Introduction

Currently, interest in the problems of the complex world of art, the need to understand its place and role in the broad context of culture is gaining relevance. Orientation-value changes in modern history forced to take a new attitude to science and culture, and in art to see not only a self-sufficient means of knowing reality, but also a way of valuable comprehension of the world, the self-consciousness of culture. Baroque appeared in Italy at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century, as a papal style. But soon the baroque became popular outside of Rome and the Vatican throughout Europe and lasted until the 18th century. It was used to decorate the palaces of noble families. In France, during the time of Louis XIV, the baroque was especially widespread.

The term "baroque" is translated as "bizarre, strange, artsy." Its origin is not entirely clear, in everyday life this word is still used as a synonym for strange, bizarre, unusual, pretentious, unnatural. This term was used by jewelers, denoting non-standard pearls that masters of the Baroque era knew how to use for decorative purposes. "Baroque time" includes many styles and trends (mannerism, classicism, baroque and rococo) and "baroque style". There must be something really bizarre and strange in this style, even if experts differ greatly in its assessment. Some believe that the art of the Baroque is wrong, inflated, cumbersome, contrary to the harmonious and life-affirming art of the Renaissance. Others see the grandiosity, plasticity, striving for beauty in the Baroque and therefore consider it rather a continuation of the Renaissance. There is a third opinion: the art of the baroque type is a late, crisis stage of different eras in artistic culture. At the same time, many scientists insist that the crisis stage of the Renaissance is not yet baroque, they give it a special name - mannerism. Nevertheless, even connoisseurs will not always decide with certainty whether the author belongs to the Renaissance, Mannerism or Baroque.

The work consists of introduction, main part, conclusion and bibliography.

1. Characteristics of the epochal Baroque style

"Everyone - style" - these words of the famous French scientist Buffon perfectly characterize the main aesthetic views of a person of the Baroque era. This style cannot be confused with any other style. Baroque- the embodiment of the era in which he appeared. Baroque combines two concepts, namely: style and lifestyle.

The culture of the 17th century embodies the complexity of this time. It is difficult to find a century that would give so many brilliant names in all areas of human culture. Europe 17th century - this is the era of manufactory production and the water wheel - the engine. The development of manufactory production gave rise to the need for scientific developments. Scientists such as Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler made fundamental changes in their views on biblical picture universe. In the developments of Leibniz, Newton, Pascal, the failure of medieval nature was revealed. All this allowed to make a lot of discoveries and inventions. Algebra and analytical geometry are created, open differential equations and integral calculus in mathematics, formed a number of important laws in physics, chemistry, astronomy.

For spiritual life Society XVII in. great geographical and natural scientific discoveries were of great importance: the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to America, the discovery of the sea route to India by Vasco da Gamma, the circumnavigation of Magellan, the discovery by Copernicus of the movement of the Earth around the Sun, and the studies of Galileo. New knowledge destroyed the old ideas about the unchanging harmony of the world, about limited space and time, commensurate with man.

Formation of the historical Baroque style, primarily associated with the crisis of the ideals of the Italian Renaissance in the middle of the XVI century. and the rapidly changing "picture of the world" at the turn of the XVI-XVII centuries. At the same time, the new art of the Baroque style grew on the forms of Renaissance Classicism. The previous century in Italy was artistically so strong that its ideas, despite all the tragic collisions, could not suddenly disappear, they continued to have a significant impact on the minds of people. And the masterpieces of the art of the "High Renaissance" - the works of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael - seemed out of reach. This is the essence of all the contradictions of the "Baroque era". It was a time of painful changes in worldview, unexpected turns in human thought, partly caused by great geographical and natural scientific discoveries.

ideological basis new style there was a weakening of the spiritual culture and spiritual strength of religion, a split in the church (into Protestants and Catholics), the struggle of various creeds, reflecting the interests of various classes: Catholicism expressed feudal tendencies, Protestantism - bourgeois. At the same time, the state acquires a greater role, respectively, there was a struggle between religious and secular principles.

Worldview foundations of style formed as a result of shocks, which were in the XVI century. The Reformation and Copernicus. The notion of the world, established in antiquity, as a rational and constant unity, as well as the Renaissance idea of ​​man as a most rational being, has changed. Man began to recognize himself as "something in between everything and nothing" in Pascal's words, "one who catches only the appearance of phenomena, but is not able to understand either their beginning or their end."

In 1445 I. Gutenberg laid the foundation for printing, in 1492 X. Columbus discovered America, Vasco da Gama in 1498 - the sea route to India. In 1519-1522. Magellan made the first round-the-world voyage, by 1533 Copernicus' discovery of the Earth's motion around the Sun began to gain recognition. The studies of Galileo, Kepler and Newtonian "celestial mechanics" destroyed the old habitual ideas about a closed and motionless world, in the center of which is the Earth and man himself. What used to seem absolutely clear, unshakable and eternal, began to literally crumble before our eyes. Until that time, a person, for example, was absolutely sure that the Earth is a flat saucer, and the Sun sets over its edge, which makes it dark at night. Now they began to convince that the Earth is not a pancake, but a ball, and even revolves around the Sun. This was contrary to visual impressions. The man continued to see as before: a flat, motionless earth and movement celestial bodies over your head. He felt the hardness of material objects, but scientists began to prove that this was just an appearance, but in fact - nothing more than a multitude of pulsating centers electrical forces. There was something to be confused about.

True, Kepler's laws were consistent with the Pythagorean theory of music Celestial Spheres, and Newton was in no hurry to make his discoveries public. But, one way or another, these sciences came into conflict with experience and the visible image of the world. There was an irrevocable psychological breakdown - the basis of the future Baroque style. At the end of the XVI - beginning of the XVII centuries. discoveries in the field of natural and exact sciences have significantly shaken the image of a complete, motionless and harmonious universe, in the center of which is the “crown of Creation” - man himself.

If quite recently, in the Renaissance, the humanist scientist Picodella Mirandola argued in his “Speech on the Dignity of Man” that man, located in the very center of the world, is omnipotent and can “survey everything and own whatever he wants,” then in the 17th century, C. Pascal wrote his famous words: a person is just a “thinking reed”, his fate is tragic, because, being on the verge of two abysses of “infinity and non-existence”, he is unable to grasp either one or the other with his mind, and turns out to be something in between everything and nothing. He captures only the appearance of phenomena, for he is unable to know either their beginning or end. And these are the words of a great mathematician! What contradictory judgments on the same subject! Even earlier, in the first third of the 16th century, people began to feel acutely the contradictions between appearance and knowledge, ideal and reality, illusion and truth. It was during these years that views were formed, according to which, the more implausible a work of art, the sharper it differs from what is observed in life, the more interesting and attractive it is from an artistic point of view.

On the territory of Italy, foreigners - the Spaniards and the French - begin to host. They dictate the terms of politics, etc. Exhausted Italy has not lost the height of its cultural positions - it remains cultural center Europe. She is rich in spiritual powers. Power in culture was manifested by adaptation to new conditions. Rome is the center of the Catholic world. Thanks to these circumstances, the nobility and the church need everyone to see their strength and viability. There was no money for the construction of the palazzo, the nobility turned to art to create the illusion of power and wealth. A style that can elevate is becoming popular, like this in the 16th century in Italy, Baroque .

The Baroque era rejects tradition and authority as superstition and prejudice. Everything that is "clear and distinct" is thought or has a mathematical expression is true, declares the philosopher Descartes. Therefore, the baroque is still the age of Reason and Enlightenment. It is no coincidence that the word "baroque" is sometimes raised to designate one of the types of inferences in medieval logic - to baroco. The first European park appears in Versailles, where the idea of ​​the forest is expressed in the utmost mathematical way: linden alleys and canals seem to be drawn along a ruler, and the trees are trimmed in the manner of stereometric figures. For the first time dressed in the uniform of the baroque army, much attention is paid to the "drill" - the geometric correctness of constructions on the parade ground.

Distinctive features baroque are spatial scope, pomp, splendor and luxury. Note that the variability and play of images of this style can be compared with a sea shell, after which this style was named. Exquisite luxury, splendor and superiority are returning to the decoration of houses after simplicity and minimalism in the decor of the premises.

The Baroque era gives rise to a huge amount of time for entertainment: instead of pilgrimages - the promenade (walks in the park); instead of jousting tournaments - "carousels" (horseback rides) and card games; instead of mysteries - theater and masquerade balls. You can add the appearance of swings and "fiery fun" (fireworks). In the interiors, portraits and landscapes took the place of icons, and music turned from spiritual into a pleasant play of sound.

Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamic images, affectation, striving for grandeur and pomp, for combining reality and illusion, for the fusion of arts (urban and palace and park ensembles, opera, cult music, oratorio); at the same time - a tendency towards autonomy of individual genres (concerto grosso, sonata, suite in instrumental music).

Thus, the Baroque style slowly matured to explode unexpectedly. In this era, several opposing stylistic currents acted destructively, all of them were unstable and "did not correspond to reality." In this circumstance, the key to understanding the words of I. Grabar: "The High Renaissance is already three quarters of the Baroque." Every day it became clearer that Alberti was “not exactly what you need”, that even Bramante was already a little bit pedantic and “dry” and was not so fascinated by the abracadabra of the famous “golden cut” and the mathematics of proportions given in his facade “ Cancelleria.

And only when the frantic Michelangeloo opened his Sistine ceiling and took up the buildings of the Capitol, did everyone understand what each one was ill with and what he hid in his heart ... and new style- Baroque - was created.

2. Characteristics of the national Baroque style

In the 17th century, Rome was the capital of the world in the field of art, attracting artists from all over Europe, so Baroque art soon spread beyond the "eternal city". The Baroque style took its deepest roots outside of Italy in Catholic countries. In each Baroque country, art was fueled by local traditions. In some countries it became more extravagant, as, for example, in Spain and Latin America, where a style of architectural decoration called churrigueresco developed; in others it was toned down to suit more conservative tastes. The Baroque style is spreading in Spain, Germany, Belgium (Flanders), the Netherlands, Russia, France.

In Catholic Flanders Baroque art flourished in the work of Rubens, to Protestant Holland it had less of an impact. True, the mature works of Rembrandt, extremely lively and dynamic, are clearly marked by the influence of Baroque art.

In France it expressed itself most clearly in the service of the monarchy, and not of the church. Louis XIV understood the importance of art as a means of glorifying royalty. His adviser in this area was Charles Lebrun, who directed the painters and decorators who worked at Louis's palace at Versailles. Versailles, with its grandiose combination of opulent architecture, sculpture, painting, decorative and landscape art, was one of the most impressive examples of the fusion of the arts.

For baroque architecture(L. Bernini, F. Borromini in Italy, B.F. Rastrelli in Russia) are characterized by spatial scope, fusion, fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms. Baroque architecture gravitates towards a solemn "grand style", towards emphasized monumentality, is based on the idea of ​​complexity, diversity, variability of the world, reflects the greatness of the Pope and the Catholic Church, as well as the power and luxury of monarchs and large aristocracy. At this time, Catholic churches, urban and suburban palace and park ensembles are being erected - the square in front of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, country villas in Italy.

The main features of the buildings are a complex curvilinear plan and outlines of lines, whimsical plasticity of facades, the use of complex diverse and picturesque forms based on an oval, ellipse and semicircle, semicircular windows, torn gables, paired columns and pilasters, massive front staircases, the spatial scope of the complexes, the fusion of arts (architecture, sculpture, painting), decorative interiors, the use of mirrors in the design of premises. The order is used as a decorative plastic form along with sculpture. Properties of buildings - the ultimate picturesqueness (pretentiousness), contrast, tension, dynamism of images and the fluidity of complex usually curvilinear forms, the desire for deliberate splendor, to combine reality and illusion. There are often deployed large-scale colonnades, an abundance of sculptures on facades and in interiors, volutes, big number rake-outs, arched facades with a rake-out in the middle, rusticated columns and pilasters. Domes acquire complex shapes, often they are multi-tiered, like at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. Characteristic details of the Baroque - telamon (atlas), caryatid, mascaron.

In Italian architecture the most prominent representative of Baroque art was Carlo Maderna(1556-1629), who broke with mannerism and created his own style. His main creation is the façade of the Roman church of Santa Susanna (1603). The main figure in the development of Baroque sculpture was Lorenzo Bernini, whose first masterpieces executed in the new style date back to around 1620. The quintessence of the Baroque, an impressive fusion of painting, sculpture and architecture, is the Coranaro Chapel in the church of Santa Maria della Victoria (1645-1652). . The most prominent Italian contemporaries of Bernini during this mature Baroque period were the architect Borromini both artist and architect Pietro da Cortona. Somewhat later, Andrea del Pozzo (1642-1709) worked; the plafond painted by him in the church of Sant'Ignazio in Rome (the Apotheosis of St. Ignatius of Loyola) is the culmination of the Baroque trend towards pompous splendor. Spanish baroque, or according to the local churrigueresco (in honor of the architect Churriguera), which also spread in Latin America. His most popular monument is the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela, which is also one of the most revered churches in Spain by believers. In Latin America, baroque mixed with local architectural traditions, this is its most pretentious version, and they call it ultrabaroque . Baroque style in France expressed more modestly than in other countries. Previously, it was believed that the style did not develop here at all, and baroque monuments were considered monuments of classicism. Sometimes the term "baroque classicism" is used in relation to French and English Baroque. Now the Palace of Versailles, along with a regular park, the Luxembourg Palace, the building of the French Academy in Paris, and other works are considered French Baroque. They really have some features of classicism. In Belgium An outstanding baroque monument is the Grand Place ensemble in Brussels. The Rubens House in Antwerp, built according to the artist's own design, has Baroque features. Baroque in Russia appears as early as the 17th century (“Naryshkin Baroque”, “Golitsyn Baroque”). In the 18th century, during the reign of Peter I, it was developed in St. Petersburg and its suburbs in the work of D. Trezzini - the so-called "Petrine baroque" (more restrained), and reached its peak in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna in the work of S.I. Chevakinsky and B. Rastrelli. In Germany An outstanding baroque monument is the New Palace in Sanssouci (authors - I.G. Bühring, H.L. Manter) and the Summer Palace in the same place (G.W. von Knobelsdorff).

The largest and most famous Baroque ensembles in the world: Versailles (France), Peterhof (Russia), Aranjuez (Spain), Zwinger (Germany), Schönbrunn (Austria).

Baroque style in painting characterized by the dynamism of the compositions, the "flatness" and pomp of forms, the aristocracy and originality of the plots. Plots based on a dramatic conflict prevailed - religious, mythological or allegorical in nature. Ceremonial portraits are created to decorate interiors.

A feature of the Baroque is not observing the Renaissance harmony for the sake of more emotional contact with the viewer. Great importance acquired compositional effects expressed in bold contrasts of scale, color, light and shadow. But at the same time, baroque artists strive to achieve rhythmic and color unity, the picturesqueness of the whole.

At the origins of Baroque art in painting are two great Italian artists - Caravaggio and Annibale Carracci, who created the most significant works in the late 16th - early 17th centuries. Italian painting of the late 16th century is characterized by unnaturalness and stylistic uncertainty. Caravaggio and Carracci, with their art, restored her integrity and expressiveness.

In Italian painting of the Baroque era developed different genres, but mostly they were allegories, a mythological genre. Pietro da Cortona, Andrea del Pozzo, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, and the Carracci brothers succeeded in this direction. The Venetian school became famous, where the genre of veduta, or urban landscape, gained great popularity. The most famous author of such works is D.A. Canaletto. No less famous are Francesco Guardi and Bernardo Bellotto. Canaletto and Guardi painted views of Venice, while Bellotto (a student of Canaletto) worked in Germany. He owns many views of Dresden and other places. Salvator Rosa (Neapolitan school) and Alessandro Magnasco painted fantastic landscapes. The latter belongs to architectural views, and the French artist Hubert Robert, who worked at a time when interest in antiquity, in Roman ruins, flared up, is very close to him. In their works ruins, arches, colonnades, ancient temples are presented, but in a somewhat fantastic form, with exaggerations. Heroic canvases were painted by Domenichino, and picturesque parables by Domenico Fetti. Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) at the beginning of the 17th century. studied in Italy, where he learned the style of Caravaggio and Carraci, although he arrived there only after completing his course in Antwerp. He happily combined the best features of the painting schools of the North and the South, merging in his canvases the natural and the supernatural, reality and fantasy, learning and spirituality.

Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio) (1571-1610) is considered the most significant master among Italian artists who created at the end of the 16th century. new style in painting. His paintings, painted on religious subjects, resemble realistic scenes of the author's contemporary life, creating a contrast between late antiquity and modern times. The characters are depicted in twilight, from which the rays of light snatch out the expressive gestures of the characters, contrastingly writing out their specificity. Followers and imitators of Caravaggio adopted the riot of feelings and the characteristic manner of Caravaggio, as well as his naturalism in the depiction of people and events.

In France Baroque features are inherent in the ceremonial portraits of Iasent Rigaud. His most famous work is a portrait of Louis XIV. The work of Simon Vouet and Charles Lebrun, court painters who worked in the genre of ceremonial portraiture, is characterized as "baroque classicism". The real transformation of baroque into classicism is observed in the canvases of Nicolas Poussin. A more rigid, strict embodiment was given to the Baroque style in Spain, embodied in the works of such masters as Velasquez, Ribera and Zurbaran. They adhered to the principles of realism. By that time, Spain was experiencing its "Golden Age" in art, while being in economic and political decline.

For the art of Spain decorativeness, capriciousness, sophistication of forms, the dualism of the ideal and the real, the bodily and the ascetic, piling up and stinginess, the sublime and the ridiculous are characteristic. Among the representatives: Domenico Theotokopuli (El Greco). He was deeply religious, therefore, his art presents numerous variants of religious plots and festivities: “The Holy Family”, “The Apostles Peter and Paul”, “The Descent of the Holy Spirit”, “Christ on Shrovetide Mount”. El Greco was an excellent portrait painter - he interpreted what he portrayed as surreal, fantastic, imaginary. Hence the deformation of the figures (Gothic elements), extreme color contrasts with a predominance of dark colors, the play of chiaroscuro, a sense of movement. Diego Velasquez (1599-1660) - a great master of psychological portrait, painter of characters. His paintings are distinguished by the multi-figure complexity of compositions, multi-frame, extreme detail, and excellent mastery of color.

Heyday Flemish baroque falls on 1 floor. XVII century. Rubens became the legislator in the new style. AT early period Baroque style is perceived by Rubens through the prism of Caravaggio's painting - "Exaltation of the Cross", "Descent from the Cross", "The Abduction of the Daughters of Leucippe". The transition to the mature phase of the artist's work was a large order for a cycle of paintings "The Life of Marie Medici". The paintings are theatrical, allegorical, the manner of writing is expressive. Rubens demonstrates the incredible life-affirming power of the Baroque, his portraits, especially women's, open up this inexhaustible source of joy for him. In the last period of creativity, Rubens continues the theme of bacchanalia - "Bacchus" - a frankly bodily perception of life. In addition to Rubens, another master of the Flemish Baroque, van Dyck (1599-1641), achieved recognition.

With the work of Rubens, the new style came to Holland, where it was picked up by Frans Hals (1580/85-1666), Rembrandt (1606-1669) and Vermeer (1632-1675). In Spain, Diego Velasquez (1599-1660) worked in the style of Caravaggio, and in France, Nicolas Poussin (1593-1665), who, not satisfied with the Baroque school, laid the foundations of a new trend in his work - classicism.

In Holland There were several schools of painting that united major masters and their followers: Franz Hals - in Haarlem, Rembrandt - in Amsterdam, Vermeer - in Delft. In the painting of this country, the baroque had a peculiar character, focusing not on the emotions of the audience, but on their calm, rational attitude to life. Rembrandt emphasized this in the following words: "Heaven, earth, sea, animals, people - all this serves for our exercise."

3. Characterization of individual styles

Baroque architecture is characterized by spatial scope, unity, fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms. Brilliant Center architecture baroque became Catholic Rome.

The Italian sculptor and architect is considered the "father of the Baroque". Michelangelo Buonarroti- Medici Chapel in Florence (1520-1534).

Great Michelangelo with the power and expression of his individual style, in an instant he destroyed all the usual ideas about the “rules” of drawing and composition. The mighty figures painted by him on the ceiling visually "destroyed" the pictorial space allotted for them; they did not fit either the scenario or the space of the architecture itself. Everything here was anti-classical. J. Vasari, the famous chronicler of the Renaissance, astonished as others, called this style "bizarre, out of the ordinary and new."

Other works of Michelangelo: the architectural ensemble of the Capitol in Rome, the interior of the Medici Chapel and the lobby of the library of San Lorenzo in Florence - showed classicist forms, but everything in them was embraced by extraordinary tension and excitement. Old elements of architecture were used in a new way, primarily not in accordance with their constructive function. So in the lobby of the library of San Lorenzo, Michelangelo did something completely inexplicable. The columns are doubled, but hidden in the recesses of the walls and do not support anything, so their capitals are some kind of strange endings. Volute-consoles hanging under them do not perform any function at all. There are imaginary, deaf windows on the walls. But most of all, the staircase of the lobby surprises. According to the witty remark of J. Burkhardt, "it is suitable only for those who want to break their necks." On the sides, where necessary, the stairs do not have railings. But they are in the middle, but too low to lean on. The outer steps are rounded with completely useless curls at the corners. By itself, the staircase fills almost everything free space lobby, which is generally contrary to common sense, she does not invite, but only blocks the entrance.

In the project of St. Peter's Cathedral (1546), Michelangelo, in contradiction to Bramante, who began construction, subordinated the entire architectural space to the central dome, making the structure dynamic. Bundles of pilasters, double columns, dome ribs depict a coordinated, powerful upward movement. In comparison with the sketches of Michelangelo, the executor of the project Giacomo della Porta in 1588-1590. strengthened this dynamics by sharpening the dome; he made it not hemispherical, as was customary in the art of the Renaissance, but elongated, parabolic.

The onset of the Baroque era meant the return of romance to the architecture of Christian churches. In this sense, O. Spengler’s statement about the evolution of Michelangelo’s work is noteworthy: “Out of the deepest dissatisfaction with the art on which he wasted his life, his eternally unsatisfied need for expression broke the architectonic canon of the Renaissance and created the Roman Baroque ... And in the person of Michelangelo, the sculptor” the history of European sculpture has ended. Really, Michelangelo - the true "father of the Baroque", since in his statues, buildings, drawings there is, at the same time, a return to the spiritual values ​​​​of the Middle Ages and a consistent discovery of new principles of shaping. This ingenious artist, having exhausted the possibilities of classical plasticity, in the late period of his work created previously unseen expressive forms. His titanic figures are depicted not according to the rules of plastic anatomy, which served as the norm for the same Michelangelo just some ten years ago, but according to other, irrational form-building forces, brought to life by the imagination of the artist himself.

One of the first signs of Baroque art: redundancy of means and confusion of scales. In the art of Classicism, all forms are clearly defined and delimited from each other. "Sistine Plafond" That's why Michelangelo is the first work of the Baroque style that in it there was a clash of figures drawn, but sculptural in palpability, and an incredible architectural framework painted on the ceiling, not at all consistent with the real space of architecture. The dimensions of the figures also mislead the viewer, they do not harmonize, but are dissonant even with the picturesque, illusory space created for them by the artist.

"Genius Baroque" J.L. Bernini (1598-1680). The largest architectural work of Bernini - the end of many years of construction of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome and the decoration of the square in front of him (1656-1667). In the interior of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome, over the tomb of the Apostle Peter, he erected a huge, exorbitantly enlarged tent - a ciborium 29 m high (the height of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome). From a distance, a tent made of blackened and gilded bronze on four twisted columns with “curtains” and statues from the nave of the cathedral seems just a toy, a quirk of interior decoration. But close up, it stuns and overwhelms, turning out to be a colossus of inhuman proportions, which is why the dome above it seems as immeasurable as the sky.

Two mighty wings of the monumental colonnade, built according to his project, closed the vast expanse of the square. Diverging from the main, western facade of the cathedral, the colonnades first form a trapezoid shape, and then turn into a huge oval, emphasizing the special mobility of the composition, designed to organize the movement of mass processions. 284 columns and 80 columns 19 m high make up this four-row covered colonnade, 96 large statues crown its attic. As you move around the square and change your point of view, it seems that the columns move closer, then move apart, and the architectural ensemble seems to unfold in front of the viewer. Decorative elements are masterfully included in the design of the square: the unsteady strings of water from two fountains and a slender Egyptian obelisk between them, which accentuate the middle of the square. But in the words of Bernini himself, the square, “like open arms”, captures the viewer, directing his movement to the facade of the cathedral, decorated with grandiose added Corinthian columns, which rise and dominate all this solemn baroque ensemble. Emphasizing the spatiality of the overall solution of the complex square and the cathedral, Bernini also determined the main point of view on the cathedral, which is perceived from a distance in its majestic unity.

Bernini knew well and took into account the laws of optics and perspective. From a distant point of view, shortening in perspective, the colonnades of the trapezoidal square set at an angle are perceived as straight, and the oval square is perceived as a circle. The same properties of artificial perspective were skillfully applied in the construction of the main Royal Staircase connecting the Cathedral of St. Peter with the Papal Palace. It makes a grandiose impression thanks to the precisely calculated gradual narrowing of the flight of stairs, the coffered vault of the ceiling and the reduction of the columns framing it. By intensifying the effect of the perspective reduction of the staircase going deeper, Bernini achieved the illusion of an increase in the size of the staircase and its length.

In all its splendor, the skill of Bernini as a decorator manifested itself in the design of the interior of the Cathedral of St. Peter. He singled out the longitudinal axis of the cathedral and its center - the under-dome space with a luxurious, bronze ciborium (canopy, 1624-1633), in which there is not a single calm contour. All forms of this decorative structure are agitated. Twisted columns rise steeply to the dome of the cathedral; with the help of a textured variety, bronze imitates lush fabrics and fringe trim.

AT fine arts This period was dominated by plots based on dramatic conflict, - religious, mythological or allegorical. Ceremonial portraits are created to decorate interiors. A feature of the Baroque is the non-observance of Renaissance harmony for the sake of more emotional contact with the viewer. Compositional effects, expressed in bold contrasts of scales, colors, light and shadow, acquired great importance. But at the same time, baroque artists strive to achieve rhythmic and color unity, the picturesqueness of the whole. Baroque painting is characterized by dynamism, "flatness" and pomp of forms, the most character traits baroque - catchy flamboyance and dynamism; a striking example is Rubens, Caravaggio.

Rubens Peter Paul(1577-1640) - Flemish painter, draftsman, head of the Flemish school of Baroque painting. In life, Rubens embodied the baroque ideal of a virtuoso, focused on the outside of things, for whom the whole world was a stage. The contradictions of the Rubens era in painting reconciled seemingly irreconcilable opposites. His great intellect and mighty Vital energy allowed him to create, on the basis of various borrowings, a holistic, unique style in which the natural and the supernatural, reality and fantasy, learning and spirituality are wonderfully merged. His epic canvases thus define the scale and style of mature baroque painting. They are full of splashing, inexhaustible energy and ingenuity, and are, like his heroic nude figures, the personification of a sense of vitality. The depiction of such a rich being on such a grand scale required an expansion of the arena of action, which could only be provided by baroque with its theatricality - in the best sense of the word. The sense of drama was inherent in Rubens to the same extent as in Bernini. "The Exaltation of the Cross" - the first large altarpiece, testifies to how much he owed to Italian art. Muscular figures detailed to showcase them physical strength and passion of feelings, reminiscent of the images of the Sistine Chapel of Michelangelo and the gallery of the Palazzo Farnese Annibale Carracci, and in the manner of lighting the picture there is something from Caravaggio. Nevertheless, the success of the panel owes much to Rubens' amazing ability to combine Italian influences with Netherlandish ideas, giving them a modern sound in the process of creation. In scale and conception, the painting is more heroic than any other northern work, but still it is impossible to imagine its appearance without Rogier van der Weyden's Descent from the Cross.

Rubens is a Flemish realist who is equally attentive to the details of life, as can be seen from such details as the image of foliage, armor and a dog in the foreground. These diverse elements, brought together with the highest skill, form a composition of great dramatic power. An unstable, menacingly swaying pyramid of bodies in a typical Baroque manner breaks the limits of the frame, giving the viewer a sense of participation in this action.

In the 1620s, Rubens' dynamic style reached its pinnacle in huge decorative works commissioned by churches and palaces. The most famous cycle of paintings made by Rubens for the Luxembourg Palace in Paris and dedicated to the glorification life path Mary Medici, widow of Henry IV and mother of Louis XIII. Everything here is connected by a single rhythm of circular motion: heaven and earth, historical figures and allegorical characters, even drawing and painting, since Rubens used such pictorial sketches in preparing his compositions. Unlike artists of previous eras, he preferred to develop his paintings in regards to light and color from the very beginning (most of his drawings are figure studies or portrait sketches). Such a holistic vision, at the origins of which, although still without obvious achievements, stood the great Venetians, was the most valuable legacy of Rubens for painters of subsequent generations.

Michelangelo Merisi, who was nicknamed after his birthplace near Milan Caravaggio, is considered the most significant master among Italian artists who created at the end of the 16th century. new style in painting.

Already in the first works performed in Rome, he appears as a bold innovator, he challenged the main artistic directions of that era - to mannerism and academism, opposing them with the harsh realism and democracy of his art. The hero of Caravaggio is a man from the street crowd, a Roman boy or youth, endowed with coarse sensual beauty and the naturalness of a thoughtlessly cheerful being; the hero of Caravaggio appears either in the role of a street vendor, a musician, an ingenuous dandy, listening to a crafty gypsy, or in the guise and with the attributes of the ancient god Bacchus. These inherently genre characters, flooded with bright light, are pushed close to the viewer, depicted with emphasized monumentality and plastic tangibility.

The period of creative maturity opens a cycle of monumental paintings dedicated to St. Matthew. In the first and most significant of them - "The Calling of the Apostle Matthew", - transferring the action of the gospel legend to a semi-basement room with bare walls and a wooden table, making people from the street crowd participate in it, Caravaggio at the same time built an emotionally strong dramaturgy of a great event - an invasion the light of Truth to the very bottom of life. The “cellar light”, penetrating into a dark room after Christ and St. Peter, highlights the figures of the people gathered around the table and at the same time emphasizes the miraculous nature of the appearance of Christ and St. Peter, his reality and at the same time unreality, snatching out of the darkness only part of the profile of Jesus, the thin brush of his outstretched hand, the yellow cloak of St. Peter, while their figures dimly appear from the shadows

His paintings, painted on religious subjects, resemble realistic scenes of the author's contemporary life, creating a contrast between late antiquity and modern times. The heroes are depicted in twilight, from which the rays of light snatch out the expressive gestures of the characters, contrastingly writing out their specificity. 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.

Thus, Baroque artists opened up to art new methods of spatial interpretation of form in its ever-changing life dynamics, and activated their life position. The unity of life in the sensual-bodily joy of being, in tragic conflicts, is the basis of beauty in baroque art.

Conclusion

Thus, Baroque is a characteristic of European culture of the 17th-18th centuries, the center of which was Italy and then spread throughout Western Europe. The Baroque era is considered to be the beginning of the triumphal procession of "Western civilization".

Its appearance was a historically natural process, prepared by all previous development. The style found its implementation differently in different countries, revealing their national characteristics. At the same time had common features, typical for all European art and for all European culture:

1. Church dogmatism, which led to an increase in religiosity;

2. Increasing the role of the state, secularism, the struggle of two principles;

3. Increased emotionality, theatricality, exaggeration of everything;

4. Dynamics, impulsiveness;

5. Decorative, picturesque, excess of elements.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that "baroque" is one of the most frilly, opulent styles.

The baroque style is fully consistent with the lifestyle characteristic of that era. This is a style based on the use of classical order forms, brought into a state of dynamic tension, sometimes reaching convulsions.

The Baroque time contributed to the formation of national art schools with their own characteristics (Flanders, Holland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany).

List of sources used

1. Vlasov V.G. Styles in Art: Dictionary. - in 3 vols. T.1 / V.G. Vlasov. - St. Petersburg: Kolna, 1998. - 540 p.

2. Gombrich E. History of Art / E. Gombrich. - M.: AST, 2008. - 688 p.

3. Grushevitskaya T.G. Dictionary of World Artistic Culture / T.G. Grushevitskaya, M.A. Guzik, A.P. Sadokhin. - M.: Academy, 2001. - 408 p.

4. Dass F. Baroque. Architecture between 1600 and 1750 / F. Dass; per. from fr. E. Murashkintseva. - M.: AST, 2004. - 160 p.

5. Ilyina T.V. Art history. Western European Art: Textbook. - M. Higher. school, 2000. - 368 p.

6. Kagan M.S. Basics of the theory artistic culture: Tutorial/ M.S. Kagan, L.M. Mosolova, P.S. Sobolev; Under total ed. L.M. Mosolova. - St. Petersburg: Lan, 2001. - 288 p.

Application

Rice. 1 - Piazza in front of St. Peter's, designed by Lorenzo Bernini

Rice. 2 - Michelangelo. Fragment of the vault of the Sistine Chapel

The emergence of the Baroque:

baroque architecture - a period in the development of architecture in Europe and America (especially in Central and South), covering approximately 150-200 years. The period began at the end of the 16th century and ended at the end of the 18th. Baroque (as a style) embraced all art forms, but was most clearly reflected in painting, theater (and related literature, music) and architecture.

Brief description of the architectural style of the Baroque:

Characteristic features: symmetry in the style of space. Lots of stucco. The complex surfaces of the plane in the buildings are large and new in the columns, the frenziedly finished ceilings with recessed parts.

Predominant colors: muted pastel colors; red pink white blue with yellow accent.

Lines: bizarre convex-concave asymmetric pattern; in the forms of a semicircle, a rectangle, an oval; vertical lines of columns; pronounced horizontal division.

Shape: vaulted domed and rectangular; towers balconies bay windows.

Interior elements: striving for grandeur and splendor; massive front stairs; columns pilasters sculptures stucco and painting carved ornament; relationship of design elements.

Designs: contrasting tense dynamic; pretentious on the facade and at the same time massive and stable.

Windows: semicircular and rectangular; with floral decoration around the perimeter.

Doors: arched openings with columns; vegetable decor.

From Baroque Mannerism, art inherited dynamism and deep emotionality, and from the Renaissance - solidity and pomp: the features of both styles harmoniously merged into one single whole. Baroque , gravitating toward the solemn "grand style", at the same time reflected progressive ideas about the complexity, diversity, and variability of the world.

Baroque is characterized by contrast, tension, dynamism of images, affectation, the desire for grandeur and pomp, for the combination of reality and illusion, for the fusion of arts (urban and palace and park ensembles, opera, cult music, oratorio); at the same time - a tendency towards autonomy of individual genres. Baroque architecture served to affirm the ideas of Catholicism and absolutism, but it reflected the progressive trends in architecture, which were revealed in the planning of cities, squares, buildings, designed for the masses of the people.

It is characteristic that in the Baroque era, the facades of Romanesque churches were remade into Baroque ones, since they seemed insufficiently expressive, while the Gothic ones remained intact. In many European cities, ancient cathedrals have towers with a new baroque finish and the same baroque portals, in the interiors - baroque altars. Both Gothic and Baroque are united by expression, an irrational understanding of architectural space.

Baroque masters:

Borromini (1599-1667), Yuvara, Domenico Fontana (1543-1607), Francesco Caratti (? −1675), Santino Solari, M. G. Zemtsov, V. V. Rastrelli, D. V. Ukhtomsky and others.

Examples:

Church of Pope Clement, architect Pietro-Antonio Trezzini, Zamoskvorechye, Russia.

Baroque (Italian barocco - “vicious”, “prone to excesses”, port. perola barroca - literally “pearl with vice”) is an artistic and architectural style, a trend in European art of the 17th-18th centuries, the center of which was Italy.

The Baroque style arose as an opposition to classicism and rationalism. The main idea of ​​the Baroque can be considered the rejection of "naturalness", which becomes synonymous with wildness. Baroque was designed to ennoble, embellish. It was during the Baroque that the first European park appeared in Versailles, where everything is drawn as if by a ruler, the trees are trimmed in the form of geometric shapes. Baroque is grandeur, splendor, a combination of reality and illusion, contrast, intensity of images.

The history of the baroque

The Baroque style came to replace the High Renaissance (Renaissance) in Italy, the birthplace of the Renaissance. In those days, Italy was exhausted, foreigners ruled in it, but it was she who remained the cultural center of Europe. To prove to the whole world the right to a privileged position, a style is needed that will emphasize power, wealth and luxury, while at the same time there was not enough money to build palaces. It was then that a new baroque style appeared, which allowed the illusion of power and wealth to be created by painting techniques, and not by natural expensive materials.

Famous architectural structures of the Baroque:

The main features of the Baroque

Baroque architecture is characterized by spatial scope, unity, fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms. Large-scale colonnades are often found, an abundance of sculptures on facades and in interiors, volutes, a large number of rake-outs, arched facades with a rake-out in the middle, rusticated columns and pilasters. The domes acquire complex forms, often they are multi-tiered, as in St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. The characteristic details of the Baroque are Atlantes, caryatids, mascarons. From Mannerism, the Baroque inherited an attraction to the unusual, amazing, amazing.

Baroque architects

Carlo Maderno (Carlo Maderno; 1556-1629) - one of the founders of the Italian Baroque, a prominent representative of the Baroque in Italy. The main creation is the façade of the Roman church of Santa Susanna (1603).

Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) - the great Italian architect and sculptor, the largest representative of the Roman and all Italian baroque. His work is considered to be the standard of baroque aesthetics. Bernini's most famous work is Piazza San Pietro in Rome. In the novel and film "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown, the characters solve the riddles left by Bernini.

Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771) is a famous Russian architect of Italian origin, academician of architecture. Two of his most notable works: the ensemble of the Smolny Monastery and the Winter Palace with its famous Jordan Stairs. Rastrelli's famous Kyiv projects are the Mariinsky Palace and St. Andrew's Church in Kyiv. Built by order of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna under the direction of I. F. Michurin.

In Germany, the outstanding baroque monument is the New Palace in Sanssouci (authors - I. G. Bühring, H. L. Manter) and the Summer Palace in the same place (G. W. von Knobelsdorff).

Types of buildings in the Baroque style

The baroque is characterized by the complexity of plans, the splendor of interiors with unexpected spatial and lighting effects, the abundance of curves, plastically curving lines and surfaces; the clarity of classical forms is contrasted with sophistication in shaping. Painting, sculpture, painted wall surfaces are widely used in architecture.

The architectural forms of the Baroque inherited the Italian Renaissance, but surpassed it in complexity, diversity and picturesqueness. Strongly flared facades with profiled cornices, columns, semi-columns and pilasters colossal for several floors, luxurious sculptural details, often fluctuating from convex to concave, give the structure itself movement and rhythm. Not a single detail is independent, as it was during the Renaissance. Everything is subordinated to the general architectural design, which includes the design and decoration of interiors, as well as landscape gardening and urban architectural environment.

The largest and most famous baroque ensembles in the world: Versailles (France), Peterhof (Russia), Aranjuez (Spain), Zwinger (Germany), Schönbrunn (Austria).

Baroque in the interior

The baroque style is characterized by ostentatious, sometimes even exaggerated luxury, although this style retains such an important feature of the classical style as symmetry.

Painting in the interiors of the Baroque style is one of the main, necessary dominants. The ceiling, decorated with bright rich frescoes, the walls of painted marble and gilding are frequent techniques for decorating the interior in the Baroque style. Contrasting colors are often used in Baroque interiors, such as a checkerboard-style marble floor where black and white tiles alternate in a checkerboard pattern. The use of gold and gilding in the interior is ubiquitous. Every corner of the interior should be richly decorated.

Furniture became a real piece of art, its pretentiousness and richness, it seemed, was intended only for decorating the interior, and were not of a utilitarian nature. Chairs, sofas and armchairs are upholstered with expensive, richly colored fabrics and tapestries. The beds are huge, with canopies and flowing bedspreads. cabinets also large sizes, decorated and inlaid. Mirrors are decorated with sculptures and stucco moldings with floral patterns, often gilded. Southern walnut and Ceylon ebony were often used as furniture material.

The Baroque style is very pompous and is not suitable for small interiors, as massive furniture, rich decor, bright colors of paintings take up a lot of space and attract a lot of attention. This is a palace style, so it requires rooms with high ceilings and large rooms.

In the first half of the 18th century, the Baroque style developed into the style of interiors - Rococo in France during the regency of Philippe d'Orleans, highest development Rococo received in Bavaria.

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Among the numerous styles in art, some stand apart. This, for example, classicism and, of course, baroque. To fully understand what baroque is, you must first of all study the history and realities of that era when this style was widespread in almost all of Europe. Let's talk about the distinctive features of the Baroque in such areas of art as architecture and music.

What is baroque style

Baroque is a whole era. This style originated in medieval Italy around the end of the 16th century, and reached its peak in the 17th-18th centuries, spreading in Europe, replacing the harsh Gothic. If you look for a suitable translation of this word with Italian, then you can stop at the option "prone to excesses." And "barocco" means "dissolute" and even "vicious." This is the word the Italians chose for this artistic style. However, the Portuguese word "barroco" (and in Portugal this style was also very common) means just "an irregularly shaped pearl." In general, this style can be described as magnificent, with a lot of frills, majestic, luxurious and, at the same time, quite contrasting - in a word, the complete opposite of classicism that replaced it a little later. The cheerful era of the Baroque came to replace the harsh Middle Ages. That is why, instead of knightly tournaments, various amusements have become common - carousels, walks, fireworks, masquerades, etc. Pretentiousness and unnaturalness at this time are the norm. Everything that will be so dear to people of the era of romanticism: natural behavior, modesty and other similar qualities - is alien to the culture of the baroque era. Hence such a craving for lush wigs and hairstyles, unnatural clothes and so on and so forth.

Baroque in architecture

Despite being so strange for more later eras features, in architecture, the Baroque style, however, gave rise to many truly outstanding works. The names of great architects - such as Rastrelli and Bernini, Fontana and Borromini, Glaubitz and Rainaldi will tell a lot even to an unprepared reader. As regards the most significant architectural monuments of the Baroque era, we highlight, first of all, the famous Coronaro Chapel, which is located in the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria, in Rome. We also note that the Baroque gave rise to many branches, among which we highlight such styles as the Spanish Baroque, Sicilian Baroque, French Baroque (and a little later - Rococo) and Moscow Baroque, which we will talk about in more detail.

What is Moscow baroque

That is what they call the architectural style in which at the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries. many buildings were built in Russia. The standard model for the design of door and window openings, similar columns and other architectural elements make buildings made in this style very recognizable. It should also be noted that the Moscow baroque subsequently developed into several independent architectural styles, which got their name from the names of nobles and boyars, in whose lands such buildings were built. Of the main styles, originating from the Moscow baroque, we single out the Naryshkinsky, Golitsinsky, Stroganov styles and the Prozorovsky style. And here is a small list of the most significant architectural monuments (from the surviving ones) built in the Moscow Baroque style: the Refectory of the Simonov Monastery, the Church of the Resurrection in Kadashi, the Assumption Cathedral in Ryazan, the Assumption Cathedral in Astrakhan, the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Kazan, the Tobolsk Kremlin. Many art historians attribute the last monument to a rather distinctive style - the so-called Siberian baroque.

What is baroque in music

Having replaced the music of the Renaissance, the music of the Baroque era is much more expressive. At the same time, like all the creations of this era, it is somewhat pretentious - sometimes even too much, and also very emotional. Although, it should be noted that a baroque work most often expresses one particular emotion: joy or sadness, fun or sadness, etc.). As for the differences directly in the construction of compositions, then (musicians will understand me) to replace the tonic shift in thirds, characteristic of the music of the Renaissance, the tonic shift began to occur in fourths and fifths. Of the outstanding composers of the Baroque era, I will note C. Monteverdi, D. Buxtehude, A. Scarlatti, T. Albinoni, A. Vivaldi, J. S. Bach, G. F. Handel, J. Pergolesi and, of course, my beloved G. F.Telemann.