The Italian Renaissance (Italian Renaissance) is marked by a period of major cultural change in Europe, in the period from the XIV - XVI centuries. It was from this Epoch that a constellation of famous Italian artists emerged who admired and showed the whole world the beauty of nature and human body. So let's take a look at the top 10 famous masters Italian Renaissance.

1. Raphael Santi

Rafael Santi (known to all of us as Raphael) was born in Urbino to Giovanni Santi, a court painter. The young Raphael began his studies at the court, where he was inspired by the works of great artists such as Andrea Mantegna and Piero della Francesca. Raphael was also a student of Pietro Perugino, and his early work reflects the influence of his Italian Renaissance teacher. In the period 1500 and 1508 Raphael worked in central Italy, and was known for Madonnas and portraits. In 1508, Pope Julius II asked him to decorate the papal rooms in the Vatican, where he completed his best work, such as the "School of Athens" in Stanza della Senyatura.

"Santi"

2. Leonardo da Vinci

The works of Leonardo da Vinci are often considered the epitome of humanistic ideals during the Italian Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci was a master of various forms of art, however, he gained fame through his paintings. Leonardo was the illegitimate child of a Florentine notary and a peasant woman. The young man formed his style while studying in the workshop of the Florentine painter Andrea del Verrocchio. Unfortunately, only 15 of his paintings are available today, among them "Mona Lisa" and " The Last Supper are two of the most recognizable and imitated works.

3. Michelangelo

Like his contemporary, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo was a master of various artistic fields, the most important, of course, was painting. The Sistine Chapel of the Vatican houses the most impressive frescoes in the history of Western art: images illustrating nine scenes from the Book of Genesis on the ceiling, and Last Judgment on the wall of the altar, belonging to the brush of the artist. Michelangelo completed the frescoes on the ceiling of the chapel in about four years, the composition covers more than 500 square meters and includes at least 300 images. This extraordinary piece of art undoubtedly influenced many Baroque decorators over the next few years.

4. Sandro Botticelli

Another painter belonging to the famous Florentine school is Sandro Botticelli. Little is known about his youth, it is obvious that he was a student of Fra Filippo Lippi, and was inspired by the monumental paintings of Masaccio. An elegant painting of the Madonna and Child, the master of the early Renaissance Botticelli, as well as his paintings on the altar walls, paintings in life size became known during his lifetime. He is best known for two works depicting mythological scenes - "The Birth of Venus" and "Spring" - both paintings are housed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.

5. Titian

Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian, was the greatest Venetian painter of the 16th century. Titian is famous, above all, for his ability to use colors and their shades - he equally mastered the skill of drawing portraits, landscapes, mythological stories And religious themes. As a teenager, he worked with prominent Venetian artists such as Giorgione and Giovanni Bellini. He also painted for royalty throughout Europe, including King Philip II of Spain. During his career, Titian painted portraits of many of the foremost personalities of his time, from Pope Paul III to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V.

"Self-portrait". National Prado Museum

6. Tintoretto

Jacopo Robusti (Comyn), known to everyone by the nickname Tintoretto (his father was a dyer or tintore in Italian), is next on the list of the leading Italian painters of the Renaissance. He combined the use of Titian's coloring and the dynamics of Michelangelo's forms. His work is characterized by large-scale subjects, such as his work "The Last Supper". The picture is characterized by ingenuity, spectacular lighting - the play of light and shadow and the use of gestures and body movements in dynamics. Because of his passion for work and impulsiveness of drawing, Tintoretto earned another nickname: II Furious.

"Self-portrait"

7. Masaccio

Masaccio left an indelible mark on the world of painting, although his life was short - he died at 26 years old. Born in 1401, he made a significant contribution to painting through his ability to create dynamic images and movements, as well as his scientific approach to perspective. In fact, he is considered by many to be the first great painter of the Italian Renaissance and an innovator of the modern era of painting. The work of Masaccio was influenced by the works of the sculptor Donatello and the architect Brunelleschi. Unfortunately, only four works have survived in our time, the authorship of which does not raise questions, while other works were written in collaboration with other artists.

8. Domenico Ghirlandaio

Domenico Ghirlandaio was the head of a large and productive workshop in Florence, which also included his two brothers. Many subsequently famous artists spent time in his studio, among them Michelangelo. The early renaissance painter became known for his detailed subjects, which often included leading figures of the day, such as chronicling contemporary Florentine society. The most significant commissions were received by him from Pope Sixtus IV, who summoned him to Rome to paint the Sistine Chapel.

"The Call of the First Apostles"

9. Andrea del Verrocchio

You may have noticed that Andrea del Verrocchio was already mentioned on our list. He had a huge influence on the successful painters of the Italian Renaissance. Among his students were the aforementioned Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and even Leonardo da Vinci. His patrons were the influential Medici family, representatives of the Venetian state and the Municipal Council of Pistoia. The versatile artist has produced quite a few sculptures. There is only one known piece of art signed by Verrocchio: the altar wall in Pistoia Cathedral. Despite this, many other paintings are attributed to his workshop.

"Baptism of Christ"

10. Giovanni Bellini

Born into a family of artists, along with his father Jacopo and brother Gentile, Giovanni Bellini completely changed painting in the Venetian region. By using pure colors and soft transitions, Bellini was able to create rich hues and prominent shading. These coloring innovations had a profound effect on other painters such as Titian. Bellini added a disguised symbolism to many of his works, which is usually attributed to the Northern Renaissance.

"Madonna in the Meadow"

Until the 13th century, Italy was dominated by the Byzantine tradition, hostile to any free development or individual understanding. It was only during the 13th century that the petrified scheme of the image was revived in the work of some great artists, above all those of Florence.

There is a new, reality-oriented perception of the harmony of colors and a deeper expression of feelings. Of the artists of the 13th-14th centuries, one can voice such as Ercole de Roberti, Francesco Francia, Jacopo de Barbari.

Iatlian painting of the 15th - 16th century

During this period, such a style of painting as mannerism was widespread. It is characterized by a departure from the unity and harmony of man with nature, everything material and spiritual, in this he stands in opposition to the Renaissance.

The great center of painting is Venice. Titian's contribution largely defined 16th-century Venetian painting, both in terms of the master's artistic achievements and his productivity. He equally mastered all genres, shone in religious, mythological and allegorical compositions, created numerous breathtaking portraits. Titian followed the stylistic trends of his time and influenced them in turn.

Veronese and Tintoretto - in contrast to these two artists, duality is revealed Venetian painting the middle of the 16th century, the calm manifestation of the beauty of earthly existence at the end of the Renaissance in Veronese, the assertive movement and extreme otherworldliness, and in some cases also the refined seduction of a secular nature, in the work of Tintoretto. In the paintings of Veronese, no problems of that time are felt, he writes everything as if it could not be otherwise, as if life is beautiful as it is. The scenes depicted in his paintings lead a "real" existence that leaves no room for doubt.

Quite different with Tintoretto, everything he writes is filled with intense action, dramatically mobile. Nothing is unshakable for him, things have many sides and can manifest themselves in different ways. The contrast between deeply religious and secularly piquant, at least elegant, paintings, which is evidenced by his two creations "The Salvation of Arsinoe" and "The Struggle of the Archangel Michael with Satan", focuses our attention on the originality of Mannerism, inherent not only to the Venetian Tintoretto, but also we noticed in Correggio Parmigianino, who comes from the traditions.

Italian painting of the 17th century

This century is marked as a time of increasing Catholicism, church consolidation. The heyday of painting in Italy was associated, as in previous centuries, with the division into separate local schools, which was a consequence of the political situation in this country. The Renaissance of Italy was understood as the starting point of a far-reaching search. It is possible to single out the artists of the Roman and Bolognese schools. These are Carlo Dolci from Florence, Procaccini, Nuvolone and Pagani from Milan, Alessandro Turki, Pietro Negri and Andrea Celesti from Venice, Ruoppolo and Luca Giordano from Naples. The Roman school shines with a whole series of paintings to the parables of the New Testament by Domenico Fetti, learned from the examples of Caravaggio and Rubens.

Andrea Sacchi, a student of Francesco Albani, represents a distinct classical movement in Roman painting. Classicism, as a movement opposite to the Baroque, has always existed in Italy and France, but it had a different weight in these countries. This direction is represented by Carlo Maratto, a student of Sacchi. One of the main representatives of the classicist trend was Domenichino, who studied with Denis Calvart and Caracci in Bologna.

Pier Francesco Mola, under the influence of Guercino, was much more baroque, stronger in the interpretation of light and shadow, in the transfer of a brown-warm tone. He was also influenced by Caravaggio.

In the 17th century, the expressively developed forms of the Baroque, with its inherent sense of "naturalness" and in the depiction of miracles and visions, staged, however, theatrically, blurred the boundaries between reality and illusion.

Realism and classicism tendencies are characteristic of this era, regardless of whether they are opposed to the baroque or perceived as components of this style. Salvator Rosa from Naples was a landscape painter of very considerable influence. His works were studied by Alessandro Magnasco, Marco Ricci, Frenchman Claude-Joseph Vernet.

Italian painting made a powerful impression on the whole of Europe, but Italy, in turn, was not free from the reverse influence of the masters of the North. An example of following the genus of painting Wauwerman, but with an individually developed and easily recognizable handwriting, is Michelangelo Cervocci with his "Robbery after the battle." He was formed as an artist in Rome under the influence of Pieter van Laer, born in Haarlem and living in Rome.

If the Venetian painting of the 17th century gives the impression of an intermezzo, an interlude between the great past of the 15th and 16th centuries and the forthcoming heyday in the 18th century, then in the person of Bernardo Strozzi Genoese painting has an artist of the highest rank, who brought essential accents to the picture of baroque painting in Italy.

Italian painting of the 18th century

As in previous centuries, individual schools of Italian painting had their own identity in the 18th century, although the number of really significant centers was reduced. Venice and Rome were great centers for the development of art in the 18th century, Bologna and Naples also had their own outstanding achievements. Thanks to the masters of the Renaissance, in the 17th century Venice was a high school for artists from other cities in Italy and throughout Europe in general, who studied here Veronese and Tintoretto, Titian and Giorgione. These are, for example, Johann Lis and Nicola Renier, Domenico Fetti, Rubens and Bernardo Strozzi.

The 18th century begins with such artists as Andrea Celesti, Piero Negri, Sebastiano Ricci, Giovanni Battista Piazzetta. The most characteristic expression of its originality is provided by the paintings of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Antonio Canal and Francesco Guardi. The magnificent decorative scope of Tiepolo's works is vividly expressed in his monumental frescoes.

Bologna, with its convenient links with Lombardy, Venice and Florence, is the center of Emilia, the only city in this region that produced outstanding masters in the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1119, the oldest university in Europe with a famous law faculty was founded here. The spiritual life of the city significantly influenced the Italian painting of the 18th century.

The most attractive are the works of Giuseppe Maria Crespi, especially the series "Seven Sacraments of the Church" made in 1712. The picturesque school of Bologna has in the person of Crespi an artist of European scale. His life belongs half to the 17th, half to the 18th century. As a student of Carlo Cignani, who in turn studied with Francesco Albani, he mastered the academic artistic language that has distinguished Bolognese painting since the time of Carracha. Crespi visited Venice twice, teaching himself and inspiring others. Especially Pianzetta seems to have memorized his works for a long time.

Bolognese painting of the early 18th century, different from that of Crespi, is represented by Gambarini. The cold coloring and drawn clarity, the attractively anecdotal content of his paintings make, in comparison with Crespi's strong realism, to attribute him more to the academic school.

In the person of Francesco Solimena, Neapolitan painting had its representative recognized throughout Europe. Roman painting of the 18th century shows a classical trend. Artists such as Francesco Trevisani, Pompeo Girolamo Batoni and Giovanni Antonio Butti are examples of this. The 18th century was the Age of Enlightenment. Aristocratic culture in all areas in the first half of the 18th century experienced a brilliant flowering of the late Baroque, manifested in court festivities, magnificent operas and princely deeds.

The State Hermitage, together with the City Museums of Pavia, is holding the largest retrospective of Italian painting of the century before last, including more than seventy works

State Hermitage, 19 November 2011 - 22 January 2012
Armorial Hall Winter Palace

As part of the Year of Italy in Russia and Russia in Italy, the Armorial Hall of the Winter Palace hosts the exhibition “Italian painting XIX century. From Neoclassicism to Symbolism”, organized by the State Hermitage together with the City Museums of Pavia. The exposition is the largest retrospective of Italian painting of the century before last and includes more than seventy works, half of which come from the collection of the 19th century Art Gallery of the City Museums of Pavia. In addition, the exhibition includes works from the Gallery contemporary art Florence, Milan, Turin, Genoa. It is difficult to overestimate the significance of the exhibition, since the period under review is practically unknown to the Russian audience (the Hermitage collection contains a little over sixty paintings by Italian artists Ottocento).

Using the best examples of 19th century painting as an example, the exhibition demonstrates the entire range of styles and trends in which Italian artists worked: classicism, romanticism, historicism, macchiaioli, symbolism.

The main features of Italian classicism were laid down in the work of Antonio Canova. The Lombard artist Andrea Appiani turned to the type of sublimely idyllic paintings on mythological themes, an example of which is the painting Juno Dressed by the Graces. The same ancient canon of sublime harmony is in the canvases "Paris" and "Hebe" by Gaspare Landi. The heroic branch of neoclassicism is represented by the once popular painting “Death of Caesar” by Vincenzo Camuccini.

Turning to episodes and heroes of national history, mostly already described in literature, is characteristic of most of the painting of the 19th century, starting with romanticism. Lead Artist this direction - Francesco Hayets. In the painting “The Reconciliation of Otto II with his mother Adelaide of Burgundy,” he reproduced a significant but little-known event in Italian medieval history. In "Venus Playing with Doves" he embodied the features of the famous ballerina Carlotta Chabert, in "The Secret Denunciation" he showed a Venetian, beautiful and cruel.

Romantic artists willingly depicted outstanding people, rebel heroes in moments of glory or fall. Examples of such works: "Galileo before the Inquisition" by Christiano Banti, "Christopher Columbus on his return from America (Christopher Columbus in chains)" by Lorenzo Delleani, "Lord Byron on the Greek Shores" by Giacomo Trecourt.

Romantics revive interest in the "younger" genres of painting - the image of the interiors of buildings and city views (lead). In the canvas "Church of Santa Maria della Salute in Venice" Ippolito Caffi experiments with visual perception and lighting effects.

The search for romantics continued in the 1860s Tuscan macchiaioli: Giovanni Fattori, Silvestro Lega, Telemaco Signorini, Giuseppe Abbati, Odorado Borrani, Vincenzo Cabianca. The artists proposed a stylistic manner, replacing the traditional chiaroscuro with a contrasting combination of spots (“macchia”). In the new technique, macchiaioli presented genre scenes Everyday life: "Singing a stornello" and "Betrothed, or the Bride and Groom" by Silvestro Legi, "Rendezvous in the Forest" by Telemaco Signorini. The landscape in the paintings “Rotonda of the Palmieri Baths” by Giovanni Fattori and “View of Castiglioncello” by Giuseppe Abbati is interesting because the artists worked en plein air to create it.

The tendencies of symbolism are clearly expressed in Giorgio Kinerca's triptych "The Riddle of Man": the artist avoids a clear characterization of the characters, preferring to fascinate the viewer with esoteric symbols and a general magnetic atmosphere.

In the last decades of the 19th century, European artists experimented with new means of expression. In Italy, Angelo Morbelli develops the technique of separate stroke (divisionism), an example of which is a painting on social theme"For 80 centesimo!". Giuseppe Pelizza da Volpedo was also a divisionist, who symbolically embodied the ideals of high humanism in the painting "Round Dance".

Exhibition “Italian painting of the 19th century. From Neoclassicism to Symbolism” is a response to the large exhibition “Leonardeschi from Foppa to Giampetrino: Paintings from the Hermitage and the Municipal Museums of Pavia” opened in March 2011 at the Castello Visconteo, which included twenty-two canvases from the Hermitage collection.

The exhibition curator on behalf of the State Hermitage is Natalya Borisovna Demina, researcher at the Department of Western European visual arts, from the City Museums of Pavia - Susanna Zatti, Director of the City Museums of Pavia.

By the opening of the exhibition, a scientific catalog was published in Russian and Italian (Schira publishing house, Milan-Geneva), with articles by Fernando Mazzocchi, professor at the University of Milan, Francesca Porreco, curator of the Municipal Museums of Pavia and Suzanna Zatti.

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• 31.01.2020 The starting price of each lot of this auction does not depend on its estimate and is exactly $100
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PAINTING OF ITALY

In Italy, where the Catholic reaction finally triumphed in the 17th century, baroque art formed very early, flourished and became the dominant trend.

The painting of this time was characterized by spectacular decorative compositions, ceremonial portraits depicting arrogant nobles and ladies with a proud posture, drowning in luxurious robes and jewelry.

Instead of a line, preference was given to a picturesque spot, mass, light and shade contrasts, with the help of which the form was created. Baroque violated the principles of dividing space into plans, the principles of direct linear perspective to enhance depth, the illusion of going to infinity.

The origin of Baroque painting in Italy is associated with the work of the Carracci brothers, the founders of one of the first art schools in Italy - the Academy of Walking the right way"(1585), the so-called Bologna Academy - a workshop in which novice masters studied according to a special program.

Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) was the most talented of the three Carracci brothers. In his work, the principles of the Bologna Academy are clearly traced, which set as its main task the revival of monumental art and the traditions of the Renaissance during its heyday, which Carracci's contemporaries revered as an example of unattainable perfection and a kind of artistic "absolute". Therefore, Carracci perceives the masterpieces of his great predecessors rather as a source from which to draw the aesthetic solutions found by the titans of the Renaissance, and not as a starting point for his own creative searches. The plastically beautiful, the ideal is not for him the "highest degree" of the real, but only an obligatory artistic norm - art, thus, is opposed to reality, in which the master does not find a new fundamental ideal. Hence the conventionality and abstractness of his images and pictorial solutions.

At the same time, the art of the Carracci brothers and the Bolognese academicism turned out to be the most suitable for being placed at the service of the official ideology, and it was not for nothing that their work quickly gained recognition in the higher (state and Catholic) spheres.

The largest work of Annibale Carracci in the field of monumental painting is the painting of the gallery of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome with frescoes telling about the life of the gods - based on scenes from the Metamorphoses by the ancient Roman poet Ovid (1597-1604, made together with his brother and assistants).

The painting consists of separate panels gravitating towards the central large composition depicting the Triumph of Bacchus and Ariadne, which introduces an element of dynamics into the picturesque ensemble. Nude male figures, placed between these panels, imitate sculpture, being at the same time the protagonists of the murals. The result was an impressive large-scale work, spectacular in appearance, but not united by any significant idea, without which the monumental ensembles of the Renaissance were inconceivable. In the future, these principles embodied by Carracci - the desire for dynamic composition, illusionistic effects and self-sufficient decorativeness - will be characteristic of all monumental painting of the 17th century.

Annibale Carracci wants to fill the motifs taken in the art of the Renaissance with a lively, modern content. He calls to study nature, in the early period of creativity, he even turns to genre painting. But, from the point of view of the master, nature itself is too rough and imperfect, so it should appear on the canvas already transformed, ennobled in accordance with the norms of classical art. Therefore, specific vital motives could exist in the composition only as a separate fragment, designed to enliven the scene. So, for example, in the painting “The Bean Eater” (1580s), the artist’s ironic attitude to what is happening is felt: he emphasizes the spiritual primitiveness of a peasant who greedily eats beans; images of figures and objects are deliberately simplified. In the same vein, others genre paintings young painter: "Butcher's Shop", "Self-Portrait with Father", "Hunting" (all - 1580s) - adj., fig. 1.

Many of Annibale Carracci's paintings have religious themes. But the cold perfection of forms leaves little room for the manifestation of feelings in them. Only in rare cases does an artist create works of a different kind. Such is the Lamentation of Christ (c. 1605). The Bible tells how the holy worshipers of Christ came to worship at his tomb, but found it empty. From the angel sitting on the edge of the sarcophagus, they learned about his miraculous resurrection and were happy and shocked by this miracle. But the imagery and excitement of the ancient text do not find a special response from Carracci; he could only contrast the light, fluttering clothes of an angel with the massiveness and static figures of women. The coloring of the picture is also quite ordinary, but at the same time it is distinguished by strength and intensity.

A special group is made up of his works on mythological themes, in which his passion for masters Venetian school. In these pictures, glorifying the joy of love, the beauty of the naked female body, Annibale manifests himself as a wonderful colorist, lively and poetic artist.

Among the best works of Annibale Carracci are his landscape works. Carracci and his students created, on the basis of the traditions of the Venetian landscape of the 16th century, a type of so-called classical, or heroic, landscape. The artist also transformed nature in an artificially elevated spirit, but without external pathos. His work laid the foundation for one of the most fruitful trends in the development of landscape painting of this era (The Flight into Egypt, c. 1603), which then found its continuation and development in the work of the masters of subsequent generations, in particular, Poussin.

Michelangelo Caravaggio (1573-1610). The most significant Italian painter of this period was Michelangelo Caravaggio, who can be ranked among the greatest masters of the 17th century.

The name of the artist comes from the name of the town in northern Italy where he was born. From the age of eleven, he already worked as an apprentice to one of the Milanese painters, and in 1590 he left for Rome, which by the end of the 17th century had become the artistic center of all of Europe. It was here that Caravaggio achieved his most significant success and fame.

Unlike most of his contemporaries, who perceived only a more or less familiar set of aesthetic values, Caravaggio managed to abandon the traditions of the past and create his own, deeply individual style. This was partly the result of his negative reaction to the artistic clichés of the time.

Never belonging to a particular art school, he already in his early works contrasted the individual expressiveness of the model, simple everyday motives for idealizing images and the allegorical interpretation of the plot, characteristic of the art of mannerism and academicism (“Little Sick Bacchus”, “Young Man with a Basket of Fruit”, both - 1593).

Although at first glance it may seem that he departed from the artistic canons of the Renaissance, moreover, he overthrew them, in reality, the pathos of his realistic art was their internal continuation, which laid the foundations of the realism of the 17th century. This is clearly evidenced by his own statements. “Each picture, no matter what it depicts, and no matter who it was written,” Caravaggio argued, “is no good if all its parts are not executed from nature; nothing can be preferred to this mentor.” In this statement of Caravaggio, with his inherent straightforwardness and categoricalness, the entire program of his art is embodied.

The artist made a great contribution to the formation household genre("The Rounders", 1596; "The Boy Bitten by the Lizard", 1594). The heroes of most of the works of Caravaggio are people from the people. He found them in a motley street crowd, in cheap pubs and noisy city squares, brought them to his studio as sitters, preferring this particular method of work to the study of ancient statues - this is evidenced by the first biographer of the artist D. Bellori. His favorite characters are soldiers, card players, fortune-tellers, musicians (Fortune Teller, Lute Player (both - 1596); Musicians, 1593) - adj., fig. 2. It is they who "inhabit" the genre paintings of Caravaggio, in which he asserts not only the right to exist, but also artistic value private household motive. If in early works Caravaggio's painting, for all its plasticity and substantive persuasiveness, was still somewhat rough, then in the future he gets rid of this shortcoming of his. The mature works of the artist are monumental canvases with exceptional dramatic power (“The Calling of the Apostle Matthew” and “The Martyrdom of the Apostle Matthew” (both - 1599-1600); “The Entombment”, “The Death of Mary” (both - c. 1605-1606 )). These works, although close in style to his early genre scenes, are already filled with a special inner drama.

The picturesque manner of Caravaggio in this period is based on powerful contrasts of light and shadow, expressive simplicity of gestures, energetic modeling of volumes, saturation of color - techniques that create emotional tension, emphasizing the acute affectation of feelings. Usually the artist depicts several figures taken close-up, close to the viewer and written with all plasticity, materiality and visible authenticity. plays an important role in his works environment, domestic interior and still life. Here is how, for example, in the painting “The Calling of Matthew”, the master shows the manifestation of the sublime spiritual in the world of “low” everyday life.

The plot of the work is based on the story from the Gospel about how Christ called the publican Matthew, despised by all, to become his disciple and follower. Characters depicted sitting at a table in an uncomfortable, empty room, and the characters are presented in full size, dressed in modern costumes. Unexpectedly, Christ and the Apostle Peter, who suddenly entered the room, caused a variety of reactions in the audience - from amazement to alertness. A stream of light entering from above into a dark room rhythmically organizes what is happening, highlighting and linking its main elements (Matthew's face, Christ's hand and profile). Snatching figures out of the darkness and sharply colliding bright light and deep shadow, the painter gives a feeling internal stress and dramatic excitement. The scene is dominated by the elements of feelings, human passions. To create an emotional atmosphere, Caravaggio skillfully uses rich color. Unfortunately, the harsh realism of Caravaggio was not understood by many of his contemporaries, adherents of "high art". After all, even creating works on mythological and religious themes (the most famous of them is “Rest on the Flight into Egypt”, 1597), he invariably remained true to the realistic principles of his everyday painting, so even the most traditional biblical subjects received from him a completely different intimate and psychological interpretation different from the traditional one. And the appeal to nature, which he made the direct object of the image of his works, and the veracity of its interpretation caused many attacks on the artist by the clergy and officials.

Nevertheless, among the artists of the 17th century, there was, perhaps, not a single significant one who, in one way or another, would not have experienced the mighty impact of the art of Caravaggio. True, most of the master's followers, who were called caravagists, diligently copied only his external techniques, and above all, his famous contrasting chiaroscuro, the intensity and materiality of painting.

Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velazquez, Jusepe de Ribera, Rembrandt van Rijn, Georges de Latour and many other famous artists passed through the stage of caravaggism. It is impossible to imagine the further development of realism in the 17th century without the revolution that Michelangelo Caravaggio made in European painting.

Alessandro Magnasco (1667-1749). His work is associated with the romantic trend in Italian art of the 17th century.

The future artist was born in Genoa. He studied first with his father, then, after his death, in Milan with one of the local masters, who taught him the techniques of Venetian painting and taught the art of portraiture. In the future, Magnasco worked for many years in Milan, Genoa, Florence, and only in his declining years, in 1735, he finally returned to his native city.

This talented but extremely controversial artist was endowed with an extremely bright personality. Magnasco's work defies any classification: sometimes deeply religious, sometimes blasphemous, in his works he showed himself either as an ordinary decorator, or as a painter with a quivering soul. His art is imbued with heightened emotionality, standing on the verge of mysticism and exaltation.

Character early works the artist, executed during his stay in Milan, determined the traditions of the Genoese school of painting, which gravitated towards the pastoral. But already such works of his as several "Bacchanalia", "Bandits' Halt" (all from the 1710s) - depicting restless human figures against the backdrop of majestic ancient ruins - carry a completely different emotional charge than the serene pastorals of his predecessors. They are made in dark colors, with a jerky dynamic stroke, indicating the perception of the world in a dramatic aspect (Appendix, Fig. 3).

The artist's attention is drawn to everything unusual - scenes of the tribunals of the Inquisition, torture that he could observe in Milan, which is under the rule of Spain ("Torture Chamber"), a sermon in the synagogue ("Synagogue", late 1710s-1720s), nomadic life gypsies ("Gypsy Meal"), etc.

Magnasco's favorite subjects are various episodes from monastic life (“The Funeral of a Monk”, “The Meal of Nuns”, both from the 1720s), cells of hermits and alchemists, ruins of buildings and night landscapes with figures of gypsies, beggars, wandering musicians, etc. Quite real the characters of his works - bandits, fishermen, hermits, gypsies, comedians, soldiers, laundresses ("Landscape with laundresses", 1720s) - act in a fantastic environment. They are depicted against the backdrop of gloomy ruins, a raging sea, a wild forest, and harsh gorges. Magnasco draws their figures exaggeratedly elongated, as if wriggling and in constant continuous motion; their elongated curved silhouettes are subject to the nervous rhythm of the stroke. The paintings are permeated with a tragic sense of the insignificance of man in the face of the blind forces of nature and the severity of social reality.

The same disturbing dynamics distinguishes his landscape sketches, with their emphasized subjectivity and emotionality, relegating to the background the transmission of real pictures of nature (“Seascape”, 1730s; “Mountain Landscape”, 1720s). In some of the later works of the master, the influence of the landscapes of the Italian Salvatore Rosa, engravings by the French mannerist artist Jacques Callot is noticeable. This indistinguishable facet of reality and a bizarre world created by the artist’s imagination, who keenly felt all the tragic and joyful events of the surrounding reality around him, will always be present in his works, giving them the character of either a parable or an everyday scene.

The expressive pictorial manner of Magnasco in some way anticipated creative searches. artists of the XVIII V. He paints in quick, rapid strokes, using restless chiaroscuro, giving rise to restless lighting effects, which gives his paintings a deliberate sketchiness, and sometimes even decorativeness. At the same time, the coloring of his works is devoid of colorful multicolor, usually the master is limited to a gloomy grayish-brown or greenish scale, however, in its own way, quite refined and refined. Recognized during his lifetime and forgotten by posterity, this original artist regained popularity only at the beginning of the 20th century, when they saw in him the forerunner of impressionism and even expressionism.

Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1665-1747), a native of Bologna, began his painting career with diligent copying of paintings and frescoes by famous masters, including his countrymen, the Carracci brothers. Later, he traveled to northern Italy, getting acquainted with the work of the High Renaissance masters, mainly Venetian (Titian and Veronese).

By the beginning of the XVIII century. Crespi is already quite famous, in particular, for his altarpieces. But the main work of the early period of his work is the monumental painting of the plafonds of the Palazzo Count Pepoli (1691-1692) in Bologna, the mythological characters of which (gods, heroes, nymphs) in his interpretation look extremely earthy, lively and convincing, in contrast to the traditional abstract images of the Baroque .

Crespi worked in various genres. He painted pictures on mythological, religious and everyday subjects, created portraits and still lifes, and in each of these traditional genres he brought a new and sincere vision of the contemporary world. The artist's commitment to nature, accurate display surrounding reality entered into an irreconcilable contradiction with the decrepit traditions of Bologna academism, which by this time had become a brake on the development of art. Therefore, a constant struggle against the conventions of academic painting for the triumph of realistic art runs like a red thread through all his work.

In the early 1700s Crespi moves from mythological scenes to depicting scenes from peasant life, interpreting them first in the spirit of the pastoral, and then giving them an increasingly convincing character of everyday painting. One of the first among the masters of the XVIII century, he began to depict the life ordinary people- laundresses, dishwashers, cooks, as well as episodes from peasant life.

The desire to give his paintings more authenticity makes him turn to Caravaggio's "cellar" light - a sharp illumination of a part of the dark space of the interior, due to which the figures acquire plastic clarity. The simplicity and sincerity of the narration are complemented by the objects of folk use introduced into the image of the interior, which are always painted by Crespi with great pictorial skill (“Scene in the Cellar”; “Peasant Family”).

The highest achievement of everyday painting of that time was his canvases "Fair in Poggio a Caiano" (c. 1708) and "Fair" (c. 1709) depicting crowded folk scenes.

They showed the artist's interest in the graphics of Jacques Callot, as well as his close acquaintance with the work of the Dutch masters of genre painting of the 17th century. But Crespi's images of peasants are devoid of Callot's irony, and he is not as skillfully able to characterize the environment as the Dutch genre painters did. The figures and objects of the foreground are written out in more detail than the rest - this is reminiscent of the manner of Magnasco. However, the creations of the Genoese painter, executed in a bravura manner, always contain an element of fantasy. Crespi, on the other hand, strove for a detailed and accurate story about a colorful and cheerful scene. Clearly distributing light and shadow, he endows his figures with life specifics, gradually overcoming the traditions of the pastoral genre.

The most significant work of a mature master was a series of seven paintings "Seven Sacraments" (1710s) - the highest achievement of baroque painting of the early 18th century (appendix, fig. 4). These are works that are completely new in spirit, in which a departure from the traditional abstract interpretation of religious scenes was indicated.

All paintings ("Confession", "Baptism", "Marriage", "Communion", "Priesthood", "Anointing", "Unction") are written in Rembrandt's warm reddish-brown tonality. The reception of harsh lighting brings a certain emotional note to the narrative of the sacraments. The artist's color palette is rather monochrome, but at the same time it is surprisingly rich in various shades and overflows of colors, united by a soft, sometimes chiaroscuro glowing from within. This gives all the depicted episodes a touch of mysterious secrecy of what is happening and at the same time emphasizes the idea of ​​Crespi, who seeks to tell about the most significant stages of life for every person of that time, which are presented in the form of scenes from reality, acquiring the character of a kind of parable. Moreover, this story is distinguished not by didactics, characteristic of the Baroque, but by secular edification.

Almost everything that was written by the master after that presents a picture of the gradual fading of his talent. Increasingly, he uses in his paintings familiar stamps, compositional schemes, academic poses, which he had previously avoided. Not surprisingly, shortly after his death, Crespi's work was quickly forgotten.

As a bright and original master, he was discovered only in the twentieth century. But in terms of quality, depth and emotional richness, Crespi's painting, which completed the art of the 17th century, in its best manifestations is inferior, perhaps, only to Caravaggio, whose work so brilliantly and innovatively began the Italian art of this era.

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Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio glorified the famous chiaroscuro. The figures in his paintings seem to protrude from the darkness, snatched out by bright rays of light. This method was adopted by numerous followers after the death of the artist.

Taking Christ into custody, 1602

The art of Caravaggio had a huge influence on the work of not only many Italian, but also the leading Western European masters of the 17th century - Rubens, Jordans, Georges de Latour, Zurbaran, Velazquez, Rembrandt. Caravagists appeared in Spain (Jose Ribera), France (Trofim Bigot), Flanders and the Netherlands (Utrecht Caravagists - Gerrit and Willem van Honthorst, Hendrik Terbruggen, Judith Leyster) and other European countries, not to mention Italy itself (Orazio Gentileschi, his daughter Artemisia Gentileschi).

"The Entombment" (1603)

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio /Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (September 29, 1571, Milan - July 18, 1610, Porto Ercole) - Italian artist, reformer of European painting of the 17th century, founder of realism in painting, one of the greatest masters of the Baroque. He was one of the first to use the chiaroscuro style of writing - a sharp opposition of light and shadow. Not a single drawing or sketch was found, the artist immediately realized his complex compositions on canvas.

Milan 1571-1591

The son of the architect Fermo Merisi and his second wife Lucia Aratori, the daughter of a landowner from the town of Caravaggio, near Milan. His father served as manager of the Marquis Francesco Sforza da Caravaggio. In 1576, during the plague, the father and grandfather died, the mother and children moved to Caravaggio.

David and Goliath 1599

The first patrons of the future artist were the Duke and Duchess of Colonna.In 1584, in Milan, Michelangelo Merisi came to the workshop of Peterzano, who was considered a student of Titian. At that time, Mannerism dominated the artistic world of Italy, but Lombard realism was strong in Milan.

The first works of the artist, written in Milan, genre scenes and portraits, have not survived to this day.

By the end of the 1580s, the life of the quick-tempered Merisi was overshadowed by scandals, fights and imprisonments that would accompany him all his life.

In 1589, the artist comes home to sell his land allotment, apparently in need of money. He visited the house for the last time after the death of his mother in 1590. In the autumn of 1591, he was forced to flee Milan after a quarrel over a card game that ended in murder. After stopping first in Venice, he heads to Rome.

"The Calling of the Apostle Matthew" (1600)

Rome 1592-1594

In the capital, according to the custom of Italian artists of that time, he receives a nickname associated with the place of birth, as, for example, it was with Veronese or Correggio. So Michelangelo Merisi became Caravaggio.

In 1593, Caravaggio entered the workshop of Cesari d'Arpino, who instructed Caravaggio to paint flowers and leaves on frescoes. In the workshop of d'Arpino, he met patrons and artists, in particular, Jan Brueghel the Elder.

Early work Caravaggio was written under the influence of Leonardo da Vinci (he met Madonna in the Rocks and The Last Supper in Milan), Giorgione, Titian, Giovanni Bellini, Mantegna.The first painting that has come down to us is Boy Peeling Fruit (1593).In the workshop of d'Arpino, Caravaggio met Mario Minniti, who became his student and model for a number of paintings, the first of which is "Young Man with a Basket of Fruit" (1593-1594).

"Boy with a Basket of Fruit", 1593-94, Borghese Gallery

After a fight, Caravaggio ends up in the Tor di Nona prison, where he meets Giordano Bruno.Soon he breaks with Cesari d'Arpino, the homeless Caravaggio invited Antiveduto Grammar to his place.

In 1593 he fell ill with Roman fever (one of the names for malaria), for six months he was in the hospital on the verge of life and death. Perhaps, under the impression of the disease, he creates the painting “Sick Bacchus” (1593) - his first self-portrait.

"Sick Bacchus" (detail) (1593), Borghese Gallery

The first multi-figure paintings were created in 1594 - these are "Rounders" and "Fortune Teller" (Capitoline Museums). Georges de Latour would later write his "The Fortuneteller" with an identical composition.

"Rounders" (1594)

"Fortuneteller" (1594)

In the autumn of 1594, Caravaggio began working for Cardinal Francesco del Monte, moved to his villa Madama, where he met with Galileo, Campanella, Della Porta, the poets Marino and Milesi.

Rome 1595-1599

This period of life, spent at the Villa Madama, turned out to be very fruitful for Caravaggio, in addition, almost all of the paintings created at that time have survived to this day.In the painting "Musicians" (1595), Mario Minniti is depicted in the center, and next to it the artist placed himself with a horn.

"Musicians" (1595). Caravaggio painted himself with a horn between two musicians

In the image of Cupid with grapes, some researchers see an erotic allusion to a relationship with Minniti. Minniti is also depicted in the painting "Boy Bitten by a Lizard" (1596, London), sold to art dealer Valentino.

"The Boy Bitten by the Lizard"

In 1595, despite the recommendations given by Gentileschi, Grammar, Prospero Orsi, Caravaggio was denied admission to the Academy of St. Luke. The main opponent of the admission of Caravaggio to the Academy was its president, Federico Zuccaro. He believed that the effects of Caravaggio's paintings were the result of an extravagant character, and the success of his paintings owed only to their "shade of novelty", which was highly appreciated by wealthy patrons.

In 1596, Caravaggio created the first still life in the history of Italian painting - "Fruit Basket".

Fruit Basket (1596), Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan

In The Lute Player (1596, the Hermitage), the score turned out to be easy to read, it is Jacob Arkadelt's madrigal "You know that I love you." To whom this message is addressed is unknown.

He paints such canvases as:

"Bacchus" (1596)

As well as "Courtesan Fillida" (1597), "Portrait of Maffeo Barberini" (1598).In 1597, Cardinal del Monte received an order to paint the ceiling of his residence. This is how the only fresco of Caravaggio "Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto" appeared.

Caravaggio's paintings are becoming popular.The true glory of Caravaggio was brought by paintings on biblical subjects - innovative in execution is "Rest on the Flight into Egypt" (1597). “The main advantage of the painting is a masterfully recreated light and air environment, creating an atmosphere of poetry and peace, complemented by a modest landscape, written under the clear impression of memories of his native Lombardy with its reeds, sedge near the water surface, silvery poplars against the backdrop of a hilly ridge and an evening blue sky”

"Rest on the Flight into Egypt" (1597)

He also wrote The Ecstasy of St. Francis" (1595), "The Sacrifice of Isaac" (1598).

Ecstasy of Saint Francis, 1595

"The Sacrifice of Isaac"

The first female image in the work of Caravaggio - "The Penitent Mary Magdalene" (1597), shows the artist's ability for a deep and poetically significant interpretation of the image. The painting was sold to the banker and patron of the arts, Vincenzo Giustinani.

"Penitent Mary Magdalene"

She was followed

"Saint Catherine of Alexandria" (1598)

"Martha and Mary" (1598)

"Judith beheading Holofernes" (1598) demonstrates that Caravaggio in his realism does not shy away from deliberately naturalistic effects

In John the Baptist (1598), the influence of Michelangelo is noticeable:

Caravaggio became famous. He leaves Villa Madama and moves into the house of the banker and collector Chiriaco Mattei, who bought the Fortune Teller. Mario Minniti, after a quarrel with Caravaggio, married and left for Sicily.

Rome 1600-1606

For several months, Caravaggio hid in the Colonna estate. There he painted several paintings, but his style became gloomy: St. Francis in Meditation (1606), Supper at Emmaus (1606). The figure of Christ resembles Leonardo's fresco "The Last Supper".

Caravaggio moved to Naples, where he painted more than ten paintings, although not all of them have survived:

"The Ecstasy of the Magdalene" (1606)

"Christ at the Column" (1607)

"Salome with the head of John the Baptist" (1607)

Commissioned by the church of Pio Monte della Misericordia, he painted with great pictorial energy the painting "Seven Mercies" (1607), which is still in this church.

Unexpectedly, in July 1607, Caravaggio went to Malta - to La Valletta.

"St. Jerome" (1608)

H written by him for the Cathedral of San Giovanni dei Cavalieri, was liked by the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, Alof de Vignacour. Caravaggio paints portraits: Alofa de Vignacour, later highly appreciated by Delacroix, and an associate of the master Antonio Martelli.

July 14, 1608 Caravaggio becomes a knight of the Order of Malta without the right to wear the Maltese cross, since he was not a nobleman.