How the image of a person changed. The image of man in the history of world artistic culture

Why are children in medieval paintings so ugly? To find the answer to this question, Vox correspondent Phil Edwards spoke with Matthew Averett, professor of art history at Creighton University and editor of the anthology " The Child in Early Modern Art and History"(The Early Modern Child in Art and History).

“Ugly” is putting it mildly. Babies in medieval paintings look like horrible little men with high cholesterol.

These are the children of 1350:

An eerie baby from 1350 in the composition “Madonna of Veveří” by the master of the Vyshebrod Altarpiece. .

Or here’s another one from 1333:

"Madonna and Child" painted in Italy, by Paolo Veneziano, 1333. Mondadori Portfolio / .

Looking at these ugly little people, we think about how we managed to move from ugly medieval images of children to angelic babies of the Renaissance and modern times. Below are two images that show how much the idea of ​​a child's face has changed.

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Filippino Lippi/ .

Why were there so many ugly babies in the paintings? To understand the reasons, we need to look at the history of art, medieval culture, and even our modern ideas about children.

Maybe medieval artists were just bad at drawing?

This 15th-century painting is by the Venetian artist Jacopo Bellini, but the baby is depicted in a medieval style. .

Children were deliberately portrayed as ugly. The line between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance is useful when considering the transition from "ugly" children to much cuter ones. Comparisons between different eras tend to reveal differences in values.

« When we think about children in a fundamentally different light, this is reflected in the paintings - says Averett. - That was the choice of style. We could look at medieval art and say these people don't look right. But if the goal is to make the painting look like Picasso, and you create a realistic image, then they would tell you that you did it wrong. Although artistic innovations came with the Renaissance, they are not the reason why babies became prettier».

Note:
It is generally accepted that the Renaissance began in the 14th century in Florence, and from there spread throughout Europe. However, like any intellectual movement, it is characterized both too broadly and too narrowly: too broadly in the sense of creating the impression that Renaissance values ​​arose instantly and everywhere, and too narrowly in that it limits the mass movement to one zone of innovation . There were gaps in the Renaissance - you could easily see a picture of an ugly child in 1521 if the artist was committed to that style.

We can trace two reasons why babies in paintings in the Middle Ages looked manly:

• Most medieval babies were images of Jesus. The idea of ​​a homuncular Jesus (that He was born in the likeness of an adult and not a child) influenced the way all children were portrayed.

Medieval portraits of children, as a rule, were created by order of the church. This means that they depicted either Jesus or several other biblical babies. During the Middle Ages, ideas about Jesus were strongly influenced by the homunculus, which literally means little man. « According to this idea, Jesus appeared fully formed and did not change - says Averett. - And if we compare this with Byzantine painting, we get a standard image of Jesus. In some paintings he appears to have signs of male pattern baldness».

Painting by Barnaba da Modena (active from 1361 to 1383). Photo: DeAgostini/.

The homuncular (adult-looking) Jesus became the basis for all children's drawings. Over time, people simply began to think that this is how babies should be portrayed.

• Medieval artists were less interested in realism

This unrealistic depiction of Jesus reflects a broader approach to medieval art: artists in the Middle Ages were less interested in realism or idealized forms than their Renaissance counterparts.

« The strangeness we see in medieval art stems from a lack of interest in naturalism and a greater inclination towards expressionist traditions.", says Averett.

In turn, this led to most people in the Middle Ages being portrayed as similar. " The idea of ​​artistic freedom in drawing people the way you want would be new. Conventions were followed in art».

Adherence to this style of painting made babies look like dads out of shape, at least until the Renaissance.

How children became beautiful again during the Renaissance

A sweet child in a painting by Raphael, 1506. Photo: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/.

What changed and led to the fact that children became beautiful again?

• Non-religious art flourished and people didn't want their children to look like creepy little people

« During the Middle Ages we see fewer images of the middle class and common people" says Averett.

With the Renaissance this began to change as the middle class in Florence prospered and people could afford portraits of their children. Portraiture was growing in popularity, and clients wanted their children to look like cute babies rather than ugly homunculi. This is how the standards in art changed in many ways, and ultimately in drawing portraits of Jesus.

• Renaissance idealism changed art

« During the Renaissance, - Averett says, - there was a new interest in observing nature and depicting things as they were actually seen" And not in the previously established expressionist traditions. This was reflected in more realistic portraits of babies, and in beautiful cherubs, which absorbed the best features from real people.

• Children were recognized as innocent creatures

Averett warns against over-dividing the role of children in the Renaissance - parents in the Middle Ages loved their children no differently than they did in the Renaissance. But the very idea of ​​children and their perception has transformed: from tiny adults to innocent creatures.

« Later we got the idea that children are innocent - notes Averett. - If children are born without sin, they cannot know anything».

As the attitude of adults towards children changed, the same was reflected in the portraits of children painted by adults. Ugly children (or beautiful ones) are a reflection of what society thinks about its children, about art and about its parenting tasks.

Why We Still Want Our Children to Look Beautiful

All of these factors influenced the fact that children became the chubby-cheeked characters that we are familiar with today. And for us, modern viewers, this is easy to understand, because we still have some post-Renaissance ideals about children.

In our opinion, it is good that children's images have changed. After all, only a mother could like such a face:

Icon from 1304, Bitonto. Photo: Mondadori Portfolio/.

The art of the Middle Ages most adequately reflected the transition in the mentality of medieval man from external to internal, the interiorization of his spiritual life. The medieval cathedral received the believer into itself and influenced him with the interior decoration and works of sculpture and painting concentrated in the temple.

In the development of architecture in the Middle Ages, two styles are distinguished: Romanesque (XI-XII centuries) and Gothic (XIII-XV centuries). The Romanesque style is characterized by massive structures: a feudal castle, city fortifications, cathedrals. Clarity, solidity, impressiveness are characteristics of Romanesque architecture. Phantasmagoria of sculptural compositions, literary allegories, horror and shame of human sin before the finger of a merciless God are images of early medieval art.

Gothic is a style of polyphony both in music and in architecture, the appearance of which in Europe is associated with the growth of public consciousness and the growth of human confidence in one’s own abilities. The Gothic cathedral is a slender and towering forest of vaults, huge, narrow and colored glass, the construction and decoration of which took decades and centuries. Divine services were held in cathedrals, university lectures were given, theatrical performances were staged, and even parliament met.

The cultural achievement of the era is the emergence of a monumental artistic style that synthesizes other types of art.

3. A look at art during the Renaissance

The art of the Renaissance is the era of European humanism, anthropocentrism and the formation of the value of the human personality. The urbanization of Italy and the specialization of cities brought Florence to the center of artistic culture and aesthetic thought of that time. All changes in the life of society were accompanied by a broad renewal of culture - the flourishing of natural and exact sciences, literature in national languages ​​and, especially, fine arts. The advent of printing opened up unprecedented opportunities for the dissemination of literary and scientific works.

With all the complexity and ambiguity of the aesthetics of the Renaissance, one of its main principles can be identified as the absolutization of the human personality in its integrity. Aesthetic treatises and works of art of the Renaissance are characterized by an idealized idea of ​​man as a unity of the rational and sensual, as a free being with unlimited creative possibilities. It is associated with anthropocentrism in the aesthetics of the Renaissance and the understanding of the beautiful, sublime, and heroic. The principle of a beautiful, artistically creative human personality was combined among the theoreticians of the Renaissance with an attempt to mathematically calculate proportions, symmetry, and perspective. Aesthetic and artistic thinking of this era is for the first time based on human perception as such and on a sensually real picture of the world.

The aesthetics of the Renaissance orients art towards imitation of nature. However, what comes first here is not so much nature as the artist, who in his creative activity becomes like God. In the creator of a work of art, who is gradually freed from church ideology, what is most valued is a keen artistic view of things, professional independence, and special skills, and his creations acquire a self-sufficient, rather than sacred, character. One of the most important principles of perception of works of art is pleasure, which indicates a significant democratic tendency as opposed to the moralizing and scholastic scholarship of previous aesthetic theories.

The fine arts of the Renaissance provide a contrast to the medieval in many respects. It marks the emergence of realism, which determined the development of European artistic culture for a long time.

This affected not only the spread of secular images, the development of portraits and landscapes, or a new, sometimes almost genre-specific interpretation of religious subjects, but also a radical renewal of the entire artistic system. This theory, which makes it possible to construct a three-dimensional image on a plane, oriented towards the viewer and taking into account his point of view, means a victory over the medieval concept of image.

Representatives of the Renaissance find in ancient culture something that is in tune with their own aspirations - commitment to reality, cheerfulness, admiration for the beauty of the earthly world, for the greatness of heroic deeds. At the same time, having developed in different historical conditions, having absorbed the traditions of the Romanesque style and Gothic, the art of the Renaissance bears the stamp of its time. Compared with the art of classical antiquity, the human spiritual world is becoming more and more complex and multifaceted. The artists' works become signatures, that is, they are clearly copyrighted. More and more self-portraits are appearing. An undoubted sign of a new self-awareness is that artists are increasingly shying away from direct orders, devoting themselves to work out of inner motivation. By the end of the 14th century, the external position of the artist in society also changed significantly. Artists begin to receive all kinds of public recognition, positions, honorary and monetary sinecures. A. Michelangelo, for example, is elevated to such a height that, without fear of offending the crown bearers, he refuses the high honors offered to him. The nickname divine is enough for him. He insists that in letters to him any titles should be omitted, and they should simply write Michelangelo Buonarotti.

The art of the Renaissance is divided into four stages: Proto-Renaissance, end of the 13th - first half of the 14th century, Early Renaissance, 15th century, High Renaissance, end of the 15th century, first three decades of the 16th century, Late Renaissance, middle and second half of the 16th century.

Usually, when the phrase “Middle Ages” is uttered, gloomy Gothic castles appear before one’s eyes, everything is dark, neglected, dull... This is a stereotype that for some reason has developed in people’s minds. The painting of this period proves the opposite - it is not only not dull, but also very colorful.

Art of the Middle Ages: features and trends

The Middle Ages represents the period from the fifth to the seventeenth centuries. The term itself originated in Italy; it was believed that this time was a cultural decline; the Middle Ages were constantly compared with Antiquity - and the comparison was not in favor of the former.

There are several features of the art of the Middle Ages, and all of them are closely related to the foundations and traditions that prevailed in society at that time. Thus, the church and religious dogmas were strong - that is why religion became something commonplace for the culture of that time. In addition, its characteristic features were asceticism, rejection of ancient traditions and at the same time commitment to antiquity, attention to the inner world of man and his spirituality.

The era is usually divided into several periods: early Middle Ages(before the eleventh century), developed (before the fifteenth) and later (before the seventeenth century). Each of these intervals, again, has its own trends. As an example - early Middle Ages was distinguished by a complete rejection of ancient traditions, sculpture sank into oblivion, wooden architecture and the so-called animal style flourished. People, as a rule, were not depicted, and the art was “barbaric.” Particular attention was paid to color.

The developed Middle Ages, on the contrary, concentrated on applied art - carpets, castings, and book miniatures were in fashion.

In the era of late Middle Ages Romanesque and Gothic styles began to dominate, in particular, they predominated in architecture, which was the main form of art in this period.

In general, the following periodization of the art of the Middle Ages is generally accepted: Celtic, early Christian, art of the period of migration of peoples, Byzantine, pre-Romanesque, Romanesque art and Gothic. Next, we will dwell in more detail on the genres, styles, techniques and subjects of medieval painting. Let's remember the famous masters.

Painting of the Middle Ages

In different periods of the Middle Ages, different types of art came to the fore - either sculpture or architecture. It cannot be said that painting remained on the sidelines. Over time and under the influence of changes in society, it also changed, as a result of which the paintings became more realistic, and artists appeared new techniques, themes and perspectives for creativity. So, for example, despite the fact that the tendency to paint canvases with religious themes remained popular in medieval painting of any period (however, after the thirteenth century it began to occur much less frequently), with increasing education they became more common so-called secular paintings - everyday content, reflecting the simple life of ordinary people (including the nobility, of course). This is how realistic painting arose, uncharacteristic of the era. early Middle Ages. The paintings began to depict not the spiritual, but the material world.

Book miniatures spread - in this way they tried to improve and decorate books, making them more attractive to potential buyers. Wall paintings also appeared, as well as mosaics, which decorated the external and internal walls of churches - for this we should thank the Franciscan Order, for which a large number of similar structures were built. All this happened after the thirteenth century - before painting was not given such close attention, it played rather a secondary role, and was not considered something important. Pictures were not painted - they were “painted”, and this word fully reflects the attitude towards this type of art in that time period.

With the heyday of painting in the Middle Ages, the understanding came that painting artistic canvases was the lot of those who truly know how and love this craft. Paintings were no longer “painted”; their creation was no longer treated as an entertaining pastime accessible to everyone. As a rule, each painting had its own customer, and these orders were made exclusively for a specific purpose - canvases were bought for noble houses, for churches, and so on. It is characteristic that many artists of the Middle Ages did not sign their works - this was a common craft for them, the same as the production of buns for a baker. But the painters of that period tried to adhere to unspoken rules: to emotionally influence the one who would look at the canvas; ignore real dimensions - to give greater effect; depict different time periods with the same hero in the picture.

Iconography

Flemings

The fifteenth century brought glory to Flanders - it was in this area that a new unique technique appeared, which had a huge impact on all art and at one point became popular. We are talking about the invention of oil paints. Thanks to the addition of vegetable oil to the mixture of dyes, the colors became more saturated, and the paints themselves dried much faster than the tempera that painters had previously used. Having tried to apply layer after layer, the masters were convinced of the possibilities and prospects that had opened up to them - the colors played in a completely new way, and the effects that were obtained in this way absolutely eclipsed all previous achievements.

It is not known for certain who exactly is the inventor of oil paints. Often their emergence is attributed, perhaps, to the most famous master of Flemish school - Jan van Eyck. Although even before him, Robert Campin, who, in fact, is considered the founder of Flemish painting, was quite popular. Nevertheless, it was thanks to van Eyck that oil paints became so widespread throughout Europe.

Prominent artists

Medieval painting gave the world many wonderful names. Already mentioned above, Jan van Eyck is an excellent portrait painter, whose works differ from others in their interesting play of light and shadow. A characteristic feature of his paintings is the meticulous detailing of the smallest details. Another Flemish, Rogier van der Weyden, was not so attentive to detail, but he drew very clear contours and focused on colorful, bright shades.

Among the Italian masters, in addition to those mentioned above, it is worth noting Duccio and Cimabue, the founders of realism, and Giovanni Bellini. Also, the Spaniard El Greco, the Dutchman Hieronymus Bosch, the German Albrecht Durer and others left a big mark in art.

1. The word “miniature” comes from minium - this is the Latin name for minium, which was used to write capital letters in texts in the Middle Ages.
2. The sitter for the painting “The Last Supper” by Leonardo da Vinci was an ordinary drunkard.
3. In each new century, the amount of food in still lifes increased.
4. Titian’s painting “Earthly Love and Heavenly Love” changed them four times before receiving such a name.
5. The artist Giuseppe Arcimboldo composed his canvases from vegetables, fruits, flowers, and so on. Very few of his works have reached us.

The painting of the Middle Ages, like the entire culture of this period, is a unique layer that can be studied for centuries. In addition, this is truly a masterpiece of heritage, which is our direct responsibility to preserve for posterity.

The Middle Ages is a unique historical period. For each country it began and ended at different times. For example, in Western Europe the Middle Ages are considered to be the period from the 5th to the 15th centuries, in Russia - from the 10th to the 17th centuries, and in the East - from the 4th to the 18th centuries. Let us further consider what spiritual heritage the creators of that era left us.

general characteristics

What was medieval art like? Briefly speaking, it united the spiritual quests of the masters who lived at that time. The main themes of their creations were determined by the church. It was she who acted then as the main customer. Meanwhile, the history of medieval art is connected not only with Christian dogmas. In the folk memory of that time there were still signs of a pagan worldview. This can be seen in customs, folklore and rituals.

Music

Without it, one cannot consider medieval art. Music was considered an integral element of the life of people of that time. She always accompanied holidays, celebrations, and birthdays. Among the most popular instruments were horns, flutes, bells, tambourines, whistles, and drums. The lute came from the eastern countries into the music of the Middle Ages. There were ritual features in the motifs of that time. For example, at the beginning of spring, special music was composed, with which people drove away the spirits of winter and heralded the onset of warmth. At Christmas time the bells always rang. He carried the good news of the appearance of the Savior.

Roman style

It filled the medieval art of Western Europe in the 10th - 12th centuries. In some areas this style survived into the 13th century. It became one of the most important stages in the art of the Middle Ages. The Romanesque style combined Merovingian and late antique subjects, components of the Great Migration period. Byzantine and oriental elements entered the medieval art of Western Europe. The Romanesque style arose in the context of the development of feudalism and the spread of the ideology of the Catholic Church. The main construction, the creation of sculptures, and the design of manuscripts was carried out by monks. The church has been a source of dissemination of medieval art for quite a long time. The architecture was also iconic. The main distributors of the style at that time were the monastic orders. Only towards the end of the 11th century did wandering artels of lay stonemasons begin to emerge.

Architecture

Individual buildings and complexes (castles, churches, monasteries) in the Romanesque style were erected, as a rule, in rural areas. They dominated their surroundings, embodying the likeness of the “city of the Lord” or acting as a visual expression of the power of the feudal lord. Western medieval art was based on harmony. The clear silhouettes and compact forms of the buildings seemed to repeat and complete the landscape. Natural stone was used as the main building material. It harmonized perfectly with the greenery and soil. The main feature of buildings in the Romanesque style were massive walls. Their heaviness was emphasized by narrow window openings and deep stepped portals (passages). A high tower was considered one of the key elements of the composition. Romanesque buildings were systems of stereometric simple volumes: prisms, cubes, parallelepipeds, cylinders. Their surface was divided by galleries, blades, and arched friezes. These elements rhythmized the massiveness of the walls, but did not violate their monolithic integrity.

Temples

They developed the types of centric and basilican churches inherited from early Christian architecture. In the latter, a tower or lantern was an integral element. Each main part of the temple was created as a separate spatial structure. Both externally and internally she was clearly separated from the rest. The overall impression was enhanced by the vaults. They were predominantly cross, cylindrical or cross-rib. Domes were installed on some churches.

Distinctive features of the decor

In the early stages, the Romanesque style played the main role. At the end of the 11th - beginning of the 12th centuries, when the configuration of walls and vaults became more complex, monumental reliefs entered the temple decor. They decorated portals, and often entire façade walls. Inside buildings they were applied to the capitals of columns. In the late Romanesque style, flat relief is replaced by a higher one, rich in the effects of light and shadow, but maintaining an organic connection with the surface of the wall. Themes that expressed the formidable and limitless power of God occupied a central place in painting and sculpture. The figure of Christ predominated in strictly symmetrical compositions. As for narrative cycles on gospel and biblical themes, they took on a more dynamic and free character. Romanesque plastic art is distinguished by deviations from natural proportions. Due to this, the image of a person became the bearer of an overly expressive gesture or an element of ornament, without losing spiritual expressiveness.

Gothic

This concept was introduced during the Renaissance. Gothic art was considered "barbaric". The heyday of the Romanesque style is considered to be the X - XII centuries. When this period was defined, the chronological framework for the Gothic was limited. Thus, early, mature (high) and late (flaming) stages were distinguished. The development of Gothic was intensive in those countries where Catholicism dominated. It acted primarily as cult art based on religious themes and its purpose. Gothic was correlated with eternity and high irrational forces.

Features of formation

The art of medieval stained glass, sculpture, and architecture during the Gothic period inherited many elements from the Romanesque style. The cathedral occupied a special place. The development of Gothic was influenced by fundamental changes in the social structure. During that period, centralized states began to form, cities grew and became stronger, secular forces began to emerge - trade, craft, urban, court and knightly circles. As social consciousness developed and technology improved, opportunities for aesthetic understanding of the surrounding world began to expand. New architectural trends began to take shape. Urban planning has become widespread. The city's architectural ensembles included secular and religious buildings, bridges, fortifications, and wells. In many cases, houses with arcades, warehouses and commercial premises on the ground floors were erected on the main square of the city. The main streets branched off from it. Narrow facades of mostly two-story houses (rarely three-story) with high gables were lined along them. Cities began to be surrounded by powerful walls, which were decorated with travel towers. Royal ones began to gradually turn into entire complexes, including religious, palace and fortification buildings.

Sculpture

It acted as the main form of fine art. The cathedrals were decorated outside and inside with a large number of reliefs and statues. Compared to the Romanesque, it was distinguished by its dynamism, the figures facing each other and the audience. Interest in natural forms, human beauty and feelings began to appear. The themes of motherhood, sacrificial fortitude, and moral suffering began to be interpreted in a new way. The image of Christ also underwent changes. In Gothic, the theme of martyrdom began to come to the fore. The cult of the Mother of God began to take shape in art. This happened almost at the same time as the worship of beautiful ladies. Often these two cults were intertwined. In many works, the Mother of God appeared in the form of a beautiful lady. At the same time, people retained their belief in miracles, fairy-tale monsters, and fantastic animals. Their images can be found in Gothic as often as in the Romanesque style.

India

This country is known throughout the world for its countless natural resources and magnificent handicrafts. From an early age, the children of the poor were accustomed to work. The education of sons and daughters of the nobility began in the fifth year of their life. They received their education in schools at churches or at home. Children from the Brahmin caste were taught at home by a teacher. The child had to honor the teacher and obey him in everything. The sons of warriors and princes were trained in military affairs and the art of government. Some monasteries acted as educational centers. The teaching there was conducted at the highest level. Such a center, for example, was the monastery in Noland. It functioned on income from one hundred villages, as well as from gifts from rulers. Some cities in medieval India had observatories. Mathematicians could calculate the volumes of bodies and the areas of figures, and freely handle fractional numbers. Medicine was well developed in India. The books described the structure of the human body and internal organs. Indian doctors, using about 200 instruments and various means of pain relief, performed complex operations. To establish a diagnosis, doctors measured the patient’s body temperature, pulse, and visually examined the patient, paying attention to the color of the tongue and skin. Art and science in medieval India reached unprecedented heights.

Stone sculpture

It served as an architectural decoration. As a rule, sculpture was represented by decorative high reliefs. In them all the figures were closely connected. Movements, gestures, and poses of people look amazingly graceful and expressive. This is due to the influence on the development of sculpture of the art of dance, which has been widespread in India since ancient times. Even under Ashoka, cave cells and temples for hermits began to be created in the rocks. They were small in size and reproduced residential wooden buildings. In the northern regions of India, temples of elongated oval (parabolic) shape were built. A lotus umbrella was built on their top. In the south of the country, temples had the shape of a rectangular pyramid. Inside, the rooms were dark and low. They were called sanctuaries. Not every person could enter them. The courtyards of the temples were decorated with sculptures depicting epic scenes or interpreting in a symbolic form the veneration of the god for whose glory the temple was erected. Subsequently, in India, especially in the south of the country, there were so many sculptural elements that religious buildings acted as pedestals for them. Such, for example, are the temples in Orissa, Konarak, Khajuraho.

Classic works

During the Middle Ages, in most parts of India, net languages ​​were used to create them. At the same time, many poets also wrote in Sanskrit. This literature was at first a reworking of classical examples. However, over time it becomes more refined and designed for courtiers. Such a work, for example, was the poem "Ramacharita". Each of its verses contains a double meaning that can equate the deeds of King Rampal with the exploits of the epic Rama. In the Middle Ages, poetry mainly developed, however, by the 12th-13th centuries. the pose also began to appear. The works were written in Sanskrit in the genre of framed stories - stories connected by one end-to-end plot. This, for example, is the story of Kadambari. This work tells the story of two lovers who lived on earth twice in different guises. The satirical novel "The Adventure of the 10 Princes" ridicules rulers, ascetics, dignitaries and even gods.

Heyday

It falls on the IV-VI centuries. At that time, the northern part of India united into a powerful state. It was ruled by the kings of the Gupta dynasty. The medieval art that developed in these areas spread to the southern territories. Unique examples of that time have been preserved in the Buddhist monasteries and temples in Ajanta. In this area, from the 2nd century over the next nine centuries, 29 caves appeared. Their ceilings, walls, columns are painted with scenes from Buddhist legends and traditions, decorated with carvings and sculptures. Ajanta acted as a center not only of religion, but also of art and science. Currently, it symbolizes the greatness of the spirit of antiquity. Ajanta attracts many tourists from all over the world.

Medieval Portrait, portrait art of the Middle Ages- a stage of a certain decline in the history of the development of the portrait genre, manifested in its loss of realism and greater interest in the spirituality of those depicted.

In portraits of the early Christian era, reminiscences of ancient realism remain for a long time. Later - in the Carolingian and Romanesque eras - the lines between the icon and the portrait image were completely erased. During the mature Middle Ages, a reverse process began: naturalism began to return to Gothic works, which would lay the foundations for the development of the Renaissance.

Early Middle Ages

Emperor Theodosius II - the sculpture of the Byzantine emperor of the 5th century belongs to the last period of the development of Roman sculptural portrait and clearly demonstrates features that would be relevant in the portrait of the Middle Ages - loss of portrait resemblance, emphasis on the eyes, as they reflect spiritual life

Ideology

Medieval art did not know a portrait in the modern meaning of this concept, that is, “a life-reliable image individual human face." Unlike the masters of Ancient Egypt, antiquity or later modern times, medieval artists did not pursue the task of a living resemblance of the image to the original. The principle of “imitation of nature” was alien to the aesthetic nature of the Middle Ages. But, as Viktor Grashchenkov writes, this time should not be considered as a “break” in the evolution of the portrait genre. In the Middle Ages, the portrait nevertheless found its (rather modest) place, and was expressed in rather modest and conventional forms. This portrait seems sketchy, which is caused by a different aesthetic task of the masters, for whom the material world with its individual forms was not important and remained just a reflection, a shadow of the supersensible world. In their works, medieval masters strove for the absolute and imitated not nature, but the eternal image of human beauty. In addition to the literal meaning, every image also had an allegorical meaning.

Since man was created “in the image and likeness of God,” the individual appearance of anyone on earth was the result of an accidental—and therefore secondary—deviation from the highest ideal caused by original sin. Therefore, the artist, depicting a person, sought to convey not what distinguishes one person from another physically, but to depict that common thing that is typical for all people in general, uniting them in their spiritual essence and bringing them closer to the prototype conceived by God.

The medieval artist needed a fairly limited number of visual means in order to fulfill his task - “to reflect the diversity that exists in uniformity.” He did not see a fundamental difference in the depiction of deceased saints or his contemporaries; they only occupied different places in the spiritual hierarchy.

When depicting a face, the medieval master used a stereotype developed once and for all, making minor changes to it as he worked, which were necessary for him to flesh out the characters in the plot. This stereotype (canon) usually depended not on the artist, but on the iconographic and pictorial tradition of the art school itself. As the individual principle grows in the creative thinking of masters, this canon will begin to increasingly reflect the artist’s personal style.

As the Middle Ages come to an end, and the individualism of religious feeling will seek a more direct fusion of one’s personality (the personality of the customer) with the sacred image, images of a person will become more and more “portrait”, endowed with individual features.

Empress Zoe

Lack of similarity

Christ, Empress Zoe and Constantine IX Monomakh. Mosaic on the choir of Sophia of Constantinople

For all these reasons, “the image of a real human personality lost its vital individuality in medieval art. He almost dissolved in iconic impersonality, expressing himself in an artistic form that could be defined as a “symbolic portrait.” Before the advent of a certain naturalism in Gothic art, medieval portraits were far from documentary authenticity. The individual principle slipped into the canon and stereotype only occasionally, and then only as a subtle hint, a conventional designation.

Types of monuments

The Church allowed the depiction of an individual person only in two cases:

1. Ritual: attached to holy images as a memory of some godly deed
2. Memorial: on a tombstone

In both cases, portrait resemblance was not pursued; the image could be completely conditional and compensated for by attributes or inscriptions.

In the first category (inscribed in the sacred image) most often there are images of emperors, kings and other monarchs, as well as spiritual hierarchs - popes and bishops; that is, faithful defenders of the Church, donors (ktitors) and zealots of piety.

Christ crowns Roger II, Martorana

• Early Christian iconography: emperors, patriarchs and courtiers are depicted next to Christ and the saints as participants in the sacred liturgy. The cult of the emperor's power is closely linked with the Christian cult, which is still new. (Mosaics of San Vitale in Ravenna, 4th century).
• Later period: portraits of rulers begin to occupy a more modest place in the system of temple decoration, moving to the narthex, to the choir. Emperors begin to fall at the feet of Christ and the saints, praying for intercession. Another option is for portraits of monarchs to be placed in churches to remind parishioners of the divine origin of secular power. In such images, the monarch receives the crown from the hands of Christ, appears before him with his entire family (Sicilian King Roger II in the mosaics of Martorana in Palermo, 12th century; emperors in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople; Yaroslav the Wise with his family in Kyiv Sophia).
• Images of the monarch are not related to church images. Such portraits always appeared during the surge of the idea of ​​the Holy Roman Empire and the intensification of the cult of the emperor (from Charlemagne to Frederick II). This tradition goes back to the system of glorifying “great men” that existed in antiquity. It was also used by pontiffs: Pope Leo the Great ordered "portraits" of his predecessors to be painted in San Paolo Fuori le Mura, two similar series were in St. Peter's Basilica and another in the Lateran Basilica.
• A separate group can be distinguished self-portraits of masters, also quite conditional. Most often, these are illustrations in manuscripts depicting the author presenting the manuscript he created to the customer. There are also rarer examples of self-portraits created by sculptors - foundry masters (Magdeburg masters on the Korsun Gate of Sophia of Novgorod, 12th century).

Portrait in Mature Gothic

In Gothic, the portrait will become a more complete and successful phenomenon. Gothic art will be characterized by “naturalism” (in the words of M. Dvorak), which, of course, will affect the image of man. A general characteristic of mature Gothic art is an interest in a life-accurate rendering of the human appearance.

First of all, this naturalism will manifest itself in round sculpture. Examples of monuments:

• Statues of Reims, Chartres and Bamberg (2nd quarter of the 13th century)
• 12 statues of the founders of Naumburg Cathedral (mid-13th century), which, despite the fact that they are posthumous portraits, are quite realistic.

Tombstones, with their genre features, also provided an opportunity for the portrait to be preserved and developed.

Frederick of Wettin

Siegfried III of Eppenstein

Examples of representations of deceased persons - usually members of the high clergy - in the form of reliefs or sculptures on altar tombs date back to the early or late Middle Ages: for example, the tomb of Archbishop Frederick of Wettin (c. 1152) in Magdeburg Cathedral, or that of Siegfried III of Eppenstein (d. 1249) (Mainz Cathedral) is depicted crowning two reduced-size kings.

Medieval tombstones (for example, the royal ones in Saint-Denis) demonstrate evolution: at first, the figures of the deceased were made with an ideally conventional interpretation of the young face in the form of a frozen mask, animated by a standard “Gothic smile”, without any hint of portrait resemblance. But by the end of the 13th century the situation began to change. Researchers have suggested (not proven) that perhaps at this time sculptors began to use death masks (for example, for the statue of the French queen Isabella of Aragon, Cosenza; tombstone of Philip the Fair, Saint-Denis, 1298-1307). This version is due to the fact that a certain individualization begins to appear in faces.

Late Gothic portrait

The birth of the true portrait genre occurs during the late Gothic period thanks to the spiritual awakening of Europe, which began at the end of the 12th century. This process had a long development and led to the fact that by the 15th century, while in Italy new humanistic ideas about man were being laid as the basis of culture, Northern Europe was based on the New Piety (Devotio moderna) northern mystics.

Over time, Gothic penetrated Italy and initially slowed down the development of the Proto-Renaissance; then she managed to enrich him. At the same time, Giotto’s realistic conquests (in the gothic presentation of Siena and partly Florentine painting of the 2nd half of the 14th century) penetrated into France and other trans-Alpine countries and were adopted by their art.

Late Gothic experienced a crisis and a deep need for change, so it actively embraced the realism of the Trecento. If in mature Gothic everything was focused around the cathedral, in the 14th century the collapse of this cathedral unity of the Gothic style began, in addition to monumental forms, chamber genres developed (especially book miniatures). The church and the city commune are losing their leading role in artistic life, which is being transferred to secular sovereigns. Their residences become a concentration of the best creative forces.

Main centers

Portrait of the Italian Middle Ages (Proto-Renaissance)

Characteristics and monuments of Northern Europe

Rudolf IV wearing the crown of the Archduke. The first half-front portrait in Western Europe.

The culmination of late Gothic art is International Gothic. The evolution of the late Gothic portrait occurs partly under Italian influence, and also in close connection with the development of portrait images in plastic, which are already firmly “standing on their feet.”

Profile portraits in the style of Simone Martini, most notably by Matteo Giovannetti of Viterbo, served as a direct example for Northern Gothic artists. These could be not only images of donors and frescoes, but also easel images that have not reached us. The style of French court portraits developed under their influence. The first example is a portrait of John II the Good, painted c. 1360, believed to be by Girard d'Orléans (Louvre). According to Italian tradition, the background is golden, the image is profile and chest-length. But he uses an expressive contour and fine detailing of the face, which conveys the likeness without the idealization that was so characteristic of Italian models. He reveals a clarity and truthful impartiality that will become the programmatic principle of the entire portrait of Northern Europe.

While the Italian portrait will maintain a connection with the style and generalized forms of frescoes, the French portrait reveals a direct dependence on the art of Gothic miniatures. For example, see the donor portraits of Charles V and Joan of Bourbon in a monochrome composition with pen on silk - “Norbonne Dress”, (c. 1375, Louvre).

Master Theodoric (?). Votive image of Archbishop Jan Oczko, fragment with the image of Emperor Charles

"Walton Diptych": King Richard II with Sts. Edmund the Martyr, Edward the Confessor and John the Baptist appear before the Madonna

Avignon portraits are just one of the sources that fueled the Gothic easel portrait. There was a need for this genre in late Gothic, and it would have appeared without Italian influences. So, at the same time, a completely different type of easel portrait appeared among German and Czech masters - the model is depicted not in profile, but in three-quarters. The first example is a portrait of Archduke Rudolf IV of Austria (c. 1365, Vienna, Cathedral and Diocesan Museum). The unknown author was guided by the style of the Prague Master Theodoric (the chapel of Karlštejn Castle, c. 1365, where the half-figures of saints are depicted in three-quarter turns). The same are the portraits of Emperor Charles IV and his son Wenceslas on the altarpiece commissioned by Archbishop Jan Oczko (c. 1371-75, Prague, National Gallery, attributed to Master Theodoric). Apparently, this solution to the portrait composition arose thanks to sculpture.

Master Boucicaut. Charles VI talking with Chancellor Pierre Salmon in the presence of the princes. 1412. "Dialogues of Pierre Salmon", Geneva, Public and University Library

In the portrait of Archduke Rudolf IV, the master tries to reproduce three-dimensional space on a plane with naive spontaneity, not knowing the rules of perspective reduction. The construction of the nose and eyes roughly corresponds to the turn of the head, the mouth is rendered straight, and the crown is applied with appliqué. The portrait gives the impression of an enlarged miniature.

This new type of image has the potential to be more powerful in conveying personality. But at an early stage it remains primitive, inferior in integrity to the traditional profile portrait. Both options will exist on equal terms in painting and miniatures until the 1st quarter of the 15th century, interrupted only with the victory of realistic principles ars nova.

The portrait quickly became an independent genre in the conditions of court culture. He gains an important role in private and public life. Portraits are collected, sent to friendly courts with embassies, and serve as documents for concluding marriage contracts. Apart from the portraits of John the Good and Rudolf, all other works mentioned in the sources have not survived. Their loss is compensated for by portraits in religious imagery (for example, the Walton Diptych of King Richard II, c. 1395, London, National Gallery) and miniatures.

In miniatures, portraits had a donor character, and were also included in some social scene. They develop unique compositional techniques, which will then influence the construction of the image in easel portraits. Grashchenkov suggests that the appearance in the Franco-Burgundian portrait of the 15th century of profile semi-figure compositions, which already include hands, can be explained by the use of motifs from miniatures of that time with scenes of court life. Such works include the works of the Limburg brothers (most notably their Magnificent Book of Hours, 1413-16) and miniatures by the Master Boucicaut (1412, Geneva). A typical example of this trend is miniatures depicting the presentation of illuminated manuscripts by the artist or customer to the king or other patron, as well as scenes of prayers and church services.

Portraits of the Franco-Flemish Circle

Portrait of Louis II of Anjou (unknown artist, c. 1412-15, Paris, National Library)

Unknown artist of the Franco-Burgundian circle. Portrait of a woman, ca. 1410-1420. Washington, National Gallery.

A number of portraits of the Franco-Flemish-Burgundian circle were created in the 1400-1420s. (arrived in originals and copies). All of them are profile and written under the influence of the Limburg brothers and Jean Maluel. Among them, a watercolor portrait of Louis II of Anjou (unknown artist, c. 1412-15) stands a little apart, which directly continues the “Italianizing” tradition of the Parisian school. But the realistic tendency established by the Limburgs quickly dissolves in the mannered Gothic stylization of the artists of the court of John the Fearless - see, for example, the portrait of the Duke himself, preserved in a copy (Louvre): disproportionate elongation of the figure, small head, mannered hand gestures, lack of spatial depth, flat silhouette . The calligraphically stylized portrait of a woman from Washington is similarly cutesy and sophisticated.