European culture of the 16th century. European culture of the XVI-XVIII centuries

For Western Europe XVII V. - this is the time of the formation of capitalism, the prerequisite for which were the great geographical discoveries of the XV - XVI centuries, the development of the European metropolis of almost all parts of the world. The victory of the English bourgeois revolution of the middle of the 17th century, the first revolution on a “European scale”, led to the establishment of the capitalist mode of production as the politically dominant one in England and Holland, giving the process of the genesis of capitalism an irreversible character. As a result, it is this process that becomes the determining factor in the history of Europe. In the field of economics, this manifested itself in the intensive disintegration of feudal relations in the countryside, in the flourishing of manufacturing production, which created new ways of organizing the labor process, the emergence of hired labor, and in the formation of the European and world capitalist market. Large capitals were often accumulated through the colonial enslavement of new territories of the world. New processes put the countries of Europe in an unequal position: some had colonies, others did not, in some the bourgeois system was established (England, Holland), in others feudal relations became even stronger (Spain, Germany).

In the political sphere, the new era meant the crisis of early absolutism, the onset of a new stage in its evolution, when the policy of absolute monarchy was more and more tightly connected with the narrow interests of the nobility, which meant, in a historical perspective, that it entered a phase of decay and decline. In the field of spiritual life of the XVII century. brought with it a scientific and worldview revolution - the establishment of a rationalistic worldview as an expression of the theoretical consciousness of the rising class - the bourgeoisie, which replaced the traditional, theological worldview.

Feature of the scientific revolution of the XVII century. is a deep study of the ideological and methodological foundations of science, the classical picture of the world. It is noteworthy that it began in mathematics and mechanics, combining two stems of exact knowledge: axiomatic-deductive and experimental (experimental). Experiment, as a tool and method of cognition, fundamentally distinguishes the science of modern times from ancient and medieval forms of theoretical knowledge. From a solitary recluse, which was the nature explorer of the 15th century, the naturalist of the 17th century. becomes already a “legal” figure in society, from a contemplator and observer of occurring phenomena - a tester of nature, forcing it to obey its will.

Compared with the previous century, the range of scientific interests is expanding. In the 16th century, especially great success have been achieved in the fields of philology, astronomy, geography, botany, and medicine. In the 17th century, mathematics became the predominant and leading trend in science, experimental physics developed rapidly, experimental chemistry arose, and new stage in the development of medicine and physiology, the foundations of experimental biology are being laid. Some humanitarian branches of knowledge, including jurisprudence, in particular, international law, achieve great success.

Works of scientists-researchers of the XVII century. created the basis for technological progress.

Galileo Galilei(1564 - 1642) - Italian scientist, one of the founders of exact natural science, considered experience to be the basis of knowledge. He laid the foundations of modern mechanics: he put forward the idea of ​​the relativity of motion, established the laws of inertia, free fall and the motion of bodies on an inclined plane, and the addition of motions. He was engaged in structural mechanics, built a telescope with a 32-fold increase, defended the heliocentric picture of the world.

Johannes Kepler(1571 - 1630) - German astronomer, one of the founders of modern astronomy. He discovered the laws of planetary motion, compiled planetary tables, laid the foundations for the theory of eclipses, invented a new telescope with binocular lenses.

Isaac Newton(1643 - 1727) - English mathematician, mechanic, astronomer and physicist, creator of classical mechanics. He discovered the dispersion of light, chromatic aberration, developed a theory of light that combined corpuscular and wave representations. He discovered the law of universal gravitation and created the foundations of celestial mechanics.

Gottfried Leibniz(1646 - 1716) - German mathematician, physicist, philosopher, linguist. One of the creators of integral and differential calculus, anticipated the principles of modern mathematical logic.

Christian Huygens(1629 - 1695) - Dutch scientist, invented a pendulum clock with an escapement, established the laws of oscillation of a physical pendulum. Created the wave theory of light. Together with R. Hooke, he established the constant points of the thermometer.

William Harvey(1576 - 1637) - English physician, founder of modern physiology and embryology. Described the large and small circles of blood circulation.

Marcello Malpighi(1628 - 1694) - Italian biologist and physician, one of the founders of microanatomy, discovered capillary circulation.

Anthony Leeuwenhoek(1632 - 1723) - Dutch naturalist, one of the founders of scientific microscopy. He made lenses with 150-300-fold magnification, which made it possible to study microbes, blood cells, etc.

The development of the exact and natural sciences directly served as an impetus for a powerful leap in philosophical thought. Philosophy developed in close connection with the sciences. This led to the creation of comprehensive philosophical systems by Hobbes, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Bacon, the development of a theory of knowledge, where two directions were formed: sensationalism and rationalism. The knowledge accumulated by that time required an answer to the main questions: what is knowledge, how knowledge is formed from ignorance, what path it must take to turn into a theory, and in this direction of search, two systems of answers were formed. Sensualists assigned the main role to sensations, sensory knowledge, although they could not sufficiently illuminate the question of how a scientific theory is formed from sensations and sensory information about the world. Rationalists believed that knowledge arises on the basis of the correct method of reasoning, while one side of knowledge was absolutized and the other was not explained.

An essential feature, still expressing the underdevelopment, one-sidedness of the rationalist mindset and worldview of the era of young capitalism, was the predominantly rational-pragmatic character of rationality itself. The "common sense" of the mass consciousness, with its focus on entrepreneurial success and business initiative, did not only creative, but also destructive work in the sphere of the spirit, nihilistically rejecting moral and aesthetic values ​​if they were not "required" to achieve immediate goals and satisfy immediate interests.

Based on the empirical economic and political reality of class, national and state relations in the 16th-17th centuries. one of the most significant constructions of the social thought of modern times was created: natural law theory. Its essence, at first glance, is simple: the right is determined by the force that determines the sovereignty of both the individual and the state. The position of the state in the world community is similar to the position of a citizen in the state itself: both here and there it is not high morality, not the will of God, but a sober and cold egoistic calculation; both individuals and peoples in their relations with each other must rely only on a healthy, natural sense of self-preservation.

Despite its apparent simplicity, the theory of natural law required, however, a radical revision of the established, traditional philosophical and religious ideas about the essence and nature of man. She forced to abandon the Christian dualism of body and soul, demanded that man be recognized as a "part of nature" (B. Spinoza). Not only pragmatism is obvious, but also the cynicism of the ideology, which does not recognize any arguments in politics and law, except for the argument of force. Philosophical and political thought reflected and conceptualized the real bareness of social relations. The reverse side of their progressive rationalization was a noticeable "flattening" of culture, the loss of volume, multidimensionality, multicolored phenomena of cultural life, which was so characteristic of the Renaissance.

The polarization of classes led to a polarization in culture. Noble ethics, moving away from the moral origins of folk life, degenerated into etiquette - a complex system of conditional, formal rules and behaviors developed to the details, intended, however, only for communicating with persons of their aristocratic circle.

The drama of reality, the collapse of the ideal of the Renaissance led to new forms of perception of the world. The optimistic realism of the Renaissance is replaced by a sense of the unstable position of a person, which is characterized by this or that conflict: the clash of individual rights and public duty, awareness of the inconsistency of being. It is more and more difficult for the individual to find his place in the new relations of society, which needs less and less the all-round man of the Renaissance and more and more the man-function. This tragic collision finds expression in two directions of thought, in two artistic styles - baroque and classicism.

Baroque(from Italian "strange, bizarre" and Portuguese "irregular pearl"). It represents not only an artistic style, but also a special way of relating to the world and with the world. It was formed after a galaxy of destructive wars, embodied the feeling of the fall of the ideals of humanism, as well as a heightened awareness of the social, religious and economic crises experienced by Europe in this era. Baroque was marked by the seal of tragedy and the meaninglessness of life. The optimistic ideal of the Renaissance is replaced by a pessimistic assessment of reality, and enthusiastic admiration for man and his capabilities - by emphasizing his duality, inconsistency, "corruption"; “the discrepancy between the appearance of things and their essence is constantly comprehended, the fragmentation of being is felt, the clash between the bodily and spiritual principles, between attachment to the sensual beauty of the world and awareness of the frailty of earthly existence.”

Baroque works were distinguished by a high level of expressiveness, theatrical combination of the real and the fantastic. Hyperbolism, antitheses, metaphorism, everything unusual, non-traditional was widely used: the aesthetic equality of the sublime and the low, the beautiful and the ugly, the tragic and the comic was respected; an arbitrary fusion of ancient mythology and Christian symbolism. The Baroque style strove for monumentality, mystical allegories and naturalness of the image. Particular attention was paid to the emotional impact. The common themes of the Baroque were the physical and moral suffering of a person, and the favorite characters were exalted martyrs, dying or disappointed heroes. Among the trends and schools of the Baroque, one can single out Mannerism (Italy), Gongorism (Spain), precision literature (France), the metaphysical school (England), and the Silesian school (Germany). Prominent exponents of the Baroque in literature were P. Calderon, G. Grimmelshausen, in sculpture and painting - P. Rubens, D. Velasquez, L. Bernini, in architecture - F. Borromini.

Classicism. The birthplace of classicism (from Latin “exemplary”) was France at the end of the 17th century. Classicism was closely associated with the court aristocratic culture of the period of French absolutism. Absolutism in French politics limited the individual to state interests, forced the individual to be sacrificed to the public. The rationalistic philosophy of R. Descartes, the dramaturgy of P. Corneille, J. B. Molière, and the poetics of N. Boileau became the ideological basis of classicism in France. The ideologists of classicism saw their origins in the images and forms of ancient culture. Plots, characters, ideas of antiquity regained life in the works of classicism, but with a new historical content. The most popular were the traditions of late Roman antiquity and the philosophy of the Roman Stoics, supporters of maintaining firmness of spirit in any situation, subordination to impersonal goals. The ideological basis of classicism included the ideas of patriotism, public service, glorifying a person who prefers public interests to his own. Classicism was characterized by rationalism, the normativity of creativity (the rule of three unities, the hierarchy of genres and styles, etc.), the desire to create complete harmonic forms. For the works of classicism, focused on a realistic recreation of reality, selectivity in plots, forms and means of representation was typical, subject to a strict plan and the main task of the artist - to convince with the power and logic of thought.

Thus, the 17th century is a time that, on the one hand, gradually rationalizes, that is, makes the ideas of the Renaissance quite mundane and social, and on the other hand, prepares the ground for the social and spiritual revolutions of the Enlightenment.

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17th century - a significant stage in the history of Western European culture, a time for further growth and strengthening of the national states of Europe, a time of fundamental economic shifts and social clashes, a time of exacerbation of the contradictions of dying feudalism and the emerging capitalist system, the acquisition of national self-consciousness of the masses. The political and economic development of European countries is unequal. In Holland and England - the victory of the bourgeois revolutions; in France and Spain - the victory of absolutism, in Italy and Germany - petty-power despotism. The nobility and the bourgeoisie fought for political dominance, and in this struggle the popular masses were the driving force.

The science

Economic needs, the expansion of the manufacturing industry, trade contributed to the rapid rise of the exact and natural sciences. In the 17th century completed the transition from a poetic-holistic perception of the world to proper scientific methods of cognition of reality. The motto of the era can be called the words of Giordano Bruno, said on its threshold: “The only authority should be reason and free research. This was the time of the great discoveries of Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Leibniz, Huygens in mathematics, astronomy and various fields of physics, remarkable achievements of scientific thought, laid the foundations for the subsequent development of these branches of knowledge.

Philosophy

The development of the exact and natural sciences directly served as an impetus for a powerful leap in philosophical thought. Philosophy developed in close connection with the sciences. The views of Bacon, Hobbes, Locke in England, Descartes in France, Spinoza in Holland were of great importance in the establishment of materialism and the formation of advanced social ideas, in the struggle against idealistic currents and church reaction.

Literature

Fiction 17th century is distinguished by a wide coverage of reality and a variety of genre forms: high tragedy and romance, everyday comedy and short story, epic drama and lyrical plot, ode and satire - in each of these genres enduring artistic values. The beginning of the century is associated with the names of Shakespeare and Cervantes. Coryphaeus of Literature next generation- this is Milton in England, Calderoy in Spain and the great French playwrights Corneille, Racine and Molière.

Music

17th century - This is a period of gradual liberation of music from cult forms and a wide penetration of secular elements into it. This is the time of the birth and formation of new musical genres: operas, oratorios, instrumental music, - and the development of the corresponding artistic means.

Art.
In accordance with the formation of nation-states in Western Europe, national art schools are taking shape. In England, the Puritan movement did not favor the development of the fine arts. In Germany, after the defeat of the peasant revolutions, for almost two centuries, there is a stagnation in artistic life. Italy, despite the fragmentation, thanks to the strong artistic traditions of the Renaissance, continues to be the leading, or rather one of the leading European states in the field of artistic culture. The highest achievements of Western European art XVII V. associated with the art of Italy, Flanders, Holland, Spain and France. One can talk about the national characteristics of the art of each of the countries, and at the same time about mutual commonality, which makes it possible to consider the 17th century as a certain integral stage in the history of Western European art.

era classicism baroque european

XVI-XVII centuries It is customary to call the time of the birth of bourgeois civilization, thereby explaining the savagery and cruelty of this era by the need to accumulate primary capital. In fact, the formation of this civilization began much earlier and initially brought people not poverty and slavery, but the development of manufactories and crafts, the creation of universities and schools, and, most importantly, the growth of freedom, manifested in the formation of various institutions of self-government, as well as representative institutions - parliaments.

XVII-XVIII centuries occupy a special place in the history of modern times. It was a period of transition full of contradictions and struggles, which ended the history of European feudalism and marked the beginning of a period of victory and the establishment of capitalism in the advanced countries of Europe and America.

The elements of capitalist production originated in the depths of the feudal system. By the middle of the 17th century, the contradictions between capitalism and feudalism had acquired a pan-European character. Already in the 16th century, the first victorious bourgeois revolution took place in the Netherlands, as a result of which Holland became "an exemplary capitalist country XVII century". But this victory of the capitalist economy and bourgeois ideology still had a limited, local significance. In England, these contradictions culminated in a bourgeois revolution "on a European scale." Simultaneously with the English bourgeois revolution, there were revolutionary movements in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Russia, Poland and a number of other countries. On the European continent, however, feudalism held out. For another century the ruling circles of these states pursued a policy of feudal "stabilization." Almost everywhere in Europe feudal-absolutist monarchies are preserved, the nobility remains the ruling class.

Economic and political development European countries proceeded unevenly.

In the 17th century, Holland was the largest colonial and commercial power in Europe. The victorious bourgeois revolution of the 16th century not only ensured successful development capitalist economy, trade, but also turned Holland into the freest country in Europe - the center of advanced bourgeois culture, progressive printing, bookselling.

However, in late XVII century, Holland was forced to give way to England, and then to France - countries where there was a more reliable industrial base for trade. In the 18th century, the Dutch economy experienced stagnation and decline. England comes first in the world. France by this time was on the verge of a bourgeois revolution.

Absolutist Spain - in the 16th century one of the powerful states of Europe - in the 17th century found itself in a state of deep economic and political decline. It remains a backward feudal country. In this era, Italy is experiencing a severe economic and political crisis, since the middle of the 16th century it has partially lost its national independence.

The transition from feudalism to capitalism was carried out mainly as a result of two bourgeois revolutions: English (1640-1660) and French (1789-1794). Especially great is the significance of the French bourgeois-democratic revolution, which opened new era in the development of culture.

The seventeenth century was of particular importance for the formation national cultures new time. In this era, the process of localization of large national art schools was completed, the originality of which was determined both by the conditions of historical development and by the artistic tradition that had developed in each country - Italy, Flanders, Holland, Spain, France. Developing in many ways the traditions of the Renaissance, XVII artists centuries have significantly expanded the range of their interests and deepened the cognitive range of art.

The desire for a broad display of reality led in the 17th century to a variety of genre forms. IN fine arts along with traditional mythological and biblical genres, secular ones are gaining an independent place: household genre, landscape, portrait, still life. Complex relationships and the struggle of social forces give rise to a variety of artistic and ideological trends. In contrast to previous historical periods, when art developed within the framework of homogeneous large styles (Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance).

The breakthrough in Europe was due to changes in production relations in the Netherlands and England due to bourgeois revolutions, which took place here much earlier than in other countries.

In 1566, a popular uprising broke out, and a bourgeois revolution began in the Netherlands. The attempts of Philip II to stop the resistance of the Dutch people by executions and atrocities did not break his will to fight. The main milestones of revolutionary events: the popular iconoclastic uprising of 1566 in the southern provinces; the general uprising of 1572 in the northern provinces; an uprising in 1576 in the southern provinces; Creation of the Union of Utrecht in 1579

The Dutch bourgeois revolution ended with the liberation of the northern provinces from Spanish domination and the formation of the bourgeois republic of the United Provinces.

Seven provinces merged into one state with common government, treasury and army. Holland, as the most economically developed province, became the head of the Republic of the United Provinces.

By the middle of the XVII century. England has achieved significant success in the development of industry and trade. The basis of the country's economic progress was the development of new forms of production - capitalist manufactory (mainly in the form of scattered manufactory).

One of the most important features of the English bourgeois revolution is its peculiar ideology, the draping of its class and political goals. The assault on absolutism in England began with the assault on its ideology, ethics and morals, which were embodied in the doctrine of the semi-Catholic state Anglican Church. The English Revolution gave a powerful impetus to the process of primitive accumulation of capital (the "depeasantization" of the countryside, the transformation of peasants into hired workers, the strengthening of enclosures, the replacement of peasant holdings by large farms of the capitalist type); it provided complete freedom of action for the rising class of the bourgeoisie, paved the way for the industrial revolution of the 18th century. just as Puritanism loosened the soil for the English Enlightenment. In the field of political revolutionary struggle of the masses in the middle of the XVII century. ensured the transition from the feudal monarchy of the Middle Ages to the bourgeois monarchy of modern times.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. European science has reached new frontiers. Advanced thinkers, having explored the Universe with the help of scientific instruments, have drawn a completely new picture of the universe and the place of mankind in it. The scientific revolution was made possible thanks to the dynamic development of a society that has already achieved significant technological progress. Firearms, gunpowder and ocean-crossing ships allowed Europeans to discover, explore and map much of the world, and the invention of printing meant that any documented information quickly became available to scientists across the continent. Beginning in the 16th century, the relationship between society, science, and technology became ever closer as progress in one area of ​​knowledge spurred the development of others.

At this time, interest in science was manifested everywhere, and scientific knowledge was not yet so specialized that any educated person could not make a discovery.

Scientific societies were created, such as the Royal Society of London (established in 1662) and the French Royal Academy of Sciences (1666), and scientific journals were published, which accelerated the development scientific progress. As a result of this "revolution" in XVI-XVII centuries, science has become one of the brightest examples successful cooperation for the benefit of man.

If, until recently, art historians considered the Renaissance as a qualitatively unique type of culture, opposing it, on the one hand, to medieval Gothic, and on the other, to seventeen-century baroque, then A.F. Losev, the author of these lines and a number of other culturologists came to the conclusion that the Renaissance is a transitional type of culture - transitional from feudal her qualities To bourgeois, which explains its main features and puts an end to many unproductive discussions. However, further reflections showed that this transition did not end with the crisis of the Renaissance, but continued in new forms in the 17th and even in the 18th centuries. The real victory of capitalism was marked politically by the Great French Revolution, and spiritually by the self-affirmation of Romanticism and Positivism, the kinship and rivalry of which determined the entire history of European culture of the 19th century and was inherited by the 20th century. Thus, the features of the culture of the seventeenth century can be understood if we consider its three-stage process in which it is its middle management , exercising « transition in transition » - the transition from the Renaissance harmonious balance of opposing potentials of culture: aristocratic and democratic, mythological and secular, sensual and spiritual, empirical and rational, ethical and aesthetic, traditionalist and innovative, classic and realistic, etc., through their confrontation and confrontation in the 17th century to gain unconditional superiority one of these potentials, the variety of manifestations of which in different areas of culture corresponded to the content of the concept of Enlightenment. Therefore, the main aesthetic "paint" of the 17th century was drama, which sharply distinguished it from the lyrical-epic Renaissance and attracted the attention of cultural figures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (starting with the romantics) to the late Shakespeare, Cervantes, Rembrandt, Rubens, Bernini, Callo, to the dramatic baroque in general, and in philosophical heritage of this century - to Hobbes and Pascal.

It arose during the period of the late Renaissance, and some researchers believe that it became a kind of reaction of the intelligentsia to whole line crisis phenomena during the Renaissance.

General characteristics of the era

Mannerism is a transitional stage from the early modern period. These were very difficult decades in the history of Western European countries. After all, it was then that the formation of new socio-political and economic systems. All this was connected with the conduct of wider wars, in which military-political alliances and even entire blocs of states participated. Within a number of countries there have been serious changes associated with the transition to the capitalist way of life.

In addition, the educated society of that time was especially shocked by the sack of Rome in 1527. All these changes could not but affect the worldview of educated circles. Mannerism is a kind of reaction to the crisis of humanistic ideals that glorified man and his existence. Therefore, many artists, sculptors and architects turned to new searches in their work.

Direction features

A new style originated in Italy, then spread to a number of European countries. First of all, his principles began to be shared by artists from France and the Netherlands. This direction is characterized by the following features: the desire to convey the harmony of the external and spiritual appearance, the elongation and elongation of the lines, the intensity of the poses. This was different from the harmonious perception of Renaissance artists, who sought to convey tranquility in their works, and also especially cared about the proportionality of forms in the composition.

In sculpture, the masters began to pay special attention to plasticity and elegance. In architecture, there was also a violation of the harmony of forms characteristic of the previous era.

In painting

The school of painting in Italy became the founder of a new direction. It developed in such cities as Florence, Mantua. Its most prominent representatives were Vasari, Giulio Romano and others. For the paintings of artists of this direction are characteristic complex composition, mythical congestion, special, light colors. The topics were very diverse, but one of the main ones was the opposition of heavenly love and earthly love. Spiritualism was characteristic of many works of painters.

Its own school of painting has developed in France (in Fontainebleau). Many Dutch artists imitated Italian authors. Within the framework of this direction, interest arose in the revival of the knightly portrait and medieval themes.

Sculpture and buildings

Mannerism in architecture was also widely developed. Buildings in this style are characterized by a violation of the proportions and lines of the facades. The architects sought to arouse a feeling of concern in the viewer, which manifested the spirit of the era, namely the crisis of Renaissance values ​​and the loss of a sense of harmony and peace. One example of buildings in this style is the Laurentian Library in Florence (author - Michelangelo). In the same style, the square in Mantua was decorated, as well as the loggia in the gallery building in the Uffizi.

Mannerism is a transitional stage between the Renaissance and the Baroque. In sculpture, the same phenomena were observed as in architecture and painting. The most prominent representative is B. Cellini. His works are distinguished by underlined elegance and sophistication, even by some pretentiousness of shapes and colors.

Place in culture

Mannerism is milestone in the history of art. Many researchers see in it the beginnings of Rococo and early Baroque. Of course, many elements of this trend affected subsequent trends. Baroque, for example, adopted from this direction the pretentiousness of forms, the complexity of the composition, Rococo - elegance and graceful manner of images. In general, mannerism in the visual arts, despite all the above features of performance technique, is a rather broad and loose concept.

For example, in the works of Renaissance artists, features are already traced this style. Raphael was one of the first to somewhat move away from the usual form of classicism and began to give elongation to his figures. In the canvases of Leonardo da Vinci, there are some features that portend mannerism: the underlined sophistication of some images and a special refinement, spirituality.

Influence

It is significant that the Renaissance and Mannerism diverged in the definition of principles artistic creativity. After all, a new direction appeared just when the classical forms of the Renaissance were still considered a role model. But even more interesting is the fact that Mannerism proved to be very popular in the 20th century. There is even the concept of "neo-mannerism", by which it is customary to understand the imitation of some contemporary artists this direction. There is a point of view that this direction influenced domestic art period Silver Age. The reasons for this influence should be sought in the fact that Mannerism was a transitional stage between the Renaissance and the Baroque. It is inherently eclectic, so it is somewhat universal. In our time, mannerism is interesting for its unusual and pretentious forms, originality of approaches, as well as an active search for color solutions.

Topic: European culture of the XVI-XVIII centuries.

1. Culture of the Renaissance.

2. Literature of the Enlightenment.

3. Art XVII-XVIII centuries.
1.

new period V cultural development Western and Central Europe called the Renaissance, or the Renaissance.

Renaissance (on French Renaissance) is a humanistic movement in the history of European culture during the period of the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. The Renaissance originated in Italy in the 14th century, spread to Western countries (Northern Renaissance) and reached greatest flourishing in the middle of the 16th century. Late 16th - early 17th century: decline - mannerism.

The Renaissance phenomenon was determined by the fact that the ancient heritage turned into a weapon of overthrow church canons and prohibitions. Some culturologists, defining its significance, compare it with the grandiose cultural revolution, which lasted two and a half centuries and ended with the creation of a new type of worldview and a new type of culture. A revolution took place in art, comparable to the discovery of Copernicus. At the center of the new worldview was man, and not God as the highest measure of all that exists. A New Look on the world was called humanism.

Anthropocentrism is the main idea of ​​the Renaissance worldview. The birth of a new worldview is associated with the writer Francesco Petrarch. Scholasticism, based on the formal terminological method, he opposes scientific knowledge; happiness in the "City of God" - earthly human happiness; spiritual love for God - sublime love for an earthly woman.

The ideas of humanism were expressed in the fact that in a person his personal qualities are important - mind, creative energy, enterprise, self-esteem, will and education, and not social status and origin.

In the Renaissance, the ideal of a harmonious, liberated, creative personality, beauty and harmony is affirmed, an appeal to man as the highest principle of being, a sense of the wholeness and harmonious regularity of the universe.

The Renaissance gave rise to geniuses and titans:

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  Italy - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, politician Machiavelli, philosophers Alberti, Bruni, Val, Ficino, Nicholas of Cusa, architects Brunelleschi and Bramante;
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  France - Rabelais and Montaigne;
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  England - More, Bacon, Sydney, Shakespeare;
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  Spain - Cervantes;
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  Poland - Copernicus;
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  Germany - Boehme, Müntzer, Kepler.

Renaissance masterpieces:

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  Leonardo da Vinci "La Gioconda" The Last Supper»;
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  Raphael " Sistine Madonna"and" Sleeping Venus "," Conestabile Madonna "and" Judith ";
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  Titian "Danae" (Hermitage Museum).

The main feature of the art and culture of the Renaissance is the affirmation of the beauty and talent of a person, the triumph of thought and high feelings, creative activity. Baroque and classicism styles are developing in fine arts, academicism and caravagism are developing in painting. New genres appear - landscape, still life, paintings of everyday life, hunts and holidays.

Leonardo da Vinci Mona Lisa

Raphael Sistine Madonna

Renaissance architecture is based on the revival of classical, mainly Roman architecture. The main requirements are balance and clarity of proportions, the use of an order system, a sensitive attitude to building material, its texture, beauty.

The revival arose and most clearly manifested itself in Italy.

The period from the last decade of the 15th century to the middle XVI century(High Renaissance) becomes the "golden age" of Italian art. The solemn and majestic architecture of Bramante and Palladio remains in the memory of his descendants, he gives the world the immortal masterpieces of Raphael and Michelangelo. The entire 16th century continues, and only at the beginning of the 17th century does the flowering of the Renaissance culture born under the sky of Italy fade away.

The late Renaissance is characterized by the rapid development of such a synthetic art form as theater, the most prominent representatives of which were Lope de Vega, Calderon, Tirso de Molina (Spain), William Shakespeare (England).

Thus, the culture of the Renaissance reflects the synthesis of the features of antiquity and medieval Christianity, and humanism is the ideological basis of the secularization of culture.

The Renaissance replaced the religious ritual with a secular one, elevated a person to a heroic pedestal.

2.
People of the 17th-18th centuries called their time centuries of reason and enlightenment. Medieval performances, consecrated by the authorities of the church and the all-powerful tradition, were criticized. In the 18th century, the desire for knowledge based on reason, and not on faith, took possession of an entire generation. The consciousness that everything is subject to discussion, that everything must be clarified by the means of reason, was a distinctive feature of the people of the 17th and 18th centuries.

During the Age of Enlightenment, the transition to contemporary culture. took shape new look life and thinking, which means that the artistic self-awareness of a new type of culture also changed. Enlightenment saw in ignorance, prejudice and superstition main reason human disasters and social evils, and in education, philosophical and scientific activity, in freedom of thought - the path of cultural and social progress.

The ideas of social equality and personal freedom took possession, first of all, of the third estate, from whose midst most of the humanists emerged. The middle class consisted of the prosperous bourgeoisie and people of liberal professions, it possessed capital, professional and scientific knowledge, common ideas, and spiritual aspirations. The worldview of the third estate was most clearly expressed in the enlightenment movement - anti-feudal in content and revolutionary in spirit.

Radical changes also took place at the level of aesthetic consciousness. The main creative principles of the 17th century - classicism and baroque - acquired new qualities during the Enlightenment, because the art of the 17th century turned to the image real world. Artists, sculptors, writers recreated it in paintings and sculptures, stories and novels, in plays and performances. The realistic orientation of art prompted the creation of a new creative method.

The literature is based on public opinion, which was formed in circles and salons. The courtyard ceased to be the only center to which everyone aspired. The philosophical salons of Paris came into fashion, where Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Helvetius, Hume, Smith visited. From 1717 to 1724 more than one and a half million volumes of Voltaire and about a million volumes of Rousseau were printed. Voltaire was a truly great writer - he knew how to comprehend and explain simply and in a beautiful, elegant language the most serious topic that attracted the attention of his contemporaries. He had a tremendous influence on the minds of all enlightened Europe. His evil laughter, capable of destroying age-old traditions, was feared more than anyone's accusations. He strongly emphasized the value of culture. He portrayed the history of society as the history of the development of culture and human education. Voltaire preached the same ideas in his dramatic works and philosophical stories (“Candide, or Optimism”, “Innocent”, “Brutus”, “Tancred”, etc.).

The direction of enlightenment realism was successfully developed in England. The whole group of ideas and dreams of a better natural order received artistic expression in the famous novel by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) Robinson Crusoe. He wrote more than 200 works of various genres: poems, novels, political essays, historical and ethnographic works. The book about Robinson is nothing but the story of an isolated individual, given to the educational and corrective work of nature, a return to the state of nature. Less well known is the second part of the novel, which tells of a spiritual rebirth on an island far from civilization.

German writers, remaining on the positions of enlightenment, were looking for non-revolutionary methods of combating evil. They considered the main force of progress aesthetic education, and the main means - art. German writers and poets moved from the ideals of public freedom to the ideals of moral and aesthetic freedom. Such a transition is characteristic of the work of the German poet, playwright and Enlightenment art theorist Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805). In his early plays, which were a huge success, the author protested against despotism and class prejudice. "Against Tyrants" - the epigraph to his famous drama "Robbers" - directly speaks of its social orientation.

In addition to the styles of baroque and classicism generally accepted in Europe, new ones appeared in the 17th-18th centuries: rococo, sentimentalism, pre-romanticism. Unlike previous centuries, there is no single style of the era, unity artistic language. The art of the 18th century became a kind of encyclopedia of various stylistic forms, which were widely used by artists, architects, and musicians of this era. In France art culture was closely associated with the court environment. The Rococo style originated among the French aristocracy. The words of Louis XV (1715-1754) "After us - even a flood" can be considered a characteristic of the mood that prevailed in court circles. Strict etiquette was replaced by a frivolous atmosphere, a thirst for pleasure and fun. The aristocracy was in a hurry to have fun before the flood in the atmosphere of gallant festivities, the soul of which was Madame Pompadour. The court environment partly itself formed the Rococo style with its capricious, whimsical forms. Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), a court painter, can be considered the founder of Rococo in painting. The heroes of Watteau are actresses in wide silk dresses, dandies with languid movements, cupids frolicking in the air. Even the titles of his works speak for themselves: "The Capricious", "The Feast of Love", "Society in the Park", "The Predicament".

Watteau "The Predicament".

As a painter, Watteau was much deeper and more complex than his numerous followers. He diligently studied nature, wrote a lot from nature. After the death of Watteau, Francois Boucher (1704-1770) took his place at court. A very skilled craftsman, he worked a lot in the field decorative painting, made sketches for tapestries, for painting on porcelain. Typical plots are The Triumph of Venus, The Toilet of Venus, The Bathing of Diana. In the works of Boucher, the mannerisms and eroticism of the Rococo era were expressed with particular force, for which he was constantly accused by moralist educators.

In the era of the French Revolution, art triumphed new classicism. The classicism of the 18th century is not a development of the classicism of the previous century - it is a fundamentally new historical and artistic phenomenon. Common features: an appeal to antiquity as a norm and an artistic model, assertion of the superiority of duty over feeling, increased abstraction of style, pathos of reason, order and harmony. The exponent of classicism in painting was Jacques Louis David (years of life: 1748-1825). His painting "The Oath of the Horatii" became the battle banner of the new aesthetic views. A plot from the history of Rome (the Horace brothers swear an oath of fidelity to duty and readiness to fight enemies) became an expression of republican views in revolutionary France.

J.S. Bach
The 18th century brought a lot of new things to musical creativity. In the 18th century, music rose to the level of other arts that had flourished since the Renaissance. Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Handel, Christoph Gluck, Franz Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart stand on top musical art in the 18th century. The flourishing of music as an independent art form at this time is explained by the need for poetic, emotional expression. spiritual world person. There is still continuity in the work of Bach and Handel musical traditions, but they began a new stage in the history of music. Johann Sebastian Bach (life: 1685-1750) is considered an unsurpassed master of polyphony. Working in all genres, he wrote about 200 cantatas, instrumental concertos, compositions for organ, clavier, etc. Bach was especially close to the democratic line of the German artistic tradition associated with the poetry and music of the Protestant chant, with folk melody. Through the spiritual experience of his people, he felt the tragic beginning in human life and, at the same time, faith in ultimate harmony. Bach is a musical thinker who professes the same humanistic principle as the Enlighteners.

Mozart
Everything new that was characteristic of progressive trends in music was embodied in the work of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (life: 1756-1791). Together with Franz Joseph Haydn, he represented the Vienna classical school. Haydn's main genre was the symphony, Mozart's opera. He changed the traditional opera forms, introduced psychological individuality into the genre types of symphonies. He owns about 20 operas: (“The Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni”, “The Magic Flute”); 50 symphony concerts, numerous sonatas, variations, masses, the famous "Requiem", choral compositions.