Artists of the Early Renaissance. Renaissance Renaissance paintings

Renaissance, which flourished in the 15th - 16th centuries, served as a new round in the development of art, and painting in particular. There is also a French name for this era - Renaissance. Sandro Botticelli, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Titian, Michelangelo - to name a few famous names that represent that time period.

Renaissance artists depicted the characters in their paintings as accurately and clearly as possible.

Psychological context was not originally included in the image. The painters set themselves the goal of achieving vividness in what they depicted. Regardless of whether the dynamism human face or details surrounding nature had to be painted as accurately as possible. However, over time, the psychological aspect becomes clearly visible in Renaissance paintings, for example, from portraits one could draw conclusions about the character traits of the person depicted.

Achievement of artistic culture of the Renaissance

The undoubted achievement of the Renaissance was geometrically correct design of the picture. The artist built the image using the techniques he developed. The main thing for painters of that time was to maintain the proportions of objects. Even nature fell under mathematical techniques of calculating the proportionality of the image with other objects in the picture.

In other words, artists during the Renaissance sought to convey accurate image, for example, a person against the backdrop of nature. If we compare it with modern techniques of recreating a seen image on some canvas, then, most likely, photography with subsequent adjustments will help to understand what the Renaissance artists were striving for.

Renaissance painters believed that they had the right to correct flaws of nature, that is, if a person had ugly facial features, artists corrected them in such a way that the face became sweet and attractive.

Geometric approach in images leads to a new way of depicting spatiality. Before recreating the images on canvas, the artist marked their spatial location. This rule became established over time among the painters of that era.

The viewer was supposed to be impressed by the images in the paintings. For example, Raphael achieved full compliance with this rule, creating the picture “ Athens school" The vaults of the building are striking in their height. There is so much space that you begin to understand the size of this structure. And the depicted thinkers of antiquity with Plato and Aristotle in the middle indicate that in Ancient world there was a unity of various philosophical ideas.

Subjects of Renaissance paintings

If you start getting acquainted with Renaissance painting, you can do interesting conclusion. The subjects of the paintings were based mainly on events described in the Bible. More often, painters of that time depicted stories from the New Testament. The most popular image is Virgin and Child- little Jesus Christ.

The character was so alive that people even worshiped these images, although the people understood that these were not icons, they prayed to them and asked for help and protection. In addition to the Madonna, Renaissance painters were very fond of recreating images Jesus Christ, apostles, John the Baptist, as well as gospel episodes. For example, Leonardo da Vinci created the world-famous painting “The Last Supper.”

Why did Renaissance artists use subjects? from the Bible? Why didn’t they try to express themselves by creating portraits of their contemporaries? Maybe they were trying to portray ordinary people with their inherent character traits in this way? Yes, the painters of that time tried to show people that man is a divine being.

By depicting biblical scenes, Renaissance artists tried to make it clear that the earthly manifestations of man can be depicted more clearly if biblical stories are used. You can understand what the Fall, temptation, hell or heaven is if you start getting acquainted with the work of artists of that time. Same image of Madonna conveys to us the beauty of a woman, and also carries an understanding of earthly human love.

Leonardo da Vinci

The Renaissance became so thanks to many creative individuals who lived at that time. Famous all over the world Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519) created a huge number of masterpieces, the cost of which amounts to millions of dollars, and connoisseurs of his art are ready to contemplate his paintings for a long time.

Leonardo began his studies in Florence. His first painting, painted around 1478, is "Madonna Benoit". Then there were such creations as “Madonna in the Grotto”, "Mona Lisa", mentioned above " last supper"and a host of other masterpieces, written by the hand of a titan of the Renaissance.

The rigor of geometric proportions and accurate reproduction of the anatomical structure of a person - this is what characterizes the paintings of Leonard da Vinci. According to his convictions, the art of depicting certain images on canvas is a science, and not just some kind of hobby.

Rafael Santi

Raphael Santi (1483 - 1520) known in the art world as Raphael created his works in Italy. His paintings are imbued with lyricism and grace. Raphael is a representative of the Renaissance, who depicted man and his existence on earth, and loved to paint the walls of the Vatican Cathedrals.

The paintings betrayed the unity of figures, the proportional correspondence of space and images, and the euphony of color. The purity of the Virgin was the basis for many of Raphael's paintings. His very first image of Our Lady- This Sistine Madonna, which was painted by a famous artist back in 1513. The portraits that were created by Raphael reflected the ideal human image.

Sandro Botticelli

Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510) also a Renaissance artist. One of his first works was the painting “Adoration of the Magi.” Subtle poetry and dreaminess were his initial manners in the field of conveying artistic images.

In the early 80s of the 15th century great artist painted walls of the Vatican Chapel. The frescoes made by his hand are still amazing.

Over time, his paintings became characterized by the calmness of the buildings of antiquity, the liveliness of the characters depicted, and the harmony of the images. In addition, Botticelli’s passion for drawings of famous literary works, which also only added fame to his work.

Michelangelo Buonarotti

Michelangelo Buonarotti (1475 - 1564)- Italian artist who also worked during the Renaissance. This man, known to many of us, did everything he could do. And sculpture, and painting, and architecture, and also poetry.

Michelangelo, like Raphael and Botticelli, painted the walls of the Vatican churches. After all, only the most talented painters of those times were involved in such important work as painting images on the walls of Catholic cathedrals.

More than 600 square meters Sistine Chapel he had to cover it with frescoes depicting various biblical scenes.

The most famous work in this style is known to us as « Last Judgment» . Meaning biblical story expressed fully and clearly. Such precision in the transfer of images is characteristic of all of Michelangelo’s work.

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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: building 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 history Western art. Having overcome the Byzantine icon painting tradition, he became the true founder of the Italian school of painting, developed absolutely new approach to the image of 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.

_________

Another important step on the path 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.

Most famous artists this period - 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) make up the gold fund 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 Museum.

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, scientific work da Vinci was 300 years ahead of her 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 simultaneously 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 mainly related to 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 biblical story from the creation of the world to the flood and includes 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 mastery 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. 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.

Self-portrait. 1567

Venus of Urbino. 1538

Portrait of Tommaso Mosti. 1520

Late Renaissance.
After the sack of Rome by imperial troops in 1527 Italian Renaissance enters a period of crisis. Already in the work of late Raphael, a new artistic line was outlined, 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 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: building 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 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.


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.

_________

Another important step on the path 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 view their characters as heroes with pronounced individual traits and human motivation for 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 Museum.

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 details. 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 simultaneously emphasizing his loneliness in the world.

Michelangelo's genius 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 mastery in the art of portraiture, with the help of which they conveyed the character and rich inner world of their characters.

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

Sleeping Venus. 1510

Judith. 1504g

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

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.

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 artistic line was outlined, 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.

For Europeans, the period of the dark Middle Ages ended, giving way to the Renaissance. It made it possible to revive the almost extinct heritage of Antiquity and create great works of art. Scientists of the Renaissance also played an important role in the development of mankind.

Paradigm

The crisis and destruction of Byzantium led to the appearance of thousands of Christian emigrants in Europe, who brought books with them. These manuscripts contained knowledge ancient period, half-forgotten in the west of the continent. They became the basis of humanism, which placed man, his ideas and the desire for freedom at the forefront. Over time, in cities where the role of bankers, artisans, traders and craftsmen increased, secular centers of science and education began to emerge, which not only were not under the control of catholic church, but also often fought against her dictates.

Painting by Giotto (Renaissance)

Artists in the Middle Ages created works of predominantly religious content. In particular, for a long time The main genre of painting was iconography. The first who decided to depict on his canvases ordinary people, as well as abandoning the canonical style of writing inherent in the Byzantine school, was Giotto di Bondone, who is considered a pioneer of the Proto-Renaissance. On the frescoes of the Church of San Francesco, located in the city of Assisi, he used the play of chiaroscuro and departed from the generally accepted compositional structure. However, Giotto's main masterpiece was the painting of the Arena Chapel in Padua. It is interesting that immediately after this order the artist was called to decorate the city hall. While working on one of the paintings, in order to achieve the greatest authenticity in the depiction of the “celestial sign,” Giotto consulted with the astronomer Pietro d’Abano. Thus, thanks to this artist, painting stopped depicting people, objects and natural phenomena according to certain canons and became more realistic.

Leonardo da Vinci

Many figures of the Renaissance had versatile talent. However, none of them can compare with Leonardo da Vinci in his versatility. He distinguished himself as an outstanding painter, architect, sculptor, anatomist, natural scientist and engineer.

In 1466, Leonardo da Vinci went to study in Florence, where, in addition to painting, he studied chemistry and drawing, and also acquired skills in working with metal, leather and plaster.

Already the artist’s first paintings distinguished him among his fellow workers. During his long, at that time, 68-year life, Leonardo da Vinci created such masterpieces as “Mona Lisa”, “John the Baptist”, “Lady with an Ermine”, “The Last Supper”, etc.

Like other prominent figures of the Renaissance, the artist was interested in science and engineering. In particular, it is known that the wheel pistol lock he invented was used until the 19th century. In addition, Leonardo da Vinci created drawings of a parachute, a flying machine, a searchlight, a telescope with two lenses, etc.

Michelangelo

When the question of what the Renaissance figures gave to the world is discussed, the list of their achievements necessarily contains the works of this outstanding architect, artist and sculptor.

Among the most famous creations of Michelangelo Buonarroti are the frescoes of the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the statue of David, the sculpture of Bacchus, the marble statue of the Madonna of Bruges, the painting “The Torment of St. Anthony” and many other masterpieces of world art.

Rafael Santi

The artist was born in 1483 and lived only 37 years. However, the great legacy of Raphael Santi puts him at the top of any symbolic rating of “Outstanding Figures of the Renaissance.”

The artist’s masterpieces include “The Coronation of Mary” for the Oddi altar, “Portrait of Pietro Bembo”, “Lady with a Unicorn”, numerous frescoes commissioned for the Stanza della Segnatura, etc.

The pinnacle of Raphael's work is considered to be the "Sistine Madonna", created for the altar of the church of the monastery of St. Sixta in Piacenza. This picture makes an unforgettable impression on anyone who sees it, since the Mary depicted on it in an incomprehensible way combines the earthly and heavenly essences of the Mother of God.

Albrecht Durer

Famous figures of the Renaissance were not only Italian. These include German painter and the master of engravings Albrecht Dürer, who was born in Nuremberg in 1471. His most significant works are the “Landauer Altar”, a self-portrait (1500), the painting “Feast of Rose Wreaths”, and three “Workshop Engravings”. The latter are considered masterpieces of graphic art of all times and peoples.

Titian

The great figures of the Renaissance in the field of painting left us images of their most famous contemporaries. One of the outstanding portrait painters of this period of European art was Titian, who came from the famous Vecellio family. He immortalized on canvas Federico Gonzaga, Charles V, Clarissa Strozzi, Pietro Aretino, the architect Giulio Romano and many others. In addition, his brushes include canvases on subjects from ancient mythology. How highly the artist was valued by his contemporaries is evidenced by the fact that one day Emperor Charles V hastened to pick up a brush that had fallen from Titian’s hands. The monarch explained his action by saying that serving such a master is an honor for anyone.

Sandro Botticelli

The artist was born in 1445. Initially, he was going to become a jeweler, but then he ended up in the workshop of Andrea Verrocchio, who once studied with Leonardo da Vinci. Along with works of religious themes, the artist created several paintings of secular content. Botticelli's masterpieces include the paintings "The Birth of Venus", "Spring", "Pallas and the Centaur" and many others.

Dante Alighieri

The great figures of the Renaissance left their indelible mark on world literature. One of the most outstanding poets This period is Dante Alighieri, born in 1265 in Florence. At the age of 37 he was expelled from hometown because of their political views and wandered until recent years own life.

Even as a child, Dante fell in love with his peer Beatrice Portinari. Having matured, the girl married another man and died at the age of 24. Beatrice became the poet’s muse, and it was to her that he dedicated his works, including the story “ New life" In 1306, Dante began creating his " Divine Comedy", which he has been working on for almost 15 years. In it, he exposes the vices of Italian society, the crimes of the popes and cardinals, and places his Beatrice in “paradise.”

William Shakespeare

Although the ideas of the Renaissance came to British Isles with some delay, they also created outstanding works art.

In particular, one of the most famous playwrights in human history, William Shakespeare, worked in England. His plays have been popular for more than 500 years. theatrical stage in all corners of the planet. His pen includes the tragedies “Othello”, “Romeo and Juliet”, “Hamlet”, “Macbeth”, as well as the comedies “Twelfth Night”, “Much Ado About Nothing” and many others. In addition, Shakespeare is famous for his sonnets dedicated to the mysterious Dark Lady.

Leon Battista Alberti

The Renaissance also contributed to changing the appearance of European cities. Great architectural masterpieces were created during this period, including the Roman Cathedral of St. Peter's, the Laurentian staircase, the Florence Cathedral, etc. Along with Michelangelo, the famous scientist Leon Battista Alberti is one of the famous architects of the Renaissance. He made enormous contributions to architecture, art theory and literature. His areas of interest also included problems of pedagogy and ethics, mathematics and cartography. He created one of the first scientific works on architecture, entitled “Ten Books on Architecture.” This work had a huge influence on subsequent generations of his colleagues.

Now you know the most famous cultural figures of the Renaissance, thanks to whom human civilization went to new round of its development.

August 7th, 2014

Students art universities and people interested in the history of art know that at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries there was a sharp change in painting - the Renaissance. Around the 1420s, everyone suddenly became much better at drawing. Why did the images suddenly become so realistic and detailed, and why did light and volume appear in the paintings? No one thought about this for a long time. Until David Hockney picked up a magnifying glass.

Let us find out what he discovered...

One day he was looking at the drawings of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, the leader of the French academic school of the 19th century. Hockney became interested in seeing his small drawings on a larger scale, and he enlarged them on a photocopier. That's how he stumbled upon the secret side of the history of painting since the Renaissance.

Having made photocopies of Ingres's small (about 30 centimeters) drawings, Hockney was amazed at how realistic they were. And it also seemed to him that Ingres’s lines were something to him
remind. It turned out that they reminded him of Warhol's works. And Warhol did this - he projected a photo onto a canvas and outlined it.

Left: detail of Ingres's drawing. Right: Warhol drawing of Mao Zedong

Interesting stuff, says Hockney. Apparently, Ingres used Camera Lucida - a device that is a structure with a prism that is mounted, for example, on a stand to a tablet. Thus, the artist, looking at his drawing with one eye, sees the real image, and with the other - the actual drawing and his hand. It turns out optical illusion, allowing you to accurately transfer real proportions onto paper. And this is precisely the “guarantee” of the realism of the image.

Drawing a portrait using a camera lucida, 1807

Then Hockney became seriously interested in this “optical” type of drawings and paintings. In his studio, he and his team hung hundreds of reproductions of paintings created over the centuries on the walls. Works that looked "real" and those that didn't. Arranging by time of creation and region - north at the top, south at the bottom, Hockney and his team saw a sharp change in painting at the turn of the 14th-15th centuries. In general, everyone who knows even a little about the history of art knows this - the Renaissance.

Maybe they used the same camera-lucida? It was patented in 1807 by William Hyde Wollaston. Although, in fact, such a device was described by Johannes Kepler back in 1611 in his work Dioptrice. Then maybe they used another optical device - a camera obscura? It has been known since the time of Aristotle and is a dark room into which light enters through a small hole and thus in the dark room a projection of what is in front of the hole is obtained, but inverted. Everything would be fine, but the image that is obtained when projected by a pinhole camera without a lens, to put it mildly, is not of high quality, it is not clear, it requires a lot of bright light, not to mention the size of the projection. But high-quality lenses were almost impossible to make until the 16th century, since there were no ways to obtain such high-quality glass at that time. Business, thought Hockney, who by that time was already struggling with the problem with the physicist Charles Falco.

However, there is a painting by Jan Van Eyck, a master from Bruges, Flemish painter era early renaissance, - in which the hint is hidden. The painting is called "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple."

Jan Van Eyck "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple" 1434

The painting simply shines with a huge amount of detail, which is quite interesting, because it was painted only in 1434. And a clue as to how the author managed to make such a big step forward in the realism of the image is the mirror. And also a candlestick - incredibly complex and realistic.

Hockney was bursting with curiosity. He got a copy of such a chandelier and tried to draw it. The artist was faced with the fact that such a complex thing is difficult to draw in perspective. One more important point there was the materiality of the image of this metal object. When depicting a steel object, it is very important to position the highlights as realistically as possible, as this gives great realism. But the problem with these highlights is that they move when the viewer's or artist's eye moves, meaning they are not easy to capture at all. And a realistic image of metal and glare is also distinguishing feature paintings of the Renaissance, before that artists had not even tried to do this.

By recreating an accurate 3D model of the chandelier, Hockney's team ensured that the chandelier in the Arnolfini Portrait was drawn accurately in perspective with a single vanishing point. But the problem was that such precise optical instruments as a camera obscura with a lens did not exist until about a century after the painting was created.

Fragment of Jan Van Eyck's painting "Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple" 1434

The enlarged fragment shows that the mirror in the painting “Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple” is convex. This means there were also mirrors on the contrary - concave. Moreover, in those days such mirrors were made in this way - a glass sphere was taken, and its bottom was covered with silver, then everything except the bottom was cut off. The back side of the mirror was not darkened. This means that the concave mirror of Jan Van Eyck could be the same mirror that is depicted in the painting, just with reverse side. And any physicist knows that such a mirror, when reflected, projects a picture of what is being reflected. This is where his friend physicist Charles Falco helped David Hockney with calculations and research.

A concave mirror projects an image of the tower outside the window onto the canvas.

The clear, focused part of the projection measures approximately 30 square centimeters - which is exactly the size of the heads in many Renaissance portraits.

Hockney outlines the projection of a man on canvas

This is the size, for example, of the portrait of “Doge Leonardo Loredan” by Giovanni Bellini (1501), the portrait of a man by Robert Campin (1430), the actual portrait of Jan Van Eyck “a man in a red turban” and many other early Dutch portraits.

Renaissance Portraits

Painting was a highly paid job, and naturally, all business secrets were kept in the strictest confidence. It was beneficial for the artist that all uninitiated people believed that the secrets were in the hands of the master and could not be stolen. The business was closed to outsiders - the artists were members of the guild, and the most different masters- from those who made saddles to those who made mirrors. And in the Guild of Saint Luke, founded in Antwerp and first mentioned in 1382 (then similar guilds opened in many northern cities, and one of the largest was the guild in Bruges, the city where Van Eyck lived) there were also masters making mirrors.

This is how Hockney recreated how a complex chandelier from a Van Eyck painting could be painted. It is not at all surprising that the size of the chandelier Hockney projected exactly matches the size of the chandelier in the painting “Portrait of the Arnolfini Couple”. And of course, the highlights on the metal - on the projection they stand still and do not change when the artist changes position.

But the problem is still not completely solved, because the advent of high-quality optics, which is needed to use a camera obscura, was 100 years away, and the size of the projection obtained using a mirror is very small. How to paint pictures larger size 30 square centimeters? They were created like a collage - from many points of view, it was like a spherical vision with many vanishing points. Hockney understood this because he himself made such pictures - he made many photo collages that achieve exactly the same effect.

Almost a century later, in the 1500s it finally became possible to obtain and process glass well - large lenses appeared. And they could finally be inserted into a camera obscura, the principle of operation of which had been known since ancient times. The camera obscura with a lens was an incredible revolution in visual arts, since now the projection could be any size. And one more thing, now the image was not “wide-angle”, but approximately of normal aspect - that is, approximately the same as it is today when photographed with a lens with focal length 35-50mm.

However, the problem with using a pinhole camera with a lens is that the forward projection from the lens is a mirror image. This led to a large number left-handers in painting in the early stages of using optics. Like in this painting from the 1600s from the Frans Hals Museum, where a left-handed couple is dancing, a left-handed old man is shaking his finger at them, and a left-handed monkey is looking under the woman’s dress.

Everyone in this picture is left-handed

The problem is solved by installing a mirror into which the lens is directed, thus obtaining the correct projection. But apparently, good smooth and large mirror it cost a lot of money, so not everyone had it.

Another problem was focusing. The fact is that some parts of the picture, at one position of the canvas under the projection rays, were out of focus and not clear. In the works of Jan Vermeer, where the use of optics is quite obvious, his works generally look like photographs, you can also notice places out of “focus”. You can even see the pattern that the lens produces - the notorious “bokeh”. Like here, for example, in the painting “The Milkmaid” (1658), the basket, the bread in it and the blue vase are out of focus. But the human eye cannot see “out of focus.”

Some parts of the picture are out of focus

And in light of all this, it is not at all surprising that good friend John Vermeer was Anthony Phillips van Leeuwenhoek, a scientist and microbiologist, as well as a unique master who created his own microscopes and lenses. The scientist became the artist's posthumous steward. This suggests that Vermeer depicted his friend on two canvases - “Geographer” and “Astronomer”.

In order to see any part in focus, you need to change the position of the canvas under the projection rays. But in this case, errors in proportions appeared. As you can see here: the huge shoulder of "Anthea" by Parmigianino (circa 1537), the small head of "Lady Genovese" by Anthony Van Dyck (1626), the huge legs of a peasant in a painting by Georges de La Tour.

Errors in proportions

Of course, all artists used lenses differently. Some for sketches, some compiled from different parts- after all, now it was possible to make a portrait, and finish everything else with another model or even with a mannequin.

There are almost no drawings left by Velazquez. However, his masterpiece remained - a portrait of Pope Innocent 10th (1650). There is a wonderful play of light on the pope's mantle - obviously silk. Blikov. And to write all this from one point of view, it took a lot of effort. But if you make a projection, then all this beauty will not run away anywhere - the highlights no longer move, you can paint with those wide and fast strokes like Velasquez’s.

Hockney reproduces Velazquez's painting

Subsequently, many artists were able to afford a camera obscura, and this ceased to be big secret. Canaletto actively used the camera to create his views of Venice and did not hide it. These paintings, due to their accuracy, allow us to talk about Canaletto as a documentarian. Thanks to Canaletto you can see more than just beautiful picture, but also the story itself. You can see what the first Westminster Bridge in London looked like in 1746.

Canaletto "Westminster Bridge" 1746

British artist Sir Joshua Reynolds owned a camera obscura and apparently didn't tell anyone about it, because his camera folds up and looks like a book. Today it is in the London Science Museum.

Camera obscura disguised as a book

Finally, at the beginning of the 19th century, William Henry Fox Talbot, using a camera lucida - the one in which you have to look with one eye and draw with your hands, cursed, deciding that such an inconvenience must be ended once and for all, and became one of the inventors of chemical photography, and later a popularizer who made it mass.

With the invention of photography, painting's monopoly on the realism of a picture disappeared; now photography has become a monopolist. And here, finally, painting freed itself from the lens, continuing the path from which it turned in the 1400s, and Van Gogh became the forerunner of all art of the 20th century.

Left: Byzantine mosaic 12th century. Right: Vincent Van Gogh, Portrait of Monsieur Trabuc, 1889.

The invention of photography is the best thing that happened to painting in its entire history. It was no longer necessary to create exclusively real images; the artist became free. Of course, it took the public a century to catch up with artists in their understanding of visual music and stop thinking people like Van Gogh were “crazy.” At the same time, artists began to actively use photographs as “ reference material" Then people like Wassily Kandinsky, the Russian avant-garde, Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock appeared. Following painting, architecture, sculpture and music also liberated themselves. True, the Russian academic school of painting is stuck in time, and today in academies and schools it is still considered a disgrace to use photography as an aid, and the highest feat is considered to be the purely technical ability to paint as realistically as possible with bare hands.

Thanks to an article by journalist Lawrence Weschler, who was present during the research of David Hockney and Falco, another interesting fact: Van Eyck's portrait of the Arnolfini couple is a portrait of an Italian merchant in Bruges. Mr. Arnolfini is a Florentine and, moreover, he is a representative of the Medici bank (practically the masters of Florence during the Renaissance, they are considered patrons of the art of that time in Italy). What does this mean? The fact that he could easily have taken the secret of the Guild of St. Luke - the mirror - with him to Florence, in which, as it is believed, traditional history, and the Renaissance began, and the artists from Bruges (and, accordingly, other masters) are considered “primitivists.”

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Hockney-Falco theory. But there is certainly a grain of truth in it. As for art critics, critics and historians, it’s hard to even imagine how many scientific works on history and art actually turned out to be complete nonsense, but this changes the entire history of art, all their theories and texts.

The facts of the use of optics do not in any way detract from the talents of artists - after all, technology is a means of conveying what the artist wants. And vice versa, the fact that these paintings contain the most real reality only adds weight to them - after all, this is exactly what people of that time, things, premises, cities looked like. These are the real documents.