As in other states of Western Europe, the emergence of a Renaissance worldview in the Netherlands, which was under the rule of Burgundy until 1447, and then the Habsburgs, is associated with the development of production and trade, as well as with the growth of cities and the formation of the burghers. At the same time, feudal traditions were still strong in the country, so the new in Dutch art was introduced much more slowly than in Italian.
IN Dutch painting era of the Northern Renaissance for a long time there were features gothic style. Religion played a much larger role in the life of the Dutch than the Italians. Man in the works of the Dutch masters did not become the center of the universe, as was the case with the artists of the Italian Renaissance. During almost the entire XV century. people in the painting of the Netherlands were portrayed in a gothic light and ethereal. The characters in the Dutch paintings are always dressed, they lack sensuality, but there is also nothing majestic and heroic. If the Italian masters of the Renaissance painted monumental frescoes, the Dutch viewer preferred to admire small easel paintings. The authors of these works worked very carefully on every, even the smallest, detail of their canvases, which made these works interesting and very attractive to the audience.
In the XV century. in the Netherlands, the art of miniature continued to develop, but already in the early 1420s. the first paintings appeared, the authors of which were Jan van Eyck and his early deceased brother Hubert van Eyck, who became the founders of the Dutch art school.
Jan van Eyck
Accurately establish the time of birth of Jan van Eyck, one of the most prominent representatives the Dutch school of Renaissance painting failed. There are only suggestions that van Eyck was born between 1390 and 1400. In the period from 1422 to 1428, the young painter fulfills the order of Count John of Bavaria of Holland: he paints the walls of the castle in The Hague.
From 1427 to 1429 van Eyck traveled around the Iberian Peninsula. In 1428, after the death of John of Bavaria, the artist enters the service of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The latter was able to appreciate not only the gift of the master painter, but also to reveal his diplomatic talent. Soon Van Eyck is in Spain. The purpose of his visit was the commission given by the Duke of Burgundy - to arrange a wedding and paint a portrait of the bride. The artist, who simultaneously plays the role of a diplomat, brilliantly coped with the duties assigned to him and fulfilled the assignment. Some time later, the portrait of the bride was ready. Unfortunately, this work of the famous painter has not been preserved.
From 1428 to 1429 van Eyck was in Portugal.
The most significant work of van Eyck was the painting of the altar of the church of St. Bavo in Bruges, carried out jointly with brother Hubert. Its customer was a rich man from Ghent, Jodocus Veidt. Later named Ghent, the altar, painted by the famous master, has a difficult fate. During the religious wars, in the 16th century, in order to save it from destruction, it was taken apart and hidden. Separate fragments were even taken out of the Netherlands to other countries of the world. And only in the 20th century they returned to their homeland, where they were collected. The altar again decorated the church of St. Bavo. However, not all parts of the work were saved. So, one of the fragments of the original stolen in 1934 was replaced by a good copy.
The overall composition of the Ghent Altarpiece is made up of 25 paintings, the heroes of which are more than 250 characters. On the outer side of the wings of the altar in its lower part are images of the customer, Jodocus Veidt and his wife, Isabella Borlut. The figures of John the Baptist and John the Evangelist are also placed here. In the middle row, a scene unfolds on a well-known biblical story: the archangel Gabriel brings the good news of the imminent birth of Christ to the holy virgin Mary. The composition is distinguished by the unity of the colors used by the author: all the paintings are designed in pastel grayish tones.
A distinctive feature of this painting is that the artist surrounds the biblical characters with everyday realities. So, from the window of Mary's chambers, a city is visible that is completely unlike Bethlehem. This is Ghent, on one of the streets of which the contemporaries of the master painter could easily recognize the house of the rich Veidt. The household items surrounding Maria are not only filled with symbolic meaning(the washbasin and towel appear here as symbols of Mary's purity, the three sashes of the window are a symbol of the eternal Trinity), but they are also called upon to bring what is happening closer to reality.
During religious holidays, the doors of the altar are opened, and an amazing picture appears before the viewer, telling about the structure of the world in the understanding of a person of the 15th century. So, in the uppermost tier there are images of the Holy Trinity: God the Father, depicted in papal robes embroidered with gold, at his feet lies a crown - a symbol of Jesus Christ, in the center of the row is a dove, symbolizing the Holy Spirit. The faces of the Mother of God and John the Baptist are turned towards them. Songs of praise to the Trinity are sung by angels. At van Eyck, they are bred by young men dressed in richly decorated robes. This series is closed by the figures of the progenitors of the human race - Adam and Eve.
The top row of the picture depicts a wide green meadow, along which saints, prophets, apostles, warriors, hermits and pilgrims march to the sacrificial Lamb. Some of the characters represent real people. Among them you can find the artist himself, as well as his brother Hubert and Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The landscape here is also interesting. All trees and small plants are drawn by the master with extraordinary accuracy. One gets the feeling that the artist decided to show off his knowledge of botany to the viewer.
In the background of the composition, the heavenly city of Jerusalem, symbolizing Christianity, is depicted. However, for the master, it is more important here to convey the similarity of the architectural structures of the fairy-tale city with the real buildings that existed in the time of van Eyck.
The general theme of the composition sounds like a glorification of the harmony of the human world order. Scholars suggest that a possible literary source for this work famous artist there was either the "Revelation of John Chrysostom", or the "Golden Legend" by Jacopo da Varagina.
Whatever the theme of van Eyck's works, the main thing for the artist is to depict the real world as accurately and objectively as possible, how to transfer it to the canvas, while conveying all its features. It was this principle that turned out to be the leading one in the formation of a new technique of artistic representation. It manifested itself especially brightly in the portrait works of the artist.
In 1431, the papal legate, Cardinal Niccolò Albergati, arrived in Burgundy. At the same time, Jan van Eyck made a sketch of a portrait of the cardinal. In the course of work, corrections and additions were made to the drawing. It should be noted that the master was more concerned here not with the display of a person’s inner experiences, but with a possibly more accurate transmission of his appearance, individual features and facial lines, figure, posture and facial expressions.
Later written oil paints portrait of Cardinal Albergati, the emphasis in the image shifts from detailing a person’s appearance to displaying him inner world. The eyes of the character, that mirror of the human soul, in which feelings, experiences, thoughts are reflected, now become dominant for revealing the image.
How van Eyck's artistic method develops can be seen by comparing his earlier work with famous portrait"Timothy", written in 1432. A thoughtful person with a gentle character appears before the viewer. His gaze is fixed on the void. However, it is this view that characterizes the hero van Eyck as an open, modest, pious, sincere and kind person.
An artist's talent cannot be static. The master must always be in search of new solutions and ways of expressing and depicting the world, including the inner world of a person. Such was van Eyck. The next stage in the development of his work was marked by a portrait work, called "The Man in the Red Turban" (1433). Unlike the character in the painting "Timothy", the hero of this canvas is endowed with a more expressive look. His eyes are turned to the viewer. The stranger seems to be telling us his sad story. His look expresses quite specific feelings: bitterness and regret about what happened.
"Timothy" and "The Man in the Red Turban" differ significantly from the works created by the master earlier: they present a psychological portrait of the hero. However, the artist is not so much interested in spiritual world a particular person, how much is his attitude to reality. So, Timothy looks at the world thoughtfully, and the man in the turban perceives it as something hostile. However, this principle of depicting a person for a long time
time could not exist within the framework of Renaissance art, where the main idea was to clearly identify the individual features of the image and show its inner world. This idea becomes dominant in van Eyck's subsequent works.
Jan van Eyck. Portrait of a man in a red turban. 1433
In 1434, the artist writes one of his most famous works- "Portrait of the Arnolfini couple", which, according to art historians, depicts a merchant from Lucca, a representative of the Medici house in Bruges Giovanni Arnolfini with his wife Giovanna.
In the background of the composition there is a small round mirror, the inscription above which says that one of the witnesses of the ceremony was the artist himself, Jan van Eyck.
The images created by the artist are unusually expressive. Their significance is highlighted by the fact that
that the author places his characters in the most ordinary, at first glance, environment. The essence and meaning of the images is emphasized here through the objects surrounding the characters and endowed with secret meaning. So, apples scattered on the windowsill and table symbolize heavenly bliss, a crystal rosary on the wall is the embodiment of piety, a brush is a symbol of purity, two pairs of shoes are a sign of marital fidelity, a lit candle in a beautiful chandelier is a symbol of a deity overshadowing the sacrament of the marriage ceremony. The thought of fidelity and love is also suggested by a small dog standing at the feet of the owners. All these symbols of marital fidelity, happiness and longevity create a feeling of warmth and intimacy, love and tenderness that unites spouses.
Of particular interest is van Eyck's painting Madonna of Chancellor Rolen, created in 1435. Small in size (0.66 × 0.62 m), the work gives the impression of the scale of space. Such a feeling is created in the picture due to the fact that through the arched vaults the artist shows the viewer a landscape with city buildings, a river and mountains visible in the distance.
As always with van Eyck, the environment (in this case, the landscape) surrounding the characters plays an important role in revealing their characters, even though the characters, the interior and the landscape do not constitute a holistic unity here. Placed opposite the figure of the chancellor, the landscape with residential buildings is a secular beginning, and the landscape with churches, located behind Mary, is a symbol of the Christian religion. The two banks of a wide river are connected by a bridge, along which pedestrians walk and riders pass. The personification of the reconciliation of spiritual and secular principles is the infant Christ sitting on Mary's lap, blessing the chancellor.
The work that completed the period of formation creative method van Eyck is considered to be the altar composition “Madonna of Canon van der Pale”, created in 1436. A distinctive feature of the images is their monumentality. The figures of heroes now fill the entire space of the picture, leaving almost no room for landscape or interior. In addition, in the Madonna of Canon van der Pale, the main character is not the Madonna at all, but the customer of the painting himself. It is to him that Mary and St. Donatus, with a pointing gesture, introduces St. George.
The method of depicting the main character also changes here.
This is no longer a simple contemplative, expressing his attitude to the world. The viewer sees a person who has withdrawn into himself, thinking deeply about something very important. Similar images will become leading in the Dutch art of subsequent times.
In later works, van Eyck displays images even more concrete. An example of this is the painting "Portrait of Jan van Leeuw" (1436). The person depicted in the portrait is open to us. His gaze is fixed on the viewer, who can easily recognize all the feelings of the hero. One has only to look into his eyes.
The pinnacle of the master's work is considered to be the last, painted in 1439, portrait of his wife, Margarita van Eyck. Here, behind the appearance of the heroine, subtly painted by the artist, her character is clearly visible. Never before has Van Eyck's image been so objective. The paints used are also unusual for the artist: the red-violet fabric of the clothes, the smoky fur of the edge, the pink skin of the heroine and her pale lips.
Jan van Eyck died on July 9, 1441 in Bruges. His work, which influenced many subsequent masters, laid the foundation for the formation and development of Netherlandish painting.
A contemporary of the van Eyck brothers was Robert Campin, the author of decorative and paintings, teacher of many painters, including the famous painter Rogier van der Weyden.
Altar compositions and portraits of Campin are distinguished by their desire for authenticity, the master tries to depict all objects so that they look like in reality.
The largest Dutch artist of the XV century. was Rogier van der Weyden, who painted dramatic altar scenes (“Descent from the Cross”, after 1435) and expressive, spiritual portraits (“Portrait of Francesco d’Este”, 1450; “Portrait of a Young Woman”, 1455). Rogier van der Weyden opened the first major workshop in the Netherlands, where many famous artists the Renaissance. The painter was widely known not only in his homeland, but also in Italy.
In the second half of the XV century. such artists worked in the Netherlands as Jos van Wassenhove, who did a lot for the development of Dutch painting, the unusually talented Hugo van der Goes, the author of the famous Portinari altarpiece, Jan Memling, in whose work the features of the Italian Renaissance appear: garlands and putti, idealization of images, clarity and clarity compositional construction("Madonna and Child, Angel and Donors").
One of the brightest masters of the Northern Renaissance of the late XV century. was Hieronymus Bosch.
Hieronymus Bosch (Hieronymus van Aken)
Hieronymus van Aken, later nicknamed Bosch, was born between 1450-1460. in Hertogenbosch. His father, two uncles and a brother were artists. They became the first teachers of the beginning painter.
Bosch's work is distinguished by grotesqueness and caustic sarcasm in the depiction of people. These trends are already visible in early works ah artist. For example, in the painting “Removing the Stone of Stupidity”, depicting a simple operation performed by a healer on the head of a peasant, the painter ridicules the clergy, insincerity and pretense of the clergy. The view of the peasant is directed at the viewer, turning him from an outside observer into an accomplice of what is happening.
Some of Bosch's works are peculiar illustrations for folk tales and Christian legends. These are his canvases “The Ship of Fools”, “The Temptation of St. Anthony", "The Garden of Earthly Delights", "The Adoration of the Magi", "The Mockery of Christ". The plots of these works are characteristic of the art of Flanders in the 15th-16th centuries. However, the grotesque figures of people and fantastic animals depicted here, the unusual architectural structures presented by the painter, distinguish Bosch's paintings from the works of other masters. At the same time, the features of realism are clearly traced in these compositions, which was alien to the fine arts of the Netherlands at that time. With precise strokes, the master makes the viewer believe in the reality and authenticity of what is happening.
In canvases devoted to religious themes, Jesus almost always finds himself surrounded by people smiling maliciously and ambiguously. The same images are presented in the painting "Carrying the Cross", the color of which is composed of pale and cold shades. Out of the monotonous mass of people, the figure of Christ stands out, painted in somewhat warmer colors. However, this is the only thing that distinguishes him from others. The faces of all the characters have the same expression. Even the bright face of St. Veronica almost does not distinguish the heroine from other characters. In addition, the combination of bright, poisonous blue-and-yellow colors of her headdress enhances the sense of ambiguity.
Of particular interest in the work of Bosch is the altar composition called "Haystack". An allegorical picture unfolds before the viewer human life. People ride on a cart: being between the angel and the devil, in front of everyone they kiss, have fun, play musical instruments, sing songs. The wagon is followed by the pope and the emperor, the people from the common people close the column. The latter, wishing to become participants in the celebration of life, run ahead and, having fallen under the wheels of a cart, find themselves ruthlessly crushed, without having time to understand the taste of human joys and pleasures. The overall composition is crowned by little Jesus sitting on a cloud and prayerfully raising his hands to heaven. The impression of the realism of what is happening is created with the help of a landscape that is distinguished by concreteness and reliability.
Hieronymus Bosch. The ridicule of Christ
Bosch always introduces fantastical elements into his paintings. They are the main ones, reveal the artist's intention. These are birds soaring in the sky with sails instead of wings; fish with horse hooves instead of fins; people born from tree stumps; heads with tails and a host of other phantasmagoric images. And all of them are unusually mobile in Bosch. Even the smallest creature is endowed with energy and directed somewhere.
When looking at Bosch's paintings, one gets the impression that the master decided to show everything that is vile, gloomy, shameful in this world. Humor has no place in these canvases. It is replaced by poisonous mockery, sarcasm, brightly highlighting all the shortcomings of the human world order.
In the works belonging to the late period of the artist's work, the dynamics are somewhat weakened. However, the same infinity of the represented space and the multi-figure nature of the picture remain. This is how you can characterize the canvas, called "John on Patmos." Particularly interesting is the fact that on the reverse side of it the master placed a wonderful, strikingly beautiful landscape. The artist surprisingly accurately managed to convey here the transparency of the air, and the bends of the banks of the river, and the soft blue color of the high sky. However, the bright colors and precise lines of the contours give the work a tense, almost tragic character.
Home hallmark Bosch's creativity is the focus on man and his world, the desire to objectively express people's lives, their feelings, thoughts and desires. This is most fully reflected in the altar composition called the "Garden of Delights", where human sins are shown without embellishment. The work is extremely dynamic. Entire groups of people pass in front of the viewer, which the author places in several tiers for a better view. Gradually, the impression is created of a continuously repeating, unidirectional movement of the figures, which enhances the tragic feeling and reminds the viewer of the seven circles of hell.
Bosch's artistic style was born out of a conflict between reality and the ideals of medieval art. Many artists of that time, due to a completely understandable desire to embellish a gloomy, full of contradictions life, created ideally beautiful images that were far from harsh reality. Bosch's work, on the contrary, was aimed at an objective image of the surrounding reality. Moreover, the artist sought to turn the world of people inside out and show its hidden side, thereby returning to art its deep philosophical and ideological significance.
Landscape plays one of the main roles in The Adoration of the Magi. The main characters are shown here as part of the whole, they have no independent meaning. What is more important for revealing the artist's intention is what is located behind the figures of the characters - landscape paintings: horsemen, trees, a bridge, a city, a road. Despite the scale, the landscape gives the impression of emptiness, silence and hopelessness. However, this is the only thing that still glimmers of life and contains some meaning. The human figures here are static and insignificant, their movements, fixed at a certain moment, are suspended. chief actor it is precisely the landscape that is spiritualized and therefore sets off the emptiness, aimlessness and futility of human life even more sharply.
In the composition " Prodigal son» pictures of nature and main character form a unity. The means of expression here
the generality of the paints used by the author serves: the landscape and the human figure are painted in shades of gray.
In the later works of Bosch, fantastical creatures are no longer given as much space as in earlier works. Only in some places still appear separate strange figures. However, these are not those energetic half-animals scurrying everywhere. Their size and activity are significantly reduced. The main thing now for the painter is to show the loneliness of a person in this world of cruel, soulless people, where everyone is busy only with himself.
Hieronymus Bosch died in 1516. His work influenced the formation of the artistic method of many remarkable masters, among them Pieter Brueghel the Elder. The fantastic images of Bosch's works largely predetermined the appearance of the painting of surrealist artists.
At the beginning of the XVI century. 15th-century masters continued to live and work in the Netherlands. - Hieronymus Bosch and Gerard David, but already at that time, features of the High Renaissance appeared in Dutch painting (albeit to a lesser extent than in Italian).
During this period, the economy of the Netherlands is experiencing an unprecedented flourishing. Industry developed rapidly, the guild craft was replaced by manufactory. The discovery of America made the Netherlands a major center of international trade. The self-consciousness of the people grew, and with it the national liberation tendencies intensified, which in the last third of the 15th century led to a revolution.
One of the most significant masters of the first third of the XVI century. was Quentin Masseys. The author of numerous altarpieces, he became, perhaps, the first creator of a genre work in Netherlandish painting, writing his famous painting"Changer with his wife" (1514). Masseys painted wonderful portraits in which
the artist makes an attempt to convey the depth of the inner world of a person (portraits of Etienne Gardiner, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Peter Egidius).
At the same time, with Masseys in the Netherlands, they worked with the so-called. novelists who turned to the work of Italian masters. In their works, the novelists did not seek to reflect reality; their main goal was to create a monumental image of a person. The most significant representatives of this trend were Jan Gossart, nicknamed Mabuse, and Bernard van Orley.
In the first third of the XVI century. worked well-known master of his era, one of the founders of European landscape painting Joachim Patinir. His paintings of wide plains, rocky peaks and calm rivers included religious scenes with small human figures. Gradually, biblical motifs occupy less and less space in his landscapes (“Baptism”, “Landscape with Flight into Egypt”). The painting of Patinir had a great influence on the artists of the following generations.
A contemporary of Patinir was the largest master of this time, Luke of Leiden, who worked in the technique of engraving. His works are notable for their realism and compositional integrity, as well as deep emotionality (“Mohammed with a murdered monk”, 1508; “David and Saul”, 1509). Many of his engravings are characterized by elements of the everyday genre (“A game of chess”, “The wife brings Joseph's clothes to Potiphar”). The portrait images of Luke of Leiden are authentic and lifelike (“Portrait of a Man”, ca. 1520).
The everyday genre became widespread in the painting of the second third of the 16th century. Artists who continued the traditions of Masseys worked in Antwerp - Jan Sanders van Hemessen, who created many versions of The Changer, and Marinus van Roimerswale, author of The Merry Society. With his grotesque images he changed and lung girls behavior, these masters have practically erased the line separating everyday and religious compositions.
Features of the everyday genre penetrated into portrait painting, the largest representatives of which were the Amsterdam artists Dirk Jacobs and Cornelis Teynissen. Natural poses and gestures make portrait images lively and convincing. Thanks to Jacobs and Teinissen, Netherlandish painting was enriched with a new, original genre, which became a group portrait.
During these years, Romanism continued to develop, the masters of which were Peter Cook van Aelst and Jan Scorel, who had numerous talents and abilities. He was not only a painter, but also a clergyman, musician, rhetorician, engineer, and keeper of the art collection of Pope Adrian VI.
The crisis of the Renaissance attitude, which engulfed the art of the Italian Renaissance in the second half of the 16th century, also affected the Netherlands. In the 1550-1560s. in Dutch painting, the realistic trend continues to develop, acquiring the features of a nationality. At the same time, Romanism is also activated, in which elements of mannerism begin to predominate.
Manneristic features are present in the painting of the Antwerp artist Frans Floris. His biblical compositions amaze with excessive drama, complex angles and exaggerated dynamics (“The Downfall of the Angels”, 1554; “ Last Judgment", 1566).
An outstanding representative of the realistic painting of this time was the Antwerp master Peter Artsen, who painted mainly large-figure genre scenes and still lifes. Often he combines both of these genres in his works, but one of them always prevails over the other. In the painting "Peasant Feast" (1550), a still life plays minor role, and in The Butcher's Shop (1551), objects pushed the person into the background. Artsen's canvases are distinguished by great authenticity, although the artist strives to present the images of peasants as monumental and majestic (Peasants in the Market, 1550s; Peasants at the Hearth, 1556; Dance Among the Eggs, 1557). In the paintings "The Cook" (1559), "The Peasant" (1561), with their obvious idealization of images, the author's sincere sympathy for the common man is felt.
The most significant master of realistic Dutch painting XVI V. was Pieter Brueghel the Elder.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder
Pieter Brueghel (Bregel), nicknamed the Elder, or Peasant, was born between 1525 and 1530. In the early 50s. 16th century he lived in Antwerp, where he studied painting with P. Cook van Aelst. In the period from 1552 to 1553 the artist worked in Italy, and from 1563 in Brussels. While in the Netherlands, the painter met democratic and radical thinkers of the country. This acquaintance, perhaps, determined the thematic focus of the artist's work.
Brueghel's early works are marked by the influence of the Mannerist art and the artistic method of Hieronymus Bosch. For the most part, they are landscapes that embody the painter's impressions of a trip to Italy and the Alps, as well as pictures of the nature of the Netherlands, the artist's homeland. In these works, the author's desire to show a large-scale, grandiose picture on a small canvas is noticeable. Such is his "Neapolitan harbor", which became the first seascape in the history of painting.
In his early works, the artist seeks to express the infinity of space in which a person is lost, becomes smaller, becomes insignificant. Later, the landscape at Brueghel takes on more real dimensions. The interpretation of a person living in this world is also changing. The image of a person is now endowed with a special meaning and is not a figure that accidentally appeared on the canvas. An example of this is a painting created in 1557 and called "The Sower".
In The Fall of Icarus, the main plot, expressing the idea that the death of one person will not stop the rotation of the wheel of life, is supplemented by several more. Thus, the scenes of plowing and the coastal landscape presented here serve as symbols of the regularity of human life and the majesty of the natural world. Although the canvas is dedicated to an ancient myth, almost nothing reminds of the death of Icarus. Only if you look closely, you can see the leg of the hero who fell into the sea. No one paid attention to the death of Icarus - neither the shepherd, admiring the beautiful view, nor the fisherman, located on the shore, nor the peasant plowing his field, nor the crew of the sailboat heading to the open sea. The main thing in the picture is not the tragedy of an ancient character, but the beauty of a person surrounded by beautiful nature.
All works by Brueghel have a deep semantic content. They affirm the idea of orderliness and loftiness of the world order. However, it would be wrong to say that Brueghel's works are optimistic. Pessimistic notes in the paintings are expressed by a special position taken by the author. He seems to be somewhere outside the world, watching life from the outside and removed from the images transferred to the canvas.
A new stage in the artist's work was marked by the appearance in 1559 of the painting "The Battle of Carnival and Lent". The composition was based on numerous crowds of revelers, mummers, monks and merchants. For the first time in Brueghel's work, all attention is focused not on landscape paintings, but on the image of a moving crowd.
In this work, the author expressed a special worldview, characteristic of the thinkers of that time, when the world of nature was humanized, animated, and the world of people, on the contrary, was likened, for example, to a community of insects. From Brueghel's point of view, the world of people is the same anthill, and its inhabitants are as insignificant and insignificant as they are small. The same are their feelings, thoughts, actions. The picture, depicting cheerful people, nevertheless evokes a gloomy and sad feeling.
The same mood of sadness marked the paintings "Flemish Proverbs" (1559) and "Children's Games" (1560). In the latter, children are shown in the foreground. However, the perspective of the street shown in the picture is endless. It is she who has the main meaning in the composition: the activities of people are just as meaningless and insignificant as children's fun. This theme - the question of a person's place in life - becomes the leading one in the work of Brueghel in the late 1550s.
Since the 1560s. realism in the paintings of Brueghel is suddenly replaced by a bright and sinister fantasy, in terms of power of expression surpassing even the grotesque works of Bosch. Examples of such works can be the paintings "Triumph of Death" (1561) and "Mad Greta" (1562).
In The Triumph of Death, skeletons are shown trying to destroy people. Those, in turn, are trying to escape in a huge mousetrap. Images-allegories are filled with deep symbolic meaning and are designed to reflect the author's worldview and understanding of the world.
In Crazy Greta, people no longer hope to be saved from the evil creatures, whose numbers are increasing. It is not known from where many of these sinister creatures appear, trying to take the place of people on earth. The latter, maddened, take the filth vomited by the giant monster for gold and, forgetting about the impending danger and crushing each other in the crowd, try to take possession of the "precious" ingots.
In this composition, for the first time, the artist's attitude towards people who were possessed by unbridled greed is shown. However, this thought develops in Brueghel into deep discussions about the fate of all mankind. It should also be noted that, despite all the variety of fantastic elements, Brueghel's paintings evoked an unusually acute sense of the concreteness and reality of what was happening. They were a kind of reflection of the events taking place at that time in the Netherlands - the repressions perpetrated by the Spanish conquerors in the country. Brueghel was the first among artists who reflected on the canvas the events and conflicts of his time, translating them into an artistic and pictorial language.
Gradually powerful emotions and tragedy are replaced by Brueghel's quiet and sad reflections on the fate of people. The artist again turns to real images. Now the main place in the composition is given to a large-scale landscape that goes far to the horizon. The author's sarcastic mockery, characteristic of earlier works, turns here into warmth, forgiveness and understanding of the essence of the human soul.
At the same time, works appear that are marked by a mood of loneliness, slight sadness and sadness. Among such canvases, Monkeys (1562) and The Tower of Babel (1563) occupy a special place. In the latter, in contrast to the painting of the same name written earlier, the main place is occupied by the figures of builders. If earlier the artist was more interested in the world of beautiful and perfect nature, now the semantic emphasis is shifting to the image of a person.
In such works as "The Suicide of Saul" (1562), "Landscape with Flight into Egypt" (1563), "Carrying the Cross" (1564), the master overcomes the tragedy of the senselessness of people's activities on earth. Here appears a completely new idea for Brueghel, the inherent value of human life. In this regard, the composition "Carrying the Cross" is of particular interest, where the well-known religious and philosophical plot is interpreted as a mass scene with numerous figures of soldiers, peasants, children - ordinary people, watching with curiosity what is happening.
In 1565, a cycle of paintings was created that became true masterpieces of world art. The canvases are dedicated to the seasons: “A gloomy day. Spring”, “Harvest. Summer”, “Return of the herds. Autumn”, “Hunters in the snow. Winter". These compositions harmoniously represent the author's idea to express the majesty and at the same time the vital reality of the natural world.
With all the authenticity, the master manages to capture living pictures of nature on the canvas. The feeling of almost tangible reality is achieved by the artist's use of paints of certain tones, which are peculiar symbols of this or that season: reddish-brown shades of the earth, combined with green tones, forming a landscape in the background of "Gloomy Day"; rich yellow, turning into brown in the composition of "Harvest"; the predominance of red and all shades of brown in the painting "The Return of the Herds".
The Brueghel cycle is dedicated to the states of nature at different times of the year. However, it would be wrong to say that only the landscape occupies the main attention of the artist here. In all the paintings there are people who are represented by the artist as physically strong, passionate about some kind of occupation: harvesting, hunting. A distinctive feature of these images is their fusion with the natural world. Human figures are not opposed to the landscape, they are harmoniously inscribed in the composition. Their movement coincides with the dynamics of natural forces. So, the beginning of agricultural work is associated with the awakening of nature ("Gloomy Day").
Very soon, a realistic depiction of people and events becomes the leading direction in Brueghel's art. The canvases “Census in Bethlehem”, “Massacre of the Innocents”, “Sermon of John the Baptist”, which appeared in 1566, marked a new stage in the development of not only the artist’s work, but also the art of the Netherlands as a whole. The images drawn on the canvas (including biblical ones) were now called upon not only to personify universal concepts, but also to symbolize a specific social world order. So, in the painting "Massacre of the Innocents" the gospel plot serves as a kind of screen for depicting a real fact: an attack by one of the units of the Spanish army on a Flemish village.
A significant work of the last period of the artist’s work was the painting “Peasant Dance”, created by Brueghel in 1567. The subject matter of the canvas is dancing peasants, depicted by the master on an enlarged scale. It is important for the author not only to convey the atmosphere of the holiday, but also to realistically show the plasticity of the movement. human bodies. Everything in a person interests the artist: his facial features, facial expressions, gestures, postures, manner of movement. Each figure is written out by the master with great attention and precision. The images created by Brueghel are monumental, significant and carry social pathos. As a result, a picture is born, representing a huge, homogeneous mass of people, symbolizing the peasantry. This composition will become fundamental in the development of the folk-household peasant genre in the art of Brueghel.
What is the origin of folk theme in the artist's work? Art historians suggest that such works of his are a kind of response to the events taking place then in the Netherlands. The time of writing the painting "Peasant Dance" coincides with the time of the suppression of the popular uprising, called "iconoclasm" (the rebels, led by Calvinists, destroyed icons and sculptures in Catholic churches). With this movement, which flared up in 1566, the revolution in the Netherlands began. The events shook all the contemporaries of the famous artist to the core.
With iconoclasm, historians and art historians also associate the appearance of another work by Brueghel - "Peasant Wedding". The images created here take on an even larger scale compared to the figures of the Peasant Dance. However, the peasants are endowed with exaggerated strength and power in the composition. Such an idealization of the image was not typical for the artist's works created earlier. In the same picture, the author's extraordinary benevolence towards the people depicted by him on the canvas was manifested.
The joyful, life-affirming mood of the above-mentioned works is soon replaced by pessimism and a sense of unfulfilled hopes, which are reflected in the paintings "Misanthrope", "Cripples", "The Nest Thief", "The Blind". It is noteworthy that they were all written in 1568.
In "Blindness" figures of cripples are depicted in the foreground. Their faces are terribly ugly. The souls of these people seem to be the same. These images are the personification of everything that is base on earth: greed, self-interest and malice. Their empty eye sockets are a symbol of people's spiritual blindness. The canvas acquires a pronounced tragic character. In Brueghel, the problem of spiritual emptiness, human insignificance grows to universal proportions.
Significant in the composition is the role of the landscape, which is presented by the author as an opposition to the world of people.
The hills rising in the distance, the trees, the church - everything is filled with silence, tranquility and peace. People and nature seem to change places here. It is the landscape in the picture that expresses the idea of humanity, goodness, spirituality. And the person himself turns out to be here spiritually dead and lifeless. Tragic notes are enhanced by the use of light cold colors by the author. So, the basis of the color is light lilac colors with a steel tint, which enhance the sense of hopelessness of the situation in which the person has fallen.
The last work of Brueghel the Elder was a work called "Dance under the gallows" (1568). In the picture, the viewer is shown figures of people dancing not far from the gallows. This canvas has become an expression of the artist's utter disappointment in the contemporary world order and people, it sounds an understanding of the impossibility of returning to former harmony.
Pieter Brueghel died on September 5, 1569 in Brussels. Great painter became the founder of the popular, democratic trend in the art of the Netherlands in the 16th century.
Holland. 17th century The country is experiencing unprecedented prosperity. The so-called "Golden Age". At the end of the 16th century, several provinces of the country achieved independence from Spain.
Now the Protestant Netherlands went their own way. And Catholic Flanders (now Belgium) under the wing of Spain - its own.
In independent Holland, almost no one needed religious painting. The Protestant Church did not approve of the luxury of decoration. But this circumstance "played into the hands" of secular painting.
Literally every inhabitant of the new country woke up love for this type of art. The Dutch wanted to see their own life in the pictures. And the artists willingly went to meet them.
Never before has the surrounding reality been depicted so much. Ordinary people, ordinary rooms and the most ordinary breakfast of a city dweller.
Realism flourished. Until the 20th century, he will be a worthy competitor to academism with its nymphs and Greek goddesses.
These artists are called "small" Dutch. Why? The paintings were small in size, because they were created for small houses. So, almost all paintings by Jan Vermeer are no more than half a meter high.
But I like the other version better. In the Netherlands in the 17th century, a great master, a “big” Dutchman, lived and worked. And all the others were "small" in comparison with him.
We are talking, of course, about Rembrandt. Let's start with him.
1. Rembrandt (1606-1669)
Rembrandt. Self-portrait at the age of 63. 1669 National Gallery of London
Rembrandt had a chance to experience the widest range of emotions during his life. Therefore, in his early works there is so much fun and bravado. And so many complex feelings - in the later ones.
Here he is young and carefree in the painting “The Prodigal Son in the Tavern”. On her knees is Saskia's beloved wife. He is a popular artist. Orders are pouring in.
Rembrandt. The prodigal son in the tavern. 1635 Old Masters Gallery, Dresden
But all this will disappear in some 10 years. Saskia will die of consumption. Popularity will disappear like smoke. A large house with a unique collection will be taken away for debts.
But the same Rembrandt will appear, which will remain for centuries. The naked feelings of the characters. Their most secret thoughts.
2. Frans Hals (1583-1666)
Frans Hals. Self-portrait. 1650 Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Frans Hals is one of the greatest portrait painters of all time. Therefore, I would also rank him among the "big" Dutch.
In Holland at that time it was customary to commission group portraits. So there was a lot of similar works depicting people working together: shooters of the same guild, doctors of the same town, managing a nursing home.
In this genre, Hals stands out the most. After all, most of these portraits looked like a deck of cards. People sit at the table with the same expression on their faces and just look. Hals was different.
Look at his group portrait "Arrows of the Guild of St. George".
Frans Hals. Arrows of the Guild of St. George. 1627 Frans Hals Museum, Haarlem, Netherlands
Here you will not find a single repetition in posture or facial expression. At the same time, there is no chaos here. There are many characters, but no one seems superfluous. Thanks to the surprisingly correct arrangement of figures.
Yes, and in a single portrait, Hals surpassed many artists. His models are natural. People from high society in his paintings are devoid of far-fetched grandeur, and models from the bottom do not look humiliated.
And his characters are very emotional: they smile, laugh, gesticulate. Like, for example, this "Gypsy" with a sly look.
Frans Hals. Gypsy. 1625-1630
Hals, like Rembrandt, ended his life in poverty. For the same reason. His realism went against the tastes of customers. Who wanted to embellish their appearance. Hals did not go for outright flattery, and thus signed his own sentence - "Oblivion".
3. Gerard Terborch (1617-1681)
Gerard Terborch. Self-portrait. 1668 Mauritshuis Royal Gallery, The Hague, Netherlands
Terborch was a master of the domestic genre. Rich and not very burghers talk slowly, ladies read letters, and a procuress watches courtship. Two or three closely spaced figures.
It was this master who developed the canons of the domestic genre. Which will then be borrowed by Jan Vermeer, Pieter de Hooch and many other "small" Dutch.
Gerard Terborch. A glass of lemonade. 1660s. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg
A Glass of Lemonade is one of Terborch's famous works. It shows another advantage of the artist. Incredibly realistic image of the fabric of the dress.
Terborch also has unusual works. Which speaks of his desire to go beyond the requirements of customers.
His "Grinder" shows the life of the poorest inhabitants of Holland. We are used to seeing cozy courtyards and clean rooms in the pictures of the “small” Dutch. But Terborch dared to show unattractive Holland.
Gerard Terborch. Grinder. 1653-1655 Berlin State Museums
As you understand, such works were not in demand. And they are a rare occurrence even in Terborch.
4. Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)
Jan Vermeer. Artist's workshop. 1666-1667 Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
What Jan Vermeer looked like is not known for certain. It is only obvious that in the painting "Artist's Workshop" he depicted himself. True from the back.
Therefore, it is surprising that a new fact from the life of the master has recently become known. It is associated with his masterpiece "Street of Delft".
Jan Vermeer. Delft street. 1657 State Museum in Amsterdam
It turned out that Vermeer spent his childhood on this street. The house pictured belonged to his aunt. She raised her five children there. She may be sitting on the doorstep sewing while her two children are playing on the sidewalk. Vermeer himself lived in the house opposite.
But more often he depicted the interior of these houses and their inhabitants. It would seem that the plots of the paintings are very simple. Here is a pretty lady, a wealthy city dweller, checking the work of her scales.
Jan Vermeer. Woman with weights. 1662-1663 National Gallery of Art, Washington
How did Vermeer stand out among thousands of other "small" Dutch?
He was consummate master Sveta. In the painting “Woman with Scales”, the light gently envelops the face of the heroine, fabrics and walls. Giving the image an unknown spirituality.
And the compositions of Vermeer's paintings are carefully verified. You will not find a single extra detail. It is enough to remove one of them, the picture will “crumble”, and the magic will go away.
All this was not easy for Vermeer. Such amazing quality required painstaking work. Only 2-3 paintings per year. As a result, the inability to feed the family. Vermeer also worked as an art dealer, selling works by other artists.
5. Pieter de Hooch (1629-1684)
Peter de Hooch. Self-portrait. 1648-1649 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
Hoch is often compared to Vermeer. They worked at the same time, there was even a period in the same city. And in one genre - household. In Hoch, we also see one or two figures in cozy Dutch courtyards or rooms.
Open doors and windows make the space of his paintings multi-layered and entertaining. And the figures fit into this space very harmoniously. As, for example, in his painting "Servant with a girl in the yard."
Peter de Hooch. Maid with a girl in the yard. 1658 London National Gallery
Until the 20th century, Hoch was highly valued. But few people noticed the few works of his competitor Vermeer.
But in the 20th century, everything changed. Hoch's glory faded. However, it is difficult not to recognize his achievements in painting. Few people could combine the environment and people so competently.
Peter de Hooch. Card players in the sun room. 1658 Royal Art Collection, London
Please note that in a modest house on the canvas "Card Players" there is a picture in an expensive frame.
This once again speaks of how popular painting was among ordinary Dutch. Pictures adorned every house: the house of a wealthy burgher, a modest city dweller, and even a peasant.
6. Jan Steen (1626-1679)
Jan Stan. Self-portrait with a lute. 1670s Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Madrid
Jan Steen is perhaps the most cheerful "small" Dutchman. But loving moralizing. He often depicted taverns or poor houses in which vice was found.
Its main characters are revelers and ladies of easy virtue. He wanted to entertain the viewer, but implicitly warn him against a vicious life.
Jan Stan. Chaos. 1663 Art History Museum, Vienna
Stan also has quieter works. Like, for example, "Morning toilet". But here, too, the artist surprises the viewer with too frank details. There are traces of stocking gum, and not an empty chamber pot. And somehow it’s not at all the way the dog lies right on the pillow.
Jan Stan. Morning toilet. 1661-1665 Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
But despite all the frivolity, Stan's color schemes are very professional. In this he surpassed many of the "small Dutch". See how the red stocking goes perfectly with the blue jacket and bright beige rug.
7. Jacobs Van Ruysdael (1629-1682)
Portrait of Ruisdael. Lithograph from a 19th century book.
Gershenzon-Chegodaeva N. Netherlandish portrait of the 15th century. Its origins and destiny. Series: From the history of world art. M. Art 1972 198 p. ill. Hardcover publishing, encyclopedic format.
Gershenzon-Chegodaeva N.M. Netherlandish portrait of the 15th century. Its origins and destiny.
The Dutch Renaissance is perhaps even more striking than the Italian - at least in terms of painting. Van Eyck, Brueghel, Bosch, later Rembrandt... The names, of course, left a deep imprint in the hearts of people who saw their paintings, regardless of whether you feel admiration for them, as before "Hunters in the Snow", or rejection, as before "The Garden of Earthly Delights" The harsh, dark tones of the Dutch masters differ from the creations of Giotto, Raphael and Michelangelo filled with light and joy. One can only guess how the specificity of this school was formed, why it was there, to the north of the prosperous Flanders and Brabant, that a powerful center of culture arose. About this - let's keep quiet. Let's look at the specifics, at what we have. Our source is the paintings and altars of the famous creators of the Northern Renaissance, and this material requires a special approach. In principle, this should be done at the intersection of cultural studies, art criticism and history.
A similar attempt was made by Natalia Gershenzon-Chegodaeva (1907-1977), the daughter of the most famous literary critic in our country. In principle, she is a rather well-known person, in her circles, first of all, with an excellent biography of Pieter Brueghel (1983), the above work also belongs to her pen. To be honest, this is a clear attempt to go beyond the limits of classical art criticism - not just to talk about artistic styles and aesthetics, but - to try to trace the evolution of human thought through them ...
What are the features of images of a person in an earlier time? There were few secular artists, the monks were far from always talented in the art of drawing. Therefore, often, images of people in miniatures and paintings are highly conventional. It was necessary to paint pictures and any other images as it should be, in everything obeying the rules of the century of emerging symbolism. By the way, that is why tombstones (also a kind of portraits) did not always reflect the true appearance of a person, rather they showed him the way he needed to be remembered.
The Dutch art of portraiture breaks through such canons. Who are we talking about? The author examines the works of such masters as Robert Compin, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden, Hugo van der Goes. They were real masters of their craft, living with their talent, performing work to order. Very often, the church was the customer - in the conditions of illiteracy of the population, painting is considered the most important art, the townspeople and peasants who were not trained in theological wisdom had to explain the simplest truths on their fingers, and the artistic image filled this role. This is how such masterpieces as the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck arose.
Rich townspeople were also customers - merchants, bankers, guilders, nobility. Portraits appeared, single and group. And then - a breakthrough for that time - an interesting feature of the masters was discovered, and one of the first to notice it was the famous agnostic philosopher Nicholas of Cusa. Not only did the artists, when creating their images, paint a person not conditionally, but as he is, they also managed to convey his inner appearance. The turn of the head, the look, the hairstyle, the clothes, the curve of the mouth, the gesture - all this is amazing and exactly showed the character of the person.
Of course, it was an innovation, no doubt about it. The aforementioned Nikola also wrote about this. The author connects the painters with the innovative ideas of the philosopher - respect for the human person, the cognizability of the surrounding world, the possibility of its philosophical knowledge.
But here a quite reasonable question arises - is it possible to compare the work of artists with the thought of an individual philosopher? In spite of everything, Nicholas of Cusa in any case remained in the bosom of medieval philosophy, in any case he relied on the fabrications of the same scholastics. What about master artists? We know practically nothing about their intellectual life, did they have such developed connections with each other, and with church leaders? This is a question. Without a doubt, they had succession to each other, but the origins of this skill remain a mystery. The author does not deal with philosophy in a specialized way, but rather fragmentarily tells about the connection between the traditions of Netherlandish painting and scholasticism. If Dutch art is original, and has no connection with the Italian humanities, where did the artistic traditions and their features come from? A vague reference to " national traditions"? Which? This is a question...
In general, the author perfectly, as it should be an art critic, tells about the specifics of the work of each artist, and quite convincingly interprets the aesthetic perception of the individual. But what concerns philosophical origins, the place of painting in the thought of the Middle Ages is very contour, the author did not find an answer to the question about the origins.
Bottom line: the book contains a very good selection of portraits and other works of the early Dutch Renaissance. It is quite interesting to read about how art historians work with such a fragile and ambiguous material as painting, how they note the smallest features and specific features of style, how they connect the aesthetics of a painting with time ... However, the context of the era is visible, so to speak, in a very, very long term. .
Personally, I was more interested in the question of the origins of this specific trend, ideological and artistic. Here the author failed to convincingly answer the question posed. The art critic defeated the historian, before us is, first of all, a work of art history, that is, rather, for great lovers of painting.
The Netherlands is a historical region that occupies part of the vast lowlands on the northern European coast from the Gulf of Finland to the English Channel. Currently, the states of the Netherlands (Holland), Belgium and Luxembourg are located in this territory.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Netherlands became a motley collection of large and small semi-independent states. The most significant among them were the Duchy of Brabant, the counties of Flanders and Holland, and the Bishopric of Utrecht. In the north of the country, the population was mainly German - the Frisians and the Dutch, in the south the descendants of the Gauls and Romans - the Flemings and Walloons - predominated.
The Dutch worked selflessly with their special talent "without boredom to do the most boring things," as the French historian Hippolyte Taine put it about these people, undividedly devoted to everyday life. They did not know lofty poetry, but the more reverently honored the simplest things: a clean, comfortable home, a warm hearth, modest but tasty food. The Dutchman is used to looking at the world as a huge house in which he is called upon to maintain order and comfort.
The main features of the art of the Renaissance of the Netherlands
Common to the art of the Renaissance in Italy and in the countries of Central Europe is the desire for a realistic depiction of man and the world around him. But these tasks were solved differently because of the difference in the nature of cultures.For Italian artists The Renaissance was important to generalize and create an ideal, from the point of view of humanism, image of a person. For them, science played an important role - the artists developed theories of perspective and teachings about proportions.
The Dutch masters were attracted by the diversity of the individual appearance of people and the richness of nature. They do not seek to create a generalized image, but convey the characteristic and special. Artists do not use the theory of perspective and others, but convey the impression of depth and space, optical effects and the complexity of light and shade relationships through careful observation.
They are characterized by love for their land and amazing attention to all the little things: to their native northern nature, to the peculiarities of life, to the details of the interior, costumes, to the difference in materials and textures ...
Dutch artists reproduce the smallest details with the utmost care and recreate the sparkling richness of colors. These new pictorial tasks could only be solved with the help of the new technique of oil painting.
The discovery of oil painting is attributed to Jan van Eyck. From the middle of the 15th century, this new "Flemish manner" supplanted the old tempera technique in Italy as well. It is no coincidence that on the Dutch altars, which are a reflection of the whole universe, you can see everything that it consists of - every blade of grass and tree in the landscape, architectural details of cathedrals and city houses, stitches of embroidered ornaments on the robes of saints, as well as a host of other, smallest, details.
The art of the 15th century is the golden age of Netherlandish painting.
Its brightest representative Jan Van Eyck. OK. 1400-1441.
The greatest master of European painting:
opened with his work a new era of the Early Renaissance in Dutch art.
He was the court painter of the Duke of Burgundy, Philip the Good.
He was one of the first to master the plastic and expressive possibilities of oil painting, using thin transparent layers of paint laid one on top of the other (the so-called Flemish manner of multi-layered transparent painting).
Van Eyck's largest work was the Ghent Altarpiece, which he performed with his brother.
The Ghent altar is a grand multi-tiered polyptych. Its height in the central part is 3.5 m, the width when opened is 5 m.
On the outside of the altar (when closed) the daily cycle is depicted:
- Donors are depicted in the bottom row - the city dweller Jodok Veidt and his wife, praying in front of the statues of Saints John the Baptist and John the Theologian, patrons of the church and the chapel.
- above is the scene of the Annunciation, and the figures of the Mother of God and the Archangel Gabriel are separated by the image of a window in which the city landscape looms.
The festive cycle is depicted on the inside of the altar.
When the altar doors open, a truly stunning transformation takes place before the eyes of the viewer:
- the size of the polyptych is doubled,
- the picture of everyday life is instantly replaced by the spectacle of an earthly paradise.
- cramped and gloomy closets disappear, and the world seems to swing open: the spacious landscape lights up with all the colors of the palette, bright and fresh.
The painting of the festive cycle is dedicated to a rare in the Christian fine arts the theme of the triumph of the transfigured world, which should come after the Last Judgment, when evil will be finally defeated and truth and harmony will be established on earth.
Top row:
- in the central part of the altar, God the Father is depicted sitting on a throne,
- the Mother of God and John the Baptist sit to the left and right of the throne,
- further on both sides there are singing and playing angels,
- the nude figures of Adam and Eve close the row.
The bottom row of paintings depicts a scene of worship of the Divine Lamb.
- in the middle of the meadow rises an altar, on it stands a white Lamb, blood flows from his pierced chest into a cup
- closer to the viewer is a well from which living water flows. 
Hieronymus Bosch (1450 - 1516)
The connection of his art with folk traditions, folklore.
In his works, he whimsically combined the features of medieval fantasy, folklore, philosophical parable and satire.
He created multi-figured religious and allegorical compositions, paintings on themes folk proverbs, sayings and parables.
Bosch's works are filled with numerous scenes and episodes, lifelike and bizarrely fantastic images and details, full of irony and allegory.
Bosch's work had a huge impact on the development of realistic trends in the Netherlandish painting of the 16th century.
Composition "The Temptation of St. Anthony" - one of the most famous and mysterious works of the artist. The masterpiece of the master was the triptych "The Garden of Delights", an intricate allegory that has received many different interpretations. In the same period, the triptychs "The Last Judgment", "The Adoration of the Magi", the compositions "St. John on Patmos, John the Baptist in the Wilderness.
The late period of Bosch's work includes the triptych "Heaven and Hell", the compositions "The Tramp", "Carrying the Cross".
Most of Bosch's paintings of the mature and late period are bizarre grotesques containing deep philosophical overtones.
The large triptych "Hay Carriage", highly appreciated by Philip II of Spain, belongs to the mature period of the artist's work. The altar composition is probably based on an old Dutch proverb: "The world is a haystack, and everyone tries to grab as much as he can from it."
Temptation of St. Anthony. Triptych. Central part Wood, oil. 131.5 x 119 cm (centre), 131.5 x 53 cm (leaves) National Museum of Ancient Art, Lisbon 
Garden of Delights. Triptych. Around 1485. Central part
Wood, oil. 220 x 195 cm (centre), 220 x 97 cm (doors) Prado Museum, Madrid
Dutch art of the 16th century. marked by the emergence of interest in antiquity and the activities of the masters of the Italian Renaissance. At the beginning of the century, a movement based on imitation of Italian models was formed, called "romanism" (from Roma, the Latin name for Rome).
The pinnacle of Dutch painting in the second half of the century was the work of Pieter Brueghel the Elder. 1525/30-1569. Nicknamed Muzhitsky.
He created a deeply national art based on Dutch traditions and local folklore.
He played a huge role in the formation of the peasant genre and the national landscape. In Brueghel's work, coarse folk humor, lyricism and tragedy, realistic details and fantastic grotesque, interest in detailed narrative and the desire for broad generalization were intricately intertwined.
In the works of Brueghel - proximity to the moralizing performances of the medieval folk theater.
The clownish duel between Maslenitsa and Lent is a common scene of fair performances held in the Netherlands on the days of seeing off winter.
Life is in full swing everywhere: there is a round dance, windows are washed here, some play dice, others trade, someone begs for alms, someone is taken to be buried ...
Proverbs. 1559. The painting is a kind of encyclopedia of Dutch folklore.
Brueghel's characters lead each other by the nose, sit between two chairs, beat their heads against the wall, hang between heaven and earth... The Dutch proverb "And there are cracks in the roof" is close in meaning to the Russian one "And the walls have ears." The Dutch “throw money into the water” means the same as the Russian “to waste money”, “to waste money”. The whole picture is dedicated to the waste of money, strength, all life - here they cover the roof with pancakes, shoot arrows into the void, shear pigs, warm themselves with the flames of a burning house and confess to the devil.
The whole earth had one language and one dialect. Moving from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to each other: "Let's make bricks and burn them with fire." And they became bricks instead of stones, and earthen tar instead of lime. And they said, “Let us build ourselves a city and a tower as high as the heavens, and make a name for ourselves, before we are scattered over the face of the earth. And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower that the sons of men were building. And the Lord said: “This is one people, and all have one language, and this is what they began to do, and they will not lag behind what they planned to do. Let us go down and confuse their language there, so that one does not understand the speech of the other.” And the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth; and they stopped building the city and the tower. Therefore, a name was given to it: Babylon, for there the Lord confused the language of all the earth, and from there the Lord scattered them over all the earth (Genesis, ch. 11). Unlike the motley bustle of Brueghel's early works, this painting strikes the viewer with its calmness. The tower depicted in the picture resembles the Roman amphitheater Colosseum, which the artist saw in Italy, and at the same time - an anthill. Tireless work is in full swing on all floors of the huge structure: blocks rotate, ladders are thrown, figures of workers scurry about. It is noticeable that the connection between the builders has already been lost, probably due to the “mixing of languages” that has begun: somewhere construction is in full swing, and somewhere the tower has already turned into ruins.
After Jesus was handed over for crucifixion, the soldiers put a heavy cross on Him and led Him to the place of the skull called Golgotha. On the way, they seized Simon of Cyrene, who was returning home from the field, and forced him to carry the cross for Jesus. Many people followed Jesus, among them were women weeping and weeping for Him. “Carrying the Cross” is a religious, Christian picture, but it is no longer a church picture. Brueghel correlated truths Holy Scripture with personal experience, meditated on biblical texts, gave them his own interpretation, i.e. openly violated the imperial decree of 1550, which was in force at that time, which, under pain of death, forbade independent study of the Bible.
Brueghel creates a series of landscapes "Months". "Hunters in the Snow" is December-January.
Each season for the master is, first of all, a unique state of the earth and sky.
A crowd of peasants, captured by the rapid rhythm of the dance.
VI - Netherlands 15th century
Petrus Christus
Petrus Christus. Nativity of Christ (1452). Berlin Museum.
The works of the Netherlanders in the 15th century are far from being exhausted by the disassembled works and in general the samples that have come down to us, and at one time this work was downright fabulous in terms of productivity and high skill. However, in that material of a secondary category (and yet of what high quality!), which is at our disposal, and which is often only a weakened reflection of the art of the main masters, only a small number of works are of interest to the history of the landscape; the rest, without personal feeling, repeat the same patterns. Among these paintings, several works by Petrus Christus (born around 1420, died in Bruges in 1472), who until recently was considered a student of Jan van Eyck and really imitated him more than anyone else, stand out. We will meet with Christus later - when studying history household painting in which he plays a more important role; but even in the landscape, he deserves a certain attention, although everything that he has done has a somewhat languid, lifeless shade. A perfectly beautiful landscape spreads only behind the figures of the Brussels "Lament over the Body of the Lord": a typical Flemish view with soft lines of hills on which castles stand, with rows of trees planted in valleys or climbing in thin silhouettes along the slope of demarcated hills; right there - a small lake, a road winding between fields, a town with a church in a hollow - all this under a clear morning sky. But, unfortunately, the attribution of this picture to Christus is highly doubtful.
Hugo van der Goes. Landscape on the right wing of the Portinari altarpiece (circa 1470) Uffizi Gallery in Florence
It should, however, be noted that in the authentic paintings of the master in the Berlin Museum, perhaps the best part is precisely the landscapes. The scenery in "The Adoration of the Child" is especially attractive. The shading frame here is a wretched canopy, attached to rocky boulders, as if entirely written off from nature. Behind this "backstage" and the dark-clothed figures of the Mother of God, Joseph and the midwife Sibyl, the slopes of two hills circle, between which a grove of young trees nestled in a small green valley. At the edge of the forest, shepherds listen to an angel flying above them. A road leads past them to the city wall, and its branch creeps up to the left hill, where under a row of willows one can see a peasant chasing donkeys with sacks. Everything breathes wonderful world; however, it must be admitted that there is, in essence, no connection with the depicted moment. Before us is a day, spring, - there is no attempt to mean "Christmas mood" in anything. In "Flemal" we see at least something solemn in the whole composition and the desire to depict a December Dutch morning. In Christus, everything breathes with pastoral grace, and one feels the complete inability of the artist to delve into the subject. We will meet the same features in the landscapes of all other minor masters of the middle of the 15th century: Dare, Meire and dozens of nameless ones.
Gertchen St Jans. "The Burning of the Remains of John the Baptist". Museum in Vienna.
That is why Hugo van der Goes' most brilliant painting, Portinari Altarpiece (in Florence in the Uffitz), is remarkable because in it the artist-poet is the first among the Netherlands to try in a decisive and consistent way to draw a connection between the mood of the dramatic action itself and the landscape background. We saw something similar in the Dijon painting "Flemal", but how far ahead did Hugo van der Goes go ahead of this experience, working on a painting commissioned by the rich banker Portinari (representative in Bruges of the Medici trade affairs) and intended for sending to Florence. It is possible that at Portinari himself, Hus saw paintings by the Medici artists he loved: Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Baldovinetti. It is also possible that a noble ambition spoke in him to show Florence the superiority of domestic art. Unfortunately, we do not know anything about Gus, except for a rather detailed (but also not clarifying the essence) story about his insanity and death. As for where he came from, who was his teacher, even what he wrote besides the Portinari Altarpiece, then all this remains under the cover of mystery. Only one thing is clear, even from a study of his painting in Florence, - this is an exceptional passion for the Netherlander, spirituality, vitality of his work. In Goose, both the dramatic plasticity of Roger and the deep sense of nature of the van Eycks were combined into one inseparable whole. To this was added his personal peculiarity: some kind of beautiful pathetic note, some kind of gentle, but by no means relaxed sentimentalism.
There are few paintings in the history of painting that would be full of such trepidation, in which the soul of the artist, all the wonderful complexity of her experiences, would so shine through. Even if we did not know that Hus had gone into a monastery from the world, that there he led some kind of strange semi-social life, entertaining honored guests and feasting with them, that then the darkness of madness took possession of him, one "Portinari Altarpiece" would tell us about the sick soul of its author, about her attraction to mystical ecstasy, about the interweaving of the most diverse experiences in her. The bluish, cold tone of the triptych, alone in the entire Dutch school, sounds like wonderful and deeply sad music.
