The victory of feudal Catholic reaction, the economic and political upheavals that befell the 16th century. Italy, put an end to the development of Renaissance culture. The attack of militant Catholicism on the conquests of the Renaissance was marked by the most severe persecution of people of advanced science, an attempt to subordinate art to the power of the Catholic Church. The Inquisition dealt mercilessly with all those who directly or indirectly opposed the tenets of religion, against the papacy and the clergy. Fanatics in cassocks send Giordano Bruno to the stake and pursue Galileo. The Council of Trent (1545-1563) issues special decrees regulating religious painting and music, aimed at eradicating the secular spirit in art. Founded in 1540, the Jesuit order actively intervenes in matters of art, placing art at the service of religious propaganda.

By the beginning of the 17th century. the nobility and the church in Italy consolidate their political and ideological positions. The situation in the country is still difficult. The oppression of the Spanish monarchy, which seized the Kingdom of Naples and Lombardy, is intensifying even more, and the territory of Italy, as before, remains the scene of continuous wars and robberies, especially in the north, where the interests of the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs and France clashed (as evidenced, for example, by the capture and the sack of Mantua by imperial troops in 1630). Fragmented Italy is actually losing its national independence, having long since ceased to play an active role in the political and economic life of Europe. Under these conditions, the absolutism of the petty principalities acquired features of extreme reaction.

Popular anger against the oppressors erupts in spontaneous uprisings. Even at the very end of the 16th century. the remarkable thinker and scientist Tommaso Campanella became the head of the anti-Spanish conspiracy in Calabria. Due to betrayal, the uprising was prevented, and Campanella himself, after terrible torture, was sentenced to life imprisonment. In his famous essay City of the Sun, written in prison, he expounds the ideas of utopian communism, reflecting the dream of an oppressed people for a happy life. In 1647 a popular uprising broke out in Naples, and in 1674 in Sicily. Especially formidable was the Neapolitan uprising, led by the fisherman Masaniello. However, the fragmented nature of the revolutionary uprisings doomed them to failure and defeat.

The plight of the people contrasts sharply with the overflowing luxury of the landed and monetary aristocracy and high-ranking clergy. Lush festivities, carnivals, the construction and decoration of palaces, villas and churches reach the 17th century. unprecedented scope. The whole life and culture of Italy in the 17th century. woven from sharp contrasts and irreconcilable contradictions, which are reflected in the contradictions of progressive science, in the clash of secular culture and Catholic reaction, in the struggle between conventionally decorative and realistic tendencies in art. The newly flared interest in antiquity coexists with the preaching of religious ideas, a sober rationalism of thinking is combined with a craving for the irrational, mystical. Simultaneously with achievements in the field of exact sciences, astrology, alchemy, and magic flourish.

The popes, who have ceased to claim the role of the leading political force in European affairs and have become the first sovereign sovereigns of Italy, use the tendencies towards the national unification of the country and the centralization of power to strengthen the ideological dominance of the church and the nobility. Papal Rome becomes the center of not only Italian, but also European feudal Catholic culture. Baroque art is formed and flourishes here.

One of the main tasks of Baroque artists was to surround secular and ecclesiastical authorities with a halo of grandeur and caste superiority, and to promote the ideas of militant Catholicism. Hence the characteristic baroque desire for monumental elation, large decorative scope, exaggerated pathos and deliberate idealization in the interpretation of images. In Baroque art, there are sharp contradictions between its social content, designed to serve the ruling elite of society, and the need to influence the broad masses of the people, between the conventionality of images and their emphatically sensual form. In order to enhance the expressiveness of images, Baroque masters resort to all sorts of exaggerations, hyperbole and naturalistic effects.

The harmonic ideal of Renaissance art is replaced in the 17th century. an attempt to reveal images through a dramatic conflict, by deepening them psychologically. This led to the expansion of the thematic range in art, to the use of new means of figurative expression in painting, sculpture and architecture. But the artistic conquests of baroque art were achieved at the cost of abandoning the integrity and completeness of the worldview of the people of the Renaissance, at the cost of abandoning the humanistic content of images.

The autonomy inherent in the art of the Renaissance of each type of art, their equal relationship among themselves, is now being destroyed. Subordinating to architecture, sculpture and painting organically merge into one common decorative whole. Painting seeks to illusory expand the space of the interior; sculptural decoration, growing out of architecture, turns into a picturesque scenery; the architecture itself either becomes highly plastic, losing its strict architectonics, or, dynamically shaping the internal and external space, acquires the features of picturesqueness.

In the baroque synthesis of arts, not only the merging of individual types of art takes place, but also the merging of the entire artistic complex with the surrounding space. Sculptural figures, as if alive, protrude from niches, hang from cornices and pediments; the internal space of the buildings is continued with the help of illusionistically interpreted plafonds. The internal forces inherent in the architectural volumes, as it were, find a way out in the colonnades, stairs, terraces and lattices adjacent to the building, in decorative sculptures, fountains and cascades, in the escaping prospects of alleys. Nature, transformed by the skillful hand of a park decorator, becomes an integral part of the baroque ensemble.

This striving of art for a wide scope and general artistic transformation of the surrounding reality, which, however, was limited to solving outwardly decorative tasks, is to some extent consonant with the advanced scientific worldview of the era. The ideas of Giordano Bruno about the universe, its unity and infinity opened up new horizons for human knowledge, posed the eternal problem of the world and man in a new way. In turn, Galileo, continuing the traditions of the empirical science of the Renaissance, goes from the study of individual phenomena to the knowledge of the general laws of physics and astronomy.

The Baroque style had analogies in Italian literature and music. A typical phenomenon of the era was the pompous gallant-erotic lyrics of Marina and the whole direction in poetry generated by him, the so-called "Marinism". Gravitation of artistic culture of the 17th century. to the synthetic unification of various types of art received a response in the brilliant heyday of Italian opera and the emergence of new musical genres - cantata and oratorio. In the Roman opera of the 1630s, that is, the mature baroque period, decorative spectacle acquires great importance, subordinating both singing and instrumental music. They even try to stage purely religious operas, full of ecstatic pathos and miracles, when the action covers the earth and sky, just as it was done in painting. However, like literature, where Marinism faced classicist opposition and was ridiculed by leading satirical poets, opera very soon goes beyond court culture, expressing more democratic tastes. This was reflected in the penetration of folk song motifs into the opera and the cheerful entertainment of the plot in the spirit of commedia dell "arte (comedy of masks).

Thus, although the baroque is the dominant trend in Italy in the 17th century, it does not cover the entire diversity of the phenomena of culture and art of this time. The realistic art of Caravaggio, which reveals the painting of the 17th century, acts as a direct contrast to the entire aesthetics of the Baroque. Despite social conditions unfavorable for the development of realism, genre-realistic trends in painting make themselves felt throughout the 17th century.

Throughout the Italian fine arts of the 17th century. one can name only two great masters of pan-European significance - Caravaggio and Bernini. In a number of its manifestations, Italian art of the 17th century. bears a specific imprint of the decline of public life, and it is very significant that Italy, which earlier than other countries came up with a new realistic program in painting, turned out to be untenable in its consistent implementation. Incomparably more striking than painting, Italian architecture has a historical significance, which, along with French, occupies a leading place in European architecture of the 17th century.

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.

The early works of Caravaggio were 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.

INTRODUCTION

The seventeenth century was of particular importance for the formation of national cultures of modern times. In this era, the process of localization of large national art schools was completed, the originality of which was determined both by the conditions of historical development and by the artistic tradition that had developed in each country - Italy, Flanders, Holland, Spain and France. This allows us to consider the 17th century. as a new stage in the history of art.

Compared with the Renaissance art of the 17th century. more complex, contradictory in content and artistic forms. The holistic poetic perception of the world, characteristic of the Renaissance, is destroyed, the ideal of harmony, harmony and clarity is inaccessible.

Artistic culture of the 17th century. reflects the complexity of the era that prepared the way for the victory of the capitalist system in the advanced countries of Europe. In the work of artists, a more holistic and deeper perception of reality is affirmed. Receives a new interpretation of the concept of synthesis of arts. Individual types of art, like individual works, lose their isolation and strive to reunite with each other. Buildings are organically included in the space of the street, square, park. Sculpture becomes dynamic, invades architecture and garden space. Decorative painting with spatial and perspective effects complements what is inherent in the architectural interior.

In extreme manifestations, baroque art comes to the irrational, to mysticism, affects the imagination and feelings of the viewer with dramatic tension, expression of forms. Events are interpreted in a grandiose way, the artists prefer to depict scenes of torment, ecstasy, or panegyrics of exploits, triumphs.

The basis of the art of classicism is a rational principle. Beautiful from the point of view of classicism is only that which is orderly, reasonable, harmonious. The heroes of classicism subordinate their feelings to the control of the mind, they are restrained and majestic.

The features of these two great styles are intertwined in the art of one country and even in the work of one artist, giving rise to contradictions in it. Along with baroque and classicism, a more directly powerful realistic reflection of life, free from stylistic elements, arises in the visual arts. The seventeenth century belongs to the greatest masters of realism - Velazquez, Rembrandt, Hals, Caravaggio and others. . .

ART OF ITALY

Architecture

Barromini. The irrationality, expressiveness and picturesqueness of the Baroque find their extreme expression in the work of Francesco Barromini (1599 - 1667). Ignoring the logic of constructions and the possibilities of materials, he replaces straight lines and planes with curved, rounded, wriggling ones.

On the alternation of concave and convex lines, arranged in the shape of a rhombus, he builds a plan for a small church of San Carlo at four fountains in Rome (1634 - 1667). Its complex wave-like facade, dissected by a two-tiered colonnade, is decorated with decorative sculpture, deep niches, and an oval pictorial panel that breaks the cornice and destroys the balance.

Bernini. Like the masters of the Renaissance, the founder of the mature baroque style, Lorenzo Bernini (1598 - 1680), was a multi-talented person. An architect, sculptor, painter, and brilliant decorator, he mostly executed orders from the Roman popes and headed the official direction of Italian art. One of his most characteristic buildings is the church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale in Rome (1653 - 1658).

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. Built according to his project, two mighty wings of the monumental colonnade 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 recessions. 284 columns and 80 pillars 19 m high make up this four-row covered colonnade, 96 large statues crown its attic.

Sculpture

Bernini. In the Cathedral of St. Peter's are also masterly executed sculptures by Bernini - the altar Chair of St. Peter with figures of the church fathers, saints and angels, sparkling with gilding, attracting with stormy dynamics.

Along with baroque decorative plastic, Bernini creates a number of statues and portraits, sometimes outgrowing the boundaries of baroque art. The nature of his innovative quest is manifested in the statue "David" (1623, Rome, Borgheso Gallery).

The subtlety of life observation permeates Bernini's later work - the altar group "The Ecstasy of St. Teresa" (1644 - 1652, Rome, the Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria), which served as a model for many Baroque sculptors not only in Italy, but also in other countries.

Painting.

Carvaggio. Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1573 - 1610). Among the first paintings is "Girl with a lute" (1595, Leningrad, Hermitage). Musician girl. In front of the table are a violin, notes, fruits. All these objects are painted with perfect skill in their dense roundness, materiality, tangibility. The face and figure of the girl are sculpted with chiaroscuro, the dark background emphasizes the saturation of the light tones protruding forward, the objectivity of everything presented.

As a genre scene, the composition "The Calling of Matthew" (1597 - 1601, Rome, Contarelli Chapel in the church of San Luigi dei Francesi) is solved, which depicts two young men in costumes fashionable at that time, looking with curiosity at the incoming Christ. Matthew turned his gaze to Christ, while the third young man, without raising his head, continues to count the money.

From picture to picture, the tragic power of Caravaggio's images grows. In The Entombment (1604, Rome, Vatican Pinakothek), against a deep dark background, a closely knit group of people close to Christ, lowering his bodies into the grave, stands out with bright light.

Bologna Academy. Annibale Carracci. The most talented of the Carracci brothers was Annibale (1560 - 1609), the author of a large number of altar images and paintings on mythological subjects. Together with his brothers, he painted the Palazzo Farnese in Rome (1597 - 1604).

Decorative baroque painting.

The murals of Pietro da Cortona (1596 - 1669) in the Palazzo Barberini are distinguished by an unusual splendor, elegant festivity of colors. The most complex perspective and illusory effects are used in the paintings of Sant Ignazio in Rome by Andrea Pozzo (1642 - 1709).

Along with the official baroque direction, which dominated the major centers, throughout the 17th century. many artists continued to work in the provinces, preserving the traditions of realism in their work. Among them, the Bolognese Giuseppe Maria Cresi (1665 - 1747), who paved the way for the development of realism of the subsequent period, stood out for the special emotional richness of art.

Moscow State Regional University

Art History Essay

Italian art of the 17th century.

Performed:

correspondence student

33 groups of the Faculty of Fine Arts and HP

Minakova Evgenia Yurievna.

Checked:

Moscow 2009

Italy in the 17th century

Architecture. Baroque style in architecture.

Architecture. early baroque.

Architecture. High, or mature, baroque.

Architecture. Baroque architecture outside of Rome.

Art. General characteristics.

Art. early baroque.

Art. Realistic flow.

Art. The second generation of artists of the Bologna school.

Art. High, or mature, baroque.

Art. Late Baroque.

Already from the middle of the 16th century, the historical development of Italy was characterized by the advance and victory of feudal Catholic reaction. Economically weak, fragmented into separate independent states, Italy is unable to withstand the onslaught of more powerful countries - France and Spain. The long struggle of these states for dominance in Italy ended with the victory of Spain, secured by a peace treaty in Cato Cambresi (1559). Since that time, the fate of Italy is closely connected with Spain. With the exception of Venice, Genoa, Piedmont, and the Papal States, Italy for almost two centuries was in fact a Spanish province. Spain involved Italy in devastating wars, which often took place on the territory of the Italian states, contributed to the spread and strengthening of feudal reaction in Italy, both in the economy and in cultural life.

The dominant position in the public life of Italy was occupied by the aristocracy and the higher Catholic clergy. In the conditions of the deep economic decline of the country, only large secular and church feudal lords still had significant material wealth. The Italian people - peasants and townspeople - were in an extremely difficult situation, were doomed to poverty and even extinction. Protest against feudal and foreign oppression finds expression in numerous popular uprisings that broke out throughout the 17th century and sometimes assumed formidable proportions, such as the uprising of Masaniello in Naples.

The general character of the culture and art of Italy in the 17th century was due to all the features of its historical development. It is in Italy that the art of the Baroque originates and receives the greatest development. However, being dominant in the Italian art of the 17th century, this direction was not the only one. In addition to it and in parallel with it, realistic movements are developing, associated with the ideology of the democratic strata of Italian society and receiving significant development in many art centers in Italy.

The monumental architecture of Italy in the 17th century satisfied almost exclusively the needs of the Catholic Church and the highest secular aristocracy. During this period, mainly church buildings, palaces and villas were built.

The difficult economic situation in Italy made it impossible to build very large structures. At the same time, the church and the highest aristocracy needed to strengthen their prestige, their influence. Hence - the desire for unusual, extravagant, ceremonial and sharp architectural solutions, the desire for increased decorativeness and sonority of forms.

The construction of imposing, although not so large structures contributed to the creation of the illusion of the social and political well-being of the state.

Baroque reaches its greatest tension and expression in religious, church buildings; its architectural forms perfectly corresponded to the religious principles and ritual side of militant Catholicism. By building numerous churches, the Catholic Church sought to strengthen and strengthen its prestige and influence in the country.

The Baroque style developed in the architecture of that time is characterized, on the one hand, by the desire for monumentality, and, on the other hand, by the predominance of the decorative and pictorial beginning over the tectonic.

Like works of fine art, baroque architectural monuments (especially church buildings) were designed to enhance the emotional impact on the viewer. The rational principle, which underlay the art and architecture of the Renaissance, gave way to the irrational principle, static, calm - to dynamics, tension.

Baroque is a style of contrasts and uneven distribution of compositional elements. Of particular importance in it are large and juicy curvilinear, arched forms. Baroque structures are characterized by frontality, façade construction. Buildings are perceived in many cases from one side - from the side of the main facade, often obscuring the volume of the structure.

Baroque pays great attention to architectural ensembles - urban and park, but the ensembles of this time are based on other principles than the ensembles of the Renaissance. Baroque ensembles in Italy are built on decorative principles. They are characterized by isolation, comparative independence from the general system of planning the urban area. An example is the largest ensemble of Rome - the square in front of the Cathedral of St. Peter.

The colonnades and decorative walls that closed the space in front of the entrance to the cathedral covered the disorderly, random buildings behind them. There is no connection between the square and the complex network of lanes and random houses adjoining it. Separate buildings that are part of the Baroque ensembles, as it were, lose their independence, completely submitting to the general compositional design.

Baroque posed the problem of art synthesis in a new way. Sculpture and painting, which played a very important role in the buildings of that time, intertwined with each other and often obscured or illusoryly deformed architectural forms, contributed to the creation of that impression of richness, splendor and splendor that Baroque monuments invariably produce.

Of great importance for the formation of a new style was the work of Michelangelo. In his works, he developed a number of forms and techniques that were later used in Baroque architecture. The architect Vignola can also be described as one of the immediate forerunners of the Baroque; in his works one can note a number of early signs of this style.

A new style - the Baroque style in Italian architecture - replaces the Renaissance in the 80s of the 16th century and develops throughout the 17th and the first half of the 18th century.

Conventionally, within the architecture of this time, three stages can be distinguished: early baroque - from the 1580s to the end of the 1620s, high, or mature, baroque - until the end of the 17th century and later - the first half of the 18th century.

The architects Giacomo della Porta and Domenico Fontana are considered to be the first Baroque masters. They belonged to the next generation in relation to Vignola, Alessi, Ammanati, Vasari and ended their activity at the beginning of the 17th century. At the same time, as noted earlier, the traditions of the late Renaissance continued to live in the work of these masters.

Giacomo della Porta. Giacomo della Porta (1541-1608) was a student of Vignola. Its earliest construction - the church of Site Katarina in Funari (1564) - belongs to the Renaissance in its style. However, the facade of the church del Gesu, which this architect completed after the death of Vignola (since 1573), is much more baroque than the original project of his teacher. The facade of this church with a characteristic division into two tiers and side volutes, the plan of construction was a model for a number of Catholic churches in Italy and other countries. Giacomo della Porta completed after the death of Michelangelo the construction of the large dome of the Cathedral of St. Peter. This master was also the author of the famous villa Aldobrandini in Frascati near Rome (1598-1603). As usual, the main building of the villa is located on the side of the mountain; a double-sided rounding ramp leads to the main entrance. On the opposite side of the building adjoins the garden. At the foot of the mountain there is a semicircular grotto with arches, above it there is a water cascade framed by stairs. The building itself is of a very simple prismatic form, completed by a huge torn pediment.

In the composition of the villa, in the park structures that make it up and in the nature of the plastic details, the desire for deliberate beauty, the refinement of architecture, so characteristic of the Baroque in Italy, is clearly manifested.

At the time under consideration, the system of the Italian park is finally taking shape. It is characterized by the presence of a single axis of the park, located on the slope of the mountain with numerous slopes and terraces. The main building is located on the same axis. A typical example of such a complex is Villa Aldobrandini.

Domenico Fontana. Another major architect of the early Baroque was Domenico Fontana (1543-1607), who was one of the Roman successors of Michelangelo and Vignola. His most important work is the Lateran Palace in Rome. The palace, in the form that Fontana gave it, is an almost regular square with a square courtyard enclosed inside. The facade solution of the palace is completely based on the architecture of the Palazzo Farnese - Antonio Sangallo the Younger. In general, the palace construction of Italy in the 17th century is based on the further development of the compositional type of the palace-palazzo, which was developed by the architecture of the Renaissance.

Together with his brother Giovanni Fontana, Domenico built in Rome in 1585-1590 the Aqua Paolo fountain (without the attic, later made by Carlo Maderna). Its architecture is based on the reworking of antique triumphal arches.

Carlo Maderna. The student and nephew of Domenico Fontana - Carlo Maderna (1556-1629) finally strengthened the new style. His work is transitional to the period of developed baroque.

Maderno's early work is the façade of the early Christian basilica of Susanna in Rome (c. 1601). Created on the basis of the scheme of the facade of the Church of the Gesù, the facade of the Church of Susanna is clearly divided into orders, decorated with statues in niches and numerous ornamental decorations.

In 1604, Maderna was appointed chief architect of the Cathedral of St. Peter. By order of Pope Paul V, Maderna drew up a project for expanding the cathedral by adding a front, entrance part. The clergy insisted on lengthening the Greek cross to the Latin form, which was in line with the tradition of church architecture. In addition, the dimensions of the Michelangelo Cathedral did not fully cover the place where the ancient basilica was located, which was unacceptable from the point of view of the ministers of the church.

As a result, when building a new front facade of the cathedral, Maderna completely changed the original plan of Michelangelo. The latter conceived the cathedral as standing in the center of a large square, which would allow one to walk around the building and see it from all sides. Maderna, with his extension, closed the sides of the cathedral from the viewer: the width of the facade exceeds the width of the longitudinal part of the temple. The lengthening of the building led to the fact that the dome of the Cathedral of St. Petra is perceived completely only at a very great distance, as he approaches the building, he gradually disappears behind the facade wall.

The second period of baroque architecture - the period of maturity and flourishing of style - is associated with the work of major masters: L. Bernini, F. Borromini, C. Rainaldi - in Rome, B. Longhena - in Venice, F. Ricchini - in Milan, Guarino Guarini - in Turin.

Lorenzo Bernini. The central figure of the mature Baroque is Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680). He was not only an architect, but also the largest sculptor of the 17th century in Italy.

Since 1629, Bernini, after the death of Maderna, continued the construction of the Cathedral of St. Peter. In 1633, he built a large bronze canopy in the cathedral above the main dome, supported by four twisted, essentially deconstructive columns. According to tradition, this canopy is conventionally considered the first work of the mature Baroque. Bernini's interior decoration of the cathedral was suggested to him by Michelangelo's project. This decoration is a wonderful example of the baroque church interior.

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