Renaissance is the most significant stage in the development of human culture. The term "Renaissance" was first used by the artist and art critic Giorgio Vasari, author of "Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects" (1500), where he defined the development of art in Italy in the 15th - 16th centuries. as a rebirth after years of decline in the Middle Ages. Subsequently, this term began to be used in a broader sense, becoming the designation and characteristic of an entire era in the development of Western European culture.

The culture of the Renaissance (Rinashimento in Italian, Renaissance in French) began to form in Italy in the middle of the XIV century. The essence of this culture was the struggle against feudal canons and their manifestation in religion, philosophy, art. In an effort to create a new culture based on the principle of free human development, Renaissance figures turned to the humanistic principles of ancient culture. A tremendous revolution took place in the outlook of people, and first of all - scientists, painters, architects, poets, who were the conductors of a new culture that embodied the ideal of humanity, which gave rise in people to a great love for the beauty of the world and a stubborn desire to know this world.

In contrast to the culture of the Middle Ages, the humanistic life-affirming culture of the Renaissance was of a secular nature. A passionate thirst for knowledge of the real world and admiration for it led to the rise of science, to the display in art of the most different sides of reality and gave a majestic pathos and deep penetration to the most significant creations of artists. In art, the ideal of a titanic personality was affirmed, which was embodied in literature, and in sculpture, and in painting, which experienced an unprecedented flourishing until that time. The ideals of humanism were also expressed in architecture, in the clear harmonious appearance of buildings, in their proportions and scales, correlated with a person.

Stages of development of the art of the Renaissance:

Pre-Renaissance, or Proto-Renaissance (XIII - XIV centuries),

Early Renaissance (XV century),

High Renaissance (90s of the 15th - the first third of the 16th centuries),

Late Renaissance (second half of the 16th century).

IN different countries the processes of the Renaissance developed differently. For example, there was no High Renaissance stage in the Netherlands. In Italy greatest development painting and sculpture received, in Germany and the Netherlands, along with painting, engraving, etc. became widespread.

Italy was the birthplace and classic country of the European Renaissance.

Pre-birth

Phenomena Proto-renaissance and early Renaissance most clearly manifested in the advanced Italian republics, in particular, in Florence. It was on the Florentine soil that the work of the great poet Dante, the last poet of the Middle Ages and the first poet of modern times, and the pioneer of the Renaissance painting of the artist Giotto, was formed.

Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321) was born and raised in Florence, where he was formed under the influence of the outstanding politician and humanist Brunetto Latini. Dante himself, a participant in the political life of the city, was expelled from Florence; during twenty years of exile, he wrote his brilliant creation - "Comedy", which admired readers have defined " divine ".

The plot of the poem goes back to the religious-fantastic tradition of medieval descriptions of walking into the afterlife and visions of posthumous human destinies. But the content of the poem reflects the concrete, life realities associated with the personal fate of the poet, the socio-political circumstances of reality. Going to the underworld in search of his beloved Beatrice, Dante recognizes the human right to free feeling and sings “love that moves the sun and the lights.” The meaning of the “Divine Comedy”, its universal human content lies in the personality of Dante himself, the first poet who managed to rise above schemes of scholastic thought.

Giotto di Bondone (1266/67 - 1337) was distinguished by the versatility of interests (architect, sculptor, poet, artist), which was a personal feature of the leaders of the Renaissance. He made the most significant contribution to the development of painting.

Giotto's art claims value a real person and is distinguished by tremendous power of emotional impact, moral and ethical depth, drama and epic character. His most significant creation is a cycle of frescoes depicting the life of Mary and Christ in Capelle del Arena in Padua.

The artist interprets the religious legend as a real event. With unprecedented strength, Giotto conveys the characters of the heroes, revealed in their actions, in slow movements, in gestures. The scene is perceived as a dramatic story of betrayal, as a clash of two contrasting characters " Kiss of Judas", epic grandeur and drama distinguish the mural" Lamentation of Christ. "Discarding minor details, generalizing, Giotto creates images of great depth. Light cold colors - yellow, pink, blue, green - make up the sonorous, easily perceived harmony of the paintings.

Giotto's art, with its sincerity and simplicity, light in thought, full of faith in man, marked the beginning of Renaissance painting.

EARLY RENAISSANCE

At the end of the 14th century, power in Florence was concentrated in the hands of the Medici banking house. In 1434, Cosimo Medici became the unofficial ruler of Florence. He seeks to acquire the status of a patron of arts and sciences.

During this period, the Platonic Academy was established in Florence, the Laurentian Library was founded. Scientists, writers and architects work at the Medici court. The city is undergoing extensive construction, developing architecture (the central bathing temple building and the city palace of the wealthy bourgeoisie and aristocracy).

The founder of the Renaissance architecture was Philippe Brunelleschi (1377 - 1446), a native of Florence (octahedral dome over the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, Foundling Home in Piazza Annunziata, Pizzi Chapel and others). An outstanding practitioner and theorist was Leon Battista Alberti (1404 - 1472), author of the treatise "Ten Books on Architecture".

The early Renaissance was marked by the development literatureassociated with the names Petrarch and Boccaccio.

Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), whose father was a friend of Dante and also knew the bitterness of exile, was treated kindly by the government, won the glory of a great poet and was crowned with a laurel wreath. Petrarch is the founder of the sonnet genre in European lyric poetry. Two books of his sonnets are dedicated to Laura, love for whom is embodied in poetry as a real, earthly feeling. Petrarch freed poetry from mysticism and abstraction. His lyrics were the embodiment of the author's humanistic aspirations.

Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 - 1375) - writer, artist and scientist - philologist. He developed the genre short storiesby referring to the folk roots of Italian art.

Boccaccio's great work is " Decameron"- a book that dealt a crushing blow to the religious and ascetic worldview of the Middle Ages. Boccaccio's short stories are written in a bright, colorful language, saturated with folk proverbs, sayings, puns.

Italian writers of the XIV - XVI centuries - G. Florentino, F. Saccheti, M. Guardi, M. Bandello and others - developed the traditions of Boccaccio. Italian short storytelling influenced subsequent European literature.

During the Early Renaissance, it acquires its independent significance sculpture, which was subordinate to architecture in the Middle Ages.

The real reformer of Italian sculpture was Donatello (about 1386 - 1466, full name - Donato di Niccolo di Betto Bardi). He creates images of saints and prophets (the Cathedral of Florence and others), differing in individual characteristics. The pinnacle of his creativity is sculpture " David"(1430 - 1440s), marking the triumph of the ideals of the Renaissance. The art of depicting the naked body is based on ancient traditions. The image of a young shepherd, the winner of Goliath, was a hymn to heroism in the name of the people. equestrian statue Renaissance also created Donatello - the image of the condottiere Gattamelata.

In the last third of the 15th century, during the reign Lorenzo de Medici, nicknamed the Magnificent, a refined culture is formed, distinguished by an interest in ancient mythology, knightly Gothic. Painting reaches a high level.

The features of sublime poetry, sophistication, sophistication have been embodied in creativity Sandro Botticelli (1445 - 1510). The artist's most mature works are illustrious paintings. " Spring"(about 1485) and" The Birth of Venus "(about 1484). Their plots are inspired by poetry A. Poliziano, are addressed to ancient myths, but inspired by the artist's personal poetic attitude. Many of Botticelli's paintings are dedicated to the image Madonna, he created frescoes on biblical subjects. His paintings are distinguished by the most complex linear rhythms, in the harmony of lines one can hear the harmony of music.

Botticelli was the first illustrator of Dante's Divine Comedy (1492 - 1497), his drawings are full of deep drama and subtle lyricism.

Along with Botticelli, the sculptor and painter Verrocchio was the spokesman for the ideas of the Renaissance in Florentine culture, in Central and Northern Italy - Piero della Francesca, Mantegna, in Venice - G. Bellini and others.

HIGH REVIVAL

At the end of the 15th - the middle of the 16th centuries. along with Florence, Rome and Venice became centers of art.

A new architectural style is being formed in Rome, which is expressed by Donato d "Angelo Bramante (1444 - 1514), which gave its buildings a stately - monumental appearance. The main creation of Bramante is the project of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome (1506), who embodied the idea of \u200b\u200ban ideal central-domed building with a symmetrical composition.

The true founder of the High Renaissance style was Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519). His work was all-encompassing; he owns brilliant insights in the most diverse fields of science and technology.

Already the early paintings of Leonardo are distinguished by naturalness and plasticity, the internal regularity of the composition ("Madonna with a Flower", 1478).

The most significant of Leonardo's monumental murals is transferred to the world of real passions and dramatic feelings - " Last supper", performed in 1495 - 1497 for the monastery of Santa Maria della Grazie in Milan.

One of the most famous works of Leonardo da Vinci is a portrait Mona Lisa ("Mona Lisa", about 1503). The artist was an innovator in the development of portrait painting of the Renaissance. The majestic figure of a young woman is shown against the background of a complex semi-fantastic landscape, which subtly harmonizes with the character of the model. The artist's pictorial skill is striking. The subtlest haze of light and shade (the so-called sfumato) envelops the figure, there is not a single sharp brushstroke or angular outline in the picture.

Among the achievements of Leonardo's graphics is cardboard for frescoes " Battle of Anghiari". In the last years of his life, the artist was mainly engaged in scientific research, in which he was also ahead of his time.

The younger contemporary of Leonardo was Raphael Santi (1483 - 1520), who embodied in his appearance, character, in his works, the idea of \u200b\u200bthe brightest and most lofty ideals of the humanism of the Renaissance. He created his ideal of a beautiful, harmoniously developed person.

His works dedicated to the image of the Madonna are distinguished by their spiritualized lyricism (Madonna Connestable - 1502, Madonna in the Greens - 1505, Madonna with the Goldfinch - 1507, The Beautiful Gardener - 1507 and others).

In the period from 1509 to 1517. Raphael creates murals in the ceremonial rooms (so-called stanzas) of the Vatican Palace. The content of the frescoes was determined by Pope Julius II himself. Raphael introduced portraits of his contemporaries and famous people of the past into biblical subjects. Four themes are developed in the frescoes: " School of Athens", "Parnassus", "Dispute", "Justice".

Raphael's Roman period was marked by the creation of " Sistine Madonna"(1515 - 1519), intended for the church of St. Sixtus in Piacenza. The artist created an image that shocks us today with its depth and strength.

The culmination of the High Renaissance was creativity Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 - 1564). In each of the areas of artistic creation, he left outstanding works of sculpture, painting, graphics, architecture, poetry. Michelangelo's whole life is a struggle to assert the human right to free creativity.

First original sculpture - marble group "Pieta", which embodied the humanistic ideals of the Renaissance.

The greatest creation of the master was a statue David (1501 - 1504), installed in the center of Florence in front of the building of Palazzo Vecchio and expressing the idea of \u200b\u200ba civil feat, a call for the defense of the fatherland.

The artist's powerful talent manifested itself in the ceiling painting Sistine Chapel(1508 - 1512), which contains nine compositions on biblical subjects, and the altar wall - a fresco " Last Judgment".

Michelangelo owns such sculptures as the image of the prophet Moses, the Medici tombstones in the chapel at the Church of San Lorenzo (allegorical figures "Morning", "Evening", "Day" and "Night"). High humanistic principles triumph in the architecture of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. And during the years of public reaction, the offensive of the Catholic Church, Michelangelo did not lose faith in man, in the triumph of reason.

In the 1520-1530s. in Italy, phenomena are spreading, alien to the Renaissance culture, which later received the name "mannerism". This phenomenon reflects the inner discord and the feeling of impotence of artists in the face of the insoluble contradictions of life. The ideals of a harmonious personality were replaced by pessimism, brokenness, emptiness. Deformation, elongated proportions of figures, bizarre lines characterize the works of the artists Pontormo (1494-1557), Parmigianino (1503-1540) and others.

During the same period, in the north of Italy, in Venice, wonderful works of art of the High Renaissance were created. These are the creative creations of the architect Jacopo Sansovino (Library of San Marco and others), this is the painting of Giorgione (George Barbarelli da Castelfranco).

One of the peaks of the High Renaissance was creativity Titian (1485/90 - 1576), which clearly manifested humanistic tendencies, the originality of the realism of the Venetian school.

The author's desire for the psychological characterization of the heroes manifested itself in the paintings "Heavenly and Earthly Love", " Denarius of Caesar"(the image of Christ and the Pharisee)," The Ascension of Mary ", in numerous portraits. The ideal of full-blooded beauty of a person is embodied in such creations as" Venus in front of a mirror "," Danae", in" Self-portrait "the artist appears as a thinker, marking the triumph of the human mind.

LATE REBIRTH

By the end of the XVI century. the disintegration of the Renaissance culture takes place under the onslaught of the feudal-Catholic trend, which begins a cruel rejection of humanistic free-thinking, science and culture. In 1600 the great humanist rises to the fire of the Inquisition Giordano Bruno, an astronomer, a natural philosopher, a writer who did not change his convictions even in the face of death. Two years earlier, the Jesuits declared insane at the stake and sentenced the great utopian philosopher to life in prison Tommaso Campanella, creator of the satire novel City of the Sun, influenced by Plato's The State and echoing Utopia by Thomas More. A brilliant physicist, mechanic and astronomer, an outstanding writer Galileo Galilei was subjected to severe persecution, the Inquisition forced him to renounce the teachings of Copernicus.

In this environment, the activity of the last great poet of the Italian Renaissance develops. Torquato Tasso (1544 - 1595), whose work reflected the collapse of humanism in the historical conditions of that era. The central work of Tasso is the poem " Liberated Jerusalem"(1575), the theme of which is the siege and capture of Jerusalem by the crusaders. The poet shows the power of the Christian faith through the clash of two cultures - pagan and Christian.

The ideals of the Late Renaissance were also reflected in art. Veronese (painter Paolo Cagliari, 1528 - 1588), Tintoretto (artist Jacopo Robusti, 1518 - 1594) and others.

NORTHERN REVIVAL

This term is customary to designate the culture of the 15th - 16th centuries. in European countries lying north of Italy: the Netherlands, Germany, France, England, the art of these countries developed as a direct continuation of the Gothic, as its evolution in the direction of secular art. The commonality with the Italian Renaissance is manifested in the tendencies of the sociocultural process: the growth and formation of bourgeois humanism, the shattering of the feudal worldview, the growing self-consciousness of the individual.

NETHERLANDS

In the XV century. The Netherlands became the brightest hotbed of European art after Italy, which has acquired a more democratic character here. During this period, humanist scholars turned to antiquity, the works of ancient authors were translated, scientific poetry in Latin and Latin school drama appeared.

The largest humanist scientist of the early 16th century. was Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466 - 1536), famous for translating Greek tragedy, works in Latin, both scientific and artistic, for example, satire " Praise for stupidity"The vices of modern society, presented as various types of human stupidity, are subjected to ridicule and criticism.

For Dutch art of the 15th - 16th centuries. characterized by a new, realistic vision of the world, the assertion of the artistic value of reality, the expression of the organic connection between man and the environment. This manifested itself in painting and graphics, in the genre of everyday life, in portraiture, interior design, and landscape.

Architecture and sculpture up to the 16th century developed within the framework of the Gothic style. The turning point occurred in painting in connection with the emergence of easel painting.

Hubert and Jan van Eycke - the founders of realism in the Netherlands. There is little information about Hubert, Jan van Eyck (about 1390 - 1441) is a bold innovator, an artist of a philosophical understanding of life, who turned to the study of nature. A new, cheerful outlook on life manifested itself in The Ghent altarperformed for the Weid Chapel (1426 - 1432, Ghent, St. Bavo's Church). In the works "Madonna of Chancellor Rohlen" (c. 1434), "Madonna of Canon van der Palais" (1436), a portrait genre is being formed, the features of which are embodied in the portraits of Cardinal Albergati (c. 1431), the Arnolfini couple (1434) and others

The new concept of the world and man is reflected in creativity Rogier van der Weyden (about 1400 - 1464), Hugo van der Goes (1440 - 1482). The desire for social satire, clothed in an allegorical, religious or gloomy fantasy form, was embodied in creativity Hieronymus Bosch (c. 1450 - 1516), who castigated the vices of a weak-willed mankind, mired in sins ("The Ship of Fools" and others).

In the XVI century. - a new rise of painting in the Netherlands. Artists turned to the study of the discoveries of the Italian Renaissance (the course of "Romanism"). Luke Leiden (Van Leyden, 1489/94 - 1533) stands out among the "novelists". By the middle of the XVI century. the monumental genre of everyday life, still life (P. Artsen, I. Beikelar), individual and group portrait are developing.

Final stage evolution of Dutch art, its tragic humanism determined Pieter Bruegel the Elder (c. 1525/30 - 1569), nicknamed the Peasant ("The Fall of Icarus"). Folk holidays are depicted in the paintings "The Battle of Carnival and Lent" (1559), "Games of Children" (1560), the life of peasants and nature - in the picturesque cycle "Months" ("Hunters in the Snow" and others), in the work "Peasant Dance" ... The picture has a deep social and philosophical meaning " The blind"(1568) - the gospel parable is used to personify the blindness of short-sighted mankind, who does not know its fate.

GERMANY

The artistic culture of Germany reflected the features of its historical development (reformation, peasant war, and others). The ideas of humanism and the teachings of Luther are spreading. Münzer preaches vigorous activity among the people. The principles of realism are affirmed in art. The great artist-thinker was Albrecht Durer (1471-1528). His activities are multifaceted: he painted portraits, landscapes, traditional biblical and evangelical subjects, studied mathematics, anatomy, perspective. Especially Durer was attracted by engraving, first woodcut and then copper engraving. The highest achievement is a series of woodcuts on the theme Apocalypse(1498). The artist depicted terrible scenes of death and punishment, correlating them with the events of our time ("The Four Horsemen", "The Battle of the Archangel Michael with the Dragon" and others). Dürer's achievements were also remarkable in engravings on copper ("The Knight, Death and the Devil", "St. Jerome", "Melancholy").

Simultaneously with Durer and after him, a galaxy of major artists appeared: Lucas Cranach the Elder, Matthias Grunwald, Holbein.

France

The formation of the French Renaissance was significantly influenced by the processes of the Italian Renaissance. In France, they create Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, Benvenuto Cellini, translate the works of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, study antiquity. The secular university, the College de France, becomes the center of humanistic knowledge. But from the mid-1530s. there is a sharp turn in the policy of Francis I. Executions of Protestants and free-thinking humanists begin. All this is reflected in art. The most prominent representative of the French Renaissance was Francois Rabelais (1494 - 1553) - doctor, naturalist, archaeologist, lawyer, poet, philologist and genius satirist. His novel Gargantua and Pantagruel is a remarkable example of a humanist Renaissance culture. Based on the folk book, Rabelais creates several works about the good giant Gargantua and his son Pantagruel. Using the scheme of knightly novels, the author satirically parodies, ridicules the scholastic system of education, the speeches of medieval scholars, feudal wars, the life and customs of the royal court and the kings themselves. In the image of the monk Jean Rabelais, he affirms the folk principle, common sense, indomitable courage and love of life.

Remarkable contributions to Renaissance literature were made by the poet Pierre de Ronsard, one of the greatest singers of love, Michel de Montaigne, the author of the book "Experiments", who asserted the ability of a person to unlimited development and at the same time the possibility of delusion, a low fall. The basis of knowledge and the criterion of truth for Montaigne was experience, the highest moral standard was moderation and closeness to nature.

SPAIN

In the Spanish Renaissance, social issues were transferred mainly to an abstract moral plane. Humanistic tendencies were embodied not in philosophical theories, but almost exclusively in poetic images. Religious ideology is widely reflected in literature. Great playwrights: Lope de Vega, Calderon - along with secular plays, they created religious ones, and processed legends and lives of saints for the stage.

The genre of the novel was especially widespread, reviving such concepts as knightly honor, military prowess. At the end of the 16th century, when Spain's policy of conquest began to fail, there was disillusionment with the naive optimism of chivalric romances. The fall of their authority was facilitated by the genius satire of Cervantes, in which the humanistic ideas of the era found expression.

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 - 1616) conceived his novel "The cunning hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha" primarily as a parody of knightly novels. The author in the image of the Knight of the Sorrowful Image and his "exploits" removes the veils from the very idea of \u200b\u200bchivalry and shows his negative attitude to the spirit of expansion and adventurism of contemporary Spain. But the image of Don Quixote is ambiguous. The author sees in him high moral qualities: disinterestedness, generosity, honesty, a sincere desire to benefit people. There is a very important contradiction in the character of the hero: he is a madman and at the same time a sage. He is the spokesman for the spirit of the Renaissance, the idea of \u200b\u200bhumanism, faith in man.

Creating his novel during the crisis of humanism, Cervantes reflected in it the clash of the ideal aspirations of the human mind with the world of self-interest, mercantilism, the ideal with "base reality".

ENGLAND

The XIV century in England is a period of the formation of a single national culture, a national language. English writers are directly influenced by the Italian Renaissance,

A contemporary of Petrarch and Boccaccio was Jeffrey Chaucer (1340 - 1400), expressing a life-affirming worldview, a humane view of human life. His main work is The Canterbury Tales.

The great exponent of the ideas of his time and at the same time of the universal humanistic content of art became William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616). The whole life of the great playwright was devoted to the theater. But his talent manifested itself in various areas. Shakespeare was a significant poet. He owns the poems "Venus and Adonis", "Lucretia". The most profound and significant poetic works were sonnets (total 154).

Throughout his career, Shakespeare turned to drama. These are the comedies "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "The Merchant of Venice", "The Taming of the Shrew", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Twelfth Night", historical chronicles "Richard II", Richard III ", Henry IV" and others. But his main achievement is the tragedies: "Romeo and Juliet", "Othello", "King Lear", "Macbeth", "Antony and Cleopatra" and others.

The most deeply humanistic content of Shakespeare's work was embodied in tragedy " Hamlet"Throughout the entire tragedy, Hamlet is a passionate, indignant denouncer. Hamlet's strength is not in what he allowed, but raised the question of the injustice of the world around him, which he calls a prison.

Describing the events that took place in Denmark in the 11th century, Shakespeare thought about his time, about its contradictions. Already at the time of Shakespeare, the tragedy "Hamlet" went far beyond the walls of professional theaters. In 1604, Shakespeare's contemporary Anthony Skoloker wrote that Shakespeare's tragedies "touch the hearts of the common people."

Thus, the later Renaissance in Spain, France, England gave birth to the richest and most mature fruits in literature - realism, full of inner tragedy, flourished in them.

Similar information.

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

Some general information

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

Renaissance and art

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

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. Then the prevailing opinion 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.

The nature and beauty of the human body

Renaissance art paid great attention to nature. The landscapes were characterized by varied and lush vegetation. The skies of blue-blue hue, which were pierced by the rays of the sun that penetrated the clouds of white, provided a magnificent backdrop for the floating creatures. Renaissance art worshiped the beauty of the human body. This feature manifested itself in the refined elements of the muscles and body. Difficult poses, facial expressions and gestures, well-coordinated 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.

Introduction
1. Reasons, specificity, main periods of the Renaissance
2. Philosophy of humanism and religion. Reformation
3. Discoveries in science and technology
4. Art of the Renaissance
5. Theater of the Renaissance
Conclusion
List of sources used

Introduction

Renaissance is a whole cultural epoch in the process of transition from the Middle Ages to modern times, during which a cultural revolution (turning point, shift) took place. Fundamental changes are associated with the elimination of the ancient Christian mythological worldview. Despite the origin of the term "Renaissance", strictly speaking, there was no revival of antiquity, and could not be. A person cannot go back to his past. The Renaissance, using the lessons of antiquity, introduced innovations. He brought back to life not all ancient genres, but only those that were consonant with the aspirations of his time and culture. The Renaissance combined a new reading of antiquity with a new reading of Christianity. The revival brought these two fundamental principles of European culture closer together.

The term “Renaissance” (Renaissance) appeared in the 16th century. Viewing the Middle Ages as a simple break in the development of a cult. Even Giordano Vasari, a painter and the first historiographer of Italian art, the author of the famous Biographies of the most famous painters, sculptors and architects (1550), wrote about the “revival” of Italian art.

The Renaissance, a period in the cultural history of Western and Central Europe of the 14-16th centuries, the main content of which was the formation of a new, “earthly”, inherently secular picture of the world, radically different from the medieval one.

The Renaissance is one of the brightest periods in the history of the development of European culture.

Renaissance is a whole cultural epoch, during which a cultural revolution (turning point, shift) took place. Fundamental changes are associated with the elimination of the ancient Christian mythological worldview. Despite the origin of the term "Renaissance", strictly speaking, there was no revival of antiquity and could not be. A person cannot go back to his past. The Renaissance, using the lessons of antiquity, introduced innovations. He brought back to life not all ancient genres, but only those that were consonant with the aspirations of his time and culture. The Renaissance combined a new reading of antiquity with a new reading of Christianity.

The revival brought these two fundamental principles of European culture closer together.
The main goal of my research is to show the fundamental changes that have taken place in the worldview of people.

1. Reasons, specificity, main periods of the Renaissance

By the Renaissance we mean a certain ideological movement that took place in the 14th - 16th centuries. The workers of this movement set out to revive antiquity, ancient culture, and the ancient way of life. The immediate past (the Middle Ages) was perceived and evaluated by them as, in general, a period of darkness and ignorance. Of course, it was not possible to revive antiquity (in history, this is simply impossible), but the fruit of the activity of thinkers and artists of the Renaissance was a new worldview, which reproduced antiquity in a certain way, but it was precisely a new worldview. It could not but be new both because it expressed new needs, and because behind the thinkers of the Renaissance was the Christian Middle Ages, a whole era of spiritual development, which could not be crossed out. In essence, the Renaissance worldview was a kind of syncretism of the Christian perception of the world and the ancient, pagan worldview. In the writings of Renaissance thinkers, references to ancient philosophers coexist with references to Holy Scripture and the Church Fathers.

The main contradiction of the Renaissance is the clash of the immense new with the still strong, well-established and familiar old.
Nevertheless, with all the diversity of contradictions, with all the cruelty and roughness of morals, the Renaissance era raised society to a qualitatively new level of awareness of itself, its activities and its goals.

Let's highlight the main features of this time.

1. The very term “Renaissance” means the desire of society to understand and rethink its past, to revive its former glory and brush aside its mistakes. One of the main ideas of the Renaissance is the connection of times, the renewal of everything that antiquity did not have time to complete.

2. The rebirth “opened” to the world the individuality of man and showed the way to a personal state. Until that time, the individual was perceived as a biological individual, separated from others on the basis that humanity consists of people. The term "personality" in its modern meaning then there was practically none, since the concept of individual, individuum denotes a human biological unit that manifests itself only as a part of a collective whole. And only the Renaissance saw a man in his uniqueness and ability to creative activity, only the Renaissance made significant his emotional world, passions and affects, the originality of his attitude to reality, and only in the Renaissance the main character of his time becomes an acting person.

The Renaissance came to the idea of \u200b\u200bthe godliness of man and deduced from this the idea of \u200b\u200bthe infinity of his possibilities, which was realized in the activities of the titans of the Renaissance. It also constitutes one of the main features of the Renaissance - humanism (Latin “humanus” “human”, “humane.” Humanism is the recognition of the value of a person as a person, his right to free development, the affirmation of the good of man as a criterion for assessing social relations).

3. Humanism of the Renaissance gives rise to a "clear desire for rebellion", this period of culture is characterized by "a program of breaking with the old world in order to establish other forms of education and communication, a different society and other relationships between man and nature." The desire for rebellion does not break with religion and the church, but creates a secular culture that moves away from religious influence.

4. The special feeling that this era is the “golden age” in the life of mankind should be considered as common to the entire Renaissance in its temporal and spatial relations. “Our century is truly golden. He revived the liberal arts that had already died - grammar, poetry, oratory, painting, sculpture, architecture, music and the ancient tunes of the Orpheus harp, ”wrote one of the humanists of that time Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499).

So, the Renaissance is a transitional stage in the history of mankind, culture, political and economic life. There are three periods in its history: the early Renaissance - Trecento (XIV century), the High Renaissance, the period of its heyday - Quattrocento (XV century) and the later Renaissance - Cinquecento (XVI century).

During the Trecento period, the first manufactories and new forms of exploitation associated with them appeared, and violent clashes between the nascent working class and the young bourgeoisie erupted. Free city-states, city-communes (such as Florence) flourished, where there was no serfdom, and the main role in them was played not by aristocrats, but by merchants and artisans. In art, this is the era of Francesco Petrarca and Giovanni Boccaccio, who created a new literature, "the central figure of which becomes man in all his manifestations with his complex inner life."
In the era of Quattrocento, a fierce war flared up between supporters of the Roman papacy (Guelphs) and the imperial power (Gibbelins), oligarchs came to power in the city-communes, brutally suppressing the actions of the “skinny people”. But at the same time painting flourished, giving a powerful impetus to the next period - the high Renaissance. In the 15th century, Leonardo da Vinci began to work, and Raphael and Michelangelo would become his successors. Interest in humanitarian knowledge (studio gumanitatis) flares up, even in churches on holidays, instead of a sermon, Dante's verses and lectures on ancient literature and philosophy were read. It was at this time that Johannes Gutenberg invented typography.

The most tragic period was the Cinquecento period: an unprecedented flowering of art along with the most terrible economic, social and religious upheavals.

All three stages were preceded by a short period of the eve of the Renaissance, the pre-Renaissance (second half of the XIII century) - Ducento, when anti-feudal sentiments were just developing and free cities appeared, and Dante and Giotto worked in art.

2. Philosophy of humanism and religion. Reformation

The term "Renaissance humanism" (or "humanism of the Renaissance") was formed in the scientific literature of the last century on the basis of concepts characteristic of this era itself - humanitas (in the sense of a highly moral spiritual culture inherent in a person) and studia humanitatis - a term that meant a new complex of humanitarian disciplines. This complex included, in addition to grammar and rhetoric, traditional for the medieval education system, philology and poetics, history, ethics and pedagogy.

A moral philosophy was placed at the center of the entire system of humanitarian knowledge, within which the line of secular ethics was clearly indicated. It developed the problems of human dignity, based not on the nobility of origin or wealth, but on high moral qualities and the ability to self-improvement, was given new estimate labor, creativity, volitional activity of the individual.

The passion of the Renaissance was reflected in the relationship of the new culture with religion and church. No matter how strong the stream of atheism was during this period, no matter how the Renaissance man rebelled against the restriction of freedom by religion, he still remained within the framework of the Christian view of nature, of its creation by God.

In any philosophical system, even very radical theorists, it was impossible to do without God. Therefore, the theory of the universe seeks compromises: God acted as the creator of goods, but most humanists sing a hymn to the genius of man, who is considered almost equal to the genius of the creator of heavenly bodies. This clears the way for the fact that nature will be considered God, and harmony - the beginning of nature itself.

And yet the Renaissance was Christian, however, Christianity itself underwent changes, entering into relations with a new culture, which led to the Reformation and a new direction in Christianity - Protestantism. The Renaissance revealed for the first time the opposition not only between religion and scientific knowledge, but also between religion and the institution of the church.

Reformation (Latin reformatio - correction, restoration) - a massive religious and socio-political movement in Western and Central Europe of the 16th - early 17th centuries, aimed at reforming Catholic Christianity in accordance with the Bible.

The main reasons for the Reformation were the overcoming of feudal fragmentation and the emergence of centralized states, the economic crisis after the appearance of a huge amount of American gold and the invention of the amalgamation method, the bankruptcy of banks, the dissatisfaction of various segments of the European population with the moral decay of the Catholic Church, which was accompanied by economic and political monopolization.

Almost all social strata of society participated in this movement. New economic relations demanded their own ideology. Since the main ideology for many centuries was religion, which also embraced morality, it was necessary to find in it the moral grounds for "honest profit." The church offered such grounds to see in donations to the needs of the church. Even a thief who made such donations was considered a godly person: “they atoned for sin ... People who honestly earned their money, but gave nothing or almost nothing to the church, were regarded by it as being invisible by God at all”. The indulgence trade was based on the same principle. A person who bought himself absolution could continue to violate religious norms.

Results of the Reformation.

The results of the reform movement cannot be characterized unambiguously. On the one hand, the Christian World, which united all the peoples of Europe under the spiritual leadership of the Pope, no longer existed, just as there was no single Christian culture. The one church was replaced by a multitude of national churches, which were often dependent on secular rulers, whereas earlier clerics could appeal to the pope as arbiter. On the other hand, the national churches contributed to the growth of the national consciousness of the peoples of Europe. At the same time, the cultural and educational level of the inhabitants of Northern Europe, which before that was like the outskirts of the Christian World, significantly increased - the need to study the Bible led to the growth of both primary educational institutions (mainly in the form of parish schools) and higher, which was expressed in the creation of universities to train personnel of national churches. For some languages, a writing system was specially developed to be able to publish the Bible in them.

The proclamation of spiritual equality stimulated the development of ideas about political equality. Thus, in countries where the majority were reformists, the laity were given great opportunities to govern the church, and citizens - in government. In economic terms, the Reformation contributed to the replacement of the old feudal economic relations with the new capitalist ones. The desire for economy, for the development of industry, for the abandonment of expensive entertainment (as well as expensive services) contributed to the accumulation of capital, which was invested in trade and production. As a result, Protestant states began to outstrip Catholic ones in economic development. Even the very ethics of Protestants contributed to the development of the economy.

3. Discoveries in science and technology.

The most important condition for the scale and revolutionary nature of the achievements of the Renaissance science was a humanistic worldview, in which the activity of conquering the world was understood as a component of man's earthly destiny. To this must be added the revival of ancient science. A significant role in the development was played by the needs of navigation, the use of artillery, the creation of hydraulic structures, etc. The dissemination of scientific knowledge, the exchange of it between scientists would have been impossible without the invention of printing.

The first advances in mathematics and astronomy date back to the middle of the 15th century. and are associated in many respects with the names of G. Peyerbach (Purbach) and I. Müller (Regiomontan). Müller created new, more perfect astronomical tables (instead of the Alfonsian tables of the 13th century) - "Ephemeris" (published in 1492), which were used in their travels by Columbus, Vasco da Gama and other navigators. A significant contribution to the development of algebra and geometry was made by the Italian mathematician of the turn of the century L. Pacioli. In the 16th century. The Italians N. Tartaglia and G. Cardano discovered new ways of solving equations of the third and fourth degrees.

The most important scientific event of the 16th century. was the Copernican revolution in astronomy. The Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, in his treatise On the Circulation of the Celestial Spheres (1543), rejected the dominant geocentric Ptolemaic-Aristotelian picture of the world and not only postulated the rotation of celestial bodies around the Sun, and the Earth around its axis, but also showed for the first time in detail (as a guess, geocentrism was born in Ancient Greece), how on the basis of such a system it is possible to explain - much better than before - all the data of astronomical observations. In the 16th century. the new system of the world, as a whole, did not receive support in the scientific community. Only Galileo gave convincing proofs of the truth of Copernicus' theory.

Based on experience, some scholars of the 16th century (among them Leonardo, B. Varki) expressed doubts about the laws of Aristotelian mechanics, which reigned supreme until that time, but did not offer their own solutions to the problems (later Galileo will do this). The practice of using artillery contributed to the formulation and solution of new scientific problems: Tartaglia, in his treatise New Science, considered the issues of ballistics. Cardano was involved in the theory of levers and weights. Leonardo da Vinci became the founder of hydraulics. His theoretical research was related to the construction of hydraulic structures, reclamation work, the construction of canals, and the improvement of locks. The English physician W. Gilbert laid the foundation for the study of electromagnetic phenomena, having published the essay On Magnet (1600), where he described its properties.

A critical attitude towards authorities and reliance on experience was clearly manifested in medicine and anatomy. Fleming A. Vesalius in his famous work On the structure of the human body (1543) described the human body in detail, relying on his numerous observations in the anatomy of corpses, criticizing Galen and other authorities. At the beginning of the 16th century. along with alchemy, iatrochemistry appeared - medical chemistry, which developed new medicinal preparations. One of its founders was F. von Hohenheim (Paracelsus). Rejecting the achievements of his predecessors, he, in fact, did not go far from them in theory, but as a practitioner introduced a number of new drugs.

In the 16th century. mineralogy, botany, and zoology developed (Georg Bauer Agricola, K. Gesner, Cesalpino, Rondela, Belona), which were at the stage of gathering facts during the Renaissance. An important role in the development of these sciences was played by the reports of researchers of new countries, which contained descriptions of flora and fauna.

In the 15th century. cartography and geography were actively developing, Ptolemy's mistakes were corrected on the basis of medieval and modern data. In 1490 M. Beheim creates the first globe. In the late 15th - early 16th centuries. Europeans' search for the sea route of India and China, successes in cartography and geography, astronomy and shipbuilding were crowned with the discovery of the coast of Central America by Columbus, who believed that he had reached India (for the first time a continent called America appeared on Waldseemüller's map in 1507). In 1498, the Portuguese Vasco da Gama reached India, circumnavigating Africa. The idea to reach India and China by the western route was realized by the Spanish expedition of Magellan - El Cano (1519-1522), which circled South America and made the first round the world trip (in practice, the sphericity of the Earth was proved!). In the 16th century. the Europeans were convinced that "the world today is completely open and the entire human race is known." Great discoveries transformed geography and stimulated the development of cartography.

The science of the Renaissance had little effect on the productive forces that developed along the path of the gradual improvement of tradition. At the same time, the successes of astronomy, geography, cartography served as the most important prerequisite for the Great Geographical Discoveries, which led to fundamental changes in world trade, to colonial expansion and a price revolution in Europe. The achievements of the science of the Renaissance became a necessary condition for the genesis of the classical science of modern times.

4. Art of the Renaissance

The art of the Renaissance, just like other spheres of culture, is imbued with the main idea of \u200b\u200bthe time - the idea of \u200b\u200bhumanism.

Suffice it to recall the works of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Raphael (1483-1520), Michelangelo (1475-1564), Titian (c. 1476/77 or 1489 / 90-1576), Albrecht Durer (1471-1528) or poetry the works of Petrarch, Boccaccio, Torquato Tasso (1544-1595) and Dante (1265-1321), the prose of Rabelais (1494-1553), the drama of Shakespeare (1564-1616), as a huge number of characters will surround us. The variety of characters, social types, temperaments shown in this stream of art is amazing. There are practically no standards here, each character is significant, deep and can act as a phenomenon that characterizes the era as a whole. Attention is drawn to the fact that it was in the Renaissance that art reached significant heights in the transmission of the state, the psychology of its heroes. If antiquity most often went from external to internal, believing that a beautiful soul is possible only in a beautiful body, and the Middle Ages believed that only the soul is important, but not the body, then the Renaissance artists, in the key of the general concept of a comprehensively developed person, did not make something dominant. or one.

A person is now not just described or portrayed - he is evaluated based on the ideals of his time. His feelings, especially his experiences become significant. Therefore, a lot of place in art is occupied by the feeling of love, which most clearly demonstrates the uniqueness and significance of a person.

The poetry of the Renaissance develops a new style - dolce slil Nuova (“sweet new style”), where love itself speaks in the language of a new form of versification - the sonnet.

Another merit of Renaissance poetry was the creation of a new literary language, not associated with Latin.

Realism as a method of depicting life is becoming an indispensable attribute of Renaissance art. Less and less often, authors resort to allegories (although they exist in many works), they are interested in reality in all its richness and diversity. New genres appeared - landscape and still life in painting and graphics.

5. Theater of the Renaissance

Theatricality, theater emerge in life and creativity in the Renaissance as principles and performance in all forms of life and art forms, before taking on the full development of the form of theater in the form of drama, production and a building where characters and spectators are combined, merging in their imagination into acting on the stage of being. This is the height of the Renaissance classics.

The performances of the mysteries in churches and on squares are accompanied by an increasing interest in the ancient theater, primarily Terence and Plautus, known back in the Middle Ages, however, only from manuscripts. In the 15th century, printed editions of the comedies of Terence and Plautus in Latin were published. In the productions of plays in Latin, amateurs from the nobility play at courts. Then comes the time of translations, most importantly, the first scholarly comedies, in the composition of which almost all famous poets, writers, humanists take part from Angelo Poliziano, who, they say, at seventeen years old wrote The Legend of Orpheus in Italian, to Machiavelli and Trissino.

Theatrical performances become part of the court festivities in Ferrara, in Mantua, and professional troupes of actors perform on the squares during the carnivals in Venice or Florence with the birth of the Commedia dell'arte, which is associated with the name of the actor and playwright Angelo Beolko (1502-1542).

In the 16th century in Florence, after a series of internecine wars, the monarchical form of government of the Medici was established, who acquired special titles of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, so all kinds of theatrical festivities - tournaments, triumphs, weddings - are accompanied by theatrical performances in the already specially built hall in the Uffizi, conceived by Giorgio Vasari and completed by Bernardo Buontalenti (1536-1608), architect, organizer of court festivities and stage director.

Both the festivities and the staging of plays on the stage of the theater were accompanied by interludes, with the participation of musicians, dancers and singers. It was from the interludes, in which music, dance and singing were combined, with the designation of a single plot, that opera was born. This happened in 1600 in Florence with the performances of Jacopo Peri's opera Eurydice at the Palazzo Pitti and Caccini's The Rape of the Kefal at the Uffizi Theater, as evidenced in the presence of 300 gentlemen and 800 ladies. The scenery and costumes of Buontalenti, all kinds of lighting effects, in addition to music and singing, caused, they say, delight among the audience. Still would.

Researchers trace in the work of Buontalenti, as well as in the development of art in Italy in general, the transition from Mannerism to Baroque, marking the end of the Renaissance. But if the baroque in architecture, sculpture, painting in Italy, after the rise of the Renaissance classics, really means the end of the Renaissance, then in Spain and England it is the baroque that acts as the aesthetics of the Renaissance and the basis for the highest rise of the Renaissance theater.

Conclusion

The Renaissance, as a period of development of European culture, combined two powerful tendencies: ancient and Christian. Almost all thinkers of this time, starting from the ancient tradition, singled out man as the main character in the picture of the world. New painting the world during the Renaissance was controversial. On the one hand, humanists saw and glorified the greatness of man, his ability to create and cognize the world. On the other hand, the ideas of Copernicus and especially Giordano Bruno regarding the plurality of worlds destroyed the joyful and optimistic view of humanism. These contradictions were reflected not only in art, but also in religious differences. Humanism is indeed the main pathos of the Renaissance. It should be noted that the humanists themselves were few in number, and only their diverse titanic activity in all areas of culture was so significant that it formed a powerful cultural value.

Renaissance opened to mankind the most desirable of all areas of its existence - the sphere of freedom: in the area of \u200b\u200bknowledge of the world, in the area of \u200b\u200bsocial and economic relations, in the area of \u200b\u200bhuman self-awareness.

The Renaissance era gave birth to titans in all spheres of activity - so significant was the humanistic principle, which inspired the outstanding people of their time to deeds whose destiny was eternity.

List of sources used

1. Alferov A.A. Culture of the Renaissance: a look at history // Philosophy in the space of culture: Russia and the West. Series "East - West - Russia". Rostov-on-Don, 2001.
2. Bystrova A. N. World of culture (Fundamentals of cultural studies). Tutorial. 2nd edition, revised and supplemented. - M .: Publishing house of Fyodor Konyukhov; Novosibirsk: LLC “YUKEA Publishing House”, 2002. - 712 p.
3. Bystrova A.N. World of culture (Fundamentals of cultural studies). Tutorial. 2nd edition, revised and supplemented. - M .: Publishing house of Fyodor Konyukhov; Novosibirsk: LLC “YUKEA Publishing House”, 2002. - 712 p.
4.http: //ru.wikipedia.org Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia
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9.http: //www.renclassic.ru/Ru/34/611/ Theater of the Renaissance / Renaissance

Abstract on the topic "Culture of the Renaissance" updated: November 13, 2018 by the author: Scientific Articles.Ru

Renaissance culture
Introduction:
1. Prerequisites for the emergence of a new culture
2. General characteristics of the great era
3. Stages of development of the Renaissance
4. Humanistic thought and representatives of the Renaissance
5. Natural philosophy of the Renaissance
Introduction
Renaissance is an era in the history of culture and art that reflected the beginning of the transition from feudalism to capitalism... In its classical forms, the Renaissance took shape in Western Europe, primarily in Italy, but similar processes took place in Eastern Europe and Asia. In each country, this type of culture had its own characteristics associated with its ethnic characteristics, specific traditions, the influence of other national cultures. Revival associated with the formation of a secular culture, humanistic consciousness. 15th century Italian humanists focused on revival of ancient culture, the ideological and aesthetic principles of which were recognized as an ideal worthy of emulation. In other countries, such an orientation towards the ancient heritage might not have existed, but the essence of the process of human liberation and the establishment of strength, rationality, beauty, personal freedom, the unity of man and nature characteristic of all cultures of the Renaissance type.
The following stages are distinguished in the development of the Renaissance culture: Early Renaissance, whose representatives were Petrarch, Boccaccio, Donatello, Botticelli, Giotto; High Renaissancerepresented by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, François Rabelais, and Late Renaissancewhen the crisis of humanism is revealed (Shakespeare, Cervantes).
The main feature of the Renaissance is integrity and versatility in understanding a person, life and culture... The sharp rise in the authority of art did not lead to its opposition to science and craft, but was perceived as the equivalence and equality of various forms of human activity. In this era, they reached a high level applied arts and architecture, combining artistic creation with technical design and craft. The peculiarity of Renaissance art is that it has a pronounced democratic and realistic, with man and nature at the center. Beauty, harmony, grace are viewed as properties of the real world.
In the period of the late Renaissance, many of its norms changed, and the features of a crisis were revealed. There was a gap between art and science, beauty and utility, between the spiritual and physical life of a person.
Late Renaissance humanism enriched consciousness of the inconsistency of life, a tragic attitude, which manifested itself in the works of Shakespeare, Michelangelo.
In the art of the Renaissance embodied the ideal of a harmonious and free human existence that nourished his culture.
1. Prerequisites for the emergence of culture
Direct producers in the late Middle Ages were in a difficult situation. A large part of the product produced was confiscated from persons who were personally dependent on the owner of the land.
Social oppression, constant civil strife, a terrible plague epidemic that claimed the lives of a third of Europe's population - all this crowds out the last hopes for the organization of earthly life and the idea of \u200b\u200bsalvation. This contributes to the displacement of the recognition of the value of earthly existence, the idea of \u200b\u200ba long and happy life as a reward for virtue, inherited by Christianity from the religions of the East.
Prepared the ground for the spread of the idea of \u200b\u200bthe Renaissance and Reformation german mysticism reinforcing individualistic tendencies in Christianity, in many respects overcoming the communal principles of church organization. Mysticism is often interpreted in a magical sense, as a real possibility of a person to influence universal processes due to the fact that he is a part of these processes, he is a microcosm. In the ideology of the Reformation, Mysticism, accordingly, is understood only as a divine prompt, an expression of the will of the Holy Spirit, addressed to an individual.

2. General characteristics of the great era.
The era of the Renaissance (Renaissance), covering the period from the XIV to the beginning of the XVII centuries, falls on the last centuries of medieval feudalism. The Renaissance has had a great influence on the further development of culture and philosophy.
The figures of the Renaissance themselves contrasted the new era with the Middle Ages as a period of darkness and ignorance. But the originality of this time is more likely not the movement of civilization against savagery, culture - against barbarism, knowledge - against ignorance, but manifestation of another civilization, another culture and other knowledge.
The Renaissance is a revolution, first of all, in the system of values, in the assessment of everything that exists and in relation to it. The conviction arises that a person is the highest value. This view of man determined the most important feature of the Renaissance culture - the development of individualism in the field of worldview and the all-round manifestation of individuality in public life.
One of the characteristic features of the spiritual atmosphere of this time was a noticeable revival of secular sentiments.
A secular character is also inherent in such a vivid phenomenon of the Renaissance culture as humanism. Broadly speaking humanism is a way of thinking that proclaims the idea of \u200b\u200bhuman welfare as the main goal of social and cultural development and defends the value of a person as an individual. It originated during the Renaissance.
The Renaissance refers to antiquity, especially to the late antique teachings filled with ideas of humanity. But the very understanding of humanity is being substantially reinterpreted. The ancient world assessed the individual not as an individual, but as a bearer of something universal, for example, virtue, but the revived antiquity saw in the individual as an individual a unique expression of the Universe, i.e. something unique, irreplaceable and infinitely significant. Man, like a microcosm, is in itself a source of knowledgethat it contains some innate ideas. Anaximenes, Heraclitus, Democritus, Plato expressed the idea of \u200b\u200bman as a small cosmos. But among the Greek philosophers man is not equal and not identical with the cosmos. It is rather part of the cosmic order.
The revival of antiquity, in fact, gave the name to the entire era, because “renaissance” is translated as “revival”.
Artists and sculptors strove in their work for naturalness, for a realistic recreation of the world and man. Studied classical statues and human anatomy. Artists began to use perspective, abandoning the plane image.
Scientific and technical discoveries, such as the invention of the printing press, helped to spread new ideas. Gradually, new ideas captured the whole of Europe.
Philosophy takes a special place in the spiritual culture of this time, and it has all the features that were mentioned above. The most important feature of the philosophy of the Renaissance - anti-scholastic orientation of the views and writings of thinkers of this time... Her other characteristic feature is creation of a new pantheistic picture of the world, identifying God and nature.
Finally, if the philosophy of the Middle Ages is theocentric, then characteristic feature philosophical thought of the Renaissance - anthropocentrism. Man is not only the most important object of philosophical consideration, but also the central link of cosmic being... Christianity was also atnropocentric in the sense that the whole world was understood as created by God primarily for man. However, a specific feature of the religious monotheistic worldview was the idea of \u200b\u200bdeification, understood in the spirit of Christian mysticism. Mysticism consisted in the fact that the union with God occurs as a result of the indulgence of divine grace, the perception of divine energies as a result of the mood of the spirit.
Humanism has changed the point of view. Man was placed in the center as a being like God as a result of his own creativity... Anthropocentrism meant the replacement of the concept of deification by the concept of deification of man, his maximum rapprochement with God on the path of creative activity.
3. Stages of development of the Renaissance
Early renaissance
The Renaissance is considered a transitional period from the Middle Ages to the New Age. During this period, changes took place in economic and cultural life.
The culture of various European peoples is united by the ideas of humanism. Principle humanism, i.e. higher cultural and moral development of human abilities,most fully expresses the main direction of European culture of the XIV-XVI centuries. The ideas of humanism capture all strata of society - merchant circles, religious spheres, the masses. A new secular intelligentsia is taking shape. Humanism affirms the belief in the unlimited possibilities of man. Personality, powerful and beautiful, becomes the center of the ideological sphere.
During the heyday of humanism, science, poetry, architecture, visual arts reached an unprecedented scale. Many rulers became patrons of the arts. These people often combined the features of monstrous villains and subtle connoisseurs of beauty; good and evil were intertwined in the most bizarre way during the Renaissance.
The Renaissance art was a kind of synthesis of ancient physical beauty and Christian spirituality.
The Renaissance culture originated in Italy. The Italian Renaissance is divided into four stages: Proto-Renaissance (Pre-Renaissance) - the second half of the XIII-XIV century; Early Renaissance - XV century; High Renaissance - late 15th - first third of the 16th century; Late Renaissance - late 16th century.
High Renaissance
In the 16th century in Italy, Renaissance art entered a phase of its highest flowering. Italian art at this time is complex and contradictory. At this time, the highest rise of art, based on the traditions of humanistic culture, takes place. And at the same time, new artistic phenomena emerged, expressing the collapse of humanistic ideals, which gave rise to mannerism, which spreads in many European countries.
The High Renaissance masters strove to achieve in their works a harmonious synthesis of the most beautiful aspects of reality.
At the time when Italy entered the highest stage of prosperity, the Northern Renaissance begins. The philosophical basis of the Northern Renaissance was pantheism, which dissolved God in nature and endowed it with divine attributes. Pantheists believed that every piece of nature is worthy of an image, since it contains a particle of God.
Late Renaissance. Crisis of Humanism
The later Renaissance was characterized by a crisis of the idea of \u200b\u200bhumanism and a consciousness of the prosaic nature of the emerging bourgeois society. The disillusionment of the humanists comes from the grandiose inconsistency of reality with the Renaissance ideas about man... By the end of the XVI century. this disappointment became widespread. The crisis of humanism matured gradually, emerging in its depths. Humanistic aspiration was expressed in results that were unexpected for the humanists themselves. So, in the first half of the XVI century. the publication of Copernicus's work on the heliocentric system. The Earth has ceased to be the center of the universe. Man became small and lost in the endless universe.
The crisis of humanism was also expressed in the creation of utopias.
In the art of Western Europe, the features of the crisis of humanism were reflected in the emergence of academism and mannerism. There was a gap between art and science, beauty and utility, between the spiritual and physical life of a person. In the works of artists, the principles of balance and harmony inherent in the art of the High Renaissance are violated. This direction is called mannerism. Mature mannerism is characterized by the desire to isolate itself from life, to put art above reality.
4. Humanistic thought and representatives of the Renaissance
The term "humanism" comes from the Latin "humantias", which means "humanity". This term was used in the 1st century. BC e. famous Roman orator Cicero. For him, humantias is the upbringing and education of a person, first of all, contributing to his elevation. In improving the spiritual nature of a person, the main role was assigned to a complex of disciplines, consisting of grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, ethics. It was these disciplines that began to be called "humanitarian" in the Renaissance, and they remain so to this day.
The poet and philosopher Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) is unanimously considered to be the founder of humanism. In his work is the beginning of many paths along which the development of Renaissance culture in Italy went. In his treatise On Own Ignorance and Many Others, he resolutely rejects the scholastic scholarship inherent in the Middle Ages.
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