Renaissance May 12th, 2017

Renaissance or Renaissance (from the French Renaissance) is a period of European history marked by many cultural transformations. The Renaissance replaced the Middle Ages and became an intermediate link between them and the Age of Enlightenment.

In this article we want to briefly highlight the key moments of the Renaissance and tell interesting facts from this historical period.

The Renaissance in brief

It must be said right away that the Renaissance of European culture had global significance. It is impossible to determine the exact years of the Renaissance, especially since they differ for each European state. However, it is generally accepted that the Renaissance began in the 14th century and ended at the beginning of the 17th century.

What marked this period? First of all, by the fact that medieval religious fanaticism was replaced by secular culture and humanism.

Anthropocentrism (that is, man occupies a central place in all cultural and scientific research) has become the dominant ideology.

It is then that interest in the forgotten ancient culture is revived. This is actually where the term “Renaissance” comes from.

If we talk briefly about the Renaissance, its main phenomenon was that after the fall of the Byzantine Empire, the Byzantines who fled to various European powers began to distribute their libraries. Namely, they contained many ancient sources that were practically unknown in Europe at that time.

In cities, various scientific and cultural centers began to appear and gain momentum, operating independently of the church. This movement began in Italy.

Conventionally, the Renaissance can be divided into 4 stages:

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


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


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


4. Late Renaissance (mid-16th - 1590s)

We can say with complete confidence that the Renaissance had a colossal influence on all European states.

In essence, the Renaissance is a transition from a feudal social system to a bourgeois one. It is then that national states are formed, between which trade begins to flourish, and international diplomatic relations are established.

Science is developing at an incredible pace, and book printing perpetuates this historical period for centuries. Geographical discoveries and the emergence of natural science became a turning point in man's awareness of himself. The foundation of all future scientific theories and discoveries is laid.

Renaissance Man

Renaissance man differs sharply from medieval man. He is characterized by faith in the power and strength of the mind, admiration for the inexplicable gift of creativity.

"Portrait of a Young Woman" by Sandro Botticelli

Humanism puts the focus on human wisdom and its achievements as the highest good for a rational being. Actually, this leads to the rapid flourishing of science.

Humanists consider it their duty to actively disseminate the literature of ancient times, because it is in knowledge that they see true happiness.

In a word, the Renaissance man tries to develop and improve the “quality” of the individual through the study of the ancient heritage as the only basis.

And intelligence occupies a key place in this transformation. Hence the emergence of various anti-clerical ideas, which are often unreasonably hostile to religion and the church.

Renaissance Literature

If we talk about Renaissance literature, it begins with the brilliant Dante Alighieri (1265-1321). By writing The Divine Comedy, he essentially revealed the essence of the man of his time.

Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) in his sonnets glorifies selfless love as the meaning of life. For him, the wealth of a person’s inner world is unthinkable without true love. By the way, we have already written about one interesting fact from the life of Petrarch.

In many ways, the literature of the Renaissance was predetermined by the short stories of Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), the treatises of the outstanding Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), the poems of Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533) and Torquato Tasso (1544-1595).

These representatives of the Renaissance became on a par with the recognized classics of the ancient Greek and Roman periods of history.

William Shakespeare. The only lifetime portrait.

During the Renaissance, literature was conventionally divided into two types: folk poetry and ancient books. It was this combination that gave birth to such amazing, semi-fantastic and poetic-allegorical works as “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes and “Gargantua and Pantagruel” by Francois Rabelais.

It is important to emphasize that it was then that the concept of national literature begins to clearly emerge, in contrast to the Middle Ages, when Latin was the common destiny of all writers.

Drama and theater became extremely popular, and the most famous playwrights were the Englishman William Shakespeare (1564-1616, England) and the Spaniard Lope de Vega (1562-1635).

Renaissance philosophy

It is quite difficult to speak briefly about the philosophy of the Renaissance. We can only briefly list its most famous representatives.

Nikolai Kuzansky is one of the most prominent German thinkers. Kuzansky was a universal scientist and encyclopedist. He defended the ideas of Neoplatonism, considering the meaning of philosophy to be the union of opposites in the One.

Leonardo Bruni was an Italian humanist, historian and writer, as well as an outstanding scientist of his time. He wrote biographies of Dante and Petrarch. Bruni saw the meaning of Renaissance philosophy in the limitless creative possibilities of man.

Famous figures, scientists and philosophers of the Renaissance - Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus and Giordano Bruno deserve separate articles.

Briefly, we can only say that Copernicus made the first revolution in the scientific world, becoming the author of the heliocentric system of the world.

Galileo became the founder of experimental physics. He was the first to use a telescope for scientific purposes, making a number of important astronomical discoveries.

Giordano Bruno was recognized by his contemporaries as one of the greatest thinkers of the Renaissance. His philosophy and numerous treatises led to conflict with the Catholic Church. Bruno is known to many because he was sentenced to death and burned at the stake in Rome for his scientific and philosophical views.

Michel Montaigne was a French Renaissance philosopher and author of the famous book Essays. He was one of the first to speak out against the use of cruelty in pedagogy.

Martin Luther is an outstanding German theologian and reformer. He became the founder of the Reformation, which led to the emergence of the largest Christian movement - Protestantism. It was the Reformation that largely predetermined the development of Europe after the Renaissance.

Thomas More - English philosopher and humanist. Author of the famous book "Utopia". An implacable critic of Luther and the ideas of the Reformation.

Erasmus of Rotterdam is a prominent thinker who received the nickname “prince of humanists.” He was distinguished by his freedom-loving views. At the end of his life he also argued with Luther.

We will only list other representatives of Renaissance philosophy: Marsilio Ficino and Lorenzo Valla, Gianozzo Manetti and Jean Bodin, Tommaso Campanella and Niccolo Machiavelli.

Renaissance Artists

Undoubtedly, the artists of the Renaissance deserve more attention than a brief mention of them. But we will only list the most famous names.

Sandro Botticelli is a bright star in the horizon of Renaissance art. The most famous paintings: “The Birth of Venus”, “Spring”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Venus and Mars”, “Christmas”.

"The Birth of Venus" by Sandro Botticelli. One of the first images of a naked female body since antiquity. Around 1485.

Piero della Francesca is a famous Italian artist and mathematician. He wrote such famous works as “On Perspective in Painting” and “The Book of the Five Regular Bodies.” He was distinguished by his perfect mastery of painting techniques, knowing its scientific theory. Famous paintings: “The History of the Queen of Sheba”, “The Flagellation of Christ” and “The Altar of Montefeltro”.

Leonardo da Vinci is one of the most famous artists and universal scientists not only of the Renaissance, but of all times in general. He had unique abilities and became the inventor of many things that appeared only in the 20th century. The most famous paintings of the genius da Vinci: “The Last Supper”, “Mona Lisa”, “Benois Madonna” and “Lady with an Ermine”.

"Vitruvian Man" by Leonardo da Vinci. One of the main symbols of the Renaissance.

Raphael Santi is one of the most skilled artists and architects of the Renaissance. In his short life (he lived only 37 years), Raphael painted many stunning paintings, the most famous of which are “The Sistine Madonna”, “Portrait of a Young Woman” and the fresco “The School of Athens”.

The School of Athens is Raphael's most famous fresco.

Michelangelo Buoanarroti is a brilliant artist, sculptor and architect of the Renaissance. Legends and anecdotes are still made about his work. In addition to many artistic works, he wrote about 300 poems that have survived to this day. The largest works: “Madonna Doni”, “Creation of Adam”, statues “Moses” and “David”.

Titian Vecellio is an outstanding artist of the Renaissance. Titian had not yet turned 30 years old when he was recognized as “the king of painters and painter of kings.” By the way, we have already written about one very funny and interesting fact from the life of Titian. Major works: “Venus of Urbino”, “The Rape of Europa”, “Carrying the Cross”, “Crown with Thorns” and “Madonna of Pesaro”.

Renaissance or Renaissance is an entire historical era (XIII-XVI centuries), characterized by three main trends: a broad, free sense of humanity and human individuality, the liberation of the human mind from unshakable religious and scholastic dogmas, and a return to the high ideals of ancient civilization. These trends provided a combination of economic, political and spiritual incentives that made it possible to overcome the long-term stagnation of the previous medieval economy, politics, culture, and human personality. But the main ones, which were the internal force for the development of civilization in that era, were value incentives. An important shift carried out by revivalist thought occurred at the level of ideological and ethical-aesthetic values ​​and norms. Accordingly, the question of man was revised, first of all: about his position in society, about his purpose, about the dignity of the human person, about the needs of man that determine his being and behavior. In fact, all human needs become legitimate: material, spiritual, body and soul. The value aspect of the philosophical anthropology of the Renaissance is confirmed by the abundance of philosophical treatises with the following titles: “On the Advantage and Superiority of Man” by Fazio, “On Pleasure as a True Good” by Lorenzo Valla, “On Dignity” by Manetti, “On Remedies against a Happy and Unfortunate Fate” by Francesca Petrarch and etc.

Philosophical orientations and reflections lead to the most important question for the Renaissance: “is man great or insignificant?”, and the philosophical thinking of this period is characterized as anthropocentric. It was supposed to replace the dominant theocentric idea of ​​the essence, capabilities and dignity of man.

So, is a person great or insignificant? The raising of this question and its promotion to the forefront of research, including philosophical research, was determined by the subjective and objective processes occurring in that era. An analysis of the content of the Renaissance shows that subjective processes prevailed in it. This was the era of spontaneous human self-affirmation at the level of consciousness. As R. Monier said, man somehow thought about himself differently, that he was not God, not Satan, but also not a man in his true essence.

Naturally, the question arises: why did this happen exactly then, why exactly in this era did the idea of ​​self-affirmation of a person’s personality arise? Of course, the answer must be sought, firstly, in the nature of social existence, the entire system of objective needs of the emerging bourgeois society, the implementation of which required a new person, a “person-person”, thinking, reasoning, active, responsible, that is, free. Secondly, the idea of ​​self-affirmation came from man himself as an individual, from his desire to have a different, his own material and spiritual existence, a different way of life, a different understanding of the meaning of life and his own destiny, taking into account his entire natural and social essence. That is, it was important for the renaissance man, first of all, to establish his independent existence and satisfy everything that he considered important and necessary for himself personally as a person. Going forward, let's say: a person believed that he could achieve all this by any means, as long as self-affirmation occurred, as long as the ultimate goal - freedom - was achieved. In his opinion, such a goal justified all means to achieve it.

But what was the objective reality? On the one hand, the Renaissance man considered it necessary to satisfy his material needs: to eat well, dress beautifully, have a comfortable home, and without prejudice to satisfy his other physical needs, which in itself should not be forbidden or sinful. But isn’t this fundamentally characteristic (discarding the aesthetic form) of an animal? Doesn’t a person with such needs remain at the level of an animal? Fortunately, the Renaissance man asked himself this question. And therefore, on the other hand, while asserting himself on such a basis, man still wanted (above all, he wanted) to remain a spiritual being, albeit outside of any cult, outside of religious and ethical norms. Man wanted that, despite all this, the ideals of Goodness, Nobility, and Beauty would not be lost and expelled from both his human spirituality and the conditions of his real everyday existence. It was they who had to be not only the value guidelines of his life, but also act as internal and external “brakes” that would not allow a person to cross the line beyond which his essence would be lost.

Where could a renaissance man get these values? How could they have formed in his mind if reality (existence) was different and oriented a person towards other values. The Renaissance man took new values ​​from the past. but all the previous highest principles: God, Truth, the Beautiful - were reduced to an ordinary human reflection, simplified to ordinary everyday understanding.

So, the answer to the question “is a person great or insignificant,” it would seem, should be unambiguous. Yes, great. And his greatness lies in his desire to be free, in the free manifestation (so he wanted!) of individuality, in the awareness of the need and free search for opportunities for comprehensive improvement, and thus “creating oneself” (Pico della Mirandola). Moreover, bodily individual subjectivity, right down to the deepest secrets, orients a person in a completely new way, in comparison with the Middle Ages. Physical perfection becomes the same goal as spiritual perfection. And their harmony is human happiness. As if to sum it up, Pico della Mirandola says that man is born with the condition that he becomes what he can be.

If we accept this kind of teaching about man from the classics of Renaissance philosophy, then we can assume that in the Renaissance there was literally a direct deification of man, an absolutization of the human personality with all its material corporeality. It is in the following centuries that philosophers will deduce the essence and existence of man from the thought of man or from his moral essence. For Renaissance philosophy, neither one nor the other concept was decisive. The idea that a person comes from and is based on a material basis “worked” here. And since such a life was conceived in a personal and material way, it was free from any heavy and difficult to fulfill commandments and norms. Drawing the image of such a person, Michel Montaigne claims that for him there is no greater bliss on Earth than to live calmly and happily. This person drives grief away from himself as something not worth attention, he behaves as his egoism and strength dictate to him. He does not suffer at all from being disconnected from people. His actions and desires are at their best, his strength is in harmony with his will. This is some kind of virgin power of being, which man has never used before.

However, historical justice forces us to admit that the early “carefree” youth of the Renaissance ended quite quickly, since it became clear to man the complete impossibility of relying in his life only on freedom, arising exclusively from his personal-material foundation, personal vision of this foundation and methods of its creation.

This is how the desire arises to base your life on something other, more solid than illusory human freedom. And the further the historical process went, obeying objective laws, the more intensively the contradiction matured, which ultimately reached the point of human tragedy between the illusory freedom of man and the realities of life.

This tragedy and its possible consequences were not immediately understood by everyone. It was understood by great personalities, “titans of thought and deed.” Or perhaps it would be more correct to consider that this contradiction of the era gave birth to titans who were able to penetrate into its essence and the essence of anthropological problems. They are the face, the subject of that era. It is the figure of a human creator, and not just a free person who has brought the existing and desired freedom to the point of egocentrism, that becomes a symbol of the Renaissance.

But naturally a new question arises about the subject of the Renaissance. Can this revivalist individualism (both plus and minus) and titanism be considered the ultimate goal of history? And this question has a twofold answer. Yes, it is possible and necessary, since it was in individualism that the need for self-affirmation of a person was realized, who, by the force of historical circumstances, presented his rights to human dignity and freedom. But another answer is also legitimate: no, it’s impossible, it’s not justified. The philosophers of that era perfectly understood the limitations of the individualist person, even if he was a titan of thought and deed. And more importantly, they understood the depravity of the way of fighting for self-affirmation, which reached the point of egocentrism, to the loss of not only a sense of proportion, the boundaries of freedom, but also involvement in universal human values ​​as a reliable point of support. For an individualist, such a fulcrum is “himself” and nothing more. This is his “greatness” and “tragedy”, and this is his “insignificance”.

Proof of this is the entire real life of a Renaissance man, all the work and personal fate of great writers, artists, scientists, especially of the High Renaissance period. Examples of this are the works of Botticelli and Michelangelo, the traits of powerlessness and despair in the mighty Leonardo da Vinci, the tragedy of the life and work of G. Bruno and Galileo. The heroes of Shakespeare and Cervantes, on the one hand, are full of thirst for self-affirmation, but, on the other, even more tragic, because... such a titan personality, unbridled in his thirst for self-affirmation, encounters someone similar to himself and dies in this struggle.

The anthropology of the philosopher, poet, and politician Pico della Mirandola (1443-1495) deserves special attention. In creating the image of man and defining his essence, he merges into a single whole the personalities of Plato and Aristotle, the images of Christ, Moses and Zarathustra, Avicena and F. Aquinas and many other historical, mythical and religious figures. Underneath this lay the desire to define man as something infinite in his characteristics and in his personal activity.

In his treatise “On the Dignity of Man,” Pico shows that man, representing the “fourth and last world,” after the subcelestial, celestial and sublunary, in his essence is the maximum synthesis of all areas of existence that are not characteristic of any of the three named worlds. Human happiness lies in ascending to the synthesis that is characteristic only of the deity. He says that happiness is the return of an object to its beginning. It is the highest good, and good is what everyone desires, which is the beginning of everything. From this Platonic ontology, Pico deduces three stages of man's ascent to the highest good: purification from passions with the help of ethics and aesthetics, improvement of reason with dialectics and philosophy of nature, knowledge of the divine with the help of theology.

Undoubtedly, the main thing in Pico’s philosophy of man is the doctrine of man’s creation of himself. He agrees with Christian dogmas that God created man in his own image and likeness and that God is a being not created by anyone. But from these premises, Pico draws a conclusion that is the opposite of the religious one: a person created by God must create himself as a person, i.e. freely and without any coercion to affirm oneself in God, in the world, in eternity. Pico claims that the Creator, placing man at the center of the world, commanded: “... we do not give you, Adam, either a specific place, or your own person, or a special responsibility, so that you have the place, and the person, and the duties on your own.” desire, according to your will and your decision. You, not constrained by any limits, will determine your image according to your decision, into the power of which I represent you” 44. Therefore, a person must create himself as an individual and be the creator of his own happiness. During the period of ascending individualism, this kind of teaching undoubtedly served the progress of free thought, the active personal formation of man’s being.

The tragedy of man, which is based on a personal-material approach, was also recognized by another great figure of the High Renaissance, Michelangelo Buonarotti. Moreover, this tragedy already has cosmic proportions. The personality, confronting the entire cosmos, already feels the boundless horror of its own individual loneliness and helplessness in front of this cosmos. In her isolation, she can no longer rely on another, equally self-contained and lonely person. Both in “Madonna Mary” and in “The Last Judgment” Michelangelo shows the futility of everything earthly, the corruption of the flesh, the helplessness of man before Fate.

Man is presented in a unique way, but in the spirit of the Renaissance worldview, in the naturalistic ethical and philosophical teachings of Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592). Against the scholastic model of a “virtuous, decent,” but rather gloomy life, he puts forward a humanistic ideal of bright, loving virtue.

It corresponds to human nature, comes from knowledge of human nature and the natural and everyday conditions of his life. Life is a completely earthly phenomenon, asceticism is meaningless - a person must be free from prejudices.

Montaigne defends the idea of ​​independence and autonomy of the human person. His individualism is directed against conformism, when the principle of “life for others” often hides selfish interests in which another person acts only as a means - “to be like everyone else.” These ideas also permeated the work of Montaigne's predecessors, Erasmus of Rotterdam and Nicollo Machiavelli.

The history of the Renaissance begins in This period is also called the Renaissance. The Renaissance changed into culture and became the forerunner of the culture of the New Age. And the Renaissance ended in the 16th-17th centuries, since in each state it has its own start and end date.

Some general information

Representatives of the Renaissance are Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio. They became the first poets who began to express sublime images and thoughts in frank, common language. This innovation was received with great enthusiasm and spread to other countries.

Renaissance and art

The peculiarity of the Renaissance is that the human body became the main source of inspiration and subject of study for artists of this time. Thus, emphasis was placed on the similarity of sculpture and painting with reality. The main features of the art of the Renaissance period include radiance, refined use of the brush, the play of shadow and light, care in the work process and complex compositions. For Renaissance artists, the main images were from the Bible and myths.

The resemblance of a real person to his image on a particular canvas was so close that the fictional character seemed alive. This cannot be said about the art of the twentieth century.

The Renaissance (its main trends are briefly outlined above) perceived the human body as an endless beginning. Scientists and artists regularly improved their skills and knowledge by studying the bodies of individuals. The prevailing view then was that man was created in the likeness and image of God. This statement reflected physical perfection. The main and important objects of Renaissance art were the gods.

Nature and beauty of the human body

Renaissance art paid great attention to nature. A characteristic element of the landscapes was varied and lush vegetation. The blue-hued skies, pierced by the sun's rays that penetrated the white clouds, provided a magnificent backdrop for the floating creatures. Renaissance art revered the beauty of the human body. This feature was manifested in the refined elements of the muscles and body. Difficult poses, facial expressions and gestures, a harmonious and clear color palette are characteristic of the work of sculptors and sculptors of the Renaissance period. These include Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and others.

Material from Uncyclopedia

Renaissance, or Renaissance (from the French renaître - to be reborn), is one of the most striking eras in the development of European culture, spanning almost three centuries: from the middle of the 14th century. until the first decades of the 17th century. This was an era of major changes in the history of the peoples of Europe. In conditions of a high level of urban civilization, the process of the emergence of capitalist relations and the crisis of feudalism began, the formation of nations and the creation of large national states took place, a new form of political system appeared - an absolute monarchy (see State), new social groups were formed - the bourgeoisie and hired workers. The spiritual world of man also changed. Great geographical discoveries expanded the horizons of contemporaries. This was facilitated by the great invention of Johannes Gutenberg - printing. In this complex, transitional era, a new type of culture emerged that placed man and the surrounding world at the center of its interests. The new, Renaissance culture was widely based on the heritage of antiquity, interpreted differently than in the Middle Ages, and in many ways rediscovered (hence the concept of “Renaissance”), but it also drew from the best achievements of medieval culture, especially secular - knightly, urban , folk The Renaissance man was gripped by a thirst for self-affirmation and great achievements, actively involved in public life, rediscovered the natural world, strived for a deep understanding of it, and admired its beauty. The culture of the Renaissance is characterized by a secular perception and understanding of the world, an affirmation of the value of earthly existence, the greatness of the mind and creative abilities of man, and the dignity of the individual. Humanism (from the Latin humanus - human) became the ideological basis of the culture of the Renaissance.

Giovanni Boccaccio is one of the first representatives of humanistic literature of the Renaissance.

Palazzo Pitti. Florence. 1440-1570

Masaccio. Tax collection. Scene from the life of St. Petra Fresco of the Brancacci Chapel. Florence. 1426-1427

Michelangelo Buonarroti. Moses. 1513-1516

Rafael Santi. Sistine Madonna. 1515-1519 Canvas, oil. Art Gallery. Dresden.

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna Litta. Late 1470s - early 1490s Wood, oil. State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg.

Leonardo da Vinci. Self-portrait. OK. 1510-1513

Albrecht Durer. Self-portrait. 1498

Pieter Bruegel the Elder. Hunters in the snow. 1565 Wood, oil. Museum of Art History. Vein.

Humanists opposed the dictatorship of the Catholic Church in the spiritual life of society. They criticized the method of scholastic science, based on formal logic (dialectics), rejected its dogmatism and faith in authorities, thereby clearing the way for the free development of scientific thought. Humanists called for the study of ancient culture, which the church rejected as pagan, accepting from it only that which did not contradict Christian doctrine. However, the restoration of the ancient heritage (humanists searched for manuscripts of ancient authors, cleared texts of later layers and copyist errors) was not an end in itself for them, but served as the basis for solving pressing problems of our time, for building a new culture. The range of humanitarian knowledge within which the humanistic worldview was formed included ethics, history, pedagogy, poetics, and rhetoric. Humanists made valuable contributions to the development of all these sciences. Their search for a new scientific method, criticism of scholasticism, translations of scientific works of ancient authors contributed to the rise of natural philosophy and natural science in the 16th - early 17th centuries.

The formation of Renaissance culture in different countries was not simultaneous and proceeded at different rates in different areas of culture itself. It first developed in Italy, with its numerous cities that had reached a high level of civilization and political independence, with ancient traditions that were stronger than in other European countries. Already in the 2nd half of the 14th century. In Italy, significant changes took place in literature and humanities - philology, ethics, rhetoric, historiography, pedagogy. Then fine arts and architecture became the arena for the rapid development of the Renaissance; later the new culture embraced the sphere of philosophy, natural science, music, and theater. For more than a century, Italy remained the only country of Renaissance culture; by the end of the 15th century. The revival began to gain strength relatively quickly in Germany, the Netherlands, and France in the 16th century. - in England, Spain, Central European countries. Second half of the 16th century. became a time not only of high achievements of the European Renaissance, but also of manifestations of the crisis of a new culture caused by the counter-offensive of reactionary forces and the internal contradictions in the development of the Renaissance itself.

The origin of Renaissance literature in the 2nd half of the 14th century. associated with the names of Francesco Petrarch and Giovanni Boccaccio. They affirmed humanistic ideas of personal dignity, linking it not with birth, but with the valiant deeds of a person, his freedom and the right to enjoy the joys of earthly life. Petrarch’s “Book of Songs” reflected the subtlest shades of his love for Laura. In the dialogue “My Secret” and a number of treatises, he developed ideas about the need to change the structure of knowledge - to put human problems at the center, criticized the scholastics for their formal-logical method of knowledge, called for the study of ancient authors (Petrarch especially appreciated Cicero, Virgil, Seneca), highly raised the importance of poetry in man’s knowledge of the meaning of his earthly existence. These thoughts were shared by his friend Boccaccio, the author of the book of short stories “The Decameron”, and a number of poetic and scientific works. The Decameron traces the influence of folk-urban literature of the Middle Ages. Here, humanistic ideas were expressed in artistic form - the denial of ascetic morality, the justification of a person’s right to the full expression of his feelings, all natural needs, the idea of ​​nobility as the product of valiant deeds and high morality, and not the nobility of the family. The theme of nobility, the solution of which reflected the anti-class ideas of the advanced part of the burghers and people, will become characteristic of many humanists. The humanists of the 15th century made a great contribution to the further development of literature in Italian and Latin. - writers and philologists, historians, philosophers, poets, statesmen and speakers.

In Italian humanism there were directions that had different approaches to solving ethical problems, and above all to the question of man’s path to happiness. Thus, in civil humanism - the direction that developed in Florence in the first half of the 15th century. (its most prominent representatives are Leonardo Bruni and Matteo Palmieri) - ethics was based on the principle of serving the common good. Humanists asserted the need to educate a citizen, a patriot who puts the interests of society and the state above personal ones. They affirmed the moral ideal of active civil life as opposed to the church ideal of monastic hermitage. They attached particular value to such virtues as justice, generosity, prudence, courage, politeness, and modesty. A person can discover and develop these virtues only in active social interaction, and not in flight from worldly life. Humanists of this school considered the best form of government to be a republic, where, in conditions of freedom, all human abilities can be most fully demonstrated.

Another direction in humanism of the 15th century. represented the work of the writer, architect, and art theorist Leon Battista Alberti. Alberti believed that the law of harmony reigns in the world, and man is subject to it. He must strive for knowledge, to comprehend the world around him and himself. People must build earthly life on reasonable grounds, on the basis of acquired knowledge, turning it to their own benefit, striving for harmony of feelings and reason, the individual and society, man and nature. Knowledge and work obligatory for all members of society - this, according to Alberti, is the path to a happy life.

Lorenzo Valla put forward a different ethical theory. He identified happiness with pleasure: a person should receive pleasure from all the joys of earthly existence. Asceticism is contrary to human nature itself; feelings and reason are equal in rights; their harmony should be achieved. From these positions, Valla made a decisive criticism of monasticism in the dialogue “On the Monastic Vow.”

At the end of the 15th - end of the 16th century. The direction associated with the activities of the Platonic Academy in Florence became widespread. The leading humanist philosophers of this movement, Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola, exalted the human mind in their works based on the philosophy of Plato and the Neoplatonists. The glorification of personality became characteristic of them. Ficino considered man the center of the world, the connecting link (this connection is realized in knowledge) of a beautifully organized cosmos. Pico saw in man the only creature in the world endowed with the ability to shape himself, relying on knowledge - on ethics and the sciences of nature. In his “Speech on the Dignity of Man,” Pico defended the right to free thought and believed that philosophy, devoid of any dogmatism, should become the lot of everyone, and not a select few. Italian Neoplatonists approached the solution of a number of theological problems from new, humanistic positions. The invasion of humanism into the sphere of theology is one of the important features of the European Renaissance of the 16th century.

The 16th century was marked by a new rise of Renaissance literature in Italy: Ludovico Ariosto became famous for the poem “The Furious Roland”, where reality and fantasy are intertwined, glorification of earthly joys and sometimes sad and sometimes ironic understanding of Italian life; Baldassare Castiglione created a book about the ideal man of his era (“The Courtier”). This is the time of creativity of the outstanding poet Pietro Bembo and the author of satirical pamphlets Pietro Aretino; at the end of the 16th century Torquato Tasso’s grandiose heroic poem “Jerusalem Liberated” was written, which reflected not only the gains of secular Renaissance culture, but also the emerging crisis of the humanistic worldview, associated with the strengthening of religiosity in the conditions of the Counter-Reformation, with the loss of faith in the omnipotence of the individual.

The art of the Italian Renaissance achieved brilliant successes, which began with Masaccio in painting, Donatello in sculpture, Brunelleschi in architecture, who worked in Florence in the 1st half of the 15th century. Their work is marked by brilliant talent, a new understanding of man, his place in nature and society. In the 2nd half of the 15th century. in Italian painting, along with the Florentine school, a number of others emerged - Umbrian, Northern Italian, Venetian. Each of them had its own characteristics; they were also characteristic of the work of the greatest masters - Piero della Francesca, Adrea Mantegna, Sandro Botticelli and others. All of them in different ways revealed the specifics of Renaissance art: the desire for life-like images based on the principle of “imitation of nature”, a wide appeal to the motifs of ancient mythology and secular interpretation of traditional religious subjects, interest in linear and aerial perspective, in the plastic expressiveness of images, harmonious proportions etc. Portrait became a widespread genre of painting, graphics, medal art, and sculpture, which was directly related to the affirmation of the humanistic ideal of man. The heroic ideal of the perfect person was embodied with particular completeness in the Italian art of the High Renaissance in the first decades of the 16th century. This era brought forward the brightest, multifaceted talents - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo (see Art). A type of universal artist emerged, combining in his work a painter, sculptor, architect, poet and scientist. Artists of this era worked closely with humanists and showed great interest in the natural sciences, especially anatomy, optics, and mathematics, trying to use their achievements in their work. In the 16th century Venetian art experienced a special boom. Giorgione, Titian, Veronese, Tintoretto created beautiful canvases, notable for their coloristic richness and realism of images of man and the world around him. The 16th century was a time of active establishment of the Renaissance style in architecture, especially for secular purposes, which was characterized by a close connection with the traditions of ancient architecture (order architecture). A new type of building was formed - a city palace (palazzo) and a country residence (villa) - majestic, but also commensurate with the person, where the solemn simplicity of the facade is combined with spacious, richly decorated interiors. A huge contribution to Renaissance architecture was made by Leon Battista Alberti, Giuliano da Sangallo, Bramante, and Palladio. Many architects created projects for an ideal city, based on new principles of urban planning and architecture that met human needs for a healthy, well-equipped and beautiful living space. Not only individual buildings were rebuilt, but also entire old medieval cities: Rome, Florence, Ferrara, Venice, Mantua, Rimini.

Lucas Cranach the Elder. Female portrait.

Hans Holbein the Younger. Portrait of the Dutch humanist Erasmus of Rotterdam. 1523

Titian Vecellio. Saint Sebastian. 1570 Oil on canvas. State Hermitage Museum. Saint Petersburg.

Illustration by Mr. Doré for the novel by F. Rabelais “Gargantua and Pantagruel”.

Michel Montaigne is a French philosopher and writer.

In the political and historical thought of the Italian Renaissance, the problem of a perfect society and state became one of the central ones. The works of Bruni and especially Machiavelli on the history of Florence, based on the study of documentary material, and the works of Sabellico and Contarini on the history of Venice revealed the merits of the republican structure of these city-states, while historians of Milan and Naples, on the contrary, emphasized the positive centralizing role of the monarchy. Machiavelli and Guicciardini explained all the troubles of Italy, which became in the first decades of the 16th century. arena of foreign invasions, its political decentralization and called on the Italians for national consolidation. A common feature of Renaissance historiography was the desire to see in people themselves the creators of their history, to deeply analyze the experience of the past and use it in political practice. Widespread in the 16th - early 17th centuries. received a social utopia. In the teachings of the utopians Doni, Albergati, and Zuccolo, an ideal society was associated with the partial elimination of private property, equality of citizens (but not all people), universal compulsory labor, and the harmonious development of the individual. The most consistent expression of the idea of ​​socialization of property and equalization was found in Campanella’s “City of the Sun.”

New approaches to solving the traditional problem of the relationship between nature and God were put forward by natural philosophers Bernardino Telesio, Francesco Patrizi, and Giordano Bruno. In their works, the dogma of a creator God directing the development of the universe gave way to pantheism: God is not opposed to nature, but, as it were, merges with it; nature is seen as existing forever and developing according to its own laws. The ideas of the Renaissance natural philosophers met with sharp resistance from the Catholic Church. For his ideas about the eternity and infinity of the Universe, consisting of a huge number of worlds, for his sharp criticism of the church, which condones ignorance and obscurantism, Bruno was condemned as a heretic and committed to fire in 1600.

The Italian Renaissance had a huge impact on the development of Renaissance culture in other European countries. This was facilitated to a large extent by printing. The major centers of publishing were in the 16th century. Venice, where at the beginning of the century the printing house of Aldus Manutius became an important center of cultural life; Basel, where the publishing houses of Johann Froben and Johann Amerbach were equally significant; Lyon with its famous Etienne printing house, as well as Paris, Rome, Louvain, London, Seville. Printing became a powerful factor in the development of Renaissance culture in many European countries and opened the way to active interaction in the process of building a new culture of humanists, scientists, and artists.

The largest figure of the Northern Renaissance was Erasmus of Rotterdam, with whose name the movement of “Christian humanism” is associated. He had like-minded people and allies in many European countries (J. Colet and Thomas More in England, G. Budet and Lefebvre d'Etaples in France, I. Reuchlin in Germany). Erasmus broadly understood the tasks of the new culture. In his opinion, this was not only the resurrection of the ancient pagan heritage, but also the restoration of early Christian teachings, he did not see any fundamental differences between them from the point of view of the truth to which a person should strive, like the Italian humanists, he connected the improvement of man with education, creative activity, and the revelation of everything inherent in him. abilities. His humanistic pedagogy received artistic expression in “Easy Conversations,” and his sharply satirical work “Praise of Stupidity” was directed against ignorance, dogmatism, and feudal prejudices. Erasmus saw the path to the happiness of people in a peaceful life and the establishment of a humanistic culture based on all values. historical experience of mankind.

In Germany, Renaissance culture experienced a rapid rise at the end of the 15th century. - 1st third of the 16th century. One of its features was the flourishing of satirical literature, which began with Sebastian Brant’s essay “Ship of Fools,” in which the mores of the time were sharply criticized; the author led readers to the conclusion about the need for reforms in public life. The satirical line in German literature was continued by “Letters of Dark People” - an anonymously published collective work of humanists, chief among whom was Ulrich von Hutten - where church ministers were subjected to devastating criticism. Hutten was the author of many pamphlets, dialogues, letters directed against the papacy, the dominance of the church in Germany, and the fragmentation of the country; his work contributed to the awakening of the national consciousness of the German people.

The largest artists of the Renaissance in Germany were A. Dürer, an outstanding painter and unsurpassed master of engraving, M. Niethardt (Grunewald) with his deeply dramatic images, portrait painter Hans Holbein the Younger, as well as Lucas Cranach the Elder, who closely associated his art with the Reformation.

In France, the Renaissance culture took shape and flourished in the 16th century. This was facilitated, in particular, by the Italian wars of 1494-1559. (they were fought between the kings of France, Spain and the German emperor for the mastery of Italian territories), which revealed to the French the richness of the Renaissance culture of Italy. At the same time, a feature of the French Renaissance was an interest in the traditions of folk culture, creatively mastered by humanists along with the ancient heritage. The poetry of C. Marot, the works of humanist philologists E. Dole and B. Deperrier, who were part of the circle of Margaret of Navarre (sister of King Francis I), are imbued with folk motifs and cheerful freethinking. These trends were very clearly manifested in the satirical novel of the outstanding Renaissance writer Francois Rabelais “Gargantua and Pantagruel”, where plots drawn from ancient folk tales about cheerful giants are combined with ridicule of the vices and ignorance of contemporaries, with the presentation of a humanistic program of upbringing and education in the spirit of the new culture. The rise of national French poetry is associated with the activities of the Pleiades - a circle of poets led by Ronsard and Du Bellay. During the period of civil (Huguenot) wars (see Religious Wars in France), journalism was widely developed, expressing differences in the political positions of the opposing forces of society. The largest political thinkers were F. Hautman and Duplessis Mornay, who opposed tyranny, and J. Bodin, who advocated the strengthening of a single national state headed by an absolute monarch. The ideas of humanism found deep understanding in Montaigne's Essays. Montaigne, Rabelais, Bonaventure Deperrier were prominent representatives of secular freethinking, which rejected the religious foundations of their worldview. They condemned scholasticism, the medieval system of upbringing and education, scholasticism, and religious fanaticism. The main principle of Montaigne's ethics is the free manifestation of human individuality, the liberation of the mind from subordination to faith, and the fullness of emotional life. He associated happiness with the realization of the individual’s internal capabilities, which should be served by secular upbringing and education based on free-thinking. In the art of the French Renaissance, the genre of portrait came to the fore, the outstanding masters of which were J. Fouquet, F. Clouet, P. and E. Dumoustier. J. Goujon became famous in sculpture.

In the culture of the Netherlands during the Renaissance, rhetorical societies were a distinctive phenomenon, uniting people from different strata, including artisans and peasants. At meetings of societies, debates were held on political and moral-religious topics, performances were staged in folk traditions, and refined work on the word was carried out; Humanists took an active part in the activities of societies. Folk features were also characteristic of Dutch art. The greatest painter Pieter Bruegel, nicknamed “The Peasant,” in his paintings of peasant life and landscapes expressed with particular completeness the feeling of the unity of nature and man.

). It reached a high level in the 16th century. the art of theater, democratic in its orientation. Household comedies, historical chronicles, and heroic dramas were staged in numerous public and private theaters. The plays of C. Marlowe, in which majestic heroes challenge medieval morality, and B. Johnson, in which a gallery of tragicomic characters appears, prepared the appearance of the greatest playwright of the Renaissance, William Shakespeare. A perfect master of various genres - comedies, tragedies, historical chronicles, Shakespeare created unique images of strong people, personalities who vividly embodied the traits of a Renaissance man, life-loving, passionate, endowed with intelligence and energy, but sometimes contradictory in his moral actions. Shakespeare's work exposed the deepening gap in the Late Renaissance between the humanistic idealization of man and the real world, filled with acute life conflicts. The English scientist Francis Bacon enriched Renaissance philosophy with new approaches to understanding the world. He opposed observation and experiment to the scholastic method as a reliable tool of scientific knowledge. Bacon saw the path to building a perfect society in the development of science, especially physics.

In Spain, Renaissance culture experienced a “golden age” in the 2nd half of the 16th century. - the first decades of the 17th century. Her highest achievements are associated with the creation of new Spanish literature and national folk theater, as well as with the work of the outstanding painter El Greco. The formation of new Spanish literature, which grew out of the traditions of knightly and picaresque novels, found a brilliant completion in the brilliant novel by Miguel de Cervantes “The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha.” In the images of the knight Don Quixote and the peasant Sancho Panza, the main humanistic idea of ​​the novel is revealed: the greatness of man in his courageous struggle against evil in the name of justice. Cervantes's novel is both a kind of parody of the chivalric romance that is fading into the past, and the broadest canvas of the folk life of Spain in the 16th century. Cervantes was the author of a number of plays that made a great contribution to the creation of the national theater. To an even greater extent, the rapid development of the Spanish Renaissance theater is associated with the work of the extremely prolific playwright and poet Lope de Vega, the author of lyrical-heroic comedies of cloak and sword, imbued with the folk spirit.

Andrey Rublev. Trinity. 1st quarter of the 15th century

At the end of the XV-XVI centuries. Renaissance culture spread in Hungary, where royal patronage played an important role in the flowering of humanism; in the Czech Republic, where new trends contributed to the formation of national consciousness; in Poland, which became one of the centers of humanistic freethinking. The influence of the Renaissance also affected the culture of the Dubrovnik Republic, Lithuania, and Belarus. Certain pre-Renaissance tendencies also appeared in Russian culture of the 15th century. They were associated with a growing interest in human personality and its psychology. In art, this is primarily the work of Andrei Rublev and artists of his circle, in literature - “The Tale of Peter and Fevronia of Murom,” which tells about the love of the Murom prince and the peasant girl Fevronia, and the works of Epiphanius the Wise with his masterful “weaving of words.” In the 16th century Renaissance elements appeared in Russian political journalism (Ivan Peresvetov and others).

In the XVI - first decades of the XVII century. significant changes have occurred in the development of science. The beginning of new astronomy was laid by the heliocentric theory of the Polish scientist N. Copernicus, which revolutionized ideas about the Universe. It received further substantiation in the works of the German astronomer I. Kepler, as well as the Italian scientist G. Galileo. The astronomer and physicist Galileo constructed a telescope, using it to discover the mountains on the Moon, the phases of Venus, the satellites of Jupiter, etc. Galileo’s discoveries, which confirmed the teaching of Copernicus about the rotation of the Earth around the Sun, gave impetus to the more rapid spread of the heliocentric theory, which the church recognized as heretical; she persecuted her supporters (for example, the fate of D. Bruno, who was burned at the stake) and banned the works of Galileo. A lot of new things have appeared in the field of physics, mechanics, and mathematics. Stephen formulated the theorems of hydrostatics; Tartaglia successfully studied the theory of ballistics; Cardano discovered the solution of algebraic equations of the third degree. G. Kremer (Mercator) created more advanced geographical maps. Oceanography emerged. In botany, E. Cord and L. Fuchs systematized a wide range of knowledge. K. Gesner enriched knowledge in the field of zoology with his “History of Animals”. Knowledge of anatomy was improved, which was facilitated by the work of Vesalius “On the structure of the human body.” M. Servet expressed the idea of ​​the presence of a pulmonary circulation. The outstanding physician Paracelsus brought medicine and chemistry closer together and made important discoveries in pharmacology. Mr. Agricola systematized knowledge in the field of mining and metallurgy. Leonardo da Vinci put forward a number of engineering projects that were far ahead of contemporary technical thought and anticipated some later discoveries (for example, the flying machine).

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 of the 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 authority of the Catholic Church, but often fought against its 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 icon painting. The first who decided to depict ordinary people on his canvases, and also to abandon the canonical style of painting 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 the German painter and engraver 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 prominent poets of this period is Dante Alighieri, born in 1265 in Florence. At the age of 37, he was expelled from his hometown because of his political views and wandered until the last years of his 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 worked 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 Renaissance ideas arrived somewhat late in the British Isles, outstanding works of art were also created there.

In particular, one of the most famous playwrights in human history, William Shakespeare, worked in England. His plays have been performed on theater stages in all corners of the planet for more than 500 years. 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 entered a new stage of its development.