life.
Traditionalism – focus on established forms of behavior in all areas of life
Symbolism is the desire for a metaphorical interpretation of everything that a person encounters.
As well as dogmatism and ideological intolerance.
The world is presented as arranged according to the same hierarchical pattern: the heavenly hierarchy was reproduced both in the church (Pope, cardinals, bishops, etc.) and in the secular (king, dukes, counts, barons, etc.) , in the guild structure (Great Master, masters, apprentices, apprentices) and even in ideas about the structure of hell. A person is considered as a representative of his class, from birth to death occupying one place within the hierarchical system to which he belongs.
In accordance with Christian ideas, the body is perceived as sinful and tempting flesh, which must be curbed and killed for the sake of spiritual afterlife. This view affects all aspects of everyday life: from medicine to church rituals, from science to court medicine, religion, worldview.
Elite (aristocratic) and folk culture. The idea of religious and social unity of the world as the basis of a Eurocentric worldview.
Features of medieval science: scholastic philosophy, alchemy, medicine.
Basic concepts: theocentrism, feudalism, feud, estates, catechism, Catholicism.
36. Culture of the New Time XVIII century – Age of Enlightenment.
Enlightenment XVIII V. characterized by the affirmation of rational knowledge and faith in the abilities of the human mind. Philosophy begins to play the most important ideological role, summarizing more and more new data obtained by various sciences and building a new understanding of the world order and the place of man in it. The French Encyclopedia as the first attempt to make the knowledge collected by humanity publicly available.
The study of ethics, economics, psychology begins, and pedagogy is born. Experimental and descriptive disciplines are being developed: physics, biology, geography, medicine. The concepts of human rights and responsibilities as a citizen, the rule of law, and the first social utopias are born.
The Great French Revolution and the First Empire at the turn of the century finally changed the history of Europe, creating conditions for migration and the interpenetration of European cultures through the resettlement of their carriers.
XVIII century - the last historical stage of the transition from feudalism to capitalism. The development of culture during this period in all European countries took place under the sign of the ideas of the Enlightenment.
In this century, a school of classical German idealist philosophy emerged in Germany. The largest group of enlighteners was formed in France, and from there the ideas of the Enlightenment spread throughout Europe. In his works (“Persian Letters” and “On the Spirit of Laws”), Charles Louis Montesquieu spoke out against unlimited monarchy and feudalism. Voltaire was an outstanding leader of the French Enlightenment. He wrote wonderful literary, philosophical and historical works that expressed hatred of religious fanaticism and the feudal state. The work of Jean-Jacques Rousseau became a new stage in the development of the French Enlightenment. His works contained hatred of the oppressors, criticism of the political system, and social inequality. The founder of the materialist school was Julien Aufret La Mettrie, the author of medical and philosophical works. His activities aroused the ire of secular and church reactionaries. The further fate of French materialism is connected with the names of Denis Diderot, Etienne Bonnot Condillac, Paul Holbach. 50-60s XVIII century - flourishing activity of French materialists. This period is characterized by the simultaneous development of science and technology. Thanks to Adam Smith and the French physiocrats, political economics becomes a scientific discipline. Science developed rapidly; it was directly related to technology and production. In the 18th century Literature and music become more significant, and they gradually come to the fore among all types of arts. Prose is developing as a genre that shows the fate of an individual in the social environment of that time (“The Lame Demon” by Lesage, “Wilhelm Meister” by Goethe, etc.). The genre of the novel, which describes a universal picture of the world, is developing especially fruitfully. At the end of the XVII-XVIII centuries. The musical language that the whole of Europe will then speak begins to take shape. The first were J. S. Bach and G. F. Handel. I. Haydn, W. Mozart, L. van Beethoven had a huge influence on the art of music. Great results were achieved by theatrical art and dramaturgy, which was of a realistic and pre-romantic nature.
A distinctive feature of this time is the study of the basic issues of theater aesthetics and the nature of acting. The 18th century is often called the “golden age of theatre”. The greatest playwright P. O. Beaumarchais considered him “a giant who mortally wounds everyone at whom he directs his blows.” The largest playwrights were: R. Sheridan (England), C. Goldoni (Venice), P. Beaumarchais (France), G. Lessing, I. Goethe (Germany). -
The leading genre of painting of the 18th century. there was a portrait.
Among the artists of this time we can highlight Gainsborough, Latour, Houdon, Chardin, Watteau, and Guardi. Painting does not reflect the universal fullness of human spiritual life, How that was earlier. In different countries, the formation of new art occurs unevenly. Painting and sculpture in the Rococo style were decorative.
18th century art ends with the magnificent work of the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. Cultural heritage of the 18th century. still amazes with its extraordinary diversity, richness of genres and styles, depth of comprehension of human passions, greatest optimism and faith in man and his mind. The Age of Enlightenment is a century of great discoveries and great misconceptions. It is no coincidence that the end of this era coincides with the beginning of the French Revolution. It destroyed the Enlightenment's faith in the "golden age" of nonviolent progress. It strengthened the position of critics of his goals and ideals.
QUESTIONS
1. Name the prerequisites for the emergence of the Renaissance culture. What ideas underlay the work of the great writers and artists of the Renaissance?
The prerequisites for the emergence of a culture of revival were:
The rise of the Italian city-republics,
The emergence of new classes that did not participate in feudal relations: artisans and craftsmen, merchants, bankers. The hierarchical system of values created by the medieval, largely church culture, and its ascetic, humble spirit, were alien to all of them.
The emergence of a culture of humanism, glorifying the human creator, who considered man, his personality, his freedom, his active, creative activity as the highest value,
The development of printing
The activities of universities and the development of secular education.
The work of writers and artists of the Renaissance was based on the idea of man - as the highest creation of nature, as the center of the universe. The philosophy of humanism affirmed the idea that the measure of all things is man with his earthly joys and sorrows
2. How did the art of the Italian Renaissance influence the culture of other European countries?
The art of the Italian Renaissance greatly influenced the culture of other European countries. The ideas of humanism and the artistic principles of Renaissance culture crossed the borders of Italy and spread to many countries of Western Europe. Thanks to the embodiment in the works of the great masters of the Renaissance, the humanistic vision of the world penetrated into the palaces of rulers, into the walls of universities, and among educated citizens.
3. Name the characteristic features of Baroque, Rococo and Classicism. Give examples of works of art in these styles.
The Baroque style (the name comes from the Italian word meaning “bizarre”, “strange”) was characterized by grandeur, pomp and pretentiousness of forms, the creation of spatial illusion and optical effects. Examples of Baroque style:
in painting: the Sistine Madonna by the artist Raphael, the works of the Flemish artist P.P. Rubens, the works of the Dutch artist Rembrandt (“The Return of the Prodigal Son”, “The Holy Family”, “The Night Watch”, etc.);
in architecture and sculpture - a colonnade on the square in front of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by architect J.L. Bernini, sculpture "The Ecstasy of St. Teresa";
literature and theater - the works of W. Shakespeare.
The new direction, which took hold in Catholic countries, was a kind of aesthetic response to the Reformation. Baroque architecture and painting were supposed to glorify the greatness of God and assert the power of the Roman church. However, Baroque art was not limited solely to religious motifs.
The Rococo style (from French means “decoration in the shape of a shell”) is characterized by pretentiousness, decorativeness, splendor and luxury. But unlike Baroque, Rococo is more lightweight, chamber, and aristocratic. Particularly characteristic in this regard is the decoration of the interiors of the palaces of the French nobility. Elegant, light furniture with curved legs, sofas, armchairs, tables, wardrobes, canopy beds were decorated with molded asymmetrical details and inlay. Sofas and armchairs were upholstered with elegant tapestries. Rococo art reflected the tastes of the Versailles aristocracy.
The “Gallant Age” was also reflected in French painting of the 18th century. It is characterized by escapism, appeal to human feelings, eroticism. These themes are present in the works of artists Antoine Watteau and Francois Boucher.
For the classicism style, the main thing was the depiction of majestic and noble deeds, the glorification of a sense of duty to society and the state. In imitation of the ancient Greeks and Romans, cultural figures had to depict the beautiful and sublime.
art – works by Nicolas Poussin. He lived for a long time in
literature - Pierre Corneille, the great poet and creator of the French theater.
architecture – country royal palace and park in Versailles
4. What evidenced that in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Has France become the center of European artistic life?
In the XVII–XVIII centuries. France has become the center of the artistic life of Europe, which is indicated by the fact that it is here that two styles arise - classicism and rococo. France had a significant influence on painting, architecture, and fashion throughout Europe. An example of a classic palace ensemble was Versailles. French industry specialized in the production of luxury goods: tapestries, furniture, lace, gloves, and costume jewelry were exported to all European countries from France. Every month two dolls, dressed in the latest Parisian fashion, were sent to England, Italy, Holland, and Russia. It was in France that the first fashion magazine appeared.
TASKS
1. How do you see the difference between the art of the Italian Renaissance and the art of France in the 18th century?
And the Italian Renaissance and the art of France in the 18th century. was turned to the ancient heritage. However, the main idea of the Italian Renaissance was humanism and the depiction of Christian and mythological subjects. The art of France in the 18th century was more secular in nature. The main thing for the artist was the depiction of majestic and noble deeds, the glorification of a sense of duty to society and the state.
Topic: European culture of the 16th-18th centuries.
1. Culture of the Renaissance.
2. Literature of the Enlightenment.
3. Art of the 17th-18th centuries.
1.
The new period in the cultural development of Western and Central Europe was called the Renaissance, or Renaissance.
Renaissance (in French Renaissance) is a humanistic movement in the history of European culture during the period of the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. The Renaissance arose in Italy in the 14th century, spread to Western countries (Northern Renaissance) and reached its greatest flowering in the middle of the 16th century. The end of the 16th - the beginning of the 17th century: decline - mannerism.
The phenomenon of the Renaissance was determined by the fact that the ancient heritage turned into a weapon for the overthrow of church canons and prohibitions. Some culturologists, determining its significance, compare it with 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. A revolution took place in art comparable to the discovery of Copernicus. At the center of the new worldview was man, and not God as the highest measure of all things. The new view of the world was called humanism.
Anthropocentrism is the main idea of the Renaissance worldview. The birth of a new worldview is associated with the writer Francesco Petrarch. He contrasts scholasticism, based on the formal terminological method, with scientific knowledge; happiness in the “City of God” - earthly human happiness; spiritual love for God - sublime love for an earthly woman.
The ideas of humanism were expressed in the fact that what is important in a person is his personal qualities - intelligence, creative energy, enterprise, self-esteem, will and education, and not social status and origin.
During the Renaissance, the ideal of a harmonious, liberated, creative personality, beauty and harmony was established, an appeal to man as the highest principle of being, a feeling of integrity and harmonious patterns of the universe.
The Renaissance gave birth to geniuses and titans:
Italy - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, the politician Machiavelli, the philosophers Alberti, Bruni, Vala, Ficino, Nicholas of Cusa, the architects Brunelleschi and Bramante;
France - Rabelais and Montaigne;
England - More, Bacon, Sidney, Shakespeare;
Spain - Cervantes;
Poland - Copernicus;
Germany - Boehme, Münzer, Kepler.
Masterpieces of the Renaissance:
Leonardo da Vinci "La Gioconda", "The Last Supper";
Raphael "Sistine Madonna" and "Sleeping Venus", "Madonna Conestabile" and "Judith";
Titian "Danae" (Hermitage Museum).
The main feature of the art and culture of the Renaissance is the affirmation of human beauty and talent, the triumph of thought and high feelings, creative activity. Baroque and classicism styles are developing in fine arts, academicism and caravaggism in painting. New genres appear - landscape, still life, pictures of everyday life, hunting and holidays.
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa
Raphael Sistine Madonna
Renaissance architecture is based on the revival of classical, mainly Roman architecture. The main requirements are balance and clarity of proportions, the use of an order system, sensitivity to the building material, its texture, and beauty.
The revival arose and was most clearly manifested in Italy.
The period from the last decade of the 15th century to the middle of the 16th century (High Renaissance) becomes the “golden age” of Italian art. From him the solemn and majestic architecture of Bramante and Palladio remains as a souvenir for descendants, he gives the world the immortal masterpieces of Raphael and Michelangelo. The entire 16th century continues, and only at the beginning of the 17th century does the flowering of the Renaissance culture born under the skies of Italy fade away.
The late Renaissance is characterized by the rapid development of such a synthetic art form as theater, the most prominent representatives of which were Lope de Vega, Calderon, Tirso de Molina (Spain), William Shakespeare (England).
Thus, the culture of the Renaissance reflects a synthesis of the features of antiquity and medieval Christianity; the ideological basis for the secularization of culture is humanism.
The Renaissance replaced religious ritual with secular ritual and elevated man to a heroic pedestal.
2.
People of the 17th-18th centuries called their time centuries of reason and enlightenment. Medieval ideas, sanctified by the authorities of the church and omnipotent tradition, were criticized. In the 18th century, the desire for knowledge based on reason, and not on faith, took possession of an entire generation. The consciousness that everything is subject to discussion, that everything must be clarified by means of reason, was a distinctive feature of the people of the 17th and 18th centuries.
During the Age of Enlightenment, the transition to modern culture was completed. A new way of life and thinking was taking shape, which means that the artistic self-awareness of a new type of culture was also changing. The Enlightenment saw in ignorance, prejudice and superstition the main cause of human misfortunes and social evils, and in education, philosophical and scientific activity, in freedom of thought - the path of cultural and social progress.
The ideas of social equality and personal freedom took hold, first of all, of the third estate, from whose midst most of the humanists emerged. The middle class consisted of the wealthy bourgeoisie and people of liberal professions; it had capital, professional and scientific knowledge, general ideas, and spiritual aspirations. The worldview of the third estate was most clearly expressed in the educational movement - anti-feudal in content and revolutionary in spirit.
Radical changes also occurred at the level of aesthetic consciousness. The basic creative principles of the 17th century - classicism and baroque - acquired new qualities during the Enlightenment, because the art of the 18th century turned to depicting the real world. Artists, sculptors, writers recreated it in paintings and sculptures, stories and novels, plays and performances. The realistic orientation of art encouraged the creation of a new creative method.
Literature was based on public opinion, which was formed in circles and salons. The courtyard ceased to be the only center to which everyone strove. The philosophical salons of Paris, where Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Helvetius, Hume, and Smith attended, became fashionable. From 1717 to 1724, more than one and a half million volumes of Voltaire and about a million volumes of Rousseau were printed. Voltaire was truly a great writer - he knew how to comprehend and explain simply and publicly in a beautiful, elegant language the most serious topic that attracted the attention of his contemporaries. He had a tremendous influence on the minds of all enlightened Europe. His evil laughter, capable of destroying centuries-old traditions, was feared more than anyone else's accusations. He strongly emphasized the value of culture. He portrayed the history of society as the history of the development of culture and human education. Voltaire preached these same ideas in his dramatic works and philosophical stories (“Candide, or Optimism,” “The Simple-minded,” “Brutus,” “Tancred,” etc.).
The direction of educational realism was successfully developed in England. The entire group of ideas and dreams about a better natural order received artistic expression in the famous novel by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) “Robinson Crusoe”. He wrote more than 200 works of various genres: poetry, novels, political essays, historical and ethnographic works. The book about Robinson is nothing more than the story of an isolated individual, left to the educational and corrective work of nature, a return to the natural state. Less known is the second part of the novel, which tells about spiritual rebirth on an island, far from civilization.
German writers, remaining in the position of enlightenment, looked for non-revolutionary methods of combating evil. They considered aesthetic education to be the main force of progress, and art to be the main means. From the ideals of social freedom, German writers and poets moved on to the ideals of moral and aesthetic freedom. This transition is characteristic of the work of the German poet, playwright and theorist of Enlightenment art Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). In his early plays, which had enormous success, the author protested against despotism and class prejudices. “Against Tyrants” - the epigraph to his famous drama “Robbers” - directly speaks of its social orientation.
In addition to the generally accepted baroque and classicist styles in Europe, new ones appeared in the 17th-18th centuries: rococo, sentimentalism, and pre-romanticism. Unlike previous centuries, there is no single style of the era, no unity of artistic language. The art of the 18th century became a kind of encyclopedia of various stylistic forms that were widely used by artists, architects, and musicians of this era. In France, artistic culture was closely connected with the court environment. The Rococo style originated among the French aristocracy. The words of Louis XV (1715-1754) “After us, even a flood” can be considered a characteristic of the mood that reigned in court circles. Strict etiquette was replaced by a frivolous atmosphere, a thirst for pleasure and fun. The aristocracy was in a hurry to have fun before the flood in an atmosphere of gallant festivities, the soul of which was Madame Pompadour. The court environment partly itself shaped the Rococo style with its capricious, whimsical forms. The founder of Rococo in painting can be considered Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), a court painter. Watteau's heroes are actresses in wide silk dresses, dandies with languid movements, cupids frolicking in the air. Even the titles of his works speak for themselves: “The Capricious One”, “Feast of Love”, “Society in the Park”, “Predicament”. 
Watteau "Predicament".
As a painter, Watteau was much deeper and more complex than his many followers. He diligently studied nature and wrote a lot from nature. After Watteau's death, Francois Boucher (1704-1770) took his place at court. A very skilled craftsman, he worked a lot in the field of decorative painting, making sketches for tapestries and painting on porcelain. Typical subjects are “The Triumph of Venus”, “The Toilet of Venus”, “The Bathing of Diana”. In the works of Boucher, the mannerism and eroticism of the Rococo era were expressed with particular force, for which he was constantly accused by enlightenment moralists.
During the era of the French Revolution, new classicism triumphed in art. Classicism of the 18th century is not a development of classicism of the previous century - it is a fundamentally new historical and artistic phenomenon. Common features: appeal to antiquity as a norm and artistic model, assertion of the superiority of duty over feeling, increased abstraction of style, pathos of reason, order and harmony. The exponent of classicism in painting was Jacques Louis David (life: 1748-1825). His painting “The Oath of the Horatii” became the battle banner of new aesthetic views. A plot from the history of Rome (the Horace brothers take an oath of fidelity to duty and readiness to fight their enemies to their father) became an expression of republican views in revolutionary France.
J.S.Bach
The 18th century brought a lot of new things to musical creativity. In the 18th century, music rose to the level of other arts that had flourished since the Renaissance. Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Christoph Gluck, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stand at the pinnacle of musical art in the 18th century. The flourishing of music as an independent art form at this time is explained by the need for poetic, emotional expression of the spiritual world of man. The work of Bach and Handel still preserved the continuity of musical traditions, but they were beginning a new stage in the history of music. Johann Sebastian Bach (lived 1685-1750) is considered an unsurpassed master of polyphony. Working in all genres, he wrote about 200 cantatas, instrumental concertos, works for organ, clavier, etc. Bach was especially close to the democratic line of the German artistic tradition, associated with poetry and music of the Protestant chorale, with folk melody. Through the spiritual experience of his people, he felt the tragic beginning in human life and at the same time faith in final harmony. Bach is a musical thinker who professes the same humanistic principles as the enlighteners. 
Mozart
Everything new that was characteristic of progressive trends in music was embodied in the work of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (life: 1756-1791). Together with Franz Joseph Haydn he represented the Vienna Classical School. Haydn's main genre was the symphony, Mozart's - opera. He changed traditional opera forms and introduced psychological individuality into genre types of symphonies. He owns about 20 operas: (“The Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni”, “The Magic Flute”); 50 symphony concerts, numerous sonatas, variations, masses, the famous “Requiem”, choral works.
Lecture No. 18.
Topic: European culture of the 16th-18th centuries.
1. Culture of the Renaissance.
2. Literature of the Enlightenment.
3. Art of the 17th-18th centuries.
1.
The new period in the cultural development of Western and Central Europe was called the Renaissance, or Renaissance.
Renaissance (in French Renaissance) is a humanistic movement in the history of European culture during the period of the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. The Renaissance arose in Italy in the 14th century, spread to Western countries (Northern Renaissance) and reached its greatest flowering in the middle of the 16th century. The end of the 16th - the beginning of the 17th century: decline - mannerism.
The phenomenon of the Renaissance was determined by the fact that the ancient heritage turned into a weapon for the overthrow of church canons and prohibitions. Some culturologists, determining its significance, compare it with 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. A revolution took place in art comparable to the discovery of Copernicus. At the center of the new worldview was man, and not God as the highest measure of all things. The new view of the world was called humanism.
Anthropocentrism is the main idea of the Renaissance worldview. The birth of a new worldview is associated with the writer Francesco Petrarch. He contrasts scholasticism, based on the formal terminological method, with scientific knowledge; happiness in the “City of God” - earthly human happiness; spiritual love for God - sublime love for an earthly woman.
The ideas of humanism were expressed in the fact that what is important in a person is his personal qualities - intelligence, creative energy, enterprise, self-esteem, will and education, and not social status and origin.
During the Renaissance, the ideal of a harmonious, liberated, creative personality, beauty and harmony was established, an appeal to man as the highest principle of being, a feeling of integrity and harmonious patterns of the universe.
The Renaissance gave birth to geniuses and titans:
Italy - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, the politician Machiavelli, the philosophers Alberti, Bruni, Vala, Ficino, Nicholas of Cusa, the architects Brunelleschi and Bramante;
France - Rabelais and Montaigne;
England - More, Bacon, Sidney, Shakespeare;
Spain - Cervantes;
Poland - Copernicus;
Germany - Boehme, Münzer, Kepler.
Masterpieces of the Renaissance:
Leonardo da Vinci "La Gioconda", "The Last Supper";
Raphael "Sistine Madonna" and "Sleeping Venus", "Madonna Conestabile" and "Judith";
Titian "Danae" (Hermitage Museum).
The main feature of the art and culture of the Renaissance is the affirmation of human beauty and talent, the triumph of thought and high feelings, creative activity. Baroque and classicism styles are developing in fine arts, academicism and caravaggism in painting. New genres appear - landscape, still life, pictures of everyday life, hunting and holidays.
Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa
Raphael Sistine Madonna
Renaissance architecture is based on the revival of classical, mainly Roman architecture. The main requirements are balance and clarity of proportions, the use of an order system, sensitivity to the building material, its texture, and beauty.
The revival arose and was most clearly manifested in Italy.
The period from the last decade of the 15th century to the middle of the 16th century (High Renaissance) becomes the “golden age” of Italian art. From him the solemn and majestic architecture of Bramante and Palladio remains as a souvenir for descendants, he gives the world the immortal masterpieces of Raphael and Michelangelo. The entire 16th century continues, and only at the beginning of the 17th century does the flowering of the Renaissance culture born under the skies of Italy fade away.
The late Renaissance is characterized by the rapid development of such a synthetic art form as theater, the most prominent representatives of which were Lope de Vega, Calderon, Tirso de Molina (Spain), William Shakespeare (England).
Thus, the culture of the Renaissance reflects a synthesis of the features of antiquity and medieval Christianity; the ideological basis for the secularization of culture is humanism.
The Renaissance replaced religious ritual with secular ritual and elevated man to a heroic pedestal.
2.
People of the 17th-18th centuries called their time centuries of reason and enlightenment. Medieval ideas, sanctified by the authorities of the church and omnipotent tradition, were criticized. In the 18th century, the desire for knowledge based on reason, and not on faith, took possession of an entire generation. The consciousness that everything is subject to discussion, that everything must be clarified by means of reason, was a distinctive feature of the people of the 17th and 18th centuries.
During the Age of Enlightenment, the transition to modern culture was completed. A new way of life and thinking was taking shape, which means that the artistic self-awareness of a new type of culture was also changing. The Enlightenment saw in ignorance, prejudice and superstition the main cause of human misfortunes and social evils, and in education, philosophical and scientific activity, in freedom of thought - the path of cultural and social progress.
The ideas of social equality and personal freedom took hold, first of all, of the third estate, from whose midst most of the humanists emerged. The middle class consisted of the wealthy bourgeoisie and people of liberal professions; it had capital, professional and scientific knowledge, general ideas, and spiritual aspirations. The worldview of the third estate was most clearly expressed in the educational movement - anti-feudal in content and revolutionary in spirit.
Radical changes also occurred at the level of aesthetic consciousness. The basic creative principles of the 17th century - classicism and baroque - acquired new qualities during the Enlightenment, because the art of the 18th century turned to depicting the real world. Artists, sculptors, writers recreated it in paintings and sculptures, stories and novels, plays and performances. The realistic orientation of art encouraged the creation of a new creative method.
Literature was based on public opinion, which was formed in circles and salons. The courtyard ceased to be the only center to which everyone strove. The philosophical salons of Paris, where Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Helvetius, Hume, and Smith attended, became fashionable. From 1717 to 1724, more than one and a half million volumes of Voltaire and about a million volumes of Rousseau were printed. Voltaire was truly a great writer - he knew how to comprehend and explain simply and publicly in a beautiful, elegant language the most serious topic that attracted the attention of his contemporaries. He had a tremendous influence on the minds of all enlightened Europe. His evil laughter, capable of destroying centuries-old traditions, was feared more than anyone else's accusations. He strongly emphasized the value of culture. He portrayed the history of society as the history of the development of culture and human education. Voltaire preached these same ideas in his dramatic works and philosophical stories (“Candide, or Optimism,” “The Simple-minded,” “Brutus,” “Tancred,” etc.).
The direction of educational realism was successfully developed in England. The entire group of ideas and dreams about a better natural order received artistic expression in the famous novel by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) “Robinson Crusoe”. He wrote more than 200 works of various genres: poetry, novels, political essays, historical and ethnographic works. The book about Robinson is nothing more than the story of an isolated individual, left to the educational and corrective work of nature, a return to the natural state. Less known is the second part of the novel, which tells about spiritual rebirth on an island, far from civilization.
German writers, remaining in the position of enlightenment, looked for non-revolutionary methods of combating evil. They considered aesthetic education to be the main force of progress, and art to be the main means. From the ideals of social freedom, German writers and poets moved on to the ideals of moral and aesthetic freedom. This transition is characteristic of the work of the German poet, playwright and theorist of Enlightenment art Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). In his early plays, which had enormous success, the author protested against despotism and class prejudices. “Against Tyrants” - the epigraph to his famous drama “Robbers” - directly speaks of its social orientation.
In addition to the generally accepted baroque and classicist styles in Europe, new ones appeared in the 17th-18th centuries: rococo, sentimentalism, and pre-romanticism. Unlike previous centuries, there is no single style of the era, no unity of artistic language. The art of the 18th century became a kind of encyclopedia of various stylistic forms that were widely used by artists, architects, and musicians of this era. In France, artistic culture was closely connected with the court environment. The Rococo style originated among the French aristocracy. The words of Louis XV (1715-1754) “After us, even a flood” can be considered a characteristic of the mood that reigned in court circles. Strict etiquette was replaced by a frivolous atmosphere, a thirst for pleasure and fun. The aristocracy was in a hurry to have fun before the flood in an atmosphere of gallant festivities, the soul of which was Madame Pompadour. The court environment partly itself shaped the Rococo style with its capricious, whimsical forms. The founder of Rococo in painting can be considered Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), a court painter. Watteau's heroes are actresses in wide silk dresses, dandies with languid movements, cupids frolicking in the air. Even the titles of his works speak for themselves: “The Capricious One”, “Feast of Love”, “Society in the Park”, “Predicament”. 
Watteau "Predicament".
As a painter, Watteau was much deeper and more complex than his many followers. He diligently studied nature and wrote a lot from nature. After Watteau's death, Francois Boucher (1704-1770) took his place at court. A very skilled craftsman, he worked a lot in the field of decorative painting, making sketches for tapestries and painting on porcelain. Typical subjects are “The Triumph of Venus”, “The Toilet of Venus”, “The Bathing of Diana”. In the works of Boucher, the mannerism and eroticism of the Rococo era were expressed with particular force, for which he was constantly accused by enlightenment moralists.
During the era of the French Revolution, new classicism triumphed in art. Classicism of the 18th century is not a development of classicism of the previous century - it is a fundamentally new historical and artistic phenomenon. Common features: appeal to antiquity as a norm and artistic model, assertion of the superiority of duty over feeling, increased abstraction of style, pathos of reason, order and harmony. The exponent of classicism in painting was Jacques Louis David (life: 1748-1825). His painting “The Oath of the Horatii” became the battle banner of new aesthetic views. A plot from the history of Rome (the Horace brothers take an oath of fidelity to duty and readiness to fight their enemies to their father) became an expression of republican views in revolutionary France.
J.S.Bach
The 18th century brought a lot of new things to musical creativity. In the 18th century, music rose to the level of other arts that had flourished since the Renaissance. Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frideric Handel, Christoph Gluck, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stand at the pinnacle of musical art in the 18th century. The flourishing of music as an independent art form at this time is explained by the need for poetic, emotional expression of the spiritual world of man. The work of Bach and Handel still preserved the continuity of musical traditions, but they were beginning a new stage in the history of music. Johann Sebastian Bach (lived 1685-1750) is considered an unsurpassed master of polyphony. Working in all genres, he wrote about 200 cantatas, instrumental concertos, works for organ, clavier, etc. Bach was especially close to the democratic line of the German artistic tradition, associated with poetry and music of the Protestant chorale, with folk melody. Through the spiritual experience of his people, he felt the tragic beginning in human life and at the same time faith in final harmony. Bach is a musical thinker who professes the same humanistic principles as the enlighteners. 
Mozart
Everything new that was characteristic of progressive trends in music was embodied in the work of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (life: 1756-1791). Together with Franz Joseph Haydn he represented the Vienna Classical School. Haydn's main genre was the symphony, Mozart's - opera. He changed traditional opera forms and introduced psychological individuality into genre types of symphonies. He owns about 20 operas: (“The Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni”, “The Magic Flute”); 50 symphony concerts, numerous sonatas, variations, masses, the famous “Requiem”, choral works. 
She tried to drag Elizabeth into Catholicism. All this strained the life of the young princess in the most decisive way. The Protestant public of the country pinned its hopes on Elizabeth, who was actually the heir to the throne. Passions sometimes flared up on a Shakespearean scale. One day, Maria imprisoned her sister in the Tower on suspicion of participating in a conspiracy. However, she did not stay in prison for long, and moreover, it was there that she met another “conspirator”, the outwardly perfect macho, but absolutely mediocre Earl of Leicester, with whom she connected her personal life for many years.
However, the personal life of Elizabeth Tudor remains a sealed secret to this day. Historians are convinced that some kind of physical or psychological barrier has always existed between her and men. Having favorites and being the bride of all of Europe (her suitors included Philip the Second, Henry the Third, and almost Ivan the Terrible himself), Elizabeth never allowed “last intimacy.” So the legend of the “Virgin Queen” (with so many fans!) is not a myth at all! She once said that she would not reveal the secret to even the closest soul. And even the nosy enemies of the Spaniards did not know exactly her secret
Like her father, red-haired Bess was a pragmatist to the core. However, to say that she had the super-genius mind of a statesman is a certain exaggeration. She knew how to select servants and advisers, yes! Its chancellor, Lord Burghley, and its head of foreign intelligence, Walsingham, were geniuses in their field. But they didn’t receive a penny from red-haired Bess beyond their allotted salary! All gifts fell immoderately on Leicester and other favorites. Even the fact that Elizabeth chose Protestantism had not only (and perhaps not so much) a political reason as a purely personal one: the pope, following her real father, declared her illegitimate. Elizabeth had no choice but to break with the meticulous Catholics after such spitting.
However, the Anglican Church is the least Protestant of all Protestant churches. The magnificent Catholic rituals were almost completely preserved (Elizabeth loved pomp), only the church came out of the control of the Roman high priest.
Naturally, this half-reform did not suit the bourgeoisie; the Puritans grumbled. Elizabeth brought down persecution on them, which the Catholics did not receive from her.
Elizabeth skillfully balanced between various forces. But “fate also preserved Evgeniy.” When in 1588 a storm scattered a huge Spanish fleet with an expeditionary force heading to the shores of Britain (the “Invincible Armada”), the fate of the queen and her kingdom literally hung in the balance: there were only a few thousand soldiers in the English army.