Radishevsky Museum. Arts and Crafts

Reflection of the turning point of the Petrine era in arts and crafts. Western European artistic influences (Holland, England, France, Italy). The processes of the formation of the estate system and the strengthening of secular culture and their influence on the development of arts and crafts. Multi-layered arts and crafts, uneven development of its individual areas. Preservation and development of traditional trends (provincial and folk culture, church art).

Improving the technology of handicraft and manufactory production. The birth of the art industry (manufacturing of tapestries, art glass, faience, stone cutting, silk and cloth production). Manufactory production of fashionable things, luxury items. Discovery and development of deposits of copper, tin, silver, colored stone, high-quality clays.

The role of the Academy of Sciences in the "prosperity of free arts and manufactories", a reflection of new natural science and technical interests in the arts and crafts. New forms of education and training of masters at art manufactories. Closing of workshops of the Armory. Retirement and its role in the development of certain types of arts and crafts. The emergence of guild organizations of artisans in Russia. The work of foreign masters in various areas of arts and crafts.

Artistic style in arts and crafts. Fashion, its impact on changing tastes, changing the subject environment. The emergence of new types of objects, the renewal of aesthetic ideas in arts and crafts. Trends in the synthesis of arts. The role of architecture, monumental art, graphics and illustrated editions in the development of arts and crafts. Decorative trends of the Baroque culture in the design of festivities, complexes of triumphal gates, garden and park art.

The art of interior design as a special kind of artistic activity in the work of architects of the first quarter of the 18th century. The first interior works and the main style trends (baroque, rococo, classicism). New types of premises (studies, front bedrooms, living rooms, "turnery", "picture halls") and their content (Summer Palace, A.D. Menshikov's Palace, Grand Peterhof Palace, Monplaisir). Works of French masters. "Chinoiserie" in the interiors of the Petrine era.

Ensemble solution of the subject environment. The emergence of design activities in the field of material culture and arts and crafts.

The development of the furniture business. New types and forms of furniture, materials and methods of decoration. Influence of English and Dutch furniture. Baroque and Rococo furniture.

Wood carving, its role in the interior. Carved reliefs. Iconostasis of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Ship carving and carriage business.

Silver business. Preservation of the traditions of the XVII century. Establishment of shops of gold and silversmiths. Jewelry Art. Portrait miniature on enamel. Order signs and "complained" persons. The first masters of pictorial miniatures were Grigory Musikisky and Andrey Ovsov.

Ceramics and faience of the Petrine era. Dutch tiles in the interior. Expansion of imports of faience products from England and Holland. The first private manufactory of A. Grebenshchikov in Moscow, the appearance of domestic fine faience.

Increase in glass consumption, foundation of glass factories in Yamburg and Zhabino near St. Petersburg. Mirrors and lighting fixtures. Formation of the style of ceremonial palace utensils with matte engraving. Maltsov's first private glass and crystal factory in the Mozhaisk district.

Stone carving and gem cutting. Foundation of the first cutting factories in Peterhof and Yekaterinburg. Bone carving. Basic carving techniques, stylistic devices. Traditions Kholmogory. The appearance of lathes, a change in the shape of products. Petrovsky turnery and A. Nartov. The influence of engraving and the illustrated book on bone carving. The foundation of the Tula Arms Plant, the development of the art of artistic processing of steel in decorative items.

Costume typology. Change of a medieval dress to a suit of the European sample. Establishment by Peter of the rules for wearing and types of noble dress. The introduction of statutory clothing and uniforms for the army and navy, for officials. The emergence of new manufactories due to changes in the costume. Replacing oriental fabrics with Western European ones. Samples of a men's suit from the wardrobe of Peter I.

Foundation of the St. Petersburg trellis manufactory. Training of Russian masters.

Decorative and applied art of the era of Anna Ioannovna. Artistic silver. Foundation of a state-owned glass factory on the Fontanka in St. Petersburg. The activities of the tapestry manufactory. Tapestry style and application in the interior. L.Karavak and his projects in the field of decorative art.

Revival in artistic culture in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. Predominance of French influences. Baroque and Rococo in Russian Art. Rococo in the interior, costume, jewelry, gardening art. Synthesis of architecture and arts and crafts in baroque and rococo interiors. Works by VV Rastrelli and A. Rinaldi in the field of interior design. Decorative materials and techniques for interior decoration. Types of baroque and rococo furniture. Fabrics in the interior. Lighting. Ensemble in various types of arts and crafts of the middle and second half of the century.

Silver business. confirmation of the Baroque style. Monumental and decorative works. Large ceremonial services. Changing the shape of objects, new types of dishes for new products. Jewelry Art. Activities of court masters. Rococo style in jewelry art. Types of women's jewelry. Colored stone in jewelry.

The suit, its image, type of cut, materials, accessories, the nature of the finish. Influence of French fashion. Baroque and rococo in women's and men's costume.

The invention of domestic porcelain. Foundation of a porcelain manufactory in St. Petersburg. The activities of D.I. Vinogradov and the "Vinogradov" period of development of Russian porcelain. The first palace services, vases, small plastic. Creation of a state-owned faience factory in St. Petersburg.

Etched glass from the Elizabethan era. The activities of the St. Petersburg state-owned glass factory and the factory on the river. Nazie. Baroque and Rococo in art glass. Glass in the decoration of palace interiors VV Rastrelli. Private factories of the Nemchinovs and Maltsovs. M. V. Lomonosov's experiments in the field of colored glass, the beginning of its production at the Ust-Ruditskaya factory.

Bone carving. Rococo style, the work of the carver Osip Dudin.

Decorative and applied art of the second half of the 18th century.

Classicism in the decorative arts 1760–1790 The combination of rococo style with antique motifs. The role of architects in the arts and crafts of the Classical era. Training of masters of arts and crafts at the Academy of Arts.

Interior of early classicism. Materials and forms, coloring, sculptural decoration, cheapening of decorative finishes. Interior work by C. Cameron. A range of decorative techniques, new materials, the image of the premises and the ensemble. Interiors by V. Brenna.

Classicism furniture, character, forms, influences. ancient prototypes. New types of furniture. Participation of architects in the development of furniture art in Russia (Brenna, Lvov, Cameron, Voronikhin). Furniture D. Roentgen in Russia. Workshop of G. Gambs and I. Ott. Jacob style in Russian furniture. Change of materials in furniture art (mahogany, gilded wood, poplar, Karelian birch). Fabric and embroidery in furniture.

Spol's workshop in Moscow. Carved decor in the interiors of M. Kazakov. Carved furniture of the Ostankino Palace. The heyday of the set technique in Russian furniture in the second half of the century, methods of execution and materials. Furniture production on Okhta in St. Petersburg. Papier-mâché as a material for furniture and decorative arts.

Russian and French artistic bronze. The main types of products and decorative techniques. Bronze and glass in lighting fixtures. Bronze in the decoration of stone and porcelain vases and furniture. The activities of the Foundry House. Foreign bronze masters in St. Petersburg (P. Azhi, I. Tsekh and others).

Costume. Changing types and silhouettes of clothing in the 1770s-1780s. Introduction of uniform noble dress. Ceremonial court dress, the use of stylized national forms. "Greek style" of the 1790s in costume and hairstyles. A radical change in the design of the suit. Fashion for shawls, scarves, capes, mantillas, shawls.

Jewelry Art. Activities of I.Pozier, Dubulon, J.Ador, I.G. Scharf, I.V. Bukh, Duval brothers. Large imperial crown. Court diamond workshop. Artistic silver. Influence of French Louis XVI style silver. The art of black on silver. Increasing role of northern jewelry centers - Vologda, Veliky Ustyug. Factory of niello and enamel products of the Popov brothers in Veliky Ustyug. Enamel with silver lining.

Porcelain, manufacturing and decoration techniques. Imperial Porcelain Factory. Early classicism in the forms and decoration of products. Influence of European porcelain and faience. Activities J.-D. Rashetta. Contacts of IPE with the Academy of Arts. Decorative vases and palace services in the interior of the Classicism era. Large ceremonial services, their composition, the nature of the design. The search for appropriate forms of objects and techniques for decorating products. Porcelain sculpture (series of figures "Peoples of Russia", "Traders and peddlers"). Genre drawing and engraving in porcelain sculpture and painting on porcelain. Biscuit products. "Pavlovsky" porcelain of the late 1790s.

F. Gardner's factory in Verbilki. Order Services.

Art glass. G. Potemkin's plant in Ozerki. Colored glass and crystal. Glass in the interiors of C. Cameron. Imperial glass factory in the 1790s. Communication of products of the imperial porcelain and glass factories. Bakhmetev's plant in the Penza province. The rise of glass painting in the 1780s and 1790s. Gothic motifs in art glass.

The activities of the tapestry manufactory. Connection of tapestries with the general trend in Russian painting (historical theme, allegory, portrait in tapestry). Transition from Rococo to Classicism. Tapestry in interior design.

Stone carving. The role of C. Cameron in the development of the culture of colored stone and its use in the interior. New methods of using stone, "Russian mosaic". Activities of the Peterhof Lapidary Factory. Discovery of new deposits of colored stone in the Urals and Altai. Yekaterinburg factory and Kolyvan factory. Invention of machines for working stone. Vases designed by A. Voronikhin and D. Quarenghi.

The heyday of Tula steel (furniture and decorative items). Noble and merchant factories. Factory of lacquer miniatures P.I. Korobov. The emergence of crafts at art manufactories. The development of art crafts in the second half of the 18th century: Khokhloma painting, lace weaving, patterned weaving, carpet weaving, artistic metal, etc.

Development of decorative and applied arts contributed to the improvement of handicraft and manufactory production techniques, the emergence of the art industry (manufacturing of tapestries, art glass, faience, stone cutting, silk and cloth production), manufactory production of fashionable things, luxury goods, discovery and development of deposits of copper, tin, silver, colored stone, high quality clays.

The role of the Academy of Sciences in the "prosperity of free arts and manufactories", reflecting new natural-science and technical interests in decorative and applied arts, is significant. In the first half of the 18th century, new forms of education and training of masters at art manufactories appeared; there are guild organizations of artisans in Russia, which does not negate the wide distribution of foreign masters in various areas of decorative and applied arts.

In arts and crafts (interior items, furniture, decor) style is actively dictated by fashion. As a result, new types of objects appear, aesthetic ideas in arts and crafts are updated. In the decorative and applied arts of the middle of the 18th century, there is a tendency for a synthesis of arts, where architecture, sculpture, painting, and applied crafts are merged into a decorative ensemble.

As a result, the art of interior design becomes a special kind of artistic activity in the work of architects of the 18th century. This type of artistic activity causes the emergence of new types of premises (studies, front rooms, bedrooms, living rooms, "picture halls") and their content (Summer Palace, A.D. Menshikov's Palace, Grand Peterhof Palace, Monplaisir).

All this contributes to the development of furniture business, new types and forms of furniture, materials and ways of decorating it appear. The influence of English and Dutch furniture is very strong here. Under the influence of Europe, even the baroque and rococo style in furniture is taking shape in Russia.

Classicism furniture has a characteristic character and form. To a large extent, antique motifs can be traced in the forms and decoration of furniture. In the middle of the 18th century, architects were involved in the development of new types of furniture, furniture art appeared in Russia and author's furniture (Brenna, Lvov, Cameron, Voronikhin). In the second half of the 18th century, the first furniture workshops appeared (the workshop of G. Gambs and I. Ott). For this period in the art of furniture is characterized by the style of "Jacob". By the second half of the 18th century, materials in furniture art were changing: mahogany, gilded wood, poplar, Karelian birch appeared here; Increasingly, textiles and embroidery are used in the manufacture of furniture.

Ceramics and faience occupy a special place in the decorative and applied arts. This happens at first due to the expansion of imports of faience products from England and Holland. However, soon the first private manufactory of A. Grebenshchikov appeared in Moscow, producing Russian fine faience. Later, the style of ceremonial palace dishes with matte engraving was formed, and the fashion for crystal as an interior item spread. This entails the opening of Maltsov's first private glass and crystal factory in the Mozhaisk district.

In the 18th century, due to the growing popularity of arts and crafts, interior decor, the consumption of glass increased, which was used to create a variety of mirrors and lighting fixtures.

Sculpture and painting of the second half of the 18th century.

An important role in the development of 18th century painting was played by creation Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky. Despite the fact that the artist was not officially listed as a student of the Academy, he undoubtedly used the advice of its teachers and, above all, Levitsky. The natural talent and iron perseverance of the young artist soon led to the fact that Borovikovsky was promoted to the ranks of the first masters of the late 18th century. He created a series of excellent portraits of his contemporaries, including G. Derzhavin, V. Arsenyeva, M. Lopukhina, O. Filippova and many others. A constant interest in the spiritual experiences of a person, emphasized lyricism and contemplation, fanned by a haze of sentimentality, so characteristic of the era, are characteristic of most of Borovikovsky's works. The artist never followed the path of external, superficial characteristics of the image, constantly striving to convey the subtlest spiritual movements of the portrayed faces.

His work is dominated by a chamber portrait. Borovikovsky seeks to affirm the self-worth and moral purity of a person (portrait of Lizynka and Dashinka, portrait of E.N. Arsenyeva, etc.). At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, Borovikovsky was attracted by strong, energetic personalities, he focuses on citizenship, nobility, and the dignity of those portrayed. The appearance of his models becomes more restrained, the landscape background is replaced by the image of the interior (portraits of A.A. Dolgorukov, M.I. Dolgoruka, etc.).

Borovikovsky is also a recognized master of portrait miniatures. The collection of the Russian Museum contains works belonging to his brush - portraits of A.A. Menelas, V.V. Kapnist, N.I. Lvova and others. The artist often used tin as the basis for his miniatures.

Russian portrait painting of the 18th century reaches its true height in the work of D.G. Levitsky . Already in one of his early works - a portrait of the architect A. Kokorinov - Levitsky showed outstanding abilities as a painter. The portrait of the great French materialist philosopher D. Diderot, painted by Levitsky in St. Petersburg in 1773, and the series of portraits of pupils of the Smolny Institute created by the artist are of high artistic merit. The images of these girls are marked with sincerity and warmth, the originality of each of them is masterfully conveyed.

Portraits of subsequent years - Lvova, the artist's father, the Bakunins, Anna Davia and many other masterpieces of Levitsky - are clear evidence of his brilliant talent.

Levitsky created an extensive gallery of portraits of his contemporaries, capturing the living images of the people of the era as widely and fully as anyone else. The art of Levitsky completes the history of the development of Russian portrait painting in the 18th century. However, one should also note some historically determined limitations of his work: like other remarkable artists of his time, Levitsky could not reflect the social contradictions of reality. The people depicted by the artist, in accordance with the prevailing aesthetic ideas, always pose somewhat, as if they are trying to show themselves to the viewer in the “most pleasant” light. However, in a number of his works the artist achieves amazing simplicity and vitality.

Levitsky's legacy is enormous and still evokes in the audience a feeling of direct aesthetic pleasure. The professional excellence of his works and their realistic orientation place the artist in one of the most honorable places in the entire history of Russian art.

Among the most famous works of D.G. Levitsky are the following: “Portrait of E.A. Vorontsova”, “Portrait of the architect A.F. Kokorinov”, “Portrait of N.A. Lvov”, “Portrait of M.A. Dyakova”, “Portrait of Ursula Mniszek", "Portrait of Agashi's daughter in Russian costume", etc.

In the field of portraiture, Russian artists of the second half of the 18th century also said their new word. The sharpness of the psychological characteristics, which marked many portraits of this time, is striking - the brush of the best Russian masters is increasingly gravitating towards the truthful transfer of the image of a person. It is significant that at this time portraits were already being created not only of the nobility and the "powerful of this world", but also of a number of progressive public figures. In these portraits, elements of splendor and external gloss are completely absent; artists turn their attention to the transfer of the inner content of a person, to the disclosure of the strength of his mind, the nobility of his thoughts and aspirations.

The development of the Russian portrait found expression in the work of F. Rokotov.

Fedor Stepanovich Rokotov- one of the best Russian portrait painters. Having received an art education under the guidance of L.-J. Le Lorraine and Count Pietro Rotary, worked in the manner of the latter, but he delved into nature more than him and was diligent in execution. In 1762 he was admitted as an adjunct to the newly established St. Petersburg. Academy of Arts for the painting "Venus" presented to her and for the portrait of Emperor Peter III.

Delicate pictorial skill distinguishes the portraits of this artist. The intimate spirituality of the image, especially in female portraits, Rokotov brings to great expressiveness and strength. The highly technical perfection of the artist's works - in terms of the nature of the drawing and pictorial skill, only Levitsky can be compared with him. The portraits created by Rokotov are distinguished by the refinement of the drawing and the elegance of color.

The most famous works of Rokotov include: "Portrait of an unknown woman in a pink dress", "Portrait of A.I. Vorontsov", "Portrait of G.G. Orlov in armor", "Coronation portrait of Catherine II", "Portrait of A.P. Struyskaya" , "Portrait of the poet V.I. Maikov", "Portrait of Surovtseva", etc.

In the second half of the XVIII century. in Russian painting began to develop household genre. However, genre painting was considered by the leadership of the Academy of Arts and the privileged strata of society as something vile, unworthy of the artist's brush. Despite this, after the peasant war led by E. Pugachev, both in literature, theater and music, and in painting of the 1770-1780s. began to show interest in the peasantry, its way of life, way of life. Often these were sentimental images of idyllic shepherds and shepherdesses who had nothing to do with real peasant life. However, there were exceptions.

One of the first in Russian painting, the peasant theme was developed by the serf Prince G. A. Potemkin Mikhail Shibanov . He painted the pictures “Peasant Dinner”, “Feast of the Wedding Pact”, etc. In Shibanov’s paintings there is no denunciation of serfdom, however, in these canvases there is no idealization of peasant life. The artist is distinguished by knowledge and understanding of the life and character of the Russian peasant.

The peasant theme was reflected in the work of the artist I. M. Tankov (1739 - 1799), the author of the painting "Feast in the Village" and I. A. Ermenev (1746 - after 1792), who painted the watercolors "Peasant Lunch", "Beggars Singers" and etc.). For the first time in the history of Russian art, the artist conveyed the gloomy side of folk life, the squalor of poverty.

In the second half of the XVIII century. the real flourishing of Russian sculpture begins. It developed slowly, but Russian Enlightenment thought and Russian classicism were the greatest stimuli for the development of the art of great civic ideas, large-scale problems, which led to interest in sculpture in this period. Shubin, Gordeev, Kozlovsky, Shchedrin, Prokofiev, Martos - each in itself was the brightest individuality, left its mark on art. But all of them were united by common creative principles, which they learned from Professor Nicolas Gillet, who headed the sculpture class at the Academy from 1758 to 1777, common ideas of citizenship and patriotism, and high ideals of antiquity.

The search for the generalized beautiful does not exclude the full depth of comprehension of the human character, the desire to convey its versatility. This striving is palpable in the monumental and decorative sculpture and easel sculpture of the second half of the century, but especially in the portrait genre.

His highest achievements are connected, first of all, with creativity. Fedot Ivanovich Shubin (1740-1805), fellow countryman Lomonosov, who arrived in St. Petersburg already as an artist, who comprehended the intricacies of bone carving. The first work of Shubin in his homeland is a bust of A.M. Golitsyn already testifies to the full maturity of the master. All the versatility of the characteristics of the model is revealed during its circular inspection, although there is undoubtedly the main point of view of the sculpture.

Shubin worked not only as a portrait painter, but also as a decorator. He made 58 oval marble historical portraits for the Chesme Palace (located in the Armory), sculptures for the Marble Palace and for Peterhof, a statue of Catherine II - the legislator (1789-1790). There is no doubt that Shubin is the largest phenomenon in Russian artistic culture of the 18th century. The French sculptor Etienne-Maurice Falconet worked in Russia together with Russian masters. In the monument to Peter the Great on Senate Square in St. Petersburg, he expressed his understanding of Peter's personality and his historical role in the destinies of Russia.

Fyodor Fyodorovich Shchedrin(1751-1825). He went through the same stages of training at the Academy and retirement in Italy and France as Shubin. Executed by him in 1776, "Marsyas" is full of turbulent movement and a tragic worldview. Like all sculptors of the Classical era, Shchedrin is fascinated by ancient images (“Sleeping Endymion”; “Venus”), while showing a particularly poetic penetration into their world.

Already in the art of the 17th century, especially in the second half of it, such trends are observed that paved the way for the rapid development of the secular realistic art of the 18th century. The icon-painting convention gives way to life reproduction of people, landscapes and historical events. The traditional floral ornament, which was interpreted rather conditionally, is replaced by the reproduction of realistically rendered flowers, fruits, leaves, garlands and shells. On works of applied art, painting on religious subjects takes on an almost secular character, sometimes emphatically decorative and theatrical. The forms of objects become magnificent, solemn, with a wide variety of decorations. Many ancient types of household items are disappearing, such as cups with flat shelves-handles, silver brothers. Traditional ancient ladles turn into purely decorative premium items that have lost their practical meaning. New types of utensils appear: cups decorated with baroque ornaments, everyday scenes and inscriptions of secular content, goblets in the form of an eagle, goblets made of horn on stands and many others. Church utensils and household items of the clergy were now no different in style from purely secular things, and sometimes even surpassed them in greater splendor and material value.

After the secularization of the lands in 1764, the Trinity-Sergius Lavra loses its possessions, but its wealth by that time was so great that this reform did not affect either the scope of construction work in the monastery, or the rich design of church interiors, the personal quarters of the governor and the metropolitan who lived in the monastery, as well as on the wealth of its sacristy and treasury. The monastery continued to receive contributions from the empresses and high dignitaries of the court, the Moscow metropolitan and other clergy. As a rule, these were works made by the best masters of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Veliky Ustyug, Rostov-Yaroslavl and other centers of applied art. Therefore, the Lavra collection of applied art of the XVIII century. represents the most diverse types of jewelry technology of this time.

The art of chasing on silver acquires a peculiar form, especially from the middle of the 18th century. These are predominantly large Baroque curls, masterfully executed in rather high relief, in combination with the image of fruits, baskets of flowers, cupids, garlands of flowers and leaves. Chasing was often made openwork and in this case had an additional background, which gave illumination to the pattern.

A classic example of such coinage is the massive oklad of the Gospel made in Moscow in 1754 by the contribution of Empress Elizabeth1. Silver plates with painted enamel images of the Trinity, evangelists, and scenes from the life of Christ are set into tall chased boxes and squares. They are secular.

Moscow craftsman P. Vorobey made in 17682 a silver bowl (which was used in the monastery as a bowl of water). It is decorated with an excellent chased ornament of original curled cartouches and wide leaves on a gilded background. The legs of the bowl are lion paws holding smooth balls in their claws. The salt shaker of 1787, decorated with embossing and niello, was a Moscow master's gift to Metropolitan Platon3.

The new center of jewelry making - St. Petersburg - is presented in the museum's collection by a chased silver handle with a spout in the form of an eagle's head, made in 1768 by craftsman Claes Johann Ehlers4. The same craftsman made a chased silver dish with a Baroque ornament across the field and a depiction of a biblical scene: a whale throws Jonah ashore5. At the same time, the master depicted here the coast of St. Petersburg with the Peter and Paul Fortress and the spire of the cathedral. Rukoma and a dish - the contribution of Metropolitan Platon.

Things of ritual purpose also acquired a secular decorative character, and their solemnity was emphasized by an unprecedentedly large size. Typical of the 18th century. a set of liturgical vessels (chalice, paten, star and two plates) made in 1789 by A. V. Sheremetyev6. The high communion bowl here has a large chased bell-shaped tray, an openwork silver casing on the body of the bowl, and a chalice with painted enamel. Large-diameter diskos and platters specially made for this chalice are decorated with engravings that convey traditional iconographic scenes.

The art of filigree acquires a completely different character. Instead of a flat curl with sprouts, winding on a smooth surface of metal in ancient works, the filigree drawing of the 18th century. complicated by additional decorations superimposed on top, sometimes in combination with enamel and precious stones. In some cases, the filigree is made openwork and superimposed on an additional background. Sometimes the thing was made from scanned threads.

An outstanding piece of filigree work is the 1789 tabernacle of the contribution of Metropolitan Platon7. There is openwork filigree, filigree combined with enamel, and filigree superimposed on a smooth silver background. The tabernacle looks like a secular casket, as evidenced by its completely non-ecclesiastical shape, elegant decoration and flowers planted in the corners made of thin metal parts with enamel.

An example of skilful relief filigree can be found in the salary of the book "Officer of the Bishop's Service", also the contribution of Metropolitan Platon in 17898.

Great development is received in the XVIII century. Solvychegodsk and Veliky Ustyug enamels with their one-color (blue or white) background, on which human figures, flowers and other images are superimposed in the form of separate metal plates, sometimes additionally colored with enamels. The museum has a large collection of household items from Solvychegodsk and Ustyug.

In the XVIII century. for the interior of the temples of the Lavra, monumental silver structures were also made according to the drawings of famous artists of Moscow and St. Petersburg. For the altar of the Trinity Cathedral, by order of Metropolitan Platon, a large silver seven-candlestick in the form of a laurel tree9 was made, he also decorated the silver tabla of the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral. The Moscow craftsman David Prif made a silver canopy over the shrine of Sergius of Radonezh (commissioned by Empress Anna Ivanovna10) according to a drawing by Caravacca. Thus, the applied art of the XVIII century. represented in the museum collection by the most characteristic works.

The works of artistic craft in the museum's collection make it possible to trace its development from the early monuments of grand-ducal Moscow to the end of the 18th century. During this long period, technical skills changed and improved, old forms of objects disappeared and new forms appeared, the nature of decoration changed, always depending on aesthetic views, determined by the socio-economic and political conditions of its time, the development of the domestic and foreign markets, the scale and method of production.

On the works of the XIV-XV centuries. reveals a picture of the gradual revival of artistic crafts after the Tatar-Mongol ruin of the Russian land in the 13th century. Masters of Moscow and other art centers of Ancient Russia master various artistic techniques and improve the technique of craftsmanship.

In the XVI century. Moscow finally wins a leading place in the cultural life of the country. The applied art of this period is distinguished by a variety of forms and artistic decorations, as well as great technical skill. The complex art of enamel, which has taken on a mostly ornamental character, is being improved, the art of niello on gold, chasing and engraving is achieving greater skill.

Works made of silver for household and church purposes follow the traditions of folk art and are associated with the living conditions of the people, their rituals and way of life.

The brilliance and decorativeness of 17th-century products, the complication of ornamentation, the appearance of painted enamels, the use of a large number of precious stones, pearls and colored glasses give a more secular character to applied art.

In the XVIII century. new forms of objects were adopted, the realistic nature of the ornament and painting on enamel. In the collection of the Zagorsk Museum, this period is represented by the best workshops in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Their works allow us to judge the new changes taking place in applied art.

The high artistic skill of works of applied art, presented over more than five centuries, puts the collection of the Zagorsk Museum in a prominent place in the history of Russian artistic culture.

The history of Russia at the end of the 17th - the first quarter of the 18th century is inseparable from the name of one of the largest political figures in Russia - Peter I. Significant innovations at this time invade not only the field of culture and art, but also industry - metallurgy, shipbuilding, etc. At the beginning of the 18th century, the first mechanisms and machine tools for metal processing appeared. Much in this area was done by Russian mechanics Nartov, Surnin, Sobakin and others.

At the same time, the foundations of the state system of general and special education are being laid. In 1725, the Academy of Sciences was established, under which a department of artistic crafts was opened.

A. Nartov. Lathe. Peter's era. 18th century

In the 18th century, new principles of architecture and urban planning were formed. This period was marked by an increase in the shaping of products of the characteristic features of the Western European Baroque (Holland, England).

As a result of the undertakings of Peter I, items of traditional Russian forms quickly disappear from the royal and aristocratic life of the palace, still remaining in the dwellings of the masses of the rural and urban population, as well as in church use. It was in the first quarter of the 18th century that a significant difference in stylistic development was outlined, which remained for a long time characteristic of professional creativity and folk art crafts. In the latter, centuries-old traditions of Russian, Ukrainian, Estonian, etc. applied art are developed directly and organically.

The norms of noble life require a demonstration of wealth, sophistication and brilliance in the life of a sovereign person. The forms of the old way of life, including Peter's (still business-like, strict), were finally forced out by the middle of the 18th century. The dominant position in Russian art is occupied by the so-called Rococo style, which logically completed the trends of the late Baroque. The ceremonial interiors of this time, for example, some rooms of the Peterhof and Tsarskoye Selo palaces, are almost entirely decorated with elaborate carvings.

The general features of rocaille ornamentation (curvature of lines, abundant and asymmetrical arrangement of stylized or lifelike flowers, leaves, shells, eyes, etc.) are fully reproduced in Russian architecture and furniture of that time, ceramics, clothing, carriages, ceremonial weapons, etc. However, the development of Russian applied art nevertheless took a completely independent path. Despite the undeniable similarity of the forms of our own products with Western European ones, it is not difficult to notice the differences between them. So, but in comparison with the French, Russian furniture products have much freer forms and are softer in outline and drawing. Masters still retained the skills of folk carving, larger and more generalized than in the West. No less characteristic is the polychromy of Russian products and the combination of gilding and painting, which is rare in France, but accepted everywhere in Russia.

From the 60s of the 18th century, the transition to classicism began in Russian architecture with its laconic and strict forms, turned to antiquity and marked by great restraint and grace. The same process occurs in applied art.

In the planning, equipment and decoration of city mansions and palaces (architects Kokorinov, Bazhenov, Quarenghi, Starov, etc.) there is a clear symmetry, proportional clarity. The walls of the premises (between windows or opposite them) are hidden by mirrors and panels made of silk damask, decorative cotton fabrics, and cloth.

.

Sofa - Rococo style. Russia (detail). Mid 18th century

Classic style armchair. Russia. Second half of the 18th century

The floors are made of wood of various species, and sometimes covered with canvas or cloth; ceilings are painted (for example, the grisaille technique imitating relief molding). Instead of stacked parquet, spruce plank "under wax" floors are used. Walls and ceilings are often upholstered with fabric or wallpapered. If marble fireplaces of impressive size are arranged in the front rooms, then more traditional stoves on pedestals or legs, lined with tiles, are erected in the intimate chambers. The difference between the lamps is just as noticeable: in the halls - these are jewelry-made and expensive chandeliers, candelabra, sconces, in the chambers - much more modest candlesticks and lamps. There is even more contrast in the forms of front and household furniture. All this speaks not so much about the desire of the owners of palaces and mansions to save money, but about their consideration of the objective environment as an important factor in the psychologically appropriate atmosphere.

Most furniture and a number of other products at the end of the 18th-first half of the 19th century were not constantly needed; if there was no need, they were either removed or transferred to inactively used parts of the premises. Seating furniture must be covered. In the same connection, transformable furniture with a working plane - tea and card tables, a folding dining table, a table for needlework, a system of tables of different heights that fit under each other, etc. a variety of appearance of premises in various everyday situations. At the same time, a number of domestic processes that took place outside the building during the warm season - on the terrace and in the park - were highlighted. As a result, new types of products are spreading - landscape gardening furniture, umbrella awnings, park lamps, etc. In the 18th century, serf workshops were organized at individual estates, producing rather large batches of furniture, porcelain, rugs and other products.

At the end of the 18th century, in the equipment of large palaces, the separation of the actual design of products (furniture, lamps, clocks, tapestries and other utensils and decorations) as a special area of ​​\u200b\u200bcreative activity from their handicraft production already significantly affects. The designers are mainly architects and professional artists. In the production of products for the mass market, machines and mechanical methods of processing materials are used, turning the engineer into a leading figure in production. This leads to a distortion and loss of the high aesthetic qualities inherent in consumer goods, to the separation of industry from art. This trend was natural in the conditions of the capitalist development of society and one of the main ones for the entire 19th century.

In the course of the intensive development of capitalist relations in Russia in the 19th century, the capacities of industrial production increased. By the middle of the 19th century, the need for artistically professional staff of product developers and craftsmen was already acutely felt. For their training, specialized educational institutions are opened in Moscow (Count Stroganov) and St. Petersburg (Baron Stieglitz). Their very name - "technical drawing schools" - speaks of the emergence of a new type of artist. Since 1860, a special craft education of master performers has been developing. Many books are published on the technology of processing various materials: wood, bronze, iron, gold, etc. Trade catalogs are published, replacing the previously published magazine "Economic Store". Since the middle of the 19th century, sciences related to issues of occupational health and the use of household items have been formed. However, throughout the 19th century, all mass factory production in artistic terms remained completely subordinate to the undividedly dominant idea of ​​​​beauty as a decorative and ornamental design of products. The consequence of this was the introduction into the form of most of the products of the style elements of classicism: complex profile completions, fluted columns, rosettes, garlands, ornaments based on antique motifs, etc. In a number of cases, these elements were introduced into the forms of even industrial equipment - machine tools.

In the stylistic development of applied art and household products in the 19th century, three main periods are conventionally distinguished chronologically: the continuation of the tendencies of classicism in line with the so-called Empire style (the first quarter of the century); late classicism (about 1830-1860) and eclecticism (after the 1860s).

The first quarter of the 19th century was marked by a general upsurge in ideological and building scope in Russian architecture, which caused a significant revival in applied art as well.

Empire style armchair. First quarter of the nineteenth century.

The victory in the war of 1812 to a certain extent accelerates and completes the process of formation of the Russian national culture, which is acquiring a pan-European significance. The activity of the most famous architects - Voronikhin, Quarenghi, Kazakov, closely connected with the classicism of the previous period, falls only on the first decade of the century. They are being replaced by a galaxy of such remarkable masters as Rossi, Stasov, Grigoriev, Beauvais, who brought new ideas and a different stylistic spirit to Russian art.

Strictness and monumentality are characteristic features of the architecture and forms of various household items of the Empire style. In the latter, decorative motifs noticeably change, more precisely, their typology expands through the use of decorative symbols of Ancient Egypt and Rome - griffins, sphinxes, fascia, military attributes (“trophies”), wreaths garlanded, etc. Compared with examples of early classicism in general the amount of decor, its “visual weight” in the compositional solution of products increases. Monumentalization, sometimes, as if coarsening of forms, occurs due to the greater generalization and geometrization of classical ornamental motifs - edging, wreaths, lyres, armor, etc., which are increasingly moving away from their real prototypes. Picturesque (scenes, landscapes, bouquets) painting of objects almost completely disappears. The ornament strives for a spot, contour, applicability. Products for the most part, especially furniture, become large, massive, but diverse in general configuration and silhouette. The heaviness of the Empire style in pieces of furniture almost disappeared already in the 1830s.

From the middle of the 19th century, new searches began in the field of architecture, applied and industrial creativity.

A pan-European artistic movement was born, called "Biedermeier", named after the bourgeois of one of the characters of the German writer L. Eichrodt (the work was published in the 1870s) with his ideal of comfort, intimacy.

Factory iron. Russia. Second half of the 19th century

In the second half of the 19th century, manual labor was further ousted from the production of utilitarian household items. For centuries, the methods and techniques of their artistic solution, the principles of shaping, which have evolved over the centuries, come into conflict with the new economic trends in the mass character and profitability of producing things on the market. The response to the changing situation is twofold. Some masters - the majority of them - make compromises. Considering indestructible the traditional view of all everyday things as an object of decorative and applied art, they begin to adapt the ornamental motifs of classicism to the capabilities of the machine and serial technologies. “Effective” types of decoration and decoration of products appear. As early as the 1830s in England, Henry Cool put forward the outwardly reformist slogan of decorating factory products with elements "from the world of fine arts forms." Many industrialists eagerly take up the slogan, seeking to take advantage of the consumer mass's attachment to the outwardly decorated, ornamentally enriched forms of home furnishings.

Other theorists and practitioners of applied arts (D. Reskin, W. Morris), on the contrary, propose to organize a boycott of the industry. Their credo is the purity of the traditions of medieval crafts.

In the countries of Western Europe and in Russia, for the first time, handicraft artels and craftsmen, in whose work deep folk traditions were still preserved, attracted the attention of theorists and professional artists. In Russia, the Nizhny Novgorod fairs of the 1870s-1890s demonstrate the viability of these traditions in the new conditions. Many professional artists - V. Vasnetsov, M. Vrubel, E. Polenova, K. Korovin, N. Roerich and others - enthusiastically turn to the folk origins of decorative art. In various regions and provinces of Russia, in cities such as Pskov, Voronezh, Tambov, Moscow, Kamenetz-Podolsk, and others, handicraft enterprises are emerging, the basis of which is manual labor. The work of workshops in Abramtsovo near Moscow, in Talashkino near Smolensk, the enterprise of P. Vaulin near St. Petersburg, and the Murava ceramic artel in Moscow was of particular importance for the revival of creative crafts that were dying out.

Samovar. 19th century

Russia. Second half

Industrial pump. 19th century

However, the products of all these workshops made up such an insignificant part of the total consumption that they could not have any noticeable effect on mass production, although they proved the legitimacy of the existence of decorative art that preserves folk traditions along with mass machine production of things. Later, this was confirmed by the invasion of machine technology in such areas of decorative and applied arts as jewelry (jewellery), carpet weaving, tailoring, which led to a sharp drop in their artistic quality.

In the forms of the bulk of manufactured products of the second half of the 19th century, nothing new is practically being developed. However, the novelty of the most general situation already at this time contributes to the addition of internal prerequisites for innovative searches - the awareness of stylistic searches as an important creative need, as a manifestation of the artistic individuality of the master. If until now stylistic trends (Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, Classicism, etc.) were born and spread, as a rule, as a result of general, almost “global”, spontaneously crystallized trends in the aesthetic development of the world, then from the middle of the 19th century, stylistic originality is regarded as a direct creative achievement of an individual artist, architect. In this regard, interest in the heritage of art of all times and peoples is sharply activated. This richest heritage becomes a source of imitations, direct borrowings, or undergoes bizarre creative processing.

Table with modern armchair. End of the 19th century

As a result, the bulk of the products is an unusually variegated picture, in which either clear or subtle reminiscences of antiquity, the Romanesque era, Gothic, Italian or French Renaissance, the art of Byzantium and Ancient Russia, Baroque, etc., flicker, often eclectically mixing in design of one product, interior, building. Therefore, this period in the history of architecture and applied arts was called eclectic. Nevertheless, articles (lamps, metal buckets, troughs, dishes, stools, etc.) are relatively cheap, but made without any artistic purpose, often in ugly forms and of poor quality.

The search for a new style is carried out taking into account the real need in the conditions of machine production, a fundamentally new approach to the formation of products, on the one hand, and the preservation of the decorative traditions of the past, on the other. The bourgeoisie, which by the end of the 19th century had taken a strong position in the Russian economy, strove for its own artistic ideology in architecture and design - the cult of the rational, relative freedom from the archaisms of noble culture, encouraging everything in art that could compete with the styles of the past. Such at the end of the 19th century was the Art Nouveau style - “new art” in Belgium, Great Britain and the USA, “Jugendstil” in Germany, “Secessions style” in Austria, “free style” in Italy. Its name - "modern" (from French moderne) meant "new, modern" - from lat. modo - "just now, recently." In its pure form, fading away and mixing with other stylistic trends, it did not last long, until about 1920, that is, about 20-25 years, like almost all stylistic trends of the 17th-20th centuries.

Art Nouveau is diverse in different countries and in the work of individual masters, which complicates the understanding of the tasks he solved. However, the characteristic was the almost complete eradication of all previously used decorative and ornamental motifs and techniques, their radical renewal. Traditional cornices, rosettes, capitals, flutes, “incoming wave” belts, etc. are replaced by stylized local plants (lilies, iris, carnations, etc.), female heads with long curly hair, etc. Often there is no decoration at all , and the artistic effect is achieved due to the expressiveness of the silhouette, articulation of the form, lines, as a rule, thinly traced, as if freely flowing, pulsating. In the forms of Art Nouveau products, one can almost always feel some whimsical will of the artist, the tension of a tightly stretched string, exaggerated proportions. In extreme manifestations, all this is sharply exacerbated, elevated to a principle. At times, a disregard for the constructive logic of form emerges, an almost sham passion for the spectacular side of the task, especially in solving interiors, often effectively theatrical.

With all the weaknesses - pretentiousness, sometimes loudness of forms, a new approach to solving the building, interior, furnishings with the logic of a functional, constructive and technological solution has arisen.

Modern style candlestick. Early 20th century

Set of dishes. End of XIX century.

Modern dressing table. Early 20th century

Art Nouveau in the vast majority of its samples did not abandon the decoration of products, but only replaced the old decorative motifs and techniques with new ones. Already at the beginning of the 20th century, at the time of the triumphs of the new style, again, at first timidly, then widely, the fashion for the old styles returned, which had a certain connection with the preparations for the celebration of the centennial anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812. The exhibition "Modern Art", arranged in St. Petersburg in 1903, clearly showed the birth of "classicizing modernity".

The results of modernity are complex. This is the cleansing of applied art from eclecticism, and from the “anti-machinism” of the champions of manual crafts, and from failed attempts to restore the styles of the past. These are the first symptoms of the exit of architecture and applied arts to the path of functionalism and constructivism, to the path of modern design. At the same time, having soon discovered a trend towards the nationalization of style, Art Nouveau caused a new wave of purely decorative searches. Many painters turn to applied art and interior design (S. Malyutin, V. Vasnetsov, A. Benois, S. Golovin, etc.), gravitating toward the colorfulness of a Russian fairy tale, to “gingerbread”, etc. In the perspective of the subsequent historical process , solving urgent problems of mass industrial production, such experiments could not have serious ideological and artistic significance, although they gave impetus to the development of another branch of applied art - art crafts and, in particular, theatrical and decorative art.

Art Nouveau, as it were, cleared and prepared the way for the establishment of new aesthetic and creative principles in the art of creating everyday things, accelerated the emergence of a new artistic profession - artistic design (design).

The formation of functionalism and constructivism into special directions in architecture and artistic design of Western countries occurred in the late 1910s in connection with the stabilization of life and the success of the economy after the First World War. But the fundamental foundations of the new modern architecture were determined in the pre-war period in the work of such architects as T. Garnier and O. Perret (France), X. Berlaga (Holland), A. Loos (Austria), P. Behrens (Germany), F. Wright (USA), I. Shekhtel, I. Rerberg (Russia) and others. Each of them overcame the influence of modernity in his own way and fought.

In 1918, special departments for architecture and the art industry were formed under the Fine Arts Department of the People's Commissariat for Education. Serious attention is paid to the training of specialists. In 1920, V.I. Lenin signed a decree on the establishment of the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKHUTEMAS). Graduates created new samples of fabrics, furniture, dishes, etc.

Education in the workshops (in 1927 they were transformed into the VKhUTEIN All-Union Artistic and Technical Institute), was conducted at the faculties: architecture, ceramics, textiles, etc. At the faculty of wood and metal processing under the direction of A. Rodchenko, D . Lissitzky, V. Tatlin and other masters were looking for new forms and designs of various objects. All activities of VKHUTEMAS were aimed at developing in students the skills of an integrated approach to designing the subject environment of everyday life and production.

In the 1920s, a trend of “production art” developed, developing the principles of functionalism and constructivism, striving to establish in the minds of artists the aesthetic ideal of a rationally organized material production. Any former forms of art were declared by the "manufacturers" to be bourgeois, unacceptable to the proletariat. Hence their denial of not only "practically useless" fine art, but also all purely decorative art, such as jewelry. In the 1920s, the technical and economic conditions for the implementation of their ideas were not yet ripe in our country.

VKHUTEMAS and the "production workers" of the 1920s were ideologically and aesthetically closely connected with the "Bauhaus" and in a number of important moments represented with it, in essence, a single trend in the artistic design of that time. Within the framework of this new movement, the aesthetics of modern design was formed, overcoming the contradictions in the applied art of the previous period. The practical artistic activity of the founders of design was also the development of the arsenal of artistic and expressive means of the art of creating things. In their works (furniture, lamps, utensils, fabrics, etc.), the closest attention was paid to such properties of materials and forms as texture, color, plastic expressiveness, rhythmic structure, silhouette, etc., which have become crucial in the composition products without conflicting with the requirements of constructive logic and manufacturability of the form. Another area that successfully developed in our country in the 1920s is engineering design. In 1925, in Moscow, according to the project of the outstanding engineer V. Shukhov, the famous radio tower was erected, the openwork silhouette of which became a symbol of Soviet radio for a long time. A year earlier, J. Gakkel created the first Soviet diesel locomotive based on the latest technological achievements, the shape of which even today looks quite modern. In the 1920s, the need for scientific research on the laws of human activity in the objective environment artificially created by him was realized. The Central Institute of Labor is being organized, within its walls, research is being conducted on the issues of the scientific organization of labor, the culture of production. The attention of scientists and designers is attracted by questions of biomechanics, organoleptics, etc. Among the notable works of those years is the project of the workplace of a tram driver (N. Bernshtein).

I. Gakkel. Locomotive. Early 1930s

An important place in the culture of the XVIII century. occupied decorative and applied arts. Rococo interior decoration made the space light, the walls seemed thin, hidden by decorative panels and mirrors, reflected in each other, screens played an important role. Furniture becomes elegant, seems fragile, takes on bizarre outlines. The colors of the wallpaper and furniture are dominated by pastel colors.

The room was supposed to give the impression of a boudoir, (a room intended for communication only with close people).

Rococo interiors were often supplemented with either authentic Chinese products: screens, porcelain, lacquer paintings, or decorative compositions stylized as Chinese painting.

From the middle of the XVIII century. with the development of neoclassicism, interior design became simple and rather strict. If French interiors were a model of Rococo, then English interiors were a model of neoclassicism. The interiors of the English architect were especially famous Robert Adam(1728-1792). Creating manor houses, the artist decorated them with columns, pilasters, and sculptures. This style is called "Adam style". It is distinguished by elegance, decorativeness, organically including sometimes genuine antiquity objects.

In clothes and hairstyles of the XVIII century. style changes are also detected. In the era of Louis XV, the appearance of a person became a work of art: the toilets of the nobility were pretentious and refined, fantastic hairstyles (wigs came into fashion), black flies on a powdered face became a special language in a love dialogue. “A woman, dressed up and combed like a toy, and shod in narrow shoes with heels, had to step very carefully in order to maintain her balance and not fall apart - this developed the habit of floating gait and the smooth movements of the minuet. They wanted to see a woman as a precious doll, a bird of paradise, an exquisite flower. Such creatures befitted a fantastic and capriciously airy environment of rocaille interiors” (2, 45).

The costume, especially for women, becomes a work of art. Such a suit was uncomfortable and impractical, but unusually attractive.

The men's suit was just as elegant as the women's, and delicate shades of pastel colors were chosen.

Love for everything elegant contributed to the flourishing of jewelry and porcelain.

The heyday of European porcelain art also falls on the middle of the 18th century. and associated with the Rococo style. The most famous are French porcelain from the city of Sevres and German porcelain from Meissen (Saxony). In their compositions, the Meissen masters depicted "gallant festivities" - the refined entertainment of aristocrats.

Rococo was not a style like Gothic and Baroque, it did not become a large and holistic artistic movement. The spread of the tastes of the era of the Regents was prepared by the very fate of the French nobility, who prospered in the 18th century. only in one - in the arrangement of a secure and happy life. It was an idle life surrounded by elegant luxury. Art was an adornment of the idle life of the French nobility.

Decorative arts play a special role (even gastronomy is raised to the level of art).

The main task of art is to please, art itself is identified with luxury, playfulness and mockery.

Mirrors become a favorite wall decoration, they are placed against each other, giving an infinite number of reflections.

The need for luxury goods created in France entire branches of artistic production thanks to the work of furniture makers, weavers, sculptors, jewelers and embroiderers.

Rococo's favorite decorative motifs are the shell, stems and flowers.

In the field of decor, neoclassicism turned to the interior of the halls, which were furnished in the antique manner. The exploits of the Napoleonic army brought new decorative motifs: swords, banners. In the Napoleonic era, changes occur in clothes and hairstyles. The fashion for everything antique is spreading: from the silhouette and cut of dresses, reminiscent of chitons and tunics, to freely falling loose curls. Not only crinolines and fizhmas disappeared, but also diamonds, carved stones set into a frame (gems) came into fashion.

Unlike other forms of art in the music of the XVIII century. baroque as a stylistic direction was still widely represented. The greatest masters of the Baroque era in music were Bach and Handel.

Johann Sebastian Bach(1685-1750) was the greatest musician of the 18th century, and the influence of his music continues to grow. His composing work was surprisingly versatile despite an outwardly modest life (he was a cantor - leader and conductor of the church choir). From childhood, Bach was deeply religious, and adhered to the Protestant faith. It was the Reformation in Germany that put forward the fervor of the Protestant chant (choral chant). By making the church ceremony simpler and more rigorous, Protestantism increased the importance of music in it. The church became the center of musical art, and the church organist was its representative. Organ art was extremely widespread in Germany, and therefore it is not surprising that the organ accompanied Bach's entire life. His organ heritage includes several genres, among which the chorale preludes and two-part polyphonic cycles stand out. l fugue. Bach's music expresses religious humility, pathos, lyricism, and impulse. Along with naturalness and simplicity, sublimity and significance are inherent in his writings. Among the musical creations of Bach there are a huge number of true masterpieces that have received worldwide recognition.

Next to Bach rises another major figure in the musical baroque - Georg Friedrich Handel(1685-1759). His life was spent in large European cities, he received an excellent musical education. The very first opera, Rinaldo, staged in London, brought fame to Handel. Handel wrote music in a variety of genres, but oratorios (large vocal-symphonic works with a developed plot) form the pinnacle of his legacy. The literary source of the composer's most famous oratorios was the first part of the Bible - the Old Testament. Handel lived in England and the events of its political history, as well as the epic scope of biblical stories, could not but arouse his interest.

The composer was characterized primarily by civil themes. Choosing biblical subjects, Handel admires the power of human passions. It was passion, dynamism, the image of confrontation that were characteristic of the Baroque.

If the first half of the XVIII century. in music, baroque was defined as a musical style, then its second half became the heyday of the composers of the Viennese classical school:

Gluck, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. The highest achievements of classicism were associated with Vienna, the capital of the vast Austrian Empire, a city thoroughly saturated with music.

The Viennese classical school responded to the moods and ideas of the Enlightenment. Musical art reflected spiritual quests and contradictory artistic processes of its time. For example, Lessing influenced the work of Mozart.

The principles of classicism found their embodiment in the music of the Enlightenment.

Christoph Willibald Gluck(1714-1787) entered the history of music as a reformer of operatic art, who laid the foundation for a new operatic style. The operas that Gluck wrote were unusual both in content and in the manner of expressing the feelings of the characters. Gluck's activities took place in Vienna and Paris and were also associated with controversy in philosophy and aesthetics, in which the enlighteners were involved. They criticized the court opera and believed that the ancient theater ideally combined music, plasticity and recitation.

Gluck tried to dramatize the opera, to give it truthfulness and naturalness. All of Gluck's best operas, starting with Orpheus, were written precisely on ancient subjects, in which the composer found powerful characters and strong passions. During Gluck's lifetime, his operas provoked fierce controversy, but time has shown the viability of the principles, and it is no coincidence that other outstanding composers also implemented them.

Joseph Haydn(1732-1809) for almost three decades remained a bandmaster (leader of a choir and orchestral chapel), and devoted only his free time to composing music. If Gluck reformed opera, then Haydn created perfect symphonies. His creative path ran through different artistic eras, but the composer's work was connected precisely with the Age of Enlightenment. Enlighteners believed in the progress of society and man, and Haydn's music expresses optimism and the pursuit of happiness. Haydn's creations are quite rationalistic: they are characterized by thoughtfulness and harmony, which is also consonant with the rationalistic principles of the Enlightenment.

In his oratorios, Haydn addresses the theme of nature, the cult of which was characteristic of such an educator as Rousseau. It was Haydn who became the brightest composer of the Enlightenment.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(1756-1791) began to compose at an early age, he traveled a lot, gained fame early. Like Gluck, Mozart became the great reformer of opera, not only symphonizing, but also actualizing it. By choosing such a play as Crazy Day or The Marriage of Figaro, Mozart showed his commitment to educational ideas. In The Magic Flute, the composer presents a kind of utopia, close to the faith of the enlighteners in the moral progress of mankind. Mozart's music surprisingly combines naturalness and harmony, sincerity and perfection, impeccable clarity and quivering excitement. The highest achievement of Mozart's music was the famous "Requiem" - his last composition.

Deutsch composer Ludwig van Beethoven(1770-1827) spent most of his life in Vienna. His writings also bear the imprint of the Enlightenment. The composer showed himself precisely in the genres of sonata and symphony, which finally took shape precisely in this era. His works reveal the thoughtfulness of the whole idea and individual details, the clarity of forms.

In his most famous works, the heroic theme, the theme of struggle, is embodied, which is connected both with the personality of the composer himself and with the peculiarities of his biography: he survived the events of the Great French Revolution as a nineteen-year-old youth. Although the ideas of the Enlightenment were characteristic of Beethoven's music, he already represents a new era, anticipating romanticism. The composer's musical style differs from the art of other Viennese classics in scope, drama, and emotional strength. Such are the "Pathetic Sonata", the Third Symphony ("Heroic"), the Fifth and Ninth Symphonies, especially the "Ode to Joy", which completes the last. The entire legacy of Beethoven as a whole had a tremendous impact on the development of music, especially on the formation of romanticism.