Even during the Hundred Years' War, the process of the formation of the French nation and the emergence of the French national state began. The political unification of the country was completed mainly under Louis XI. By the middle of the 15th century. This also includes the beginning of the French Renaissance, which in its early stages was still closely associated with Gothic art. The campaigns of the French kings in Italy introduced French artists with Italian art, and from the end of the 15th century. a decisive break with the Gothic tradition begins, Italian art is rethought in connection with its own national tasks. The French Renaissance had the character of court culture. ( Folk character most of all manifested itself in French Renaissance literature, primarily in the work of François Rabelais, with his full-blooded imagery, typical Gallic wit and cheerfulness.)

As in Dutch art, realistic tendencies are observed primarily in miniature of both theological and secular books. The first major artist of the French Renaissance was Jean Fouquet (c. 1420-1481), court painter of Charles VII and Louis XI. Both in portraits (portrait of Charles VII, circa 1445) and in religious compositions (diptych from Melun), careful writing is combined with monumentality in the interpretation of the image. This monumentality is created by the chasing of forms, the closedness and integrity of the silhouette, the static nature of the pose, and the laconicism of color. In fact, the Madonna of the Melun diptych was painted in just two colors - bright red and blue (the model for her was the beloved of Charles VII - a fact impossible in medieval art). The same compositional clarity and precision of drawing, sonority of color are characteristic of numerous miniatures by Fouquet (Boccaccio. “The Life of J. Fouquet. Portrait of Charles VII. Fragment, famous men and women”, Paris, Louvre around 1458). The margins of the manuscripts are filled with images of Fouquet's contemporary crowd and landscapes of his native Touraine.

The first stages of Renaissance plastic art are also associated with Fouquet’s homeland, the city of Tours. Antique and Renaissance motifs appear in the reliefs of Michel Colombe (1430/31-1512). His tombstones are distinguished by a wise acceptance of death, in tune with the mood of archaic and classical ancient steles (the tomb of Duke Francis II of Brittany and his wife Marguerite de Foix, 1502-1507, Nantes, cathedral).

Since the beginning of the 16th century, France has been the largest absolutist state in Western Europe. The courtyard becomes the center of culture, especially under Francis I, a connoisseur of the arts and patron of Leonardo. Invited by the king's sister Margaret of Navarre, the Italian mannerists Rosso and Primaticcio became the founders of the Fontainebleau school (“Fontainebleau is the new Rome,” Vasari would write). The castle in Fontainebleau, numerous castles along the Loire and Cher rivers (Blois, Chambord, Chenonceau), the reconstruction of the old Louvre palace (architect Pierre Lescaut and sculptor Jean Goujon) are the first evidence of liberation from the Gothic tradition and the use of Renaissance forms in architecture (first used in the Louvre ancient order system). And although the castles on the Loire are still externally similar to medieval ones in their details (moats, donjons, drawbridges), their interior decor is Renaissance, even rather manneristic. The castle of Fontainebleau with its paintings, ornamental modeling, and round sculpture is evidence of the victory of a culture that was Italian in form, ancient in subject and purely Gallic in spirit.

The 16th century was the time of the brilliant heyday of French portraiture, both painting and pencil (Italian pencil, sanguine, watercolor). The painter Jean Clouet (circa 1485/88-1541), the court artist of Francis I, whose entourage, as well as the king himself, he immortalized in his portrait gallery, became especially famous in this genre. Small in size, carefully painted, Clouet's portraits nevertheless give the impression of being multifaceted in characteristics and ceremonial in form. In the ability to notice the most important thing in a model, without impoverishing it and preserving its complexity, his son François Clouet (circa 1516-1572), the most important artist of France in the 16th century, went even further. Clouet's colors are reminiscent of precious enamels in their intensity and purity (portrait of Elizabeth of Austria, circa 1571). In his exceptional mastery of pencil, sanguine, and watercolor portraits, Clouet captured the entire French court of the mid-16th century. (portrait of Henry II, Mary Stuart, etc.).

The victory of the Renaissance worldview in French sculpture is associated with the name of Jean Goujon (circa 1510-1566/68), whose most famous work is the reliefs of the Fountain of the Innocents in Paris (architectural part - Pierre Lescaut; 1547-1549). Light, slender figures, the folds of whose clothes are echoed by streams of water from jugs, are interpreted with amazing musicality, imbued with poetry, minted and polished and laconic and restrained in form. A sense of proportion, grace, harmony, and subtlety of taste will henceforth invariably be associated with French art.

In the work of Goujon's younger contemporary Germain Pilon (1535-1590), instead of ideally beautiful, harmoniously clear images, concrete life-like, dramatic, darkly exalted images appear (see his tombstones). The richness of his plastic language serves a cold analysis, reaching the point of mercilessness in characterization, in which its analogue can only be found in Holbein. The expressiveness of Pilon's dramatic art is typical of the late Renaissance and indicates the impending end of the Renaissance era in France.

The features of the crisis of the artistic ideals of the Renaissance were especially clearly manifested in mannerism, which emerged at the end of the Renaissance (from maniera - technique, or, more correctly, manierismo - pretentiousness, mannerism), - obvious imitation, as if secondary style with all the virtuosity of technology and sophistication of forms, aestheticization image, exaggeration of individual details, sometimes even expressed in the title of the work, such as in Parmigianino’s “Madonna with a Long Neck”, exaggeration of feelings, violation of the harmony of proportions, balance of forms - disharmony, deformation, which in itself is alien to the nature of the art of the Italian Renaissance.

Mannerism is usually divided into early and mature. Early mannerism - centered in Florence. This is the work of such masters as J. Pontormo, D. Rosso, A. de Volterra, G. Romano. The latter's paintings in the Palazzo del Te in Mantua are full of unexpected, almost frightening effects, the composition is overloaded, the balance is disturbed, the movements are exaggerated and convulsive - but everything is theatrically superficial, coldly pathetic and does not touch the heart (see the fresco "The Death of Giants", for example ).

Mature mannerism is more graceful, sophisticated and aristocratic. Its centers are Parma and Bologna (Primaticcio, from 1531 he was the head of the Fontainebleau school in France), Rome and Florence (Bronzino, a student of Pontormo; D. Vasari; sculptor and jeweler B. Cellini), as well as Parma (the already mentioned Parmigianino, his Madonnas are always depicted with elongated bodies and small heads, with fragile, thin fingers, with mannered, pretentious movements, always cold in color and cold in image).

Mannerism was limited to Italy, it spread to Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, France, influencing their painting and especially applied arts, in which the unbridled imagination of the mannerists found favorable soil and a wide field of activity

Even during the Hundred Years' War, the process of the formation of the French nation and the emergence of the French national state began. The political unification of the country was completed mainly under Louis XI. By the middle of the 15th century. This also includes the beginning of the French Renaissance, which in its early stages was still closely associated with Gothic art. The campaigns of the French kings in Italy introduced French artists to Italian art, and from the end of the 15th century. a decisive break with the Gothic tradition begins, Italian art is rethought in connection with its own national tasks. The French Renaissance had the character of court culture. (The folk character was most manifested in French Renaissance literature, primarily in the work of François Rabelais, with his full-blooded imagery, typical Gallic wit and cheerfulness.)

As in Dutch art, realistic tendencies are observed primarily in miniature of both theological and secular books. The first major artist of the French Renaissance was Jean Fouquet (c. 1420-1481), court painter of Charles VII and Louis XI. Both in portraits (portrait of Charles VII, circa 1445) and in religious compositions (diptych from Melun), careful writing is combined with monumentality in the interpretation of the image. This monumentality is created by the chasing of forms, the closedness and integrity of the silhouette, the static nature of the pose, and the laconicism of color. In fact, the Madonna of the Melun diptych was painted in just two colors - bright red and blue (the model for her was the beloved of Charles VII - a fact impossible in medieval art). The same compositional clarity and precision of drawing, sonority of color are characteristic of numerous miniatures by Fouquet (Boccaccio. “Life J. Fouquet. Portrait of Charles VII. Fragment, famous men and women", Paris, Louvre around 1458). The margins of the manuscripts are filled with images of Fouquet's contemporary crowd and landscapes of his native Touraine.

J. Fouquet. Portrait of Charles VII. Fragment. Paris, Louvre

The first stages of Renaissance plastic art are also associated with Fouquet’s homeland, the city of Tours. Antique and Renaissance motifs appear in the reliefs of Michel Colombe (1430/31-1512). His tombstones are distinguished by a wise acceptance of death, in tune with the mood of archaic and classical ancient steles (the tomb of Duke Francis II of Brittany and his wife Marguerite de Foix, 1502-1507, Nantes, cathedral).

Since the beginning of the 16th century, France has been the largest absolutist state in Western Europe. The courtyard becomes the center of culture, especially under Francis I, a connoisseur of the arts and patron of Leonardo. Invited by the king's sister Margaret of Navarre, the Italian mannerists Rosso and Primaticcio became the founders of the Fontainebleau school (“Fontainebleau is the new Rome,” Vasari would write). The castle in Fontainebleau, numerous castles along the Loire and Cher rivers (Blois, Chambord, Chenonceau), the reconstruction of the old Louvre palace (architect Pierre Lescaut and sculptor Jean Goujon) are the first evidence of liberation from the Gothic tradition and the use of Renaissance forms in architecture (first used in the Louvre ancient order system). And although the castles on the Loire are still externally similar to medieval ones in their details (ditches, donjons, drawbridges), their interior decor is Renaissance, even rather manneristic. The castle of Fontainebleau with its paintings, ornamental modeling, and round sculpture is evidence of the victory of a culture that was Italian in form, ancient in subject and purely Gallic in spirit.

J. Clouet. Portrait of Francis I. Paris, Louvre

The 16th century was the time of the brilliant heyday of French portraiture, both painting and pencil (Italian pencil, sanguine, watercolor). The painter Jean Clouet (circa 1485/88-1541), the court artist of Francis I, whose entourage, as well as the king himself, he immortalized in his portrait gallery, became especially famous in this genre. Small in size, carefully painted, Clouet's portraits nevertheless give the impression of being multifaceted in characteristics and ceremonial in form. In the ability to notice the most important thing in a model, without impoverishing it and preserving its complexity, his son François Clouet (circa 1516-1572), the most important artist of France in the 16th century, went even further. Clouet's colors are reminiscent of precious enamels in their intensity and purity (portrait of Elizabeth of Austria, circa 1571). In his exceptional mastery of pencil, sanguine, and watercolor portraits, Clouet captured the entire French court of the mid-16th century. (portrait of Henry II, Mary Stuart, etc.).

The victory of the Renaissance worldview in French sculpture is associated with the name of Jean Goujon (circa 1510-1566/68), whose most famous work is the reliefs of the Fountain of the Innocents in Paris (architectural part - Pierre Lescaut; 1547-1549). Light, slender figures, the folds of whose clothes are echoed by streams of water from jugs, are interpreted with amazing musicality, imbued with poetry, minted and polished and laconic and restrained in form. A sense of proportion, grace, harmony, and subtlety of taste will henceforth invariably be associated with French art.

In the work of Goujon's younger contemporary Germain Pilon (1535-1590), instead of ideally beautiful, harmoniously clear images, concrete life-like, dramatic, darkly exalted images appear (see his tombstones). The richness of his plastic language serves a cold analysis, reaching the point of mercilessness in characterization, in which its analogue can only be found in Holbein. The expressiveness of Pilon's dramatic art is typical of the late Renaissance and indicates the impending end of the Renaissance era in France.

J. Goujon. Nymphs. Relief of the Fountain of the Innocents in Paris. Stone

The features of the crisis of the artistic ideals of the Renaissance were especially clearly manifested in mannerism, which emerged at the end of the Renaissance (from maniera - technique, or, more correctly, manierismo - pretentiousness, mannerism), - obvious imitation, as if secondary style with all the virtuosity of technology and sophistication of forms, aestheticization image, exaggeration of individual details, sometimes even expressed in the title of the work, such as in Parmigianino’s “Madonna with a Long Neck”, exaggeration of feelings, violation of the harmony of proportions, balance of forms - disharmony, deformation, which in itself is alien to the nature of the art of the Italian Renaissance.

Mannerism is usually divided into early and mature. Early mannerism - centered in Florence. This is the work of such masters as J. Pontormo, D. Rosso, A. de Volterra, G. Romano. The latter's paintings in the Palazzo del Te in Mantua are full of unexpected, almost frightening effects, the composition is overloaded, the balance is disturbed, the movements are exaggerated and convulsive - but everything is theatrically superficial, coldly pathetic and does not touch the heart (see the fresco "The Death of Giants", for example ).

Mature mannerism is more graceful, sophisticated and aristocratic. Its centers are Parma and Bologna (Primaticcio, from 1531 he was the head of the Fontainebleau school in France), Rome and Florence (Bronzino, a student of Pontormo; D. Vasari; sculptor and jeweler B. Cellini), as well as Parma (the already mentioned Parmigianino, his Madonnas are always depicted with elongated bodies and small heads, with fragile, thin fingers, with mannered, pretentious movements, always cold in color and cold in image).

Mannerism was limited to Italy, it spread to Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, France, influencing their painting and especially applied art, in which the unbridled imagination of the mannerists found favorable soil and a wide field of activity.

The beginning of the French Renaissance dates back to the middle of the 15th century. It was preceded by the process of formation of the French nation and the formation of a national state. On the royal throne is the representative of the new dynasty - Valois. The campaigns of the French kings in Italy introduced artists to the achievements of Italian art. Gothic traditions and Dutch tendencies in art are supplanted by the Italian Renaissance. The French Renaissance had the character of a court culture, the foundations of which were laid by patron kings starting with Charles V.

The court painter of Charles VII and Louis XI, Jean Fouquet (1420-1481), is considered the largest creator of the Early Renaissance. He is also called the great master of the French Renaissance. He was the first in France to consistently embody the aesthetic principles of the Italian Quattrocento, which primarily presupposed a clear, rational vision real world and comprehension of the nature of things through knowledge of its internal laws. Most of Fouquet's creative heritage consists of miniatures from books of hours. In addition, he painted landscapes, portraits, and paintings of historical subjects. Fouquet was the only artist of his time who possessed an epic vision of history, whose greatness was commensurate with the Bible and antiquity.

At the beginning of the 16th century, France became the largest absolutist state in Western Europe. Center cultural life The royal court becomes the first connoisseurs and connoisseurs of beauty - the close associates and the royal retinue. Under Francis I, an admirer of the great Leonardo da Vinci, italian art becomes official fashion. The Italian mannerists Rosso and Primaticcio, invited by Margaret of Navarre, sister of Francis I, founded the Fontainebleau school in 1530. This term is usually used to refer to the direction in French painting, which originated in the 16th century at the castle of Fontainebleau. In addition, it is used in relation to works on mythological subjects, sometimes voluptuous, and to intricate allegories created unknown artists and also going back to mannerism. The School of Fontainebleau became famous for creating majestic decorative paintings of the castle ensembles.

In the 16th century the foundations of French were laid literary language and high style. The French poet Joachin Du Bellay (c. 1522-1560) published a programmatic manifesto in 1549, “The Defense and Glorification of the French Language.” He and the poet Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) were the most prominent representatives French poetic school of the Renaissance - "Pleiades", which saw its goal as raising the French language to the same level as the classical languages ​​- Greek and Latin. The Pleiades poets were guided by ancient literature.

Among the outstanding representatives of the French Renaissance was also the French humanist writer François Rabelais (1494-1553). His satirical novel “Gargantua and Pantagruel” is an encyclopedic cultural monument of the French Renaissance. The work is based on folk books about giants that were widespread in the 16th century (the giants Gargantua, Pantagruel, the truth-seeker Panurge). Rejecting medieval asceticism, restrictions on spiritual freedom, hypocrisy and prejudice, Rabelais reveals the humanistic ideals of his time in the grotesque images of his heroes.

Point at cultural development France of the 16th century was created by the great humanist philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592). The book of essays, marked by freethinking and a kind of skeptical humanism, presents a set of judgments about everyday mores and principles of human behavior in various circumstances. Sharing the idea of ​​pleasure as the goal of human existence, Montaigne interprets it in the Epicurean spirit - accepting everything that nature has given to man.

French art of the 16th-17th centuries. based on the traditions of the French and Italian Renaissance. The paintings and graphics of Fouquet, the sculptures of Goujon, the castles of the times of Francis I, the palace of Fontainebleau and the Louvre, the poetry of Ronsard and the prose of Rabelais, the philosophical experiments of Montaigne - everything bears the stamp of a classicist understanding of form, strict logic, rationalism, and a developed sense of grace.

The Birth of the Renaissance in France

The culture of the French Renaissance arose and developed during the period of the completion of the unification of the kingdom, the development of trade, the transformation of Paris into a political and Cultural Center, to which the most remote and remote provinces gravitated.

Renaissance ancient culture enjoyed great attention and support from the royal house and wealthy nobility. The patronage of the new generation of educated people was provided by Queen Anne of Brittany and King Francis I, who more than once averted the vengeful sword of the church from them, was a generous patron of the arts and a good friend. Anna of Brittany created a unique literary circle, the traditions of which were developed in the activities of the more famous circle of the king’s only and beloved sister, Margaret of Navarre, who invariably enjoyed the patronage of Francis. One of the Italian ambassadors, who was at the court of Francis I, said that “the king spent more than a year on jewelry, furniture, building castles, and laying out gardens.”

Literature

Poetry

The founder of new French poetry was Clément Marot, the most talented poet of those decades. Maro returned from Italy, having been seriously wounded at the Battle of Pavia. Lame and crippled, he was thrown into prison following a denunciation and would have been executed if not for the intercession of Margarita. He studied ancient philosophy, was very close to the royal court and the literary circle of Margaret of Navarre. He became the author of many epigrams and songs. Free-thinking works were not in vain for the poet. Twice he fled France. The poet's last days ended in Turin, and the Sorbonne added many of his poems to the list of prohibited ones. In his work, Maro sought to overcome Italian influence and give his poems a national coloring, a “Gallic shine.”

There was also a Lyon school of poetry. Its representatives were not subjected to severe persecution. The poetess Louise Labé belongs to the Lyon school.

A significant phenomenon for French literature there was also the work of Margarita of Navarre, who owns big number poetic works that reflected the spiritual quest of her era. Margarita's main legacy is a collection of 72 short stories called "Heptameron", i.e. "Seven Days". Probably the main part of this work was written between and 1547, during a period when Margaret was very far from the concerns of the Parisian court, from the “big” politics of her brother, immersed in the “small” politics of her tiny kingdom and in family affairs. According to contemporaries, she composed her short stories while traveling around her lands in a stretcher. "Heptameron" by Margaret of Navarre shows an awareness of the tragic contradictions between human ideals and real life.

Title of the edition of the second book of "Gargantua and Pantagruel", Lyon, 1571.

Prose

Perhaps one of the most famous works French Renaissance book is François Rabelais's "Gargantua and Pantagruel". Rabelais was a gifted man, and his talent was especially evident in writing. Rabelais traveled a lot, knew the customs of peasants, artisans, monks, and nobles. He was an expert in common speech. In his remarkable and only novel, he gave a brilliant satire on the people of his time.

Along with this, the literature of the French Renaissance absorbed the best examples of oral folk art. It reflected the traits inherent in the talented and freedom-loving French people: their cheerful disposition, courage, hard work and subtle humor.

Philology

In the 16th century, the foundations of the French literary language and high style were laid. The French poet Joachin du Bellay in 1549 published a programmatic manifesto "Defense and glorification of the French language." This work refuted the assertion that only ancient languages ​​could embody high poetic ideals in a worthy form, and argued that at one time the ancient languages ​​were crude and undeveloped, but it was the improvement of poetry and literature that made them what they became . The same will happen with the French language, we just need to develop and improve it. Du Bellay became a kind of center for uniting his like-minded people and friends. Pierre de Ronsard, who was part of it, came up with the name "Pleiades". The name was not chosen by chance: the group of seven ancient Greek tragic poets also had the same name. Ronsard used this word to designate the seven poetic luminaries in the literary firmament of France; this is a kind of French poetic school. It included Pierre de Ronsard, Joachin Du Bellay, Jean Antoine de Baif, Remy Bellot. They abandoned the heritage of the Middle Ages, rethinking their attitude towards antiquity. Already under King Henry II, the Pleiades received recognition from the court, and Ronsard became a court poet. He performed in various genres - ode, sonnets, pastorals, impromptu.

Philosophy

Philosophical thought in France at that time was most clearly represented by Pierre de la Ramais, a critic of scholastic Aristotelianism. Ramet's thesis “Everything Aristotle said is false” became the starting point of the new European philosophy. Ramais contrasted the reasoning of the scholastics, divorced from life, with the idea of ​​a logically grounded, practice-oriented method, which he called the art of invention. The means of creating a method was to be a new logic, the principles of which Ramais developed in his work “Dialectics”. He was one of the greatest mathematicians of his time and the author of a large general work, A Course in Mathematics.

Bonaventure Deperrier is one of the most original figures of the Renaissance. He was a philologist and translator, and served as secretary to Margaret of Navarre. In 1537 he anonymously published a book of satirical dialogues, The Cymbal of Peace. The book was considered heretical and banned. Deperrier was declared an “apostate from the righteous faith,” and he was removed from the court of Margaret of Navarre. As a result, persecution led him to suicide.

Deperrier's contemporary Etienne Dolet defended the unfortunates who were sent to the stake on charges related to evil spirits. Believing the knowledge of causes to be the highest good, Dole himself concludes that everything that exists did not arise according to a higher will, but due to the forces “necessary for this.” active causes"For some time, the patronage of noble and wealthy individuals saved Dole from the Inquisition. However, in 1546 he was accused of contradicting his translation of Plato Christian teaching about the immortality of the soul. Dole was convicted and burned at the stake. All of his books shared the author’s fate.

Humanism

Guillaume Budet

One of the outstanding French humanists was Jacques Lefebvre d'Etaples. He was a very educated man: encyclopedist, philologist and philosopher, theologian, mathematician, astronomer. He was educated in Florence and became the founder of a school of mathematicians and cosmographers in France. At the end of the 15th century - early XVI century d "Etaples published commentaries on the works of Aristotle, marked by a desire to take a fresh look at the authority of the king of philosophers, sanctified by tradition. In 1512, he published commentaries on the Epistles of Paul, in which he substantiated the need for a critical analysis of the writings of the fathers Christian doctrine. He translated the Bible into French (until that time it had existed only in Latin), but this translation was condemned by the Sorbonne as heretical. Being in fact a dreamy and quiet humanist, Lefebvre d'Etaples was afraid of the consequences of his own ideas when he realized what they could lead to in practice.

Grouped around d'Etaples were students, supporters of Christianity, who studied the Gospel texts, among whom the philologist Guillaume Budet, who became one of the leaders of the humanistic movement in France, especially stood out. A man of the broadest outlook, he made a significant contribution to the study of mathematics, natural sciences, art, philosophy, Roman and Greek philology. His work “Notes on the 24 Books of Pandect" marked the beginning of a philological analysis of the sources of Roman law. In the essay “On the Asse and its Parts” the idea of ​​two cultures was developed - ancient and Christian. Caring for the glory of France, he placed responsibility for its fading on rulers and influential persons. He even wrote the book “Admonitions to the Sovereign". Thanks to Budet, a library was created in Fontainebleau, later it was transferred to Paris, and it became the basis of the National Library of France. Budet talked a lot and seriously with King Francis, who under his influence founded the Royal College in Paris - Collège de France... Greek, Latin and Hebrew languages ​​began to be taught there.

The period of development of humanism in France was short, and its path very soon became thorny. In Europe, the Catholic reaction intensified. From the mid-30s of the 16th century, the Sorbonne, frightened by the successes of humanism, opposed its representatives. The attitude of the French royal authorities and the court towards humanists is also changing. From a protector, royal power turns into a persecutor of free thought. Major French humanists - Bonaventure Deperrier, Etienne Dolet, Clément Marot - became victims of persecution.

Theater

French theater during the Renaissance did not reach the level of Italy, Spain and England. Etienne Jodel became the director of the first French tragedy in the “classical”, i.e., antique style. This tragedy was called "Captive Cleopatra".

Architecture

Early Renaissance architecture in France was heavily Italian influenced. Developing the Gothic traditions, French architects created a new type of architectural structures: the castle of Francis I in Blois, the castles of Azay-le-Rideau, Chenonceau, Chambord. During this period, various building decorations were very widely used. The pinnacle of Renaissance architecture was the building of the new royal palace, the Louvre. It was built by the architect Pierre Lescaut and the sculptor Jean Goujon. Goujon original art education received in France. Then he traveled a lot in Italy, where he studied ancient sculpture. Upon returning to France, he sculpted his first famous work - a statue known as "Diana". It was a distinctive portrait of Diana de Poitiers, Duchess of Valentois. The statue adorned Ane Castle. Diana is depicted naked and lying with a bow in her hand, leaning on the neck of a deer. Her hair is collected in braids, which are woven into gems, next to her is a dog. The king liked this sculpture so much that he entrusted Goujon with other sculptural works at the Anet castle. Goujon also decorated with statues the Château d'Ecutanes, the Carnavalet Hotel in Paris, the Parisian Town Hall, in which the “Twelve Months” panels carved by a master from wood attracted attention, then the Saint-Antoine gate with four magnificent bas-reliefs “Seine”, “Marne”, “Oise” " and "Venus emerging from the waves." All these works are now in the Louvre. For the Franciscan Church, Goujon sculpted the bas-relief “Descent from the Cross”; finally, his work belongs to the “Fountain of Nymphs” in Paris. This fountain is still considered best work French architecture.

art

Humanistic interest in man also manifested itself in fine arts, especially in portrait. Solemn facial expressions and majestic poses in portraits Jean Clouet combined with the severity of individual characteristics. Portraits of François Clouet are also interesting.

The science

Bernard Palissy

Problems of natural science were developed by Bernard Palissy. He was a prominent chemist and discovered a method for making colored glazed ceramics. Achievements in the field of mathematics were high. The theorem of François Vieta, a talented mathematician who lived in those days, is still studied in schools today. In the field of medicine, Ambroise Paré played a major role, turning surgery into a scientific discipline.

Gallery

Literature

• Bobkova, M. S. French Renaissance: Early Modern Time, history reading book. Moscow, 2006.

Links

The Renaissance is a phenomenal phenomenon in the history of mankind. Never again has there been such a brilliant outbreak in the field of art. Sculptors, architects and artists of the Renaissance (their list is long, but we will touch on the most famous), whose names are known to everyone, gave the world priceless Unique and exceptional people who showed themselves not in one field, but in several at once.

Early Renaissance painting

The Renaissance era has a relative time frame. It began first in Italy - 1420-1500. At this time, painting and all art in general are not much different from the recent past. However, elements borrowed from classical antiquity begin to appear for the first time. And only in subsequent years, sculptors, architects and artists of the Renaissance (the list of which is very long) were influenced modern conditions life and progressive trends finally abandon medieval foundations. They boldly adopt the best examples of ancient art for their works, both in general and in individual details. Their names are known to many; let’s focus on the most prominent personalities.

Masaccio - the genius of European painting

It was he who made a huge contribution to the development of painting, becoming a great reformer. The Florentine master was born in 1401 into a family of artistic artisans, so a sense of taste and the desire to create were in his blood. At the age of 16-17 he moved to Florence, where he worked in workshops. Donatello and Brunelleschi, great sculptors and architects, are rightfully considered his teachers. Communication with them and the skills adopted could not but affect the young painter. From the first, Masaccio borrowed a new understanding of the human personality, characteristic of sculpture. The second master has the basics. Researchers consider the “Triptych of San Giovenale” (in the first photo), which was discovered in a small church near the town where Masaccio was born, to be the first reliable work. The main work is the frescoes dedicated to the life story of St. Peter. The artist participated in the creation of six of them, namely: “The Miracle of the Statir”, “Expulsion from Paradise”, “Baptism of Neophytes”, “Distribution of Property and Death of Ananias”, “Resurrection of the Son of Theophilus”, “St. Peter Heals the Sick with His Shadow” and "St. Peter in the Pulpit."

Italian artists of the Renaissance were people who devoted themselves entirely to art, not paying attention to ordinary everyday problems, which sometimes led them to a poor existence. Masaccio is no exception: the brilliant master died very early, at the age of 27-28, leaving behind great works and a large number of debts

Andrea Mantegna (1431-1506)

This is a representative of the Paduan school of painters. He received the basics of his craft from his adoptive father. The style was formed under the influence of the works of Masaccio, Andrea del Castagno, Donatello and Venetian painting. This determined the somewhat harsh and harsh manner of Andrea Mantegna compared to the Florentines. He was a collector and connoisseur of cultural works of the ancient period. Thanks to his style, unlike any other, he became famous as an innovator. His most famous works: “Dead Christ”, “Triumph of Caesar”, “Judith”, “Battle of the Sea Deities”, “Parnassus” (pictured), etc. From 1460 until his death he worked as a court painter for the Dukes of Gonzaga.

Sandro Botticelli(1445-1510)

Botticelli is a pseudonym real name- Filipepi. He did not choose the path of an artist right away, but initially studied jewelry craftsmanship. In his first independent works (several “Madonnas”) one can feel the influence of Masaccio and Lippi. Later he also made a name for himself as a portrait painter; the bulk of orders came from Florence. The refined and sophisticated nature of his works with elements of stylization (generalization of images using conventional techniques - simplicity of form, color, volume) distinguishes him from other masters of that time. A contemporary of Leonardo da Vinci and the young Michelangelo, he left a bright mark on world art (“The Birth of Venus” (photo), “Spring”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Venus and Mars”, “Christmas”, etc.). His painting is sincere and sensitive, and his life path is complex and tragic. The romantic perception of the world at a young age gave way to mysticism and religious exaltation in adulthood. The last years of his life Sandro Botticelli lived in poverty and oblivion.

Piero (Pietro) della Francesca (1420-1492)

Italian painter and another representative of the era early Renaissance originally from Tuscany. The author's style was formed under the influence of the Florentine school of painting. In addition to his talent as an artist, Piero della Francesca had outstanding abilities in the field of mathematics, and devoted the last years of his life to it, trying to connect it with high art. The result was two scientific treatises: “On Perspective in Painting” and “The Book of Five the right bodies" His style is distinguished by solemnity, harmony and nobility of images, compositional balance, precise lines and construction, and a soft range of colors. Piero della Francesca had an amazing knowledge of the technical side of painting and the peculiarities of perspective for that time, which earned him high authority among his contemporaries. The most famous works: “The History of the Queen of Sheba”, “The Flagellation of Christ” (pictured), “Altar of Montefeltro”, etc.

High Renaissance painting

If the Proto-Renaissance and the early era lasted almost a century and a half and a century, respectively, then this period covers only a few decades (in Italy from 1500 to 1527). It was a bright, dazzling flash that gave the world a whole galaxy of great, versatile and brilliant people. All branches of art went hand in hand, so many masters were also scientists, sculptors, inventors, and not just Renaissance artists. The list is long, but the peak of the Renaissance was marked by the work of L. da Vinci, M. Buanarotti and R. Santi.

The Extraordinary Genius of Da Vinci

Perhaps this is the most extraordinary and outstanding personality in the history of the world. artistic culture. He was a universal man in the full sense of the word and possessed the most versatile knowledge and talents. Artist, sculptor, art theorist, mathematician, architect, anatomist, astronomer, physicist and engineer - all this is about him. Moreover, in each of the areas, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) proved himself to be an innovator. Only 15 of his paintings, as well as many sketches, have survived to this day. Possessing amazing vital energy and a thirst for knowledge, he was impatient and fascinated by the process of learning itself. At a very young age (20 years old) he qualified as a master of the Guild of St. Luke. His most important works were the fresco " last supper", paintings "Mona Lisa", "Madonna Benois" (pictured above), "Lady with an Ermine", etc.

Portraits of Renaissance artists are rare. They preferred to leave their images in paintings with many faces. Thus, controversy surrounding da Vinci’s self-portrait (pictured) continues to this day. There are versions that he made it at the age of 60. According to the biographer, artist and writer Vasari, he was dying Great master in his arms close friend King Francis I at his castle of Clos-Lucé.

Raphael Santi (1483-1520)

Artist and architect originally from Urbino. His name in art is invariably associated with the idea of ​​sublime beauty and natural harmony. In a fairly short life (37 years), he created many world-famous paintings, frescoes and portraits. The subjects he depicted were very diverse, but he was always attracted by the image of the Mother of God. Absolutely justifiably, Raphael is called the “master of Madonnas,” especially those painted by him in Rome. He worked in the Vatican from 1508 until the end of his life as an official artist at the papal court.

Comprehensively gifted, like many other great artists of the Renaissance, Raphael was also an architect and was also involved in archaeological excavations. According to one version, the latest hobby is directly related to premature death. Presumably, he contracted Roman fever at the excavations. The great master was buried in the Pantheon. The photo is his self-portrait.

Michelangelo Buoanarroti (1475-1564)

The long 70-year-old man was bright; he left to his descendants imperishable creations of not only painting, but also sculpture. Like other great Renaissance artists, Michelangelo lived in a time full of historical events and shocks. His art is a wonderful final note of the entire Renaissance.

The master put sculpture above all other arts, but by the will of fate he became an outstanding painter and architect. His most ambitious and extraordinary work is the painting (pictured) in the palace in the Vatican. The area of ​​the fresco exceeds 600 square meters and contains 300 human figures. The most impressive and familiar is the Last Judgment scene.

Italian Renaissance artists had multifaceted talents. So, few people know that Michelangelo was also an excellent poet. This facet of his genius fully manifested itself towards the end of his life. About 300 poems have survived to this day.

Late Renaissance painting

The final period covers the time period from 1530 to 1590-1620. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the Renaissance as a historical period ended with the fall of Rome in 1527. Around the same time, the Counter-Reformation triumphed in southern Europe. The Catholic movement looked with caution at any free-thinking, including the glorification of the beauty of the human body and the resurrection of the art of the ancient period - that is, everything that was the pillars of the Renaissance. This resulted in a special movement - mannerism, characterized by the loss of harmony of the spiritual and physical, man and nature. But even in this difficult period, some famous artists The Renaissance created their masterpieces. Among them are Antonio da Correggio (considered the founder of classicism and Palladianism) and Titian.

Titian Vecellio (1488-1490 - 1676)

He is rightfully considered a titan of the Renaissance, along with Michelangelo, Raphael and da Vinci. Even before he turned 30, Titian gained the reputation of “king of painters and painter of kings.” The artist mainly painted paintings on mythological and biblical themes; moreover, he became famous as an excellent portrait painter. Contemporaries believed that to be captured by the brush of a great master meant to gain immortality. And indeed it is. Orders to Titian came from the most revered and noble persons: popes, kings, cardinals and dukes. Here are just a few of his most famous works: “Venus of Urbino”, “The Rape of Europa” (pictured), “Carrying the Cross”, “Crown of Thorns”, “Madonna of Pesaro”, “Woman with a Mirror”, etc.

Nothing is repeated twice. The Renaissance era gave humanity brilliant, extraordinary personalities. Their names are included in world history art in gold letters. Architects and sculptors, writers and artists of the Renaissance - the list is very long. We touched only on the titans who made history and brought the ideas of enlightenment and humanism to the world.