Sandro Botticelli(March 1, 1445 - May 17, 1510) - a deeply religious man, worked in all the major churches of Florence and in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican, but remained in the history of art primarily as the author of large-format poetic canvases on subjects inspired by classical antiquity - "Spring" and "Birth of Venus". .

For a long time, Botticelli was in the shadow of the Renaissance giants who worked after him, until he was in mid-19th century was rediscovered by the British Pre-Raphaelites, who revered the fragile linearity and spring freshness of his mature canvases as the highest point in the development of world art.

Born into the family of a wealthy city dweller, Mariano di Vanni Filipepi. Received good education. He studied painting with the monk Filippo Lippi and adopted from him that passion in depicting touching motifs that distinguishes historical paintings Lippi. Then he worked for famous sculptor Verrocchio. In 1470 he organized his own workshop..

He adopted the subtlety and precision of lines from his second brother, who was a jeweler. He studied for some time with Leonardo da Vinci in Verrocchio's workshop. The original feature of Botticelli’s own talent is his inclination towards the fantastic. He was one of the first to introduce ancient myth and allegory into the art of his time, and with special love worked on mythological subjects. Particularly impressive is his Venus, who floats naked on the sea in a shell, and the gods of the winds shower her with rain of roses and drive the shell to the shore.

The frescoes he began in 1474 in the Sistine Chapel of the Vatican are considered Botticelli's best creation. He completed many paintings commissioned by the Medici. In particular, he painted the banner of Giuliano de' Medici, brother of Lorenzo the Magnificent. In the 1470-1480s, the portrait became an independent genre in the work of Botticelli (“Man with a Medal,” c. 1474; “Young Man,” 1480s). Botticelli became famous for his subtle aesthetic taste and such works as “The Annunciation” (1489–1490), “The Abandoned One” (1495–1500), etc. recent years Botticelli apparently abandoned painting throughout his life.

Sandro Botticelli is buried in the family tomb in the Church of Ognisanti in Florence. According to his will, he was buried near the grave of Simonetta Vespucci, who inspired the most beautiful images of the master.

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci(April 15, 1452, the village of Anchiano, near the town of Vinci, near Florence - May 2, 1519 - great Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer, one of the largest representatives of art High Renaissance, a prime example of a “universal person”. .

Our contemporaries know Leonardo primarily as an artist. In addition, it is possible that da Vinci could also have been a sculptor: researchers from the University of Perugia - Giancarlo Gentilini and Carlo Sisi - claim that the terracotta head they found in 1990 is the only sculptural work of Leonardo da Vinci that has come down to us. However, da Vinci himself different periods In his life, he considered himself primarily an engineer or scientist. He did not devote much time to fine art and worked rather slowly. Therefore, Leonardo’s artistic heritage is not large in quantity, and a number of his works have been lost or severely damaged. However, his contribution to the world artistic culture is extremely important even against the background of the cohort of geniuses that the Italian Renaissance produced. Thanks to his works, the art of painting moved to high quality new stage of its development. The Renaissance artists who preceded Leonardo decisively rejected many of the conventions of medieval art. This was a movement towards realism and much had already been achieved in the study of perspective, anatomy, and greater freedom in compositional solutions. But in terms of painting, working with paint, the artists were still quite conventional and constrained. The line in the picture clearly outlined the object, and the image had the appearance of a painted drawing. The most conventional was the landscape, which played a secondary role. .

Leonardo realized and embodied a new painting technique. His line has the right to be blurry, because that’s how we see it. He realized the phenomenon of light scattering in the air and the appearance of sfumato - a haze between the viewer and the depicted object, which softens color contrasts and lines. As a result, realism in painting moved to a qualitatively new level. . renaissance painting Botticelli Renaissance

Rafael Santi(March 28, 1483 - April 6, 1520) - great Italian painter, graphic artist and architect, representative of the Umbrian school..

The son of the painter Giovanni Santi underwent initial artistic training in Urbino with his father Giovanni Santi, but already at a young age he found himself in the studio outstanding artist Pietro Perugino. Exactly artistic language and the imagery of Perugino’s paintings, with their tendency towards a symmetrical, balanced composition, clarity of spatial solutions and softness in color and lighting, had a primary influence on the style of the young Raphael.

It is also necessary to stipulate that Raphael’s creative style included a synthesis of the techniques and findings of other masters. At first, Raphael relied on the experience of Perugino, and later, in turn, on the findings of Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Bartolomeo, Michelangelo. .

Early works(“Madonna Conestabile” 1502-1503) are imbued with grace and soft lyricism. He glorified the earthly existence of man, the harmony of spiritual and physical forces in the paintings of the rooms of the Vatican (1509-1517), achieving an impeccable sense of proportion, rhythm, proportions, euphony of color, unity of figures and majestic architectural backgrounds..

In Florence, having come into contact with the works of Michelangelo and Leonardo, Raphael learned from them an anatomically correct image human body. At the age of 25, the artist ends up in Rome, and from that moment begins the period of the highest flowering of his creativity: he performs monumental paintings in the Vatican Palace (1509-1511), among which is the master’s undisputed masterpiece - the fresco “ Athens school", writes altar compositions and easel paintings, distinguished by the harmony of concept and execution, works as an architect (for some time Raphael even directed the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral). In a tireless search for his ideal, embodied for the artist in the image of the Madonna, he creates his most perfect creation - the “Sistine Madonna” (1513), a symbol of motherhood and self-denial. Raphael's paintings and murals were recognized by his contemporaries, and Santi soon became a central figure in the artistic life of Rome. Many noble people of Italy wanted to become related to the artist, including Raphael’s close friend Cardinal Bibbiena. The artist died at the age of thirty-seven from heart failure. The unfinished paintings of the Villa Farnesina, the Vatican loggias and other works were completed by Raphael's students in accordance with his sketches and drawings.

One of the largest representatives of the art of the High Renaissance, whose paintings are characterized by an emphasized balance and harmony of the whole, balanced composition, measured rhythm and delicate use of color capabilities. Impeccable command of the line and the ability to generalize and highlight the main thing made Raphael one of the most outstanding masters of drawing of all time. Raphael's legacy served as one of the pillars in the formation of European academicism. Adherents of classicism - the Carracci brothers, Poussin, Mengs, David, Ingres, Bryullov and many other artists - extolled Raphael's legacy as the most perfect phenomenon in world art...

Titian Vecellio(1476/1477 or 1480s-1576) - Italian Renaissance painter. Titian's name ranks with such Renaissance artists as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Titian painted paintings based on biblical and mythological stories, he also became famous as a portrait painter. Kings and popes, cardinals, dukes and princes placed orders for him. Titian was not even thirty years old when he was recognized as the best painter of Venice.

According to his place of birth (Pieve di Cadore in the province of Belluno), he is sometimes called da Cadore; also known as Titian the Divine...

Titian was born into the family of Gregorio Vecellio, a statesman and military leader. At the age of ten he was sent with his brother to Venice to study with the famous mosaic artist Sebastian Zuccato. A few years later he entered the workshop of Giovanni Bellini as an apprentice. He studied with Lorenzo Lotto, Giorgio da Castelfranco (Giorgione) and a number of other artists who later became famous.

In 1518, Titian painted the painting “The Ascension of Our Lady”, in 1515 - Salome with the head of John the Baptist. From 1519 to 1526 he painted a number of altars, including the altarpiece of the Pesaro family.

Titian lived long life. Until his last days he did not stop working. My last picture, Lamentation of Christ, Titian wrote for his own tombstone. The artist died of the plague in Venice on August 27, 1576, having become infected from his son while caring for him.

Emperor Charles V summoned Titian to his place and surrounded him with honor and respect and said more than once: “I can create a duke, but where can I get a second Titian?” When one day the artist dropped his brush, Charles V picked it up and said: “It is an honor even for the emperor to serve Titian.” Both the Spanish and French kings invited Titian to live at their court, but the artist, having completed his orders, always returned to his native Venice. A crater on Mercury was named in honor of Titian. .

The first harbingers of Renaissance art appeared in Italy in the 14th century. Artists of this time, Pietro Cavallini (1259-1344), Simone Martini (1284-1344) and (most notably) Giotto (1267-1337) when creating paintings of traditional religious themes, they began to use new artistic techniques: constructing a three-dimensional composition, using a landscape in the background, which allowed them to make the images more realistic and animated. This sharply distinguished their work from the previous iconographic tradition, replete with conventions in the image.
The term used to denote their creativity Proto-Renaissance (1300s - "Trecento") .

Giotto di Bondone (c. 1267-1337) - Italian artist and architect of the Proto-Renaissance era. One of the key figures in the history of Western art. Having overcome the Byzantine icon-painting tradition, he became the true founder Italian school painting, developed a completely new approach to depicting space. Giotto's works were inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo.


Early Renaissance (1400s - Quattrocento).

At the beginning of the 15th century Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446), Florentine scientist and architect.
Brunelleschi wanted to make the perception of the baths and theaters he reconstructed more visual and tried to create geometrically perspective paintings from his plans for a specific point of view. In this search it was discovered direct perspective.

This allowed artists to obtain perfect images of three-dimensional space on a flat painting canvas.

_________

To others important step On the way to the Renaissance was the emergence of non-religious, secular art. Portrait and landscape established themselves as independent genres. Even religious subjects acquired a different interpretation - Renaissance artists began to consider their characters as heroes with pronounced individual traits and human motivation of actions.

The most famous artists of this period are Masaccio (1401-1428), Masolino (1383-1440), Benozzo Gozzoli (1420-1497), Piero Della Francesco (1420-1492), Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506), Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516), Antonello da Messina (1430-1479), Domenico Ghirlandaio (1449-1494), Sandro Botticelli (1447-1515).

Masaccio (1401-1428) - famous Italian painter, the largest master of the Florentine school, reformer of painting of the Quattrocento era.

Fresco. Miracle with statir.

Painting. Crucifixion.

Piero Della Francesco (1420-1492). The master's works are distinguished by majestic solemnity, nobility and harmony of images, generalized forms, compositional balance, proportionality, precision of perspective constructions, and a soft palette full of light.

Fresco. The story of the Queen of Sheba. Church of San Francesco in Arezzo

Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510) - great Italian painter, representative of the Florentine school of painting.

Spring.

Birth of Venus.

High Renaissance ("Cinquecento").
The highest flowering of Renaissance art occurred for the first quarter of the 16th century.
Works Sansovino (1486-1570), Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Rafael Santi (1483-1520), Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475-1564), Giorgione (1476-1510), Titian (1477-1576), Antonio Correggio (1489-1534) constitute the golden fund of European art.

Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci (Florence) (1452-1519) - Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer.

Self-portrait

Lady with an ermine. 1490. Czartoryski Museum, Krakow

Mona Lisa (1503-1505/1506)

Leonardo da Vinci achieved great skill in conveying the facial expressions of the human face and body, methods of conveying space, and constructing a composition. At the same time, his works create a harmonious image of a person that meets humanistic ideals.

Madonna Litta. 1490-1491. Hermitage.

Madonna Benois (Madonna with a Flower). 1478-1480

Madonna with Carnation. 1478

During his life, Leonardo da Vinci made thousands of notes and drawings on anatomy, but did not publish his work. While dissecting the bodies of people and animals, he accurately conveyed the structure of the skeleton and internal organs, including small parts. According to clinical anatomy professor Peter Abrams, da Vinci's scientific work was 300 years ahead of its time and in many ways superior to the famous Gray's Anatomy.

List of inventions, both real and attributed to him:

Parachute, toOlestsovo Castle, inbicycle, tank, llightweight portable bridges for the army, pprojector, toatapult, rboth, dVuhlens telescope.

These innovations were subsequently developed Rafael Santi (1483-1520) - a great painter, graphic artist and architect, representative of the Umbrian school.

Self-portrait. 1483

Michelangelo di Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni(1475-1564) - Italian sculptor, artist, architect, poet, thinker.

The paintings and sculptures of Michelangelo Buonarotti are full of heroic pathos and, at the same time, a tragic sense of the crisis of humanism. His paintings glorify the strength and power of man, the beauty of his body, while emphasizing his loneliness in the world.

The genius of Michelangelo left its mark not only on the art of the Renaissance, but also on all subsequent world culture. His activities are connected mainly with two Italian cities - Florence and Rome.

However, the artist was able to realize his most ambitious plans precisely in painting, where he acted as a true innovator of color and form.
Commissioned by Pope Julius II, he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel (1508-1512), representing the biblical story from the creation of the world to the flood and including more than 300 figures. In 1534-1541, in the same Sistine Chapel, he painted the grandiose, dramatic fresco “The Last Judgment” for Pope Paul III.
Sistine Chapel 3D.

The works of Giorgione and Titian are distinguished by their interest in landscape and poeticization of the plot. Both artists achieved great skill in the art of portraiture, with the help of which they conveyed character and richness. inner world their characters.

Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco ( Giorgione) (1476/147-1510) - Italian artist, representative Venetian school painting.

Sleeping Venus. 1510

Judith. 1504g

Titian Vecellio (1488/1490-1576) - Italian painter, largest representative Venetian school of the High and Late Renaissance.

Titian painted paintings on biblical and mythological subjects; he also became famous as a portrait painter. Kings and popes, cardinals, dukes and princes placed orders for him. Titian was not even thirty years old when he was recognized as the best painter of Venice.

Self-portrait. 1567

Venus of Urbino. 1538

Portrait of Tommaso Mosti. 1520

Late Renaissance.
Following the sack of Rome by imperial forces in 1527, the Italian Renaissance entered a period of crisis. Already in the work of late Raphael, a new art line, called mannerism.
This era is characterized by inflated and broken lines, elongated or even deformed figures, often naked, tense and unnatural poses, unusual or bizarre effects associated with size, lighting or perspective, the use of a caustic chromatic range, overloaded composition, etc. The first masters mannerism Parmigianino , Pontormo , Bronzino- lived and worked at the court of the Dukes of the Medici house in Florence. Mannerist fashion later spread throughout Italy and beyond.

Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (Parmigianino - “resident of Parma”) (1503-1540) Italian artist and engraver, representative of mannerism.

Self-portrait. 1540

Portrait of a woman. 1530.

Pontormo (1494-1557) - Italian painter, representative of the Florentine school, one of the founders of mannerism.


In the 1590s, art replaced mannerism baroque (transitional figures - Tintoretto And El Greco ).

Jacopo Robusti, better known as Tintoretto (1518 or 1519-1594) - painter of the Venetian school of the late Renaissance.

last supper. 1592-1594. Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice.

El Greco ("Greek" Domenikos Theotokopoulos ) (1541—1614) - spanish artist. By origin - Greek, native of the island of Crete.
El Greco had no contemporary followers, and his genius was rediscovered almost 300 years after his death.
El Greco studied in Titian's studio, but, however, his painting technique differs significantly from that of his teacher. El Greco's works are characterized by speed and expressiveness of execution, which bring them closer to modern painting.

Christ on the cross. OK. 1577. Private collection.

Trinity. 1579 Prado.

The names of Renaissance artists have long been surrounded by universal recognition. Many judgments and assessments about them have become axioms. And yet, treating them critically is not only the right, but also the duty of art history. Only then does their art retain its true meaning for posterity.

Of the Renaissance masters of the mid and second half of the 15th century, it is necessary to dwell on four: Piero della Francesca, Mantegna, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci. They were contemporaries of the widespread establishment of seigneuries and dealt with princely courts, but this does not mean that their art was entirely princely. They took from the lords what they could give them, paid with their talent and zeal, but remained the successors of the “fathers of the Renaissance,” remembered their behests, increased their achievements, strived to surpass them, and indeed sometimes surpassed them. During the years of gradual reaction in Italy, they created wonderful art.

Piero della Francesca

Piero della Francesca was until recently the least known and recognized. The influence of the Florentine masters of the early 15th century on Piero della Francesca, as well as his reciprocal influence on his contemporaries and successors, especially on the Venetian school, has been rightly noted. However, the exceptional, outstanding position of Piero della Francesca in Italian painting is not yet sufficiently realized. Presumably, over time, his recognition will only increase.

Piero della Francesca (c. 1420-1492) Italian artist and theorist, representative Early Renaissance

Piero della Francesca owned all the achievements of the “new art” created by the Florentines, but did not stay in Florence, but returned to his homeland, to the province. This saved him from patrician tastes. He gained fame with his talent; princes and even the papal curia gave him assignments. But he did not become a court artist. He always remained true to himself, his calling, his charming muse. Of all his contemporaries, he is the only artist who did not know discord, duality, or the danger of slipping onto the wrong path. He never sought to compete with sculpture or resort to sculptural or graphic means of expression. Everything is said in his language of painting.

His largest and most beautiful work is a cycle of frescoes on the theme “The History of the Cross” in Arezzo (1452-1466). The work was carried out according to the will of the local merchant Bacci. Perhaps, during the development of the program, participation took place clergyman, executor of the will of the deceased. Piero della Francesca relied on the so-called “Golden Legend” of J. da Voragine. He also had predecessors among artists. But the main idea obviously belonged to him. The wisdom, maturity and poetic sensitivity of the artist clearly shines through in it.

Hardly the only pictorial cycle in Italy of that time, “The History of the Cross,” has a double meaning. On the one hand, everything is presented here that is told in the legend about how the tree from which the Calvary cross was made grew, and how its miraculous power later manifested itself. But since individual paintings do not go well chronological sequence, this literal meaning seems to recede into the background. The artist arranged the paintings so that they give an idea of different forms human life: about the patriarchal - in the scene of the death of Adam and in the transfer of the cross by Heraclius, about the secular, court, urban - in the scenes of the Queen of Sheba and in the Finding of the Cross, and finally about the military, battle - in the "Victory of Constantine" and in the "Victory of Heraclius" . In essence, Piero della Francesca covered almost all aspects of life. His cycle included: history, legend, life, work, pictures of nature and portraits of contemporaries. In the city of Arezzo, in the church of San Francesco, politically subordinate to Florence, there was the most remarkable fresco cycle Italian Renaissance.

The art of Piero della Francesca is more real than ideal. A rational principle reigns in him, but not rationality, which can drown out the voice of the heart. And in this respect, Piero della Francesca personifies the brightest, most fruitful forces of the Renaissance.

Andrea Mantegna

Mantegna's name is associated with the idea of ​​a humanist artist, in love with Roman antiquities, armed with extensive knowledge of ancient archaeology. All his life he served the Dukes of Mantua d'Este, was their court painter, carried out their instructions, served them faithfully (although they did not always give him what he deserved). But deep down in his soul and in art he was independent, devoted to his high the ideal of ancient valor, fanatically faithful to his desire to give his works a jeweler's precision. This required an enormous amount of spiritual strength. Mantegna's art is harsh, sometimes cruel to the point of mercilessness, and in this it differs from the art of Piero della Francesca and approaches Donatello.

Andrea Mantegna. Self-portrait in the Ovetari Chapel

Early frescoes by Mantegna in the Eremitani Church of Padua on the life of St. James and his martyrdom are wonderful examples of Italian mural painting. Mantegna did not at all think about creating something similar to Roman art (the painting that became known in the West after the excavations of Herculaneum). Its antiquity is not the golden age of humanity, but iron age emperors.

He glorifies Roman valor, almost better than the Romans themselves did. His heroes are armored and statuary. His rocky mountains are precisely carved by a sculptor’s chisel. Even the clouds floating across the sky seem to be cast from metal. Among these fossils and castings, battle-hardened heroes act, courageous, stern, persistent, devoted to a sense of duty, justice, and ready for self-sacrifice. People move freely in space, but, lining up in a row, they form a semblance of stone reliefs. This world of Mantegna does not enchant the eye; it chills the heart. But one cannot help but admit that it was created by the artist’s spiritual impulse. And therefore, the decisive importance here was the artist’s humanistic erudition, not the advice of his learned friends, but his powerful imagination, his passion bound by will and confident skill.

Before us is one of the significant phenomena in the history of art: great masters, by the power of their intuition, stand in line with their distant ancestors and accomplish what cannot be done later to artists who studied the past, but were unable to match it.

Sandro Botticelli

Botticelli was discovered by the English Pre-Raphaelites. However, even at the beginning of the 20th century, with all the admiration for his talent, they did not “forgive” him for deviations from generally accepted rules- perspective, chiaroscuro, anatomy. Subsequently, it was decided that Botticelli had turned back to the Gothic. Vulgar sociology summed up its explanation for this: the “feudal reaction” in Florence. Iconological interpretations established Botticelli's connections with the circle of Florentine Neoplatonists, especially evident in his famous paintings "Spring" and "Birth of Venus".

Self-portrait of Sandro Botticelli, fragment of the altar composition "Adoration of the Magi" (circa 1475)

One of the most authoritative interpreters of "Spring" Botticelli admitted that this picture remains a charade, a labyrinth. In any case, it can be considered established that when creating it, the author knew the poem “Tournament” by Poliziano, in which Simonetta Vespucci, the beloved of Giuliano de’ Medici, is glorified, as well as ancient poets, in particular, the opening lines about the kingdom of Venus in Lucretius’ poem “On the Nature of Things” . Apparently he also knew the works of M. Vicino, which were popular in those years in Florence. Motifs borrowed from all these works are clearly visible in the painting acquired in 1477 by L. Medici, cousin Lorenzo the Magnificent. But the question remains: how did these fruits of erudition come into the picture? There is no reliable information about this.

Reading modern scholarly comments on this painting, it is difficult to believe that the artist himself could delve so deeply into the mythological plot in order to come up with all sorts of subtleties in the interpretation of figures, which even today cannot be understood at a glance, but in the old days, apparently, were understood only in Medici mug. It is more likely that they were suggested to the artist by some erudite and he managed to achieve the fact that the artist began to interlinearly translate the verbal sequence into the visual one. The most delightful thing about Botticelli's painting is the individual figures and groups, especially the group of the Three Graces. Despite the fact that it has been reproduced an infinite number of times, it has not lost its charm to this day. Every time you see her, you experience a new attack of admiration. Truly, Botticelli managed to communicate to his creatures eternal youth. One of the scholarly commentators on the painting suggested that the dance of the graces expresses the idea of ​​harmony and discord, which the Florentine Neoplatonists often spoke about.

Botticelli owns unsurpassed illustrations for " Divine Comedy"Whoever has seen his sheets will invariably remember them when reading Dante. He, like no one else, was imbued with the spirit of Dante's poem. Some of Dante's drawings have the character of an exact graphic liner to the poem. But the most beautiful are those where the artist imagines and composes in the spirit of Dante. There are more of these among the illustrations of paradise. It would seem that painting paradise was the most difficult for Renaissance artists, who so loved the fragrant earth, Botticelli does not renounce the Renaissance perspective, spatial impressions, depending on the angle of view of the viewer. in paradise, he rises to convey the non-perspective essence of the objects themselves. His figures are weightless, the shadows disappear, the space exists outside of earthly coordinates. The bodies fit into a circle, as if in a symbol of the celestial sphere.

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo is one of the generally recognized geniuses of the Renaissance. Many consider him the first artist of that time, in any case, his name first of all comes to mind when it comes to wonderful people Renaissance. And that is why it is so difficult to deviate from the usual opinions and consider his artistic heritage with an unbiased mind.

Self-portrait where Leonardo portrayed himself as an old sage. The drawing is kept in the Royal Library of Turin. 1512

Even his contemporaries admired the universality of his personality. However, Vasari already expressed regret that Leonardo paid more attention to his scientific and technical inventions than artistic creativity. Leonardo's fame reached its apogee in the 19th century. His personality became some kind of myth; he was seen as the embodiment of the “Faustian principle” of all European culture.

Leonardo was a great scientist, an insightful thinker, a writer, the author of the Treatise, and an inventive engineer. His comprehensiveness raised him above the level of most artists of that time and at the same time placed him in front of difficult task- combine a scientific analytical approach with the artist’s ability to see the world and directly surrender to feelings. This task subsequently occupied many artists and writers. For Leonardo, it took on the character of an insoluble problem.

Let us forget for a while everything that the wonderful myth about the artist-scientist whispers to us, and let us judge his painting the way we judge the painting of other masters of his time. What makes his work stand out from theirs? First of all, vigilance of vision and high artistry of execution. They bear the imprint of exquisite craftsmanship and the finest taste. In his teacher Verrocchio’s painting “The Baptism,” the young Leonardo painted one angel so sublimely and sublimely that next to him the pretty angel Verrocchio seems rustic and base. Over the years, “aesthetic aristocracy” intensified even more in Leonardo’s art. This does not mean that at the courts of sovereigns his art became courtly and courtly. In any case, his Madonnas can never be called peasant women.

He belonged to the same generation as Botticelli, but spoke disapprovingly, even mockingly, of him, considering him behind the times. Leonardo himself sought to continue the search for his predecessors in the art. Not limiting himself to space and volume, he sets himself the task of mastering the light-air environment that envelops objects. This meant next step in the artistic comprehension of the real world, to a certain extent opened the way for the colorism of the Venetians.

It would be wrong to say that his passion for science interfered with Leonardo's artistic creativity. The genius of this man was so enormous, his skill so high, that even an attempt to “stand up to the throat of his song” could not kill his creativity. His gift as an artist constantly broke through all restrictions. What is captivating in his creations is the unmistakable fidelity of the eye, the clarity of consciousness, the obedience of the brush, and the virtuosic technique. They captivate us with their charms, like an obsession. Anyone who has seen La Gioconda remembers how difficult it is to tear yourself away from it. In one of the halls of the Louvre, where she found herself next to the best masterpieces of the Italian school, she triumphs and proudly reigns over everything that hangs around her.

Leonardo's paintings do not form a chain, like many other Renaissance artists. In his early works, like Benoit's Madonna, there is more warmth and spontaneity, but even in it the experiment makes itself felt. "Adoration" in the Uffizi - and this is an excellent underpainting, a temperamental, lively image of people reverently turned to an elegant woman with a baby on her lap. In “Madonna of the Rocks” the angel, a curly-haired youth looking out from the picture, is charming, but the strange idea of ​​​​transferring the idyll into the darkness of the cave is repellent. The famous “Last Supper” has always delighted in its apt characterization of the characters: gentle John, stern Peter, and the villainous Judas. However, the fact that such lively and excited figures are arranged three in a row, on one side of the table, looks like an unjustified convention, violence against living nature. However, this the great Leonardo da Vinci, and since he painted the picture this way, it means he intended it this way, and this mystery will remain for centuries.

The observation and vigilance to which Leonardo called artists in his Treatise are not limited to his creative possibilities. He deliberately sought to spur his imagination by looking at the walls, cracked from age, in which the viewer could imagine any subject. In the famous Windsor drawing of sanguine "Thunderstorm" Leonardo conveys what was revealed to his gaze from some mountain peak. A series of Windsor drawings on the theme global flood- evidence of a truly brilliant insight of the artist-thinker. The artist creates signs that have no answer, but which evoke a feeling of amazement mixed with horror. The drawings were created by the great master in some kind of prophetic delirium. Everything is said in them in the dark language of John’s visions.

Leonardo's internal discord in his declining days makes itself felt in two of his works: the Louvre "John the Baptist" and the Turin self-portrait. In the late Turin self-portrait, the artist, who has reached old age, looks at himself in the mirror with an open gaze from behind his frowning eyebrows - he sees in his face the features of decrepitude, but he also sees wisdom, a sign of the “autumn of life.”

Italy is a country that has always been famous for artists. The great masters who once lived in Italy glorified art throughout the world. We can say for sure that if it were not for Italian artists, sculptors and architects, the world today would look completely different. Of course, it is considered the most significant in Italian art. Italy during the Renaissance or Renaissance achieved unprecedented growth and prosperity. Talented artists, sculptors, inventors, real geniuses who appeared in those days are still known to every schoolchild. Their art, creativity, ideas, and developments are today considered classics, the core on which world art and culture are built.

One of the most famous geniuses the Italian Renaissance is of course great Leonardo da Vinci(1452-1519). Da Vinci was so gifted that he achieved great success in many areas of activity, including fine arts oh and science. One more famous artist, who is a recognized master, is Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510). Botticelli's paintings are a true gift to humanity. Today, many of them are in the most famous museums in the world and are truly priceless. No less famous than Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli is Rafael Santi(1483-1520), who lived for 38 years, and during this time managed to create a whole layer of stunning painting, which became one of the striking examples of the Early Renaissance. Another great genius of the Italian Renaissance, without a doubt, is Michelangelo Buonarotti(1475-1564). In addition to painting, Michelangelo was engaged in sculpture, architecture and poetry, and achieved great results in these types of art. Michelangelo's statue called "David" is considered an unsurpassed masterpiece, an example of the highest achievement of the art of sculpture.

In addition to the artists mentioned above, the greatest artists Italy of the Renaissance included such masters as Antonello da Messina, Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, Paolo Veronese, Jacopo Tintoretto, Domenico Fetti, Bernardo Strozzi, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Francesco Guardi and others. All of them were shining examples of the delightful Venetian school of painting. The following artists belong to the Florentine school of Italian painting: Masaccio, Andrea del Verrocchio, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del Castagno, Benozzo Gozzoli, Sandro Botticelli, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Piero di Cosimo, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Fra Bartolommeo, Andrea del Sarto.

To list all the artists who worked during the Renaissance, as well as during the late Renaissance, and centuries later, who became famous throughout the world and glorified the art of painting, developed the basic principles and laws that underlie all types and genres of the fine arts, Perhaps it will take several volumes to write, but this list is enough to understand that the Great Italian artists are the very art that we know, that we love and that we will appreciate forever!

Paintings of great Italian artists

Andrea Mantegna - Fresco in the Camera degli Sposi

Giorgione - Three Philosophers

Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa

Nicolas Poussin - The Magnanimity of Scipio

Paolo Veronese - Battle of Lepanto

Characteristic features in the art of the Renaissance

Perspective. To add three-dimensional depth and space to their work, Renaissance artists borrowed and greatly expanded the concepts of linear perspective, horizon line, and vanishing point.

§ Linear perspective. Linear perspective painting is like looking out a window and painting exactly what you see on the window glass. Objects in the picture began to have their own sizes depending on their distance. Those that were further from the viewer became smaller, and vice versa.

§ Skyline. This is a line at a distance at which objects are reduced to a point as thick as that line.

§ Vanishing point. This is the point at which parallel lines seem to converge far away in the distance, often on the horizon line. This effect can be observed if you stand on the railway tracks and look at the rails going into the distance. l.

Shadows and light. Artists played with interest on how light falls on objects and creates shadows. Shadows and light could be used to draw attention to a specific point in a painting.

Emotions. Renaissance artists wanted the viewer, looking at the work, to feel something, to experience an emotional experience. It was a form of visual rhetoric where the viewer felt inspired to become better at something.

Realism and naturalism. In addition to perspective, artists sought to make objects, especially people, appear more realistic. They studied human anatomy, measured proportions and looked for the ideal human form. The people looked real and showed genuine emotions, allowing the viewer to make inferences about what the people depicted were thinking and feeling.

The Renaissance is divided into 4 stages:

Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the 13th century - 14th century)

Early Renaissance (beginning of the 15th - end of the 15th century)

High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)

Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 1590s)

Proto-Renaissance

The Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages; in fact, it appeared in the Late Middle Ages, with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic traditions, this period was the forerunner of the Renaissance. It is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). Italian artist and architect, founder of the Proto-Renaissance. One of the key figures in the history of Western art. Having overcome the Byzantine icon painting tradition, he became the true founder of the Italian school of painting and developed a completely new approach to depicting space. Giotto's works were inspired by Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo. Central figure Giotto became a painter. Renaissance artists considered him a reformer of painting. Giotto outlined the path along which its development took place: filling religious forms with secular content, a gradual transition from flat images to three-dimensional and relief ones, an increase in realism, introduced the plastic volume of figures into painting, and depicted the interior in painting.

At the end of the 13th century, the main temple building was erected in Florence - the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, the author was Arnolfo di Cambio, then the work was continued by Giotto.

The most important discoveries, the brightest masters live and work in the first period. The second segment is associated with the plague epidemic that struck Italy.

The earliest art of the proto-Renaissance appeared in sculpture (Niccolò and Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Pisano). Painting is represented by two art schools: Florence and Siena.

Early Renaissance

The period of the so-called “Early Renaissance” covers the period from 1420 to 1500 in Italy. During these eighty years, art has not yet completely abandoned the traditions of the recent past (the Middle Ages), but has tried to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, under the influence of increasingly changing conditions of life and culture, do artists completely abandon medieval foundations and boldly use examples of ancient art, both in the general concept of their works and in their details.

While art in Italy was already resolutely following the path of imitation of classical antiquity, in other countries it for a long time adhered to the traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, as well as in Spain, the Renaissance came only at the end of the 15th century, and its early period lasts until approximately the middle of the next century.

Early Renaissance Artists

Masaccio (Masaccio Tommaso Di Giovanni Di Simone Cassai), the famous Italian painter, the greatest master of the Florentine school, a reformer of painting of the Quattrocento era, is rightfully considered one of the first and most brilliant representatives of this period.

With his work, he contributed to the transition from Gothic to new art, glorifying the greatness of man and his world. Masaccio's contribution to art was renewed in 1988, when his main creation - frescoes of the Brancacci Chapel in the Church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence- were restored to their original form.

- Resurrection of the son of Theophilus, Masaccio and Filippino Lippi

- Adoration of the Magi

- Miracle with statir

Other important representatives of this period were Sandro Botticelli. great Italian painter of the Renaissance, representative of the Florentine school of painting.

- Birth of Venus

- Venus and Mars

- Spring

- Adoration of the Magi

High Renaissance

The third period of the Renaissance - the time of the most magnificent development of his style - is usually called the “High Renaissance”. It extends in Italy from approximately 1500 to 1527. At this time the center of influence Italian art moved from Florence to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II - an ambitious, courageous, enterprising man who attracted the best artists of Italy to his court, occupied them with numerous and important works and gave others an example of love for art. Under this Pope and under his immediate successors, Rome becomes, as it were, the new Athens of the time of Pericles: many monumental buildings are built in it, magnificent sculptural works, frescoes and paintings are painted, which are still considered the pearls of painting; at the same time, all three branches of art harmoniously go hand in hand, helping one another and mutually influencing each other. Antiquity is now studied more thoroughly, reproduced with greater rigor and consistency; calm and dignity replace the playful beauty that was the aspiration of the previous period; memories of the medieval completely disappear, and a completely classical imprint falls on all creations of art. But imitation of the ancients does not drown out their independence in artists, and with great resourcefulness and vivid imagination they freely rework and apply to their work what they consider appropriate to borrow for themselves from ancient Greco-Roman art.

Creativity of three greats Italian masters marks the pinnacle of the Renaissance, this is Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) Leonardo di Ser Piero da Vinci great Italian painter of the Renaissance, representative of the Florentine school of painting. Italian artist (painter, sculptor, architect) and scientist (anatomist, naturalist), inventor, writer, musician, one of the largest representatives of the art of the High Renaissance, a shining example of the “universal man”

Last Supper,

Mona Lisa,

-Vitruvian Man ,

- Madonna Litta

- Madonna of the Rocks

-Madonna with a spindle

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) Michelangelo di Lodovico di Leonardo di Buonarroti Simoni. Italian sculptor, artist, architect [⇨], poet [⇨], thinker [⇨]. . One of greatest masters Renaissance [ ⇨ ] and early Baroque. His works were considered the highest achievements of Renaissance art during the lifetime of the master himself. Michelangelo lived for almost 89 years, an entire era, from the period of the High Renaissance to the origins of the Counter-Reformation. During this period, there were thirteen Popes - he carried out orders for nine of them.

Creation of Adam

Last Judgment

and Raphael Santi (1483-1520). great Italian painter, graphic artist and architect, representative of the Umbrian school.

- Athens School

-Sistine Madonna

- Transfiguration

- Beautiful gardener

Late Renaissance

The late Renaissance in Italy spans the period from the 1530s to the 1590s to the 1620s. The Counter-Reformation triumphed in Southern Europe ( Counter-Reformation(lat. Contrareformatio; from contra- against and reformatio- transformation, reformation) - a Catholic church-political movement in Europe in the mid-16th-17th centuries, directed against the Reformation and aimed at restoring the position and prestige of the Roman Catholic Church.), which looked warily at any free-thinking, including the glorification of the human body and resurrection of the ideals of antiquity as the cornerstones of Renaissance ideology. Worldview contradictions and a general feeling of crisis resulted in Florence in the “nervous” art of contrived colors and broken lines - mannerism. Mannerism reached Parma, where Correggio worked, only after the artist’s death in 1534. The artistic traditions of Venice had their own logic of development; Palladio (real name) worked there until the end of the 1570s Andrea di Pietro). great Italian architect of the late Renaissance and Mannerism.( Mannerism(from Italian maniera, manner) - Western European literary and artistic style of the 16th - first third of the 17th century. Characterized by the loss of Renaissance harmony between the physical and spiritual, nature and man.) Founder of Palladianism ( Palladianism or Palladium architecture- an early form of classicism that grew out of the ideas of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). The style is based on strict adherence to symmetry, consideration of perspective and borrowing the principles of classical temple architecture of Ancient Greece and Rome.) and classicism. Probably the most influential architect in history.

First independent work Andrea Palladio, as a talented designer and gifted architect, is the Basilica in Vicenza, in which his original, inimitable talent was revealed.

Among the country houses, the most outstanding creation of the master is the Villa Rotunda. Andrea Palladio built it in Vicenza for a retired Vatican official. It is notable for being the first secular-domestic building of the Renaissance, erected in the form of an ancient temple.

Another example is the Palazzo Chiericati, the unusualness of which is manifested in the fact that the first floor of the building was almost entirely given over to public use, which was in accordance with the requirements of the city authorities of those times.

Among the famous urban buildings of Palladio, it is necessary to mention the Teatro Olimpico, designed in the style of an amphitheater.

Titian ( Titian Vecellio) Italian painter, the largest representative of the Venetian school of the High and Late Renaissance. Titian's name ranks with such Renaissance artists as Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael. Titian painted paintings on biblical and mythological subjects; he also became famous as a portrait painter. He received orders from kings and popes, cardinals, dukes and princes. Titian was not even thirty years old when he was recognized as the best painter of Venice.

From his place of birth (Pieve di Cadore in the province of Belluno, Republic of Venice) he is sometimes called yes Cadore; also known as Titian the Divine.

- Ascension of the Virgin Mary

- Bacchus and Ariadne

- Diana and Actaeon

- Venus Urbino

- The Kidnapping of Europa

whose work had little in common with the crisis in the art of Florence and Rome.