At the beginning of the 16th century, as Spain became a world power, its international cultural ties expanded significantly. The Italian campaigns of Emperor Charles V contributed to the familiarization of the Spaniards with the works of Italian artists. Since that time, there has been a great interest in art in Spain. Italian Renaissance. Many painters now go to study in Italy and strive to master the advanced achievements of its art - perspective, chiaroscuro, and the ability to convey the structure of the human body. Spanish artists learned a lot in Italy, but the very essence of the Italian Renaissance remained alien to them: in Spain there was no soil for the development of a life-affirming worldview and sober rationalism, which form the basis of Italian artistic culture. The art of mannerism, which finds many followers in Spain, turned out to be much closer in spirit to some movements of Spanish painting. Even artists who imitate the works of the High Renaissance masters usually interpret them in a mannerist manner, as can be seen in the example of the Valencian painter Juan de Juanes (c. 1523-1579), who was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. In the works of the Spaniards, passion and exaggerated expression always prevail over the desire for balance and harmony.
Painting at the court of Philip II. From the mid-16th century, during the reign of Philip II, the mannerist direction in the art of Spain was pushed aside by official court art, in which, under the patronage of the king himself, imitation of examples of the High Renaissance, mainly the Roman school, was introduced. In architecture, as we have seen, at this time there arises artistic direction, headed by Herrera. In painting, far-fetched and cold works are created, essentially no less distant from the Italian Renaissance than the works of artists of the previous era. The royal court now becomes the main customer of works of art and dictates its requirements to artists. During this period, the most interesting area of Spanish painting is the portrait - the only secular genre that developed in Spain. Among the portrait painters who worked at the court of Philip II, two excellent artists stand out who laid the foundations of Spanish court portraiture. These are Sánchez Coelho (c. 1532-1588) and Juan Pantoja de la Cruz (1551-1609). In the portraits of these artists, along with the emphasized class characteristics of the aristocrats they depict - stiffness, arrogance, restraint of gestures, richness of costume - facial features are always conveyed with amazing truthfulness and the inner world of the person being portrayed is revealed (see, for example, the portrait of “Don Diego de Valmayor” by Juan Pantoja dela Cruz in the collection of the State Hermitage).
Luis de Morales. Painting in Spain in the second half of the 16th century is not limited to official court art. One of the most significant artists of this time, Luis de Morales (1518-1582), belonged to a different direction, whose works were not approved at court. In Morales's work one can feel the influence of modern mystical-religious teachings, widespread in Spain, but not encouraged by the official church. His works are imbued with religious feeling and bear the imprint of the ascetic ideal of the Middle Ages. Morales' works are very emotional, they usually emphasize moments of suffering and sorrow. His painting is distinguished by its subtlety and thoroughness of execution and is close in technique to the Netherlands, although in the more mature works of the master one can feel the desire to join the achievements of Italian art. A good idea of the art of Morales is given by two paintings in the collection of the State Hermitage - “Our Lady of Sorrows” and “Madonna and Child”. Cold coloring and a smooth, enamel-like surface of the painting are the characteristic features of this master.
El Greco. One of the largest European artists of the second half of the 16th century, El Greco (c. 1541-1614), who worked in Spain and whose work stands apart in Spanish art, did not enjoy success at court either. A Greek by nationality, Domenico Theotokopouli, nicknamed El Greco, was born on the island of Crete, which at that time was part of the possessions of Venice. Initially, he studied in his homeland, where the traditions of Byzantine icon painting were still alive. El Greco's triptych, kept in the Museo d'Este in Modena, one of his first works executed upon his arrival in Italy, testifies to the influence of the Byzantine tradition on him during this period. El Greco arrived in Italy in 1565. At first he spent several years in Venice, where he studied with Titian and became close to Tintoretto, whose influence was noticeable in his early works. Here, in the circle of Titian and Tintoretto, Greco adopted the free and broad style of painting inherent in the Venetian masters, and here his brilliant talent as a colorist developed. El Greco brings together dynamism, the restless nervous rhythm of the movement of figures, a love of unexpected angles, elongated proportions of figures, and sinuous lines. Like Tintoretto, El Greco adheres to mannerism. Around 1570, the artist left Venice and settled in Rome. Here he attracted attention. with his own works and completed a number of portraits and commissioned paintings.
The final formation of El Greco's art and the true flowering of his talent occurred in a later period, when he moved to Spain. He arrived there around 1576 and at first, apparently, stayed in Madrid, the new capital, where Philip II moved the residence of his court. It is known that Philip II willingly used the services of Italian artists and even hired masters from Italy, and El Greco probably counted on orders at court. Apparently, through the court architect Juan de Herrera, El Greco received in 1577 an order for several paintings for one of the churches in Toledo (“Trinity”, Madrid, Prado; “Assumption of Our Lady”, Chicago, museum, etc.). In the same year, he received an order for the painting “The Rending of Christ's Clothes” for the Cathedral in Toledo.
In this painting, El Greco presented Christ surrounded by a crowd of excited, energetically gesticulating people. Their figures fill the entire surface of the picture. Here are a knight in armor, and guards, whose spears cross in disorder over the heads of crowded people, and gray-haired elders, and young men. In the foreground on the right, the executioner, depicted from a bold angle, bends over the cross; on the left, a young man stops women approaching the cross. In terms of expression, this work surpasses the works of the Italian period and anticipates the mature work of the artist. That amazing spirituality of faces, expressiveness of facial expressions and movements that constitute the peculiarity of El Greco’s art already appears in him. Wriggling lines, light falling in uneven spots, cold ones escaping from the darkness - green, blue, yellow colors create a feeling of tense anxiety.
Caring most of all about conveying the general mood, El Greco violated the traditional canons of depicting the plot, which caused dissatisfaction among the customers, who, among other things, also reproached the artist for the excessive vulgarity of certain types. Only after trial and a favorable expert opinion, El Greco received the money due to him.
Perhaps this process attracted the attention of Philip II to the artist. In 1579 he commissioned him to paint for Escorial. This painting, entitled “The Apotheosis of Philip II,” represents the kneeling king among church leaders and righteous people, looking up to heaven, where the monogram of the Jesuit order sparkles in a dazzling radiance, surrounded by a host of angels. In 1580-1584, El Greco painted a second painting for the Spanish king - “The Torment of Saint Mauritius”, which incurred the displeasure of Philip II, apparently caused by the fact that in this work the difference between deeply emotional, insubordinate rational logic, the art of El Greco and official court art.
After this failure, the artist left Madrid and settled permanently in Toledo.
Toledo, an ancient Spanish city, in the recent past - the residence of kings, was a refuge for the opposition high-born aristocracy, which lost its former significance during the absolutist regime. In this circle, the ideals of medieval chivalry were still alive, fantastic chivalric novels telling about impeccable and valiant heroes performing incredible feats were popular here, and the works of mystics, whose teachings were not supported by the official church, were read here. There were many writers and poets in Toledo, with whom El Greco, a widely educated and versatile man, soon became close friends. In this environment of the feudal aristocracy and refined intelligentsia, El Greco’s worldview and his art were finally formed; here his craving for the mystical and irrational found fertile ground. In the artist’s works created in Toledo, a shade of mystical exaltation appears, and also a gradually increasing tendency to deform figures and dematerialize forms. The figures in his paintings are exorbitantly elongated, the colors acquire a special sophistication of combinations and begin to glow with a cold greenish phosphorescent light, absorbing the outlines of objects. The forms of the aristocratically refined art of Mannerism, cultivated by El Greco, which was already becoming obsolete at that time, are revived to a new life in the peculiar atmosphere of the culture of Toledo.
El Greco's work is complex and contradictory. His paintings often surprisingly combine fantasy and reality, as, for example, in one of the artist’s most famous works, “The Burial of Count Orgaz” (1586, Toledo, Church of San Tome). Its plot is borrowed from an ancient legend, according to which the saints who descended from heaven honored with their presence the funeral of the Toledo hidalgo, who died in 1312, famous for his piety. This scene is presented as a mystical vision. Above, in the opening heavens, in streams of flickering light, one can see Christ, Mary and John the Baptist, surrounded by a host of saints and angels; below, on the ground, among the Toledan nobles crowded around the deceased, Saints Stephen and Augustine, in sparkling brocade robes, carefully lower the armored body of Orgas into the sarcophagus. And despite the fantastic nature of the plot, what amazing realism, what spirituality and subtlety of conveying emotional movements in the images of the Toledo hidalgos. Undoubtedly, these are all portraits; Probably, here El Greco depicted a circle of people close to him.
The skill of portraiture is one of the strongest aspects of the artist’s talent. Here he owes a lot to the art of Spain. He mastered the restraint and simplicity inherent in the Spanish portrait, and attention to the individual characteristics of the model. But El Greco far surpasses his contemporaries in the depth of his psychological characterization. It is enough to recall the wonderful portrait of the Inquisitor Niño de Guevara (1596, New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art) to appreciate the talent of El Greco as a portrait painter. The portrait is outwardly simple, but full of enormous internal tension. The flickering of the ominous crimson-red tones of the inquisitor’s clothes, the cold shine of his burning eyes, the hard outline of his mouth, and the hand nervously clutching the armrest of the chair evoke in the viewer an idea of suppressed seething passions, fanaticism and merciless cruelty. From this portrait threads stretch to “Innocent X” by Velazquez.
A completely different image, full of charm and femininity, is created by El Greco in the beautiful female portrait known as “The Lady in a Boa” (Glasgow).
El Greco painted mainly religious subjects, but these were not ordinary church paintings. Very often he deviated from the canonical interpretation of the plots, which is why misunderstandings arose more than once with customers. El Greco lives in the world of his fantasy, which recent years his life becomes more and more painful. In the artist’s later paintings, a strange and ghostly world appears before us. Exorbitantly elongated figures with small heads, bizarrely bending bodies, breaking in the bends of the drapery - everything drowns and dissolves in streams of flickering cold light. Among the most significant works of the artist, three versions of “The Crucifixion” (1580-1585, Paris, Louvre; 1595-1600, Philadelphia; 1602-1610, Cincinnati), “The Assumption of Our Lady” (c. 1608-1613, Toledo), “ Laocoon" (1606-1610, Belgrade, museum), as well as the beautiful landscape "View of Toledo in a thunderstorm" (1603, New York, Metropolitan Museum).
El Greco - the last major representative European mannerism. In his time, this direction had already left the stage everywhere, giving way to new artistic movements - the emerging realistic movement and Baroque art. At the end of the 16th century, the sprouts of realism made their way into Spanish art, mainly in the work of masters of large shopping centers not associated with the court, - Valencia and Seville. It was these cities that became the cradle of brilliant Spanish painting of the 17th century. Deeply subjective, gravitating toward obsolete forms of mannerism, El Greco’s art remained aloof from the main direction of development of the Spanish school.
General characteristics of the Spanish Renaissance.
The literature of the Renaissance in Spain is distinguished by its great originality, which is explained in the peculiarities of the historical development of Spain. Already in the second half of the 15th century. here we observe the rise of the bourgeoisie, the growth of industry and foreign trade, the emergence of capitalist relations and the weakening of feudal institutions and the feudal worldview. The latter was especially undermined by the humanistic ideas that permeated the most advanced country of that time - Italy. However, in Spain this process proceeded in a very unique way, compared to other countries, due to two circumstances that constituted the specifics of the history of Spain of that era.
The first of them is also connected with the conditions in which the reconquista took place. The fact that individual regions of Spain were conquered separately, at different times and under different conditions, led to the development of special laws, morals and local customs in each of them. The peasantry and the cities founded on the reclaimed lands in different places received different rights and liberties. Heterogeneous local rights and liberties, to which various regions and cities tenaciously clung, were the cause of constant conflicts between them and the royal power. It often even happened that cities united against her with feudal lords. Therefore, by the end of the early Middle Ages, such a close alliance between the royal power and the cities against the large feudal lords had not been established in Spain.
Another feature of the historical development of Spain in the 16th century. is as follows. The result of the extraordinary influx of gold from America was a sharp rise in the price of all products - a “price revolution” that affected all European countries, but manifested itself with particular force in Spain. Since it became more profitable to buy foreign products, Spanish industry in the second half of the 16th century. decreased greatly. Agriculture also fell into decline - partly for the same reason, partly due to the massive ruin of the peasants and the impoverishment of a huge number of small noble farmers who could not stand the competition with the large landowners who enjoyed various privileges.
All the features of the history of Spain determine the general character of its literature in the 16th – 17th centuries. The literature of the Spanish Renaissance is clearly divided into two periods: 1). Early Renaissance (1475 – 1550) and 2). Mature Renaissance (1550 – first decades of the 17th century).
At the beginning of this period, in Spain, as in most other countries, there was the emergence of that new, critical and realistic approach to reality, which is characteristic of the Renaissance worldview. Spain has a number of outstanding scientists and thinkers who overturned old prejudices and paved the way for modern scientific knowledge.
Printing houses appeared, Roman and Greek writers were intensively translated. The university in Alcalá de Henares, founded in 1508, becomes the center of the humanistic movement. Nevertheless, humanistic ideas did not receive their full philosophical development in Spain. Meeting the most hostile attitude towards themselves at court and among the aristocracy, without finding support from the bourgeoisie, they were muted by the Catholic reaction.
Humanistic ideas in Spanish Renaissance literature find expression almost exclusively in poetic images, and not in theoretical writings. For the same reason, the influence of ancient and Italian models was generally much less significant in Spain than, for example, in France or England. In the same way, the Spanish literature of the Renaissance is less characterized by the cult of form. She is characterized by masculinity, severity, sobriety, great concreteness of images and expressions, dating back to the medieval Spanish tradition. In all these respects, Spanish literature of the Renaissance has a unique, specifically national character.
The religious influences of the era were clearly reflected in this literature. The ideology and practice of Catholicism left a strong imprint on both folk life, and on the life of the privileged classes.
Nowhere in the literature of the 16th – 17th centuries. religious themes do not occupy such a prominent place as in Spain. We find here extremely different “mystical” literature - religious poems and lyrics ( Luis de Leon, San Juan de la Cruz), descriptions of “miraculous conversions,” ecstasies and visions ( Teresa de Jesus), theological treatises and sermons ( Luis Granada). The Greatest Playwrights ( Lope de Vega, Calderon) along with secular plays, they write religious plays, dramatized legends and lives of saints, or “sacred acts” with the theme of glorifying the sacrament of “communion”. But even in plays with secular content, religious and philosophical themes often appear ( "The Mischief of Seville" by Tirso de Molina, "The Steadfast Prince" by Calderon).
Despite all the painful nature of the development of Spain, the people showed maximum national energy. He discovered great inquisitiveness of mind, determination and courage in overcoming obstacles. The broad prospects that opened up to the people of that time, the scope of political and military enterprises, the abundance of new impressions and opportunities for various vigorous activities - all this was reflected in Spanish literature of the 16th - 17th centuries, which was characterized by great dynamics, passion and rich imagination.
Thanks to these qualities, Spanish literature of the “golden age” (as the period from approximately the second third of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century is called) occupies one of the first places among the national literatures of the Renaissance. Having demonstrated itself brilliantly in all genres, Spanish literature has given especially high examples in the novel and drama, i.e. in those literary forms in which the traits typical of Spain of that time - fervor of feelings, energy and movement - could most fully be expressed.
Creation of national Spanish drama.
In Spain and Portugal, as well as in other countries, there was a medieval theater - partly religious (mysteries and miracles), partly completely secular, comic (farces). Medieval religious theater in Spain, due to the enormous role that the Catholic Church played in the life of the country, was extremely stable - it not only did not disappear during the Renaissance, as happened in Italy and France, but continued to develop intensively throughout the 16th and even 17th centuries .; Moreover, plays of this kind were written by the greatest playwrights of the era. The genres of folk comic theater, also cultivated by great masters, remained just as popular throughout these centuries.
However, along with these old dramatic genres, by the middle of the 16th century. In Spain, a new, Renaissance system of dramaturgy was being developed, which also influenced the interpretation of the aforementioned old genres by Renaissance writers. This new dramatic system resulted from the collision of two principles in the theater of the medieval folk or semi-folk tradition and scientific and humanistic trends coming from Italy or directly from antiquity, but mostly also through Italian mediation. At first, two types of dramaturgy, expressing these two trends, develop in parallel, separately from one another or entering into struggle with each other, but very soon interaction begins between them, and in the end they merge into a single dramatic system. In this system of national drama of the Renaissance, the pinnacle of which should be recognized as the work of Lope de Vega, the main principle is still the folk principle, although Italian and ancient influences, originally mastered, played a significant role in its formation. The latter was facilitated by the appearance in the 16th century. translations into Spanish of Plautus and Terence.
General notes
The Renaissance, or Renaissance, as a phenomenon of cultural development is found in all countries of Western Europe. Of course, the culture of this period is unique in each country, but the general principles on which the culture of the Renaissance is based can be reduced to the following: the philosophy of humanism, “conformity with nature,” i.e. materialistic understanding of the laws of nature, rationalism.
Note 1
The Renaissance laid the foundation for a new value system for the entire modern Western European civilization.
The specificity of the Spanish Renaissance lies in the fact that at the time of its inception, the Inquisition, on which Catholic ideology relied, was “raging” in the country. Under these conditions, active criticism of religious dogmas was impossible. However, after the completion of the unification of Castile and Aragon, or the reconquest, the culture of Spain took off in the $1600 - first half of the $1700 century.
Spanish humanists
First of all, Spanish humanism is associated with the name of Erasmus of Rotterdam, who lived at the court of Charles of Spain and whose humanistic ideas were known throughout Europe. His Spanish followers are even called “erasmists.” The most famous and important were Alfonso de Valdez, Juan Luis Vives and Francisco Sanchez.
Valdez, in his caustic dialogues, exposes the greed and licentiousness of the representatives catholic church and the papal throne. Vives criticizes Aristotle's scholasticism and gives priority in science to observation and experiment in science, with the help of which one can not only penetrate deeply into nature, but also find a way to knowledge of the world.
This scientist is considered the predecessor of Francis Bacon. The scientist advocates for a progressive education system that includes classical languages, as well as for women's education. Sanchez was also a critic of scholasticism, but he was distinguished by his skepticism in his view of free inquiry. He has a sensational work “On the absence of knowledge,” in which the scientist comes to the conclusion that all our knowledge is unreliable, relative, conditional, because the process itself.
Note 2
Let us note that the ideas of Spanish humanists, unlike the Italian ones, did not leave a noticeable mark on the philosophical research of that era.
Literature and artistic culture of the Spanish Renaissance
Spanish literature, painting, and sculpture flourished in this era. Let us briefly describe each direction.
The literature of the Spanish Renaissance was a combination of national folklore with forms of humanistic literature. This is especially evident in poetry, the representatives of which were:
- Jorge Manrique,
- Luis de Leon
- Alonso de Ercilla,
- and others.
However, to describe modern life the most popular genre was the novel. Spain is famous for chivalric (“Don Quixote” by Cervantes) and picaresque novels. In the latter, the authors (“Celestina” by Fernando de Rojas, “The Adventures and Life of the Rogue Guzmán de Alfarace, The Watchtower of Human Life” by Mateo Alemán) showed how monetary relations penetrated Spanish life, patriarchal ties decomposed, and the masses were ruined and impoverished.
Spanish national dramas have also gained worldwide fame. The most famous playwright of this era is Lope de Vega, who wrote more than 2000 works, of which 500 are known, and many of them are performed on the stage of all the leading theaters in the world and filmed, for example, “Dog in the Manger” and “The Dancing Teacher”.
Let us also note Tirso de Molina, the monk Gabriel Telles was hiding under this name. He wrote the comedy “The Mischief of Seville, or the Stone Guest,” which brought him worldwide fame. The painting of the Spanish Renaissance is represented by the names of El Greco and Diego Velazquez, whose works are valuable on a world-historical scale.
Note 3
The painful contradictions of time are reflected with enormous dramatic force in Greco's paintings. Velazquez's paintings are characterized by bold romance, insight into the character's character, and a high sense of harmony.
Renaissance literature in Spain developed in complex, contradictory conditions. Some of them favored the formation of unique Renaissance phenomena in literature, while others hindered it. The positive thing was that in Spain, where for a long time there was a struggle against foreign (Arab) enslavement, where medieval cities won independence quite early, and peasants in a number of regions (Castile, etc.) did not know serfdom, the people had long developed a high consciousness of self-worth. The high level of national self-awareness determined the greater proximity of Spanish humanism to folklore, to the artistic creativity of its people, than to the bookish ancient culture. Together with the above-mentioned positive factor in Spain in the 16th - early 17th centuries. Another, opposite law was also in effect. Spain was at that time a country with very reactionary political regime, whose absolutism became hostile to cities fighting for their liberties. He was hostile to bourgeois development, relied on the military strength of the middle nobility ("caballeros") and on an alliance with the Inquisition, which intensively persecuted free thought. The foreign policy of the Spanish government was also reactionary and adventurist, dragging the country into ruinous wars that usually ended in defeat and led to a decline in the prestige of Spain. Spain's plunder of the newly discovered territories of America (since 1492) also drained the country's economy. And yet, even under such unfavorable conditions, Spanish humanism developed and produced great literary artists, especially in the field of novel and drama.
Spanish literature of the early Renaissance (from the 15th to the mid-16th century) is characterized primarily by the widespread development of folk poetry in the form romance - a lyrical or lyric-epic poem, which reflected the patriotism, love of freedom and poetry of the people, - and humanistic poetry I.-L. de Mendoza-Santillana, J.-H. Manrique, Garcilaso de la Vega. In the area prose dominated novel in its three varieties: knightly, pastoral and picaresque.
Literature mature Renaissance (until the 30s of the 17th century), despite the very difficult conditions for humanists that gave rise to its well-known inconsistency, it is generally characterized by great depth and realism. IN poetry At this time, a new phenomenon was the emergence epic poem (L. Camões, A. Ercilla). But the greatest achievements in Spanish literature were realized in the field literary prose And dramaturgy, the peaks of which are the works of Cervantes and Lope de Vega.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) - the greatest Spanish writer, one of the giants of world literature. Much of his literary heritage is explained in his biography, inspired by the spirit of bold adventure characteristic of his era (a trip to Italy, participation in the war against the Turks, capture by Algerian pirates, imprisonment of an innocent person).
Rich and varied literary heritage Cervantes: poems ("Message to Mateo Vazquez", etc.), dramaturgy (tragedy “Numancia”, etc.), prose genres - pastoral and chivalric novels, short stories.
crown creative activity Cervantes is his immortal novel "The Cunning Hidalgo Don Quixote of La Mancha" (1605-1615) - a complex, deep work, although its depth, like Rabelais's novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel", is not immediately revealed to the reader. The novel is intended as parody to the deprived life content chivalric novels. The author wanted to show that excessive reading of such novels can drive a person almost to a state of insanity. However, Cervantes’s excellent knowledge of the life of the people and his ability to portray typical characters allowed him to create a truly realistic Renaissance novel, in which the depravity of not only chivalric novels, but also the entire Spanish reality, and at the same time the bright ideas of humanism are embodied. According to V.G. Belinsky, with his “Don Quixote” Cervantes “dealt a decisive blow to the ideal [here: cut off from life] direction of the novel and turned it to reality."
The complexity and depth characteristic of the novel are also inherent in its main characters - Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Don Quixote is parodic and ridiculous when, under the influence of chivalric novels, he imagines himself as a knight capable of crushing the vices around him, while in fact he commits a number of absurd acts (battles with those mistaken for giants windmills etc.), paying for the illusory nature of their fantasies with very real beatings. But Don Quixote is not only parodic, it carries within itself an affirming, Renaissance beginning. He is a noble, selfless fighter for justice, full of high enthusiasm. His humanism is manifested in the deep humanity of his actions aimed at helping people suffering injustice.
Don Quixote's judgments about freedom, peace, human dignity, and love breathe deep humanistic wisdom. This is evidenced by the advice given by Don Quixote before Sancho Panza entered the “governorship”, as well as from his speeches made on various other occasions (“Freedom is one of the most precious goods; for the sake of freedom, as well as for the sake of honor, one can and must risk life”; “Peace is the best good that exists in the world”, etc.). Don Quixote advises his squire not to hide, but to expose his peasant origins, because “a man of humble origin, but virtuous, deserves more respect than a noble, but vicious one.” For the same reason, Don Quixote considers it quite natural to fall in love with the “very pretty village girl” Aldonza Lorenzo, whom he nicknamed Dulcinea of Toboso. This girl's ignorance is not an obstacle to love.
The inconsistency of Don Quixote is that he fights for the humanistic ideals generated by the anti-feudal character of the Renaissance, using archaic means drawn from the dilapidated arsenal of knights errant. From this inconsistency of the hero follows the complex contradictory attitude of the author towards him. Cervantes always makes one feel the nobility of the very idea of this struggle, which was noticed by I.S. Turgenev: “Don Quixote is an enthusiast, a servant of the idea, and therefore is surrounded by its radiance.” It is no coincidence that sometimes the images of the hero and the author merge together: this happens when the hero especially expressively acts as the bearer of the humanist author’s philanthropic dream of better life built on the principles of justice.
Sancho Panza is not so simple - Don Quixote's squire, a typical Castilian peasant, poor, but alien to humiliation, knowing his own worth, a real bearer of folk wisdom, often covered with a cheerful joke. He is also an enthusiast who, without much thought, followed Don Quixote and left his native village, first for the hope of receiving the “island” promised by Don Quixote, and later simply out of philanthropy towards the impractical hidalgo, whom he is already sorry to leave without his help. The beneficial influence of the humanist knight made it possible for Sancho Panza to reveal the remarkable qualities of a folk sage. In no work of Renaissance literature is the peasant placed on such a pedestal as he is on in Cervantes’s novel.
In the relationships of the main characters, an approach has been taken to the humanistic ideal of relationships between people. The writer makes one feel how stuffy it was for his sensitive hero to live in a world of arrogance and money-grubbing. Relatively early death Don Quixote, who, according to Sancho Panza, was “burned out of the world by melancholy,” does not seem unexpected.
The great merits of the novel include its broad depiction of Spanish reality of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. with all its contradictions, with an expression of sympathy for the democratic circles of society. The artistic merits of Don Quixote are great, especially its wonderful language, sometimes archaic and eloquent in the Knight of the Sorrowful Image, sometimes sparkling with all the colors of folk speech in Sancho Panza, sometimes expressive and precise in the author himself. Cervantes is credited with creating the Spanish literary language, which is based on the Castilian dialect.
The novel "Don Quixote" is one of greatest works world literature, which had a huge influence on the formation of subsequent realism.
Lope de Bega (1562-1635) - the great Spanish writer of the Renaissance, whose dramaturgy brought him the well-deserved fame of one of the titans of the era. The extensive and varied dramatic heritage of L. de Vega - he wrote more than two thousand plays, of which about 500 were published - is usually divided into three groups. The first of them is socio-political dramas, built primarily on historical material. The second includes domestic comedies family and love character (sometimes they are called “cloak and sword” comedies - because of the characteristic attire of noble youth). The third group includes plays of a religious nature.
For understanding the features of L. de Vega’s dramatic works, his theoretical treatise “The New Art of Composing Comedies in Our Days” (1609) is of great importance. It formulated the main provisions of Spanish national dramaturgy with its orientation towards the traditions of folk theater, with a critical attitude towards strict adherence to the notorious “rules” of Aristotelian-classicist poetics (where there was more attributed to Aristotle than actually put forward by him), with the desire to satisfy the needs of the audience and believability shown on stage, and the skillful construction of intrigue, tightly tied into a knot that would not give the play the opportunity to break up into separate episodes. The dramaturgy of L. de Vega was the implementation of his theoretical views.
In his domestic comedies Mostly the struggle of young people, coming from the middle nobility, for their personal happiness is shown. They overcome various obstacles that are posed by class prejudices and the despotic power of their parents. The author's sympathies are on the side of natural human feeling, which does not recognize class barriers. The best of his everyday comedies are “The Dancing Teacher”, “Dog in the Manger”, “Girl with a Jug” and others. This is usually comedy intrigue, where little attention is paid to the psychological motivation of action and the obstacles that stand in the way of lovers are overcome relatively easily. Deep in content and artistically vibrant, the dramaturgy of L. de Vega served as a model for many Spanish playwrights. The best of his plays are performed on theater stages all over the world.
* This work is not a scientific work, is not a final qualification work and is the result of processing, structuring and formatting the collected information intended for use as a source of material for independent preparation of educational works.
BOSH JEROME is a Dutch artist. 1460-1516
BRUEGEL PETER - Dutch artist. 1525—1569
VAN DYCK is a Flemish artist. 1599-1641
VELASQUEZ RODRIGUEZ DE SILVA DIEGO - Spanish artist. 1599-1660
DURER ALBRECHT - German artist. 1471-1528
POUSSIN NICOLA is a French artist. 1594-1665
REMBRANDT HARMENS VAN Rijn is a Dutch artist. 1606—1669
RUBENS PETER PAUL - Flemish artist. 1577-1640
EL GRECO - Spanish artist. 1541-1614
When they talk about Renaissance painting, everyone immediately imagines Italy and the great Italian masters— Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael. But brilliant artists appeared not only in Italy. Famous painters lived and worked in almost all European countries of that time.
Very interesting artists was given to the world by a small country - the Netherlands. Art historians call their work “Northern Renaissance”. Hieronymus Bosch occupies a special place among the painters of the Northern Renaissance.
His real name van Aken. He was born and worked in the small town of Bos. Almost nothing is known about the life of Hieronymus of Bos - Bosch. The Netherlands then belonged to Spain, and most of Bosch spent his life in the capital of the Kingdom of Spain - Madrid.
Hieronymus Bosch. Similar hay cart fantasy world. They are inhabited by monsters and deformed creatures created from the body parts of animals, insects and humans. Human faces reveal envy, bitterness, stupidity, complacency and greed. The painting “A Cart of Hay” was written on the theme of the proverb “Life is a cart of hay, and everyone tries to snatch a bigger clump of hay for themselves.” The painting “Ship of Fools” is a symbol of human stupidity.
But Bosch’s work is not an attempt to humiliate man, to pour mud into the creation of God and nature. Looking at the paintings of this artist, a person sees his vices. Bosch's genius is so unique, so impressive that under its influence a person thinks about himself and his vices much more often than after boring moralizing sermons.
Another famous Dutch artist is Bruegel the Elder or Muzhitsky. His first name is Peter, and his last name is the name of the village in which he was born.
Bosch had a very strong influence on Bruegel's work. Bruegel's early paintings were created under his influence. Their names speak about this: “The Fight of Chests and Piggy Banks”, “The Fight of Lent with Maslenitsa”, “The Feast of the Skinny” and “The Feast of the Fat”, “The Triumph of Death”, “The Land of the Lazy”.
The painting “Flemish Proverbs” is a unique illustration of folk sayings. It depicts several dozen characters who seem to have decided to refute what the proverbs say. Someone is trying to break through a wall with their forehead, someone is throwing flowers at the pigs’ feet, someone is burying a well.
Bruegel is not just a follower of Bosch. He preserved the spirit of his beloved artist in his early paintings, looked at the world from his point of view, but with his own eyes, and recreated this world with his brush.
Bruegel's works were extremely popular. Even the Spanish king bought them, although the artist did not paint portraits of the nobility. His paintings were filled with common people and were in no way suitable for decoration luxurious halls palaces.
In the second period of his work, Bruegel moved away from the satirical depiction of life. He wrote a cycle of twelve paintings “The Seasons”, such paintings as “Peasant Dance”, “Village Wedding”.
Under the brush of the great master, scenes and episodes of ordinary life rose to philosophical generalizations. His parable paintings are especially striking. Here is The Fall of Icarus. The plowman calmly plows the land. A shepherd grazes sheep, a fisherman catches fish, ships sail on the sea. Everyone is busy with their own business. And in the corner of the picture is the leg of Icarus who fell into the sea. You won't notice it right away. Icarus wanted to ascend to the sun, his fall is a tragedy, a catastrophe, a symbol of the defeat of a daring hero. But no one noticed either his flight or his fall.
Or the painting “Artist and Connoisseur”. At the easel there is a painter who has given all his strength to his work. And behind him is a laughing customer with a wallet in his hand. Bruegel's most famous parable painting is “The Blind”.
It reminds us of the words from the Bible: “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” Six blind men, holding each other, are going to God knows where. Their blind guide has already fallen from the cliff, the second one is also about to fall, the rest, not seeing what threatens them, are moving behind them. Looking at this picture, a person thinks about himself, who does not know tomorrow, and about all of humanity, which after millennia still cannot answer the question of the Greek philosophers: “Who are we, where do we come from and where are we going? »
Bruegel had many nicknames. Due to his age, he was called Bruegel the Elder - in contrast to his sons, who also became famous artists. By rural origin - Bruegel Muzhitsky. In some chronicles he was called Bruegel the Ridiculous - based on the content of his early paintings. He can rightfully be called Bruegel the Philosopher. Or rather, one of the art critics said about him, calling him Bruegel I the Great.
The work of Peter Rubens also belongs to the Northern Renaissance. Rubens was born into the family of an elder of the city of Antwerp. Rubens' father was a Protestant, and he had to flee persecution of Catholics to Germany, to Cologne. In Cologne, he found himself under the protection of Prince William of Orange, a supporter of Protestantism. The prince's wife patronized the fugitive, and the prince, out of jealousy, first put him in prison and then exiled him to the German town of Nassau, where Peter Paul Rubens was born. After the death of his father, Rubens and his mother returned to Flanders - as part of modern Belgium was then called - to Antwerp.
The future artist graduated from a Jesuit school, and his mother assigned him as a page to Countess Laleng. Serving under a noble lady gave him the opportunity to master secular customs and learn to behave in high society. After several years of painting, Rubens visited Italy. He did not strive for creativity, but simply copied paintings by famous Italian masters.
Returning to his homeland, he became the court painter of the rulers of the Southern Netherlands, Infanta Isabella and Archduke Albert. Great Italian painting awakened the artist in him. He began to paint, combining the skill developed by long exercises with the cheerful spirit of his beloved homeland.
Rubens' paintings are a hymn to the joy of life. It is no coincidence that he wrote a lot on mythological subjects. These are “The Judgment of Paris”, “Diana on the Hunt”, “Bacchus”. But even the paintings he created on biblical themes are filled with angels and saints who are more like the pagan gods Venus and Apollo. Art critics put Rubens on the same level as the geniuses of the Italian Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. They wrote that he took the clarity of composition from Leonardo, power and temperament from Michelangelo, and tenderness of colors from Raphael.
Rubens worked very hard. To decorate the Luxembourg Palace in Paris, he created a series of paintings, The Life of Marie de' Medici, with images of the French queen Marie de' Medici, King Henry IV and King Louis XIII. The palaces of the Spanish and English kings are decorated with portraits of his work.
At fifty-three, Rubens was widowed - his wife died. A few years later, the already middle-aged artist fell passionately in love with the sixteen-year-old beauty Elena Fourman and married her.
Rubens and his young wife lived a happy married life. The artist idolized his beloved. He created more than twenty portraits of her alone. And such images of her as “Portrait of Elena Fourman with Children” and “Fur Coat” are considered the pinnacles of world painting.
During his life, Rubens painted a huge number of paintings - about three thousand. And each of them entered into a golden background; world painting. Rubens alone would not have been able to paint so many paintings. Many capable students worked in his workshop. Rubens made a sketch of the future painting, his students painted it, and Rubens then completed the work.
Only one of these students grew into an independent painter.
His name was Van Dyck. He reached the heights of mastery and became a famous portrait painter of aristocrats and kings. different countries They commissioned portraits from him, but the most famous was his self-portrait.
Van Dyck was very handsome. Romantic love adventures brought him no less fame than his talent as an artist.
Rembrandt's name is on a par with the geniuses of the Northern Renaissance.
He was the son of a simple miller from the small Dutch town of Leiden. His three brothers received the profession of ordinary artisans. When Rembrandt grew up, his father's business went so well that he decided to educate his fourth son. Rembrandt entered the Latin school, whose students continued their studies at the university. The young man did not shine with success in science. He was attracted to painting, his father had to give in and send him to the artist’s studio.
Having mastered the skills and techniques of a painter, Rembrandt moved to the largest and richest city in Holland - Amsterdam. The first successfully completed order - a group portrait of Dr. Tulpa and his colleagues - brought fame and money to the young artist.
Rembrandt married the daughter of a wealthy lawyer, Saskia, and lived happily and carefree for seven years. He painted paintings on biblical themes - “The Blinding of Samson”, “Adoration of the Magi”, “Christ with the Disciples”, “Holy Family” and on the themes of ancient Greek myths - “Danae”, “Ganymede”. Rembrandt loved his wife very much and painted her constantly.
The unexpected death of Saskia had a very strong effect on the artist. Gradually he became poorer. He had to sell off his collection of paintings and rarities. He was declared an insolvent debtor, and until the end of his days Rembrandt lived in dire need.
The reason for poverty was that Rembrandt did not want to please his customers. It all started with the painting “Night Watch”. It was ordered by city guard officers. Each of them wanted to see themselves in the foreground in the best pose. Rembrandt did not paint an official, ceremonial, group portrait, but a narrative painting. A detachment of city guards sets out on a campaign. Everything is in motion. Some of the officers were in the foreground, some in the background, some were visible in full height, and someone got lost among other figures. The little girl with the chicken, who somehow got into the picture, attracts more attention than any of the officers, whose face is also almost covered by the hand of another guard.
The customers demanded that the painting be remade. Rembrandt refused. After all, he achieved what he wanted as an artist - he conveyed mood, feelings, created interesting and lively characters. The officers refused to pay the money.
After this incident, Rembrandt received orders less and less often. And he didn’t seem to notice it. The artist brought urban beggars, old men and old women to his studio and enthusiastically painted their portraits. He was no longer interested in payment for the work - he was absorbed in the desire to paint a portrait so that the person’s face reflected his soul. The artist became a philosopher in his paintings, he lost customers, money and gained immortal fame. A hundred, two hundred years will pass, the portrait of an old beggar woman by his brush will be appreciated higher than any other portrait of a king.
One of latest works Rembrandt - painting “Return prodigal son» on the topic biblical parable. The parable tells how a son left his father and brothers. Far from his home, he indulged in revelry and squandered his share of the inheritance. To feed himself, he had to hire himself as a swineherd and eat from a pig trough. Repenting, he returned to his father, and his father forgave him and accepted him into his parents' home. This painting embodies everything that Rembrandt achieved over many years of research and work. They see it as a symbol life path each person and the biography of the artist himself.
The famous master of the Renaissance is Albrecht Durer. He was born in Germany, in the city of Nuremberg, in the family of a jeweler. His father taught him his skills. Having become an engraver, Albrecht became interested in drawing. After four years of travel and acquaintance with the works of the best artists, Albrecht Dürer returned to his hometown, married the daughter of a wealthy mechanic and opened his own workshop.
His engravings brought him fame. The German Emperor ordered the city authorities to pay the artist 100 guilders a year so that he could work and travel. After visiting Italy, Dürer met with Raphael and gave him his self-portrait. Raphael was delighted with his skill.
Durer's most famous engraving is “The Four Horsemen” from the Apocalypse series. Apocalypse - translated from Greek as “revelation” - is one of the books of the New Testament that tells about the end of the world. The engraving depicts Pestilence, War, Famine and Death, which are destined to destroy most of humanity.
Durer's engravings are executed with mathematical precision. The artist was the author of several treatises: “On Painting”, “On the Beautiful”, “On Proportions” and books on fortification - the science of building fortifications.
The works of Durer the engraver are considered the pinnacle of engraving art. But Dürer also became famous as a painter. His brushes include several famous self-portraits and paintings of remarkable color saturation. After their success, Dürer proudly wrote to his friend: “I silenced all the painters who said that I was good at engraving, but could not handle paint in painting. Now everyone says they haven't seen more beautiful colors ».
Dürer's engravings and paintings amaze with their perfect accuracy. He went down in the history of painting as a creator who verified the rainbow of colors and the clarity of lines with a compass and a mathematical formula.
Spain during the Renaissance gave the world the names of the great painters El Greco and Velazquez.
El Greco was born on the Greek island of Crete. His real name is Domenico Theotokopouli. He studied painting from Greek icon painters. Then he worked for some time in Titian’s studio in Venice and lived in Rome. After this, El Greco left for Spain, where he painted all his famous paintings.
Already in Rome El Greco became famous artist, they predicted a great future for him. According to legend, he had to leave Rome because of his excessive pride and arrogance. Once, in a conversation about the fact that the frescoes of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, were not so much Christian as pagan in spirit, El Greco said among artists that if these frescoes were scraped off, he would create others that were not inferior to them in painting and much more superior to them in spiritual content. Such a statement first stunned everyone present, and then caused laughter and contempt. All artists and experts stopped
communicate with a daring young man, and he left Rome in the hope of becoming a court painter for the Spanish king.
Disappointment awaited him in Madrid - the king did not like the works of the visiting painter. El Greco settled in the old capital of Spain, Toledo, which had just been abandoned by the king.
Here he received an order to paint a painting depicting Jesus Christ before the crucifixion for the altar of the main temple of Toledo - the Espolio Cathedral. The film was an incredible success. The author was ordered seventeen copies of it.
Artists from all over Spain came to see the masterpiece. El Greco's unusual painting amazed them. Elongated figures, as if reflected in water; enlarged, iconographic eyes; violet, lilac, pearl gray colors in combination with red; The ghostly, as if pre-storm, flickering lighting mesmerized the audience.
El Greco lived in Toledo until the end of his days. He painted pictures on biblical themes and left behind many portraits. All his works are made in the same extraordinary style. Perhaps he did not surpass Michelangelo, but nevertheless he created his own, unique painting, powerful, passionate and mysterious.
During his lifetime, El Greco was revered as the greatest Spanish artist. After his death, he was forgotten and remembered four hundred years later, when twentieth-century painters rediscovered him and used his techniques as the basis for new trends in art.
Another Spanish genius, Velazquez, had just begun to take his first steps in art at the time of El Greco’s death. His teacher was a fan of Italian painting, and especially Raphael.
Velazquez reached the highest heights of skill. It is said that the French poet Théophile Gautier, seeing one of Velázquez’s paintings for the first time, asked: “Where is the painting?” - the poet either really mistook the image for reality, or with these words he wanted to praise Velazquez’s talent. And the Pope, upon seeing his portrait, exclaimed: “Too true!” Velazquez was not easy good artist, his brush revealed the inner essence of a person, even if he wanted to hide it.
For almost forty years, Velazquez served as court painter to the Spanish king and received the title of marshal. He painted portraits of courtiers and members of the royal family. Among his paintings is a whole series of portraits of dwarfs and jesters.
While traveling in Italy, Velazquez took part in a painting competition held in Rome. By decision of the artists themselves, Velazquez was recognized as the winner. This is how the Spanish master received recognition in the homeland of painting. Velazquez’s famous paintings are “Las Meninas” (maids of honor), the historical painting “The Surrender of Breda”, “Venus in front of the Mirror”, “The Spinners”.
After the artist’s death, the following was carved on his tombstone: “Painter of Truth.”
Painting of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in France did not have the same development as in Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. But France gave the world a painter whose work marked the emergence of a new art direction - classicism.
This painter is Nicolas Poussin. He was born into the family of a soldier who, after long wars between Protestants and Catholics, became a peasant. Poussin was fond of drawing and painting since childhood. He had no money for education, and he fled from home with a traveling painter, and after some time he ended up in Paris. The young man often had to go hungry.
But on his way he came across good people. He became friends with the curator of the royal art collections and library and was given the opportunity to copy paintings by Italian masters. Poussin dreamed of working in Italy.
Hungry, without money and sick, he returned to his village, worked tirelessly, tried twice to get to Rome and only the third time he achieved his goal - he ended up in the capital of painting. Here he was lucky - he was introduced to Cardinal Barberini, the patron saint of artists and poets. The cardinal's orders helped Poussin get on his feet.
Time passed, and the works of the French master gained fame. He was offered to become the prince of the Academy of Arts. King Louis XIII of France, on the advice of Cardinal Richelieu, invited Poussin to Paris and gave him the title of the king's first painter. He was entrusted with painting the royal palace - the Louvre, which later became a museum, a repository of artistic treasures of France. The king surrounded the famous painter with honor and even gave him a small palace. The son of poor peasants, who secretly fled home and starved in Paris, achieved everything he could dream of. But court life and the intrigues of his rivals prevented him from working.
Poussin asked the king to leave to go to Rome. During his absence, Richelieu died, and then Louis XIII himself. At court they forgot about Poussin, and he lived in Rome for the rest of his life. He placed the modest income and fruitful work of a painter above wealth and honors. Poussin painted mainly landscapes and paintings on biblical and mythological subjects. Particularly famous are the landscapes “The Seasons” and the paintings “The Kingdom of Flora” and “The Arcadian Shepherds”.
Poussin's canvases are balanced and majestic. The heroes are noble, the colors are harmonious. The style that Poussin created was called classicism, from the word “classical”. Classical, from the Latin word “class” - “category”, were called works of the first category, that is, the best.
Poussin's later followers, who created works according to the laws of classicism, turned out to be only conscientious craftsmen who failed to breathe life into their heroes. Since then, “classicism” often means cold adherence to correct, but boring models, and the paintings of Poussin, the founder of classicism, have not yet faded and are rightfully included in the treasury of world painting.
