The era of high renaissance. The Renaissance in Italy is a legacy of the whole world. Philosophy of the Renaissance: the foundations of a new movement

She gave the world a strong-willed, intelligent person, the creator of his own destiny and himself. There have been significant changes in people's mentalities compared to the Middle Ages. First of all, secular motives in European culture intensified. Various spheres of social life - art, philosophy, literature, education - have become increasingly independent and independent. The main character of the era, a kind of center of culture, became an energetic, liberated person, dreaming of the realization of personal earthly ideals, striving for independence in all areas of his activity, trying to realize diverse interests, challenging established traditions and orders.

Your name Renaissance(in French “Renaissance”, in Italian “Renaissance”) received with the light hand of the Italian artist, architect and art historian Giorgio Vasari, who in his book “Biographies of Great Painters, Sculptors and Architects” designated with this term the period of Italian art from 1250 to 1550. Thus, he wanted to emphasize the return of the cultural ideals of antiquity to the life of society and define a new cultural and historical era that replaced the Middle Ages.

Prerequisites and features of Renaissance culture

The main prerequisite for the formation of a new type of culture was a new worldview, caused by significant changes in the life of many European countries. In Italy, and then in the Netherlands, Germany, France, and England, trade developed rapidly, and with it the first industrial enterprises—manufactories—acquired great importance. New living conditions naturally gave rise to new thinking, which was based on secular freethinking. The asceticism of medieval morality did not correspond to the real life practice of new social groups and strata that came to the fore in public life. The traits of rationalism, prudence, and awareness of the role of a person’s personal needs became increasingly apparent. A new morality has emerged that justifies the joys of worldly life, affirming the human right to earthly happiness, to free development and manifestation of all natural inclinations. Strengthening secular sentiments and interest in the earthly deeds of man had a decisive influence on the emergence and formation of the culture of the Renaissance.

The birthplace of the Renaissance was Florence, which in the 13th century. was a city of wealthy merchants, owners of factories, and a huge number of artisans organized into guilds. In addition, the guilds of doctors, pharmacists, musicians, lawyers, solicitors, and notaries were very numerous for that time. It was among representatives of this class that circles of educated people began to form who decided to study the cultural heritage of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. They turned to the artistic heritage of the ancient world, the works of the Greeks and Romans, who in their time created the image of a person not constrained by the dogmas of religion, beautiful in soul and body. Therefore, the new era in the development of European culture was called “Renaissance”, reflecting the desire to return the samples and values of ancient culture in new historical conditions.

The revival of the ancient heritage began with the study of Greek and Latin; Later, Latin became the language of the Renaissance. The founders of the new cultural era - historians, philologists, librarians - studied old manuscripts and books, compiled collections of antiquities, restored forgotten works of Greek and Roman authors, and re-translated scientific texts distorted in the Middle Ages. These texts were not only monuments of another cultural era, but also “teachers” that helped them discover themselves and shape their personality.

Gradually, the circle of interests of these devotees also included other monuments of the artistic culture of antiquity, primarily sculptural ones. At that time, quite a lot of Greek and Roman statues, painted vessels, and architectural buildings were still preserved in Florence, Rome, Ravenna, Naples, and Venice. For the first time in the millennium of Christianity, ancient sculptures were treated not as pagan idols, but as works of art. Subsequently, the ancient heritage was included in the education system, and a wide range of people became acquainted with literature, sculpture, and philosophy. Poets and artists, imitating ancient authors, sought to revive ancient art. But, as often happens in culture, the desire to revive old principles and forms leads to the creation of something new. The culture of the Renaissance was not a simple return to antiquity. She developed it and interpreted it in a new way based on changed historical conditions. Therefore, the culture of the Renaissance was the result of a synthesis of old and new. The culture of the Renaissance was formed as a denial, protest, rejection of medieval culture. Dogmatism and scholasticism were rejected, theology was deprived of its former authority. The attitude towards the church and clergy became critical. Researchers agree that in no other era in the history of European culture were so many anti-church writings and statements created as during the Renaissance.

However, the Renaissance was not an irreligious culture. Many of the best works of this era were born in the mainstream of church art. Almost all the great masters of the Renaissance created frescoes, designed and painted cathedrals, turning to biblical characters and subjects. Humanists re-translated and commented on the Bible and engaged in theological research. Therefore, we can talk about rethinking religion, and not about abandoning it. Human comprehension of a world filled with divine beauty becomes one of the ideological tasks of this era. The world attracts a person because it is spiritualized by God, but it is possible to know it only with the help of one’s own feelings. In this process of cognition, the human eye, according to cultural figures of that time, is the most faithful and reliable means. Therefore, during the Italian Renaissance, there was a keen interest in visual perception, painting and other types of spatial art flourished, allowing one to more accurately and truly see and capture divine beauty. During the Renaissance, artists more than others determined the content of the spiritual culture of their time, thanks to which it has a pronounced artistic character.

The formation of the Renaissance image of the world and the artistic style that realizes it can be divided into several stages: preparatory, early, high, late and final. Each of them had a different appearance and was heterogeneous from the inside. At the same time, medieval styles still existed - late Gothic, proto-Renaissance, Mannerism, etc. Together, they form a rich and varied palette of means of expressing the Renaissance worldview.

The art of the Renaissance strove for rationalism, a scientific view of things, and imitation of nature. At this time, an exceptional interest in the harmony of nature arises. Imitating it became the central principle of the Renaissance theory of art and implied following the laws of nature, and not the external appearance of objects and phenomena of the surrounding world. There was a contamination (the combination of two principles in one work) of the image of nature and creativity according to the laws of nature.

The embodiment of the beauty of man, who was considered as the highest creation of the natural world, acquired particular importance. Artists primarily paid attention to the physical perfection of man. If the medieval consciousness considered the body as an outer shell, the focus of animal instincts, the source of sinfulness, then the Renaissance culture considered it the most important aesthetic value. After several centuries of disdain for the flesh, interest in physical beauty is rapidly growing.

At this time, a significant role was given to the cult of female beauty. Many artists have tried to unravel the mystery of the charm of the fair sex. This was largely due to a revision of the position of women in real life. If in the Middle Ages her fate was inextricably linked with housekeeping, raising children, and detachment from secular entertainment, then during the Renaissance, a woman’s living space expanded significantly. An ideal of an uninhibited, educated, emancipated lady is being formed, shining in society, keen on art, and able to be an interesting conversationalist. She strives to show her beauty by revealing her hair, neck, arms, wearing low-cut dresses, using cosmetics. The mola includes decorating clothes with gold and silver embroidery, precious stones, and lace. A beautiful, elegant, educated woman strives to charm and influence the world with her attractiveness and charm.

Unlike the Middle Ages, which created the ideal of a fragile woman with a thin figure, a pale face, a peaceful look, humble, brought up on prayers, the Renaissance will give preference to physically strong beauties. At this time, curvaceous female forms are valued. A pregnant woman was considered the ideal of beauty and aesthetically attractive, personifying the true feminine principle, participation in the great sacrament of procreation. Signs of male beauty were physical strength, internal energy, will, determination, and the ability to achieve recognition and fame. The Renaissance era gave rise to various approaches to the interpretation of beauty, based on the cult of human uniqueness.

All this led to an increasing role of art in public life, which during the Renaissance became the main type of spiritual activity. For the people of that era, it became what religion was in the Middle Ages, and science and technology in modern times. The public consciousness was dominated by the conviction that a work of art is capable of most fully expressing the ideal of a harmoniously organized world, where man occupies a central place. All types of art were subordinated to this task to varying degrees.

The role of the artist, who is beginning to be compared with the creator of the universe, especially increases. Artists set their goal to imitate nature; they do not believe that art is even higher than nature. In their work, technical skill, professional independence, scholarship, an independent view of things and the ability to create a “living” work of art are increasingly valued.

Along with works of monumental painting and sculpture, which were directly related to architectural structures, works of easel art, which acquired independent value, were increasingly developed. A system of genres begins to take shape: along with the religious-mythological genre, which still occupied the main place, at first a few works of historical, everyday and landscape genres appeared; The revived genre of portraiture is gaining great importance; A new form of art—engraving—appears and becomes increasingly widespread.

In that era, the dominant position of painting predetermined its influence on other arts. If in the Middle Ages it depended on the art of words, limiting its tasks to illustrating biblical texts, then the Renaissance swapped painting and literature, making literary storytelling dependent on the depiction of the visible world in painting. Writers began to describe the world as it could be seen.

Art of the Italian Renaissance

The formation and development of Renaissance culture was a long and uneven process. The birthplace of the Renaissance was Italy, where a new culture arose earlier than in other countries. The chronological framework covers the period from the second half of the 13th century. to the first half of the 16th century. inclusive. During this time, the art of the Italian Renaissance went through several stages of development. Among art historians, these stages are usually called by the names of the centuries: XIII century. called Ducento (literally - two hundredths), XIV century. - trecento (three hundredths), XV century. - Quattrocento (four hundredths), 16th century. - Cinqucento (five-hundredths).

The first sprouts of a new worldview and shifts in artistic creativity appeared at the end of the 13th century, and at the beginning of the 14th century. they were replaced by a wave of Gothic art. These phenomena became a kind of “pre-renaissance” and were called the Proto-Renaissance. New phenomena in Italian culture developed widely in the 15th century. This stage, designated as Quattrocento, is also called the early Renaissance. The artistic culture of the Renaissance reached its full completion and flourishing by the end of the 15th - beginning of the 16th centuries. This period of greatest prosperity, which lasted only 30-40 years, is called the High, or classical, Renaissance. In general, the Renaissance became obsolete in Italy in the 1530s, but only in the last 2/3 of the 16th century. it continues to exist in Venice. This period is usually called the late Renaissance.

Proto-Renaissance culture

The beginning of a new era is associated with the work of the Florentine artist Giotto di Bondone. In the fine arts of the Proto-Renaissance, Giotto is a central figure, since the largest painters of the Renaissance considered him a reformer of painting. Thanks to him, the labor-intensive mosaic technique was replaced by the fresco technique, which was more consistent with the requirements of Renaissance painting, allowing the volume and density of the material to be conveyed with greater accuracy than mosaic with its intangibility of matter, and to quickly create multi-figure compositions.

Giotto was the first to implement the principle of imitation of nature in painting. He began to draw living people from life, which was not done either in Byzantium or in medieval Europe. If in works of medieval art disembodied figures with ascetic, stern faces barely touched the ground, then Giotto’s figures appear three-dimensional, material. He achieved this effect thanks to light modeling, according to which the human eye perceives light as closer to it, and dark as more distant. When working on the frescoes, the artist paid special attention to showing the mental state of the characters.

The turn of Ducento and Trecento (XIII-XIV centuries) turned out to be a turning point in the cultural life of Italy. In a certain respect, it crowns the Middle Ages and at the same time serves as the starting point of the Renaissance. During this period, poetry most fully expressed the new culture and new sense of the world. It was in literature that the attraction to the new, manifested in other value guidelines, was most clearly evident. The brightest, most talented exponents of new traditions were Dante, Francesco Petrarch, and Giovanni Boccaccio.

Dante Alighieri at the beginning of his poetic work, he was closely associated with a new direction in Italian poetry, known as the school of the “new sweet style,” in which love for a woman was idealized and identified with love for wisdom and virtue. His first works were lyrical love poems, in which Dante acted as an imitator of French courtly poets. The main character of his literary work was the young Florentine Beatrice, who died seven years after their meeting, but the poet carried his love for her throughout his life.

Dante entered the history of world culture as the author of the poem “The Divine Comedy”. He originally called his grand epic a comedy, following the medieval tradition that a comedy was any literary work with a bad beginning and a good ending. The epithet "Divine" was added to the name at the end of the 14th century. in order to emphasize the artistic significance and poetic perfection of the work.

“The Divine Comedy” has a clear structure: three main parts - “Hell”, “Purgatory”, “Paradise”, each of which consists of 33 songs, written in terzas - poetic forms in the form of three stanzas. The content of Dante's poem is connected with his theory of the four meanings of poetic works - literal, allegorical, moral and analogical (i.e. higher).

The basis of the poem “The Divine Comedy” is the traditional plot of the “visions” genre, when a person, mired in his vices, heavenly powers (most often in the guise of his guardian angel) help him understand his unrighteousness, giving him the opportunity to see hell and heaven. A person falls into a lethargic sleep, during which his soul goes to the afterlife. In Dante, this plot looks like this: the savior of his soul turns out to be his long-dead beloved Beatrice, who sends the ancient poet Virgil to help Alighieri’s soul, accompanying him on a journey through hell and purgatory. In paradise, he follows Beatrice herself, since the pagan Virgil has no right to be there.

Dante depicted hell as an underground funnel-shaped abyss, the slopes of which are surrounded by concentric ledges - “circles of hell.” Narrowing, it reaches the center of the globe with an icy lake into which Lucifer is frozen. In the circles of hell, sinners are punished; the more terrible their sin, the lower in the circle they are. During his journey, Dante goes through all nine circles of hell - from the first, where unbaptized babies and virtuous non-Christians are, to the ninth, where traitors are tormented, among whom we see Judas. Not all sinners evoke disgust and censure in Dante. Thus, in the interpretation of the love of Francesca and Paolo, the poet’s sympathy is manifested, because love for him is not a condemned sin, but a feeling determined by the very nature of life.

Dante imagined Purgatory as a huge cone-shaped mountain rising in the middle of the ocean in the southern hemisphere. According to the teachings of Thomas Aquinas, purgatory is a place where the souls of sinners who have not received forgiveness in earthly life, but are not burdened with mortal sins, burn in purifying fire before gaining access to heaven. (Note that the cleansing fire of purgatory was perceived by some theologians as a symbol of torment of conscience and repentance, by others - as a real fire.) The period of stay of the sinner’s soul in purgatory could be shortened by his relatives and friends who remained on earth by performing “good deeds” - prayers, masses, donations to the church.

Paradise, according to Dante, is a wonderful and mysterious region. This radiant abode of God is shaped like a round lake and is the core of the Paradise Rose. The blessed souls who find themselves there occupy a place corresponding to their exploits and glory.

Dante's great poem presents a unique picture of the universe, nature and human existence. Although the world depicted in the Divine Comedy is fictitious, it is in many ways similar to earthly pictures: the depths of hell and lakes are similar to terrible sinkholes in the Alps, the vats of hell are like the vats of the Venetian arsenal, where resin is boiled for caulking ships, the mountain of purgatory and forests on it is the same as the earthly mountains and forests, and the gardens of paradise are like the fragrant gardens of Italy. To this day, The Divine Comedy remains an unsurpassed masterpiece of literature. Dante's powerful fantasy depicted such an unusually convincing world that many of his simple-minded contemporaries sincerely believed in the author's journey to the next world.

Italy is the best place to easily understand art history. There are masterpieces literally at every step here.

From this article you will learn:

“Rinascimento”: ri - “again” + nasci - “born”

I hope everyone has heard the concept of “renaissance”. Born again, born again. Or - the Renaissance. Almost always this concept is applied to the field of art: painting, literature, architecture, etc. By the way, science can also be included here.

Botticelli, Birth of Venus

Now let’s figure it out, what exactly was born again? This is a special type of culture that has already gone beyond the Middle Ages, but only precedes the Age of Enlightenment.

The term was first introduced by Giorgio Vasari (Italian humanist). This means some significant step forward in all spheres of social life, and especially in the cultural sphere. Flourishing, coming out of the shadows, transformation.

The struggle between the Middle Ages and Antiquity

If it’s not very clear yet, I’ll explain it more simply. The fact is that Medieval culture, painting, poetry, and people’s very lives were very dependent on the church, hierarchy in society and religion. Medieval art is religious art, personality is lost here, it does not matter.

By the way, there are several foreign languages on the pages of my blog!

Remember medieval Catholic frescoes and paintings. These are very frightening images that please the church. There are saints, righteous people, and in contrast the Last Judgment, terrible demons, monsters. A situation was created where being yourself, having ordinary human passions and desires was a sure path to hell. Only a pure-hearted, righteous Christian could hope for salvation and forgiveness.

Domanico Veneziano, Madonna and Child

The Renaissance is characterized by anthropocentrism and. At its center is a person, his activities, thoughts, aspirations. This approach is characteristic of the era of Ancient Culture. This is Ancient Rome, Greece. Paganism is being replaced by Christianity in Europe, and at the same time the canons of art are completely changing.

Raphael Santi, Madonna of the Greens

Now a person was considered as an individual, an important component of society. Man received freedom in art, which the strict laws of the religious culture of the Middle Ages never gave him.

The Renaissance, excuse the tautology, revives the period of Antiquity, but this is already its higher, modern level. Europe came under its influence in the period from the 15th to the 16th centuries. In Italy there will be a slightly different chronological framework of the Renaissance, I will tell you a little later.

Where did it all start?

It all started with the fall of the Byzantine Empire. If Europe was under the rule of the church for a long time, then in Byzantium no one forgot about the art of the Ancient period. People fled the crumbling empire. They took books, paintings with them, brought sculptures and new ideas to Europe.

Fall of the Byzantine Empire

Cosimo de' Medici founded Plato's Academy in Florence. Rather, it revives it. All this was inspired by the speech of one Byzantine lecturer.

Cities are growing, and the influence of classes, such as artisans, merchants, bankers, and craftsmen, is growing. The hierarchical value system is absolutely not important to them. The humble spirit of religious art is incomprehensible and alien to them.

A modern movement appears - humanism. It is precisely this that has a powerful influence on the new art of the Renaissance. European cities sought to develop progressive centers of science and art.

This area came under the influence of the Church. Of course, the Middle Ages, with their bonfires and book burnings, set back the development of civilization by decades. Now, with huge strides, the Renaissance sought to catch up.

Italian Renaissance

Fine art is becoming not only an important component of the era, but also a necessary activity. People now need art. Why?

Rafael Santi, portrait

A period of economic recovery is coming, and with it a gigantic shift in people's minds. The entire consciousness of a person was no longer aimed only at survival, new needs appeared.

To portray the world as it is, to show real beauty and real problems - this is the task of those who became iconic figures of the Italian Renaissance.

It is believed that this movement appeared in Italy. Moreover, it arose since the 13th century. Then the first beginnings of a new movement appear in the works of Paramoni, Pisano, then Giotto and Orcagna. It only finally took root in the 1420s.

In total, 4 major stages in the formation of the era can be distinguished:

Proto-Renaissance (what happened in Italy);
Early Renaissance;
High Renaissance;
Late Renaissance.

Let's look at each period in more detail.

Proto-Renaissance

Still closely associated with the Middle Ages. This is a period of gradual transition from the traditions of old times to new ones. It took place in the period from the 2nd half of the 13th century to the 14th century. Slowed down its development a little due to the global plague epidemic in Italy.

Proto-Renaissance, Andrea Mantegna, altarpiece of San Zeno in Verona

The painting of this period is best characterized by the works of the masters of Florence Cimabue, Giotto, as well as the Siena School - Duccio, Simone Martini. Of course, the most important figure of the proto-Renaissance is considered to be the master Giotto. Truly a reformer of the canons of painting.

Early Renaissance

This is the period from 1420 to 1500. We can say this is the time of a smooth transition to a new trend. Still borrows a lot from the art of yesteryear. New trends and images are mixed into it, and many everyday motifs are added. Painting and architecture, literature are becoming less and less figurative, more and more “human”.

Early Renaissance, Basilica di Santa Maria del Carmine, Firenze

High Renaissance

The magnificent heyday of the Renaissance occurred between 1500 and 1527 in Italy. Its center is transferred from Florence to Rome. Pope Julius II favors the new mood, which significantly helps the craftsmen.

Sistine Madonna, Raphael Santi, High Renaissance

He is an enterprising, modern man, and allocates funds to create works of art. The best frescoes in Italy are painted, churches, buildings, palaces are built. It is considered completely appropriate to borrow the features of Antiquity in the creation of even religious buildings.

The most iconic artists of Italy during the High Renaissance are Leonardo da Vinci and Raphael Santi.

I was in the Louvre in March 2012, there were not many tourists and I calmly and with pleasure was able to look at the painting “Mona Lisa”, which is also called “La Gioconda”. Indeed, no matter which side of the hall you go, her eyes are always looking at you. Miracle! Is not it?

Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci

Late Renaissance

Took place from 1530 to 1590-1620s. Historians agreed to reduce the work of this period into a single one only conditionally. There were so many new directions that it was dizzying. This applies to all types of creativity.

Then the Counter-Reformation triumphed in Southern Europe. They began to look very warily at the excessive glorification of the human body. There were many opponents of a bright return to Antiquity.

Veronese, Marriage at Cana, Late Renaissance

As a result of such a struggle, the style of “nervous art” appears - mannerism. There are broken lines, contrived colors and images, sometimes too ambiguous, and sometimes exaggerated.

In parallel with this, the works of Titian and Palladio appeared. Their work is considered significant for the late Renaissance; it is completely unaffected by the crisis trends of that century.

The philosophy of those periods finds a new object of study: the “universal” person. Here philosophical trends intertwine with painting. For example, Leonardo da Vinci. His works represent the idea of the absence of boundaries, limits for the human mind.

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The era takes over the North

Yes, it all started in Italy. Then the current moved on. I would like to say just a few words about the Northern Renaissance. Later, it came to the Netherlands, Germany and France. There was no Renaissance in that classical sense, but the new style conquered Europe.

Gothic art prevails, and human knowledge fades into the background. Albrecht Durer, Hans Holbein the Younger, Lucas Cranach the Elder, Pieter Bruegel the Elder stand out.

The best representatives of the whole era

We talked about the history of this interesting period. Let's now take a closer look at all its components.

Renaissance Man

The main thing is to understand - who is the man of the Renaissance?
Philosophers will help us here. For them, the object of study was the mind and capabilities of the person who creates. It is the mind that distinguishes Man from everything else. Reason makes him Similar to God, because Man can create, create. This is a Creator, a person who creates new things, a constantly developing person.

It is at the intersection of Nature and Modernity. Nature gave him an incredible gift - a perfect body and powerful intellect. The modern world opens up endless possibilities. Education, fantasy and its implementation. There are no limits to what a person is capable of.

Vitruvian Man, Leonardo Da Vinci

The ideal of the human personality is now: kindness, strength, heroism, the ability to create and create a new world around oneself. The most important thing here is personal freedom.

The idea of a person is changing - now he is free, full of strength and enthusiasm. Of course, such an idea of \u200b\u200bpeople motivated them to do something great, meaningful, important.

“Nobility is like a kind of radiance emanating from virtue and illuminating its owners, no matter what their origin.” (Poggio Bracciolini, 15th century).

Development of science

The period of the XIV-XVI centuries became significant in the development of science. What's happening in Europe?

This is the period of great geographical discoveries;
Nicolaus Copernicus changes people's understanding of the Earth, proves that the Earth revolves around the Sun;
Paracelsus and Vesalius make huge leaps in medicine and anatomy. For a long time, dissection and study of human anatomy was a crime, a desecration of the body. Knowledge of medicine was completely incomplete, and all research was forbidden;
Niccolo Machiavelli explores sociology, the behavior of people in groups;
The idea of an “ideal society” appears, Campanella’s “City of the Sun”;
Since the 15th century, printing has been actively developing, many works have been published for the people, scientific and historical works are becoming available to anyone;
Active study of ancient languages and translations of ancient books began.

Illustration for the book City of the Sun, Campanella

Literature and Philosophy

The most prominent representative of the era is Dante Alighieri. His “Comedy” or “Divine Comedy” was admired by his contemporaries and was made an example of pure literature of the Renaissance.

In general, the period can be characterized as the glorification of a harmonious, free, creative, comprehensively developed personality.

Francesco Petrarch's free sonnets about love reveal the depths of the human soul. In them we see a secret, hidden world of feelings, suffering and joy from love. A person's emotions come first.

Petrarch and Laura

Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolo Machiavelli, Ludovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso glorified the era with their works of completely different styles. But they became classic for the Renaissance.

Of course, romantic stories, stories of love and friendship, funny stories and tragic novels. Here is Boccaccio's Decameron, for example.

Decameron, Boccaccio

Pico della Mirandola wrote: “O the highest and most delightful happiness of man, to whom it is given to possess what he wants and to be what he wants.”
Famous philosophers of this era:

Leonardo Bruni;
Galileo Galilei;
Niccolo Machiavelli;
Giordano Bruno;
Gianozzo Manetti;
Pietro Pomponazzi;
Tommaso Campanella;
Marsilio Ficino;
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola.

Interest in philosophy is growing sharply. Free thinking ceases to be something forbidden. The topics for analysis are very diverse, modern, and topical. There are no longer topics that are considered inappropriate, and the reflections of philosophers are no longer just to please the church.

art

One of the fastest growing areas is painting. Of course, so many new topics have appeared. Now the artist also becomes a philosopher. He shows his view on the laws of nature, anatomy, life prospects, ideas, light. There are no more prohibitions for those who have talent and want to create.

Do you think the topic of religious painting is no longer relevant? Quite the opposite. The Renaissance masters created amazing new paintings. The old canons are disappearing, their place is taken by three-dimensional compositions, landscapes and “worldly” attributes appear. The saints are dressed realistically, they become closer, more humane.

Michelangelo, The Creation of Adam

Sculptors also enjoy using religious themes. Their creativity becomes more free and frank. The human body and anatomical details are no longer taboo. The theme of the ancient gods returns.

Beauty, harmony, balance, the female and male body come first. There is no prohibition, modesty or depravity in the beauty of the human body.

Architecture

The principles and forms of ancient Roman art are returning. Now geometry and symmetry prevail, and much attention is paid to finding ideal proportions.
Back in fashion:

niches, hemispheres of domes, arches;
aedicules;
soft lines.

They replaced the cold Gothic outlines. For example, the famous Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Villa Rotonda. It was then that the first Villas appeared - suburban construction. Usually, large complexes with gardens and terraces.

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

Huge contributions to architecture were made by:

Filippo Brunelleschi is considered the “father” of Renaissance architecture. He developed the prospect theory and the order system. It was he who created the dome of the Florence Cathedral.
Leon Battista Alberti - became famous for rethinking the motifs of early Christian basilicas* from the time of Constantine.
Donato Bramante - worked during the High Renaissance. Famous for its precise proportions.
Michelangelo Buonarroti - the main architect of the Late Renaissance. He created St. Peter's Basilica and the Laurentian staircase.
Andrea Palladio is the founder of classicism. He created his own movement, called Palladianism. He worked in Venice, designing the largest cathedrals and palaces.

During the Early and High Renaissance, the best palaces in Italy were built. For example, Villa Medici in Poggio a Caiano. Also, Palazzo Pitti.

The predominant colors were blue, yellow, purple, brown.

In general, the architecture of that time was distinguished by its stability on the one hand, and on the other - smooth lines, semicircular transitions and complex arches.

The premises were spacious, with high ceilings. Decorated with wood or foliage ornaments.

*Basilica - church, cathedral. It has a rectangular shape and one or more (odd number) naves. Characteristic of the early Christian period, and the form itself originated from ancient Greek and Roman temple buildings.

New building materials began to be used. The base is stone blocks. Began to be processed in different ways. New building solutions are appearing. This is also a period of active use of plaster.

Brick becomes a decorative and structural material. Glazed brick, terracotta and majolica are also used. Much attention is paid to decorative details and the quality of their workmanship.

Now metals are also used for decorative processing. These are copper, tin and bronze. The development of carpentry makes it possible to make amazingly beautiful, openwork elements from hardwood.

Music

The influence of folk music is becoming increasingly stronger. Vocal and vocal-instrumental polyphony is developing rapidly. The Venetian School was especially successful here. New musical styles appear in Italy - frottola and villanelle.

Caravaggio, Musician with Lute

Italy is famous for its bowed instruments. There is even a struggle between the viol and the violin for the best performance of the same melodies. New styles of singing are taking over Europe - solo song, cantata, oratorio and opera.

Why Italy?

By the way, why did the Renaissance begin in Italy? The fact is that most of the population lived in cities. Yes, this is a situation unusual for the period of the XIII-XV centuries. But, if there were no special circumstances, would all the masterpieces of the Epoch appear?

Trade and crafts developed rapidly. It was simply necessary to study, invent, and improve the products of one’s labor. This is how thinkers, sculptors, and artists appeared. Products had to be made more attractive, books with illustrations sold better.

Trade always means travel. People needed languages. They saw a lot of new things in their travels and tried to introduce them into the life of their city.

Vasari, Florence

On the other hand, Italy is the heir to the Great Roman Empire. The love of beauty, the remnants of ancient culture - all this is concentrated in the cities of Italy. Such an atmosphere simply could not help but encourage talented people to make new discoveries.

Scientists believe that another reason is the Western, and not the Eastern, type of Christian religion. It is believed that this is a special form of Christianity. The outer side of the country's Catholic life allowed for a certain freedom of thought.

For example, the emergence of “anti-popes”! Then the pontiffs themselves argued for power, using inhumane, completely illegal methods to achieve their goals. The people followed this, realizing that in real life Catholic principles and morals do not always work.

Now God became an object of theoretical knowledge, and not the center of human life. Man was clearly separated from God. Of course, this gave rise to all sorts of doubts. Science and culture develop in such conditions. Naturally, art becomes divorced from religion.

Friends, thank you for reading my articles! I hope this has cleared up some important points about the Italian Renaissance.

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What is the Renaissance?

Renaissance is a globally significant era in the cultural history of Europe, which replaced the Middle Ages and preceded the Enlightenment. It falls - in Italy - at the beginning of the 14th century (everywhere in Europe - from the 15th-16th centuries) - the last quarter of the 16th centuries and in some cases - the first decades of the 17th century.

The term Renaissance is already found among Italian humanists, for example, Giorgio Vasari. In its modern meaning, the term was introduced into use by the 19th century French historian Jules Michelet. Nowadays, the term Renaissance has become a metaphor for cultural flourishing.

The distinctive features of the Renaissance are anthropocentrism, that is, an extraordinary interest in man as an individual and his activities. This also includes the secular nature of culture. Society is becoming interested in the culture of antiquity, and something like its “revival” is taking place. This, in fact, is where the name of such an important period of time came from. Outstanding figures of the Renaissance include the immortal Michelangelo, Niccolo Machiavelli and the ever-living Leonardo da Vinci.

Renaissance literature is a major movement in literature, an integral part of the entire culture of the Renaissance. Occupies the period from the 14th to the 16th centuries. It differs from medieval literature in that it is based on new, progressive ideas of humanism. A synonym for Renaissance is the term "Renaissance", of French origin.

The ideas of humanism first emerged in Italy and then spread throughout Europe. Also, the literature of the Renaissance spread throughout Europe, but acquired its own national character in each individual country. The term Renaissance means renewal, the appeal of artists, writers, thinkers to the culture and art of antiquity, imitation of its high ideals.

In addition to humanistic ideas, new genres emerged in the literature of the Renaissance, and early realism was formed, which was called “Renaissance realism.” As can be seen in the works of Rabelais, Petrarch, Cervantes and Shakespeare, the literature of this time was filled with a new understanding of human life. It demonstrates a complete rejection of the slavish obedience that the church preached.

Writers present man as the highest creation of nature, revealing the richness of his soul, mind and the beauty of his physical appearance. Renaissance realism is characterized by the grandeur of images, the ability for great sincere feeling, poeticization of the image and a passionate, most often high intensity of tragic conflict, demonstrating the clash of a person with hostile forces.

The literature of the Renaissance is characterized by a variety of genres, but still some literary forms dominated. The most popular was the novella. In poetry, the sonnet is most clearly manifested. Also, dramaturgy, in which the Spaniard Lope de Vega and Shakespeare in England became most famous, is gaining great popularity. It is impossible not to note the high development and popularization of philosophical prose and journalism.

Renaissance, or Renaissance - an era in the cultural history of Europe that replaced the culture of the Middle Ages and preceded the culture of modern times. The approximate chronological framework of the era is the beginning of the 14th - the last quarter of the 16th centuries and, in some cases, the first decades of the 17th century. A distinctive feature of the Renaissance is the secular nature of culture and its anthropocentrism (interest, first of all, in man and his activities). Interest in ancient culture appears, its “revival” occurs - this is how the term appeared.
The term Renaissance is already found among Italian humanists, for example, Giorgio Vasari. In its modern meaning, the term was coined by the 19th century French historian Jules Michelet. Nowadays, the term Renaissance has become a metaphor for cultural flourishing: for example, the Carolingian Renaissance of the 9th century.

The Birth of the Italian Renaissance
Italy made a contribution of exceptional importance to the history of artistic culture of the Renaissance. The very scale of the greatest flowering that marked the Italian Renaissance seems especially striking in contrast with the small territorial dimensions of those urban republics where the culture of this era was born and experienced its high rise. Art in these centuries occupied a previously unprecedented position in public life. Artistic creation became an insatiable need of the people of the Renaissance era, an expression of their inexhaustible energy. In the advanced centers of Italy, a passion for art captured the widest strata of society - from the ruling circles to ordinary people. The construction of public buildings, the installation of monuments, and the decoration of the main buildings of the city were a matter of national importance and the subject of attention of senior officials. The appearance of outstanding works of art turned into a major social event. The universal admiration for outstanding masters can be evidenced by the fact that the greatest geniuses of the era - Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo - received the name divino - divine from their contemporaries. In terms of its productivity, the Renaissance, which spanned about three centuries in Italy, is quite comparable to the entire millennium during which the art of the Middle Ages developed. The very physical scale of everything that was created by the masters of the Italian Renaissance evokes amazement - majestic municipal buildings and huge cathedrals, magnificent patrician palaces and villas, works of sculpture in all its forms, countless monuments of painting - fresco cycles, monumental altar compositions and easel paintings . Drawing and engraving, handwritten miniatures and the newly emerging printed graphics, decorative and applied arts in all its forms - there was, in essence, not a single area of artistic life that was not experiencing a rapid rise. But perhaps even more striking is the unusually high artistic level of the art of the Italian Renaissance, its truly global significance as one of the peaks of human culture.
The culture of the Renaissance was not the property of Italy alone: its sphere of distribution covered many of the countries of Europe. At the same time, in one country or another, individual stages of the evolution of Renaissance art found their primary expression. But in Italy, the new culture not only arose earlier than in other countries, the very path of its development was distinguished by an exceptional sequence of all stages - from the Proto-Renaissance to the late Renaissance, and in each of these stages Italian art gave high results, surpassing most cases of achievement of art schools in other countries. In art history, by tradition, Italian names of those centuries in which the birth and development of Renaissance art fall are widely used. Italy. The fruitful development of Renaissance art in Italy was facilitated not only by social, but also by historical and artistic factors. Italian Renaissance art owes its origin not to any one, but to several sources. In the period preceding the Renaissance, Italy was a meeting point for several medieval cultures. Unlike other countries, both main lines of medieval art in Europe found equal expression here - Byzantine and Romano-Gothic, complicated in certain areas of Italy by the influence of the art of the East. Both lines contributed their share to the development of Renaissance art. From Byzantine painting, the Italian Proto-Renaissance adopted an ideally beautiful structure of images and forms of monumental painting cycles; The Gothic figurative system contributed to the penetration of emotional excitement and a more specific perception of reality into the art of the 14th century. But even more important was the fact that Italy was the custodian of the artistic heritage of the ancient world. In Italy, unlike other European countries, the aesthetic ideal of the Renaissance man developed very early, going back to the humanists’ teaching about homo universale, about the perfect man, in whom physical beauty and strength of spirit are harmoniously combined. The leading feature of this image is the concept of virtu (valor), which has a very broad meaning and expresses the active principle in a person, the purposefulness of his will, the ability to implement his lofty plans in spite of all obstacles. This specific quality of the Renaissance figurative ideal is not expressed by all Italian artists in such an open form, as, for example, by Masaccio, Andrea del Castagno, Mantegna and Michelangelo - masters whose work is dominated by images of a heroic nature. Over the course of the 15th and 16th centuries, this aesthetic ideal did not remain unchanged: depending on the individual stages of the evolution of Renaissance art, its various aspects were outlined. In the images of the early Renaissance, for example, the features of unshakable internal integrity are more clearly expressed. The spiritual world of the heroes of the High Renaissance is more complex and richer, providing the most striking example of the harmonious worldview characteristic of the art of this period.

Story
The Renaissance (Renaissance) is a period of cultural and ideological development of European countries. All European countries went through this period, but each country has its own historical framework for the Renaissance. The Renaissance arose in Italy, where its first signs were noticeable back in the 13th and 14th centuries (in the activities of the Pisano, Giotto, Orcagni families, etc.), but it was firmly established only in the 20s of the 15th century. In France, Germany and other countries this movement began much later. By the end of the 15th century it reached its peak. In the 16th century, a crisis of Renaissance ideas was brewing, resulting in the emergence of Mannerism and Baroque. The term "Renaissance" began to be used back in the 16th century. in relation to fine arts. The author of “The Lives of the Most Famous Painters, Sculptors and Architects” (1550), the Italian artist D. Vasari, wrote about the “revival” of art in Italy after many years of decline during the Middle Ages. Later, the concept of “Renaissance” acquired a broader meaning. Renaissance- this is the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of a new era, the beginning of the transition from feudal medieval society to bourgeois, when the foundations of the feudal social way of life were shaken, and bourgeois-capitalist relations had not yet developed with all their merchant morality and soulless hypocrisy. Already in the depths of feudalism, large craft guilds existed in free cities, which became the basis of manufacturing production of the New Age, and a bourgeois class began to take shape here. It manifested itself with particular consistency and force in Italian cities, which already at the turn of the XIV - XV centuries. embarked on the path of capitalist development in Dutch cities, as well as in some Rhine and southern German cities of the 15th century. Here, in conditions of not fully established capitalist relations, a strong and free urban society developed. Its development took place in a constant struggle, which was partly trade competition and partly a struggle for political power. However, the circle of dissemination of Renaissance culture was much wider and covered the territories of France, Spain, England, the Czech Republic, and Poland, where new trends appeared with varying strength and in specific forms. This is the period of formation of nations, since it was at this time that the royal power, relying on the townspeople, broke the power of the feudal nobility. From associations that were states only in geographical terms, large monarchies are formed, based on a common historical destiny, on nationalities. Literature reached a high level and, with the invention of printing, received unprecedented distribution opportunities. It became possible to reproduce on paper any type of knowledge and any achievements of science, which greatly facilitated learning.
The founders of humanism in Italy are considered to be Petrarch and Boccaccio - poets, scientists and experts on antiquity. The central place that logic and the philosophy of Aristotle occupied in the system of medieval scholastic education is now beginning to be occupied by rhetoric and Cicero. The study of rhetoric was, according to humanists, supposed to provide the key to the spiritual makeup of antiquity; mastery of the language and style of the ancients was considered as mastery of their thinking and worldview and the most important stage in the liberation of the individual. The study of the works of ancient authors by humanists fostered the habit of thinking, of research, observation, and studying the work of the mind. And new scientific works grew out of a better understanding of the values of antiquity and at the same time surpassed them. The study of Antiquity left its mark on religious views and morals. Although many humanists were pious, blind dogmatism died. The Chancellor of the Florentine Republic, Caluccio Salutatti, declared that Holy Scripture is nothing more than poetry. The nobility's love for wealth and splendor, the pomp of the cardinal's palaces and the Vatican itself were provocative. Church positions were seen by many prelates as a convenient feeding ground and access to political power. Rome itself, in the eyes of some, turned into a real biblical Babylon, where corruption, unbelief and licentiousness reigned. This led to a split within the church and to the emergence of reformist movements. The era of free urban communes was short-lived; they were remembered as tyrannies. The trade rivalry between the cities eventually turned into a bloody rivalry. Already in the second half of the 16th century, a feudal-Catholic reaction began.

The humanistic bright ideals of the Renaissance are replaced by moods of pessimism and anxiety, intensified by individualistic tendencies. A number of Italian states are experiencing political and economic decline, they are losing their independence, social enslavement and impoverishment of the masses are occurring, and class contradictions are intensifying. The perception of the world becomes more complex, a person’s dependence on the environment is more realized, ideas about the variability of life develop, and the ideals of harmony and integrity of the universe are lost.

Renaissance culture or Renaissance
The culture of the Renaissance is based on the principle of humanism, the affirmation of the dignity and beauty of a real person, his mind and will, his creative powers. Unlike the culture of the Middle Ages, the humanistic life-affirming culture of the Renaissance was secular in nature. Liberation from church scholasticism and dogmatics contributed to the rise of science. A passionate thirst for knowledge of the real world and admiration for it led to the reflection in art of the most diverse aspects of reality and imparted majestic pathos to the most significant creations of artists. A newly understood ancient heritage played an important role in the development of Renaissance art. The influence of antiquity had the greatest impact on the formation of the Renaissance culture in Italy, where many monuments of ancient Roman art were preserved. The victory of the secular principle in the culture of the Renaissance was a consequence of the social affirmation of the growing strength of the bourgeoisie. However, the humanistic orientation of Renaissance art, its optimism, the heroic and social character of its images objectively expressed the interests of not only the young bourgeoisie, but also all progressive strata of society as a whole. Art The Renaissance was formed in conditions when the consequences of the capitalist division of labor, detrimental to the development of the individual, had not yet had time to manifest themselves; courage, intelligence, resourcefulness, and strength of character had not yet lost their significance. This created the illusion of infinity in the further progressive development of human abilities. The ideal of a titanic personality was affirmed in art. The all-round brightness of the characters of the people of the Renaissance, which was reflected in art, is largely explained by the fact that “the heroes of that time had not yet become slaves to the division of labor, limiting, creating one-sidedness, the influence of which we so often observe in their successors.”
New demands facing art have led to the enrichment of its types and genres. Fresco is becoming widespread in monumental Italian painting. Since the 15th century Easel painting occupies an increasingly important place, in the development of which Dutch masters played a special role. Along with the previously existing genres of religious and mythological painting, which were filled with new meaning, the portrait emerged, and historical and landscape painting emerged. In Germany and the Netherlands, where the popular movement created a need for art that quickly and actively responded to current events, engraving became widespread and was often used in the decoration of books. The process of isolation of sculpture, which began in the Middle Ages, is being completed; Along with the decorative sculptures that adorn the buildings, independent round sculpture appears - easel and monumental. The decorative relief takes on the character of a perspectively constructed multi-figure composition. Turning to the ancient heritage in search of an ideal, inquisitive minds discovered the world of classical antiquity, searched for the works of ancient authors in monastic repositories, dug up fragments of columns and statues, bas-reliefs and precious utensils. The process of assimilation and processing of the ancient heritage was accelerated by the resettlement of Greek scientists and artists from Byzantium, captured by the Turks in 1453, to Italy. In the saved manuscripts, in the dug up statues and bas-reliefs, a new world, hitherto unknown, opened up to amazed Europe - ancient culture with its ideal of earthly beauty, deeply human and tangible. This world gave birth in people to a great love for the beauty of the world and a persistent will to understand this world.

Periodization of Renaissance art
The periodization of the Renaissance is determined by the supreme role of fine art in its culture. The stages of art history in Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance, have long served as the main point of reference.
Specially distinguished:
introductory period, Proto-Renaissance (“the era of Dante and Giotto”, c. 1260-1320), partially coinciding with the Ducento period (XIII century)
Quattrocento (XV century)
and Cinquecento (XVI century)

The chronological framework of the century does not completely coincide with certain periods of cultural development: for example, the Proto-Renaissance dates back to the end of the 13th century, the Early Renaissance ends in the 90s. XV century, and the High Renaissance was becoming obsolete by the 30s. XVI century It continues until the end of the 16th century. only in Venice; The term “late Renaissance” is more often applied to this period. The era of Ducento, i.e. The 13th century was the beginning of the Renaissance culture of Italy - the Proto-Renaissance.
More common periods are:
Early Renaissance, when new trends actively interact with Gothic, creatively transforming it;
Middle (or High) Renaissance;
Late Renaissance, a special phase of which was mannerism.
The new culture of the countries located north and west of the Alps (France, the Netherlands, German-speaking lands) is collectively called the Northern Renaissance; here the role of late Gothic was especially significant. The characteristic features of the Renaissance were also clearly manifested in the countries of Eastern Europe (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, etc.), and were reflected in Scandinavia. A distinctive Renaissance culture developed in Spain, Portugal and England.

Characteristics of the Renaissance style
This interior style, which contemporaries called the Renaissance style, introduced a free new spirit and faith in the limitless possibilities of humanity into the culture and art of medieval Europe. The characteristic features of the interior in the Renaissance style were large rooms with rounded arches, carved wood trim, the intrinsic value and relative independence of each individual detail, from which the whole is assembled. Strict organization, logic, clarity, rationality of form construction. Clarity, balance, symmetry of parts relative to the whole. The ornament imitates antique designs. Elements of the Renaissance style were borrowed from the arsenal of forms of the Greco-Roman orders. Thus, windows began to be made with semicircular, and later with rectangular endings. The interiors of the palaces began to be distinguished by their monumentality, the splendor of marble staircases, as well as the richness of decorative decoration. Deep perspective, proportionality, and harmony of forms are mandatory requirements of Renaissance aesthetics. The character of the interior space is largely determined by the vaulted ceilings, the smooth lines of which are repeated in numerous semicircular niches. The Renaissance color scheme is soft, halftones blend into each other, there are no contrasts, complete harmony. Nothing catches your eye.

Basic elements of the Renaissance style:
semicircular lines, geometric patterns (circle, square, cross, octagon), predominantly horizontal division of the interior;
steep or flat roof with tower superstructures, arched galleries, colonnades, round ribbed domes, high and spacious halls, bay windows;
coffered ceiling; antique sculptures; foliage ornament; painting walls and ceilings;
massive and visually stable structures; diamond rustication on the facade;
the shape of the furniture is simple, geometric, solid, richly decorated;
colors: purple, blue, yellow, brown.

Renaissance periods
The revival is divided into 4 stages:
Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the 13th century - 14th century)
Early Renaissance (beginning of the 15th century - end of the 15th century)
High Renaissance (late 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century)
Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 90s of the 16th century)
Proto-Renaissance
The Proto-Renaissance is closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Romanesque and Gothic traditions; this period was the preparation for the Renaissance. This period is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). 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. All discoveries were made on an intuitive level. 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, who designed the campanile of the Florence Cathedral. The art of the proto-Renaissance manifested itself in sculpture. Painting is represented by two art schools: Florence (Cimabue, Giotto) and Siena (Duccio, Simone Martini). Giotto became the central figure of painting. Renaissance artists considered him a reformer of painting.
Early Renaissance
The period covers in Italy the time from 1420 to 1500. During these eighty years, art has not yet completely abandoned the traditions of the recent past, but has tried to mix into them elements borrowed from classical antiquity. Only later, and only little by little, 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.
Art in Italy had already decisively followed the path of imitation of classical antiquity; in other countries it had long adhered to the traditions of the Gothic style. North of the Alps, and also in Spain, the Renaissance does not begin until the end of the 15th century, and its early period lasts until approximately the middle of the next century.
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 of Italian art from Florence moved to Rome, thanks to the accession to the papal throne of Julius II - an ambitious, courageous and 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 works of sculpture are created, 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.
Late Renaissance
The late Renaissance in Italy spans the period from the 1530s to the 1590s to the 1620s. Some researchers also consider the 1630s to be part of the Late Renaissance, but this position is controversial among art critics and historians. The art and culture of this time are so diverse in their manifestations that it is possible to reduce them to one denominator only with a large degree of convention. In Southern Europe, the Counter-Reformation triumphed, which looked warily at any free thought, including the glorification of the human body and the 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.

The concept of "Renaissance" arose in Italy in the 16th century. as a result of understanding the cultural innovation of the era. This concept denoted the first brilliant dawn of culture, the humanities, and art since antiquity, which began after a long, almost thousand-year decline in culture. The time of decline by the ideologists of the Renaissance began to be called the “Middle Ages.” In the 19th century In relation to the Renaissance, the French term “Renaissance” was established and firmly entered into Russian speech.

Brief description of the Renaissance

The Renaissance is a period in European culture from the 15th to the 16th centuries, which was characterized by an interest in the individual person, rejecting medieval humility and subordination to the church. It was this era that was a turning point in the entire European culture. And it was at this time that processes began that largely determined the course of development of the entire European civilization.

What is special about the Renaissance?

In order to answer this question, you need to plunge into the depths of eras, go back several centuries and, first of all, remember what era the Renaissance replaced.

The Middle Ages, as you know, were called the Dark Ages. This was due to the fragmentation of Europe and the decline of culture. All secular life was subject to the strictest restrictions, and only one sphere of people's lives received development - the spiritual. If we consider the main directions of culture: painting, architecture and sculpture, we can notice some monotony. In painting, the main works were icons; if we turn to architecture, these were temples and monasteries; sculpture was mainly represented by a divine theme. The man was limited in his will, the only feeling that covered him was a sense of humility before God and the church.

The Middle Ages was a period of barbarism and ignorance, which followed the death of the brilliant civilization of ancient culture.

Do you think this could go on forever? Sooner or later there had to be a turning point. And in the XIV-XV centuries, the life of Europeans changed dramatically. And since culture is a reflection of life, it has undergone significant changes.

The Middle Ages, with its contempt for everything earthly, is replaced by a greedy interest in man and his qualities and abilities, in the desire to create and create, to express himself, to study the world around him, to choose a path in life, to manage his freedom.

The Renaissance gave us a whole galaxy of famous people and, above all, representatives of the so-called classical arts.

The revival began in Italy, in the city of Florence. It was there that representatives of this era began their creative journey: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buanarroti, Raphael Santi and Donatello.