Renaissance - an era in the history of European culture. Renaissance in Western Europe When did the Renaissance in Europe begin?

№ 14 The era of the revival of Western Europe. rebirth- this is a period in the cultural and ideological development of the countries of Western and Central Europe. The Renaissance manifested itself most clearly in Italy, because. in Italy there was no single state (with the exception of the south). The main form of political existence - small city-states with a republican form of government, feudal lords merged with bankers, wealthy merchants and industrialists. Therefore, in Italy, feudalism in its full forms did not take shape. The situation of rivalry between cities put in the first place not origin, but personal abilities and wealth. There was a need not only for energetic and enterprising people, but also for educated people. Therefore, a humanistic direction appears in education and worldview. Revival is usually divided into Early (beginning 14 - end 15) and High (end 15 - First quarter of 16.). The greatest artists of Italy belong to this era - Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti(1475 -1564) and Rafael Santi(1483 - 1520). This division applies directly to Italy, and although the Renaissance reached its peak in the Apennine Peninsula, its phenomenon spread to other parts of Europe. Similar processes north of the Alps are called « Northern Renaissance ». Similar processes took place in France and in the cities of Germany. Medieval man, and people of modern times, were looking for their ideals in the past. In the Middle Ages, people believed that they continued to live in. The Roman Empire continued, and the cultural tradition: Latin, the study of Roman literature, the difference was felt only in the religious sphere. But in the Renaissance, the view of antiquity changed, which saw something fundamentally different from the Middle Ages, mainly the absence of the all-encompassing power of the church, spiritual freedom, and the attitude towards man as the center of the universe. It was these ideas that became central in the worldview of the humanists. The ideals, so consonant with the new development trends, gave rise to the desire to resurrect antiquity in full, and it was Italy, with its huge number of Roman antiquities, that became fertile ground for this. The Renaissance manifested itself and went down in history as a period of extraordinary rise in art. If earlier works of art served church interests, that is, they were cult objects, now works are created to satisfy aesthetic needs. Humanists believed that life should bring pleasure and medieval monastic asceticism was rejected by them. A huge role in the formation of the ideology of humanism was played by such Italian writers and poets, as Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), Giovanni Boccaccio(1313 - 1375). Actually, they, especially Petrarch, were the founders of both Renaissance literature and humanism itself. Humanists perceived their era as a time of prosperity, happiness and beauty. But this does not mean that it was devoid of controversy. The main one was that it remained the ideology of the elite, new ideas did not penetrate the masses of the people. And the humanists themselves sometimes had a pessimistic mood. Fear of the future, disappointment in human nature, the impossibility of achieving an ideal in the social structure pervade the moods of many figures of the Renaissance. Perhaps the most revealing in this sense was the tense expectation doomsday in 1500. The Renaissance laid the foundations for a new European culture, a new European secular worldview, a new European independent personality.

rebirth- this is a period in the cultural and ideological development of the countries of Western and Central Europe. The Renaissance manifested itself most clearly in Italy, because. in Italy there was no single state (with the exception of the south). The main form of political existence - small city-states with a republican form of government, feudal lords merged with bankers, wealthy merchants and industrialists. Therefore, in Italy, feudalism in its full forms did not take shape. The situation of rivalry between cities put in the first place not origin, but personal abilities and wealth. There was a need not only for energetic and enterprising people, but also for educated people. Therefore, a humanistic direction appears in education and worldview. Revival is usually divided into Early (beginning 14 - end 15) and High (end 15 - First quarter of 16.). The greatest artists of Italy belong to this era - Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519), Michelangelo Buonarroti(1475 -1564) and Rafael Santi(1483 - 1520). This division applies directly to Italy, and although the Renaissance reached its peak in the Apennine Peninsula, its phenomenon spread to other parts of Europe. Similar processes north of the Alps are called « Northern Renaissance ». Similar processes took place in France and in the cities of Germany. Medieval man, and people of modern times, were looking for their ideals in the past. In the Middle Ages, people believed that they continued to live in. The Roman Empire continued, and the cultural tradition: Latin, the study of Roman literature, the difference was felt only in the religious sphere. But in the Renaissance, the view of antiquity changed, which saw something fundamentally different from the Middle Ages, mainly the absence of the all-encompassing power of the church, spiritual freedom, and the attitude towards man as the center of the universe. It was these ideas that became central in the worldview of the humanists. The ideals, so consonant with the new development trends, gave rise to the desire to resurrect antiquity in full, and it was Italy, with its huge number of Roman antiquities, that became fertile ground for this. The Renaissance manifested itself and went down in history as a period of extraordinary rise in art. If earlier works of art served church interests, that is, they were cult objects, now works are created to satisfy aesthetic needs. Humanists believed that life should bring pleasure and medieval monastic asceticism was rejected by them. A huge role in the formation of the ideology of humanism was played by such Italian writers and poets, as Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321), Francesco Petrarca (1304 - 1374), Giovanni Boccaccio(1313 - 1375). Actually, they, especially Petrarch, were the founders of both Renaissance literature and humanism itself. Humanists perceived their era as a time of prosperity, happiness and beauty. But this does not mean that it was devoid of controversy. The main one was that it remained the ideology of the elite, new ideas did not penetrate the masses of the people. And the humanists themselves sometimes had a pessimistic mood. Fear of the future, disappointment in human nature, the impossibility of achieving an ideal in the social structure pervade the moods of many figures of the Renaissance. Perhaps the most revealing in this sense was the tense expectation doomsday in 1500. The Renaissance laid the foundations for a new European culture, a new European secular worldview, a new European independent personality.

The revival arose in Italy - its first signs appeared in the XIII-XIV centuries. But it was firmly established from the 20s of the 15th century, and by the end of the 15th century. reached its highest peak.

In other countries, the Renaissance began much later. In the XVI century. the crisis of the ideas of the Renaissance begins, the consequence of this crisis is the emergence of mannerism and baroque.

Renaissance periods

Periods of the history of Italian culture are usually denoted by the names of centuries:

• Proto-Renaissance (ducento)- 2nd half of the XIII century - XIV century.
• Early Renaissance (trecento) - beginning of the XV-end of the XV century.
• High Renaissance (quattrocento) - end of the 15th - first 20 years of the 16th century
• Late Renaissance (cinquecento) - mid-16th-90s of the 16th century

For the history of the Italian Renaissance, the deepest change in consciousness, views on the world and man, which dates back to the era of communal revolutions of the 2nd half of the 13th century, was of decisive importance.

It is this turning point that opens a new stage in the history of Western European culture. Fundamentally new trends associated with it have found their most radical expression in the Italian culture and art of the so-called The Ages of Dante and Giotto - the last third of the 13th century and the first two decades of the 14th century.

The fall of the Byzantine Empire played a role in the formation of the Renaissance. The Byzantines who moved to Europe brought with them their libraries and works of art, unknown to medieval Europe. In Byzantium, they never broke with ancient culture either.

The growth of city-republics led to an increase in the influence of estates that did not participate in feudal relations: artisans and artisans, merchants, and bankers. All of them were alien to the hierarchical system of values ​​created by medieval, in many respects church culture, and its ascetic, humble spirit. This led to the emergence of humanism, a socio-philosophical movement that considered a person, his personality, his freedom, his active, creative activity as the highest value and criterion for evaluating social institutions.

Secular centers of science and art began to appear in the cities, the activities of which were outside the control of the church. In the middle of the XV century. typography was invented, which played an important role in spreading new views throughout Europe.

renaissance man

Renaissance man differs sharply from medieval man. It is characterized by faith in the power and strength of the mind, admiration for the inexplicable gift of creativity.

Humanism puts in the center of attention the wisdom of man and its achievements, as the highest good for a rational being. Actually, this leads to the rapid flowering of science.

Humanists consider it their duty to actively disseminate the literature of ancient times, because it is in knowledge that they see true happiness.

In a word, the Renaissance man tries to develop and improve the "quality" of the individual by studying the ancient heritage as the only basis.

And intelligence plays a key role in this transformation. Hence the emergence of various anti-clerical ideas, often acting unreasonably hostile to religion and the church.

Proto-Renaissance

Proto-Renaissance is the forerunner of the Renaissance. It is still closely connected with the Middle Ages, with Byzantine, Romanesque and Gothic traditions.

It is divided into two sub-periods: before the death of Giotto di Bondone and after (1337). The most important discoveries, the brightest masters live and work in the first period. The second segment is connected with the plague epidemic that hit Italy.

The art of the proto-Renaissance is characterized by the emergence of tendencies towards a sensual, visual reflection of reality, secularism (in contrast to the art of the Middle Ages), the emergence of interest in the ancient heritage (characteristic of the art of the Renaissance).

At the origins of the Italian Proto-Renaissance is the master Niccolo, who worked in Pisa in the second half of the 13th century. He became the founder of a school of sculpture that lasted until the middle of the 14th century and spread its attention throughout Italy.

Of course, much in the sculpture of the Pisan school still gravitates towards the past. It preserves old allegories and symbols. There is no space in the reliefs, the figures closely fill the surface of the background. And yet Niccolo's reforms are significant.

The use of the classical tradition, the emphasis on the volume, materiality and weight of the figure, objects, the desire to introduce elements of a real earthly event into the depiction of the religious scene created the basis for a wide renewal of art.

In the years 1260-1270, the workshop of Niccolo Pisano carried out numerous orders in the cities of central Italy.
New trends penetrate into the painting of Italy.

Just as Niccolò Pisano reformed Italian sculpture, Cavallini laid the foundation for a new direction in painting. In his work, he relied on late antique and early Christian monuments, with which Rome was still rich in his time.

The merit of Cavallini lies in the fact that he sought to overcome the flatness of forms and compositional construction, which were inherent in the “Byzantine” or “Greek” manner that dominated Italian painting in his time.

He introduced light and shade modeling borrowed from ancient artists, achieving roundness and plasticity of forms.

However, from the second decade of the XIV century, artistic life in Rome froze. The leading role in Italian painting passed to the Florentine school.

Florence for two centuries it was something like the capital of the artistic life of Italy and determined the main direction in the development of its art.

But the most radical reformer of painting was Giotto di Bondone (1266/67–1337).

In his works, Giotto sometimes achieves such strength in the clash of contrasts and the transfer of human feelings, which allows us to see in him the predecessor of the greatest masters of the Renaissance.

Interpreting the gospel episodes as events of human life, Giotto places them in a real setting, while refusing to combine moments at different times in one composition. Giotto's compositions are always spatial, although the stage on which the action is played is usually not deep. Architecture and landscape in Giotto's frescoes are always subject to action. Every detail in his compositions directs the viewer's attention to the semantic center.

Another important center of Italian art at the end of the 13th century - the first half of the 14th century was Siena.

Art of Siena marked by features of refined sophistication and decorativism. French illustrated manuscripts and handicrafts were valued in Siena.

In the XIII-XIV centuries, one of the most elegant Italian Gothic cathedrals was erected here, the facade of which was worked on by Giovanni Pisano in 1284-1297.

For architecture Proto-Renaissance is characterized by poise and calmness.

Representative: Arnolfo di Cambio.

For sculpture this period is characterized by plastic power and the presence of the influence of late antique art.

Representative: Niccolo Pisano, Giovanni Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio.

for painting the appearance of tangibility and material persuasiveness of forms is characteristic.

Representatives: Giotto, Pietro Cavallini, Pietro Lorenzetti, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Cimabue.

Early Renaissance

In the first decades of the 15th century, a decisive turning point took place in the art of Italy. The emergence of a powerful center of the Renaissance in Florence led to the renewal of the entire Italian artistic culture.

The work of Donatello, Masaccio and their associates marks the victory of Renaissance realism, which differed significantly from that “realism of details” that was characteristic of the gothic art of the late trecento.

The works of these masters are imbued with the ideals of humanism. They glorify and glorify a person, raise him above the level of everyday life.

In their struggle with the Gothic tradition, the artists of the early Renaissance sought support in antiquity and the art of the Proto-Renaissance.

What the masters of the Proto-Renaissance searched for only intuitively, by touch, is now based on accurate knowledge.

Italian art of the 15th century is distinguished by great diversity. The difference in the conditions in which local schools are formed gives rise to a variety of artistic movements.

The new art, which won at the beginning of the 15th century in advanced Florence, did not immediately receive recognition and distribution in other areas of the country. While Bruneleschi, Masaccio, Donatello worked in Florence, the traditions of Byzantine and Gothic art were still alive in northern Italy, only gradually being replaced by the Renaissance.

Florence was the main center of the early Renaissance. The Florentine culture of the first half and the middle of the 15th century is varied and rich.

For architecture the early Renaissance is characterized by the logic of proportions, the shape and sequence of parts are subject to geometry, and not intuition, which was a characteristic feature of medieval buildings

Representative: Palazzo Rucellai, Filippo Brunelleschi, Leon Battista Alberti.

For sculpture this period is characterized by the development of a free-standing statue, a picturesque relief, a portrait bust, an equestrian monument.

Representative: L. Ghiberti, Donatello, Jacopo della Quercia, della Robbia family, A. Rossellino, Desiderio da Settignano, B. da Maiano, A. Verrocchio.

for painting a sense of the harmonious orderliness of the world, an appeal to the ethical and civic ideals of humanism, a joyful perception of the beauty and diversity of the real world are characteristic.

Representatives: Masaccio, Filippo Lippi, A. del Castagno, P. Uccello, Fra Angelico, D. Ghirlandaio, A. Pollaiolo, Verrocchio, Piero della Francesca, A. Mantegna, P. Perugino.

High Renaissance

The culmination of art (the end of the 15th and the first decades of the 16th century), which presented the world with such great masters as Raphael, Titian, Giorgione and Leonardo da Vinci, is called the stage of the High Renaissance.

The focus of the artistic life of Italy at the beginning of the 16th century moved to Rome.

The popes sought to unite all of Italy under the rule of Rome, making attempts to turn it into a cultural and leading political center. But, without becoming a political starting point, Rome is transformed for some time into the citadel of the spiritual culture and art of Italy. The reason for this was also the philanthropic tactics of the popes, who attracted the best artists to Rome.

The Florentine school and many others (old local ones) lost their former significance.

The only exception was the wealthy and independent Venice, which showed a vivid originality of culture throughout the 16th century.

Due to the constant connection with the great works of the archaic, art was freed from verbosity, often so characteristic of the work of Quattrocento virtuosos.

The artists of the High Renaissance gained the ability to omit small details that did not affect the overall meaning and strive to achieve harmony and a combination of the best aspects of reality in their creations.

Creativity is characterized by faith in the limitlessness of human capabilities, in its individuality and in a rational world apparatus.

The main motive of the art of the High Renaissance is the image of a harmoniously developed and strong person both in body and spirit, who is above everyday life.

Since sculpture and painting get rid of the unquestioning slavery of architecture, which gives life to the formation of new genres of art such as: landscape, historical painting, portrait.

During this period, the architecture of the High Renaissance is gaining the greatest momentum. Now, without exception, the customers did not want to see even a drop of the Middle Ages in their homes. The streets of Italy began to be full of not just luxurious mansions, but palaces with extensive plantings. It should be noted that the Renaissance gardens known in history appeared just in this period.

Religious and public buildings also ceased to give the spirit of the past. Temples of new buildings, as if they had risen from the time of Roman paganism. Among the architectural monuments of this period, one can find monumental buildings with the obligatory presence of a dome.

The grandiosity of this art was also revered by contemporaries, - so Vasari spoke of him as: "the highest stage of perfection, which has now reached the most appreciated and most celebrated creations of the new art."

For architecture The high Renaissance is characterized by monumentality, representative grandeur, grandiosity of ideas (which came from Ancient Rome), which were intensively manifested in the Bramantian projects of St. Peter's Cathedral and the restructuring of the Vatican.

Representative: Donato Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo, Jacopo Sansovino

For sculpture This period is characterized by heroic pathos and, at the same time, a tragic sense of the crisis of humanism. The strength and power of a person, the beauty of his body are glorified, while at the same time emphasizing his loneliness in the world.

Representative: Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Brunelleschi, Luca della Robbia, Michelozzo, Agostino di Duccio, Pisanello.

for painting the transfer of facial expressions of the face and body of a person is characteristic, new ways of transferring space, building a composition appear. At the same time, the works create a harmonious image of a person that meets humanistic ideals.

Representatives: Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Santi, Michelangelo Buonarotti, Titian, Jacopo Sansovino.

Late Renaissance

At this time, there is an eclipse and the emergence of a new artistic culture. It does not cause shocks and the fact that the creativity of this time is extremely complex and is characterized by the predominance of confrontation between different directions. Although if you do not consider the very end of the 16th century - the time of the entry into the arena of the brothers Carracci and Caravaggio, then you can narrow the whole variety of art to two main trends.

The feudal-Catholic reaction dealt a mortal blow to the High Renaissance, but failed to kill the powerful artistic tradition that had been taking shape over the course of two and a half centuries in Italy.

Only the rich Republic of Venice, free from both the power of the Pope and the domination of the interventionists, ensured the development of art in this region. The Renaissance in Venice had its own peculiarities.

If we talk about the creations of famous artists of the second half of the 16th century, then they still have a Renaissance foundation, but with some changes.

The fate of a person was no longer portrayed as selfless, although echoes of the theme of a heroic personality who is ready to fight evil and a sense of reality are still present.

The foundations of the art of the 17th century were laid in the creative search of these masters, thanks to which new means of expression were created.

Few artists belong to this current, but eminent masters of the older generation, caught by the crisis at the culmination of their work, such as Titian and Michelangelo. In Venice, which occupied a unique position in the artistic culture of Italy in the 16th century, this trend is also inherent in the artists of the younger generation - Tintoretto, Bassano, Veronese.

Representatives of the second direction are completely different masters. They are united only by subjectivity in the perception of the world.

This direction gets its distribution in the second half of the 16th century and, not limited to Italy, flows into most European countries. In the art history literature of the end of the last century, being called " mannerism».

Predilection for luxury, decorativeness and dislike for scientific research delayed the penetration of artistic ideas and practices of the Florentine Renaissance into Venice.

Each period of human history has left something of its own - unique, unlike others. In this respect, Europe was more fortunate - it has experienced numerous changes in human consciousness, culture, and art. The decline of the ancient period marked the arrival of the so-called "dark ages" - the Middle Ages. We admit that it was a difficult time - the church subjugated all aspects of the life of European citizens, culture and art were in deep decline.

Any dissent that contradicted the Holy Scriptures was severely punished by the Inquisition - a specially created court that persecuted heretics. However, any trouble sooner or later recedes - this happened with the Middle Ages. Darkness was replaced by light - the Renaissance, or the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a period of European cultural, artistic, political and economic "rebirth" after the Middle Ages. He contributed to the rediscovery of classical philosophy, literature and art.

Some of the greatest thinkers, authors, statesmen, scientists and artists in human history created during this era. Discoveries were made in the sciences and geography, the world was explored. This blessed period for scientists lasted almost three centuries from the 14th to the 17th centuries. Let's talk about it in more detail.

Renaissance

The Renaissance (from French Re - again, again, naissance - birth) marked a completely new round in the history of Europe. It was preceded by medieval periods when the cultural education of Europeans was in its infancy. With the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 and its division into two parts - Western (centered in Rome) and Eastern (Byzantium), ancient values ​​also fell into decay. From a historical point of view, everything is logical - the year 476 is considered the end date of the ancient period. But in terms of culture, such a legacy should not just disappear. Byzantium followed its own path of development - the capital Constantinople soon became one of the most beautiful cities in the world, where unique masterpieces of architecture were created, artists, poets, writers appeared, huge libraries were created. In general, Byzantium valued its ancient heritage.

The western part of the former empire submitted to the young Catholic Church, which, fearing to lose influence over such a large territory, quickly banned both ancient history and culture, and did not allow the development of a new one. This period became known as the Middle Ages, or the Dark Ages. Although, in fairness, we note that not everything was so bad - it was at this time that new states appeared on the world map, cities flourished, trade unions (trade unions) appeared, and the borders of Europe expanded. And most importantly, there is a surge in technology development. More objects were invented during the medieval period than during the previous millennium. But, of course, this was not enough.

The Renaissance itself is usually divided into four periods - the Proto-Renaissance (2nd half of the 13th century - 15th century), the Early Renaissance (the entire 15th century), the High Renaissance (the end of the 15th century - the first quarter of the 16th century) and the Late Renaissance ( mid 16th century - late 16th century). Of course, these dates are very arbitrary - after all, for each European state, the Renaissance had its own, according to its own calendar and time.

Appearance and development

Here it is necessary to note the following curious fact - the fatal fall in 1453 played a role in the emergence and development (to a greater extent in development) of the Renaissance. Those who were lucky enough to escape the invasion of the Turks fled to Europe, but not empty-handed - people took with them a lot of books, works of art, ancient sources and manuscripts, hitherto unknown to Europe. Italy is officially considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, but other countries also fell under the influence of the Renaissance.

This period is distinguished by the emergence of new trends in philosophy and culture - for example, humanism. In the 14th century, the cultural movement of humanism began to gain momentum in Italy. Among its many principles, humanism promoted the idea that man is the center of his own universe, and that the mind possessed incredible power that could turn the world upside down. Humanism contributed to a surge of interest in ancient literature.

Philosophy, literature, architecture, painting

Among the philosophers there appeared such names as Nicholas of Cusa, Nicolo Machiavelli, Tomaso Campanella, Michel Montaigne, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Martin Luther and many others. The Renaissance gave them the opportunity to create their works, according to the new trend of the times. Natural phenomena were studied more deeply, attempts to explain them appeared. And at the center of all this, of course, was man - the main creation of nature.

Literature is also undergoing changes - the authors create works that glorify humanistic ideals, showing the rich inner world of a person, his emotions. The ancestor of the literary Renaissance was the legendary Florentine Dante Alighieri, who created his most famous work, The Comedy (later called The Divine Comedy). In a rather free manner, he described hell and heaven, which the church did not like at all - only she had to know this in order to influence the minds of people. Dante got off lightly - he was only expelled from Florence, forbidden to return back. Or they could burn it like a heretic.

Other Renaissance authors include Giovanni Boccaccio ("The Decameron"), Francesco Petrarca (his lyrical sonnets became a symbol of the early Renaissance), (needs no introduction), Lope de Vega (Spanish playwright, his most famous work is "A Dog in the Manger ”), Cervantes (“Don Quixote”). A distinctive feature of the literature of this period were works in national languages ​​- before the Renaissance, everything was written in Latin.

And, of course, one cannot fail to mention the technical revolutionary thing - the printing press. In 1450, the first printing press was created in the workshop of the printer Johannes Gutenberg, which made it possible to publish books in a larger volume and make them available to the general public, thus increasing their literacy. What turned out to be fraught for themselves - as more people learned to read, write and interpret ideas, they began to scrutinize and criticize religion as they knew it.

Renaissance painting is known throughout the world. To name just a few names that everyone knows - Pietro della Francesco, Sandro Botticelli, Domenico Ghirlandaio, Rafael Santi, Michelandelo Bounarotti, Titian, Peter Brueghel, Albrecht Dürer. A distinctive feature of the painting of this time is the appearance of a landscape in the background, giving the bodies realism, muscles (applies to both men and women). The ladies are depicted "in the body" (recall the famous expression "Titian's girl" - a full, in the very juice of a girl, symbolizing life itself).

The architectural style is also changing - the Gothic style is being replaced by a return to the Roman antique type of construction. Symmetry appears, arches, columns, domes are erected again. In general, the architecture of this period gives rise to classicism and baroque. Among the legendary names are Filippo Brunelleschi, Michelangelo Bounarotti, Andrea Palladio.

The Renaissance ended at the end of the 16th century, giving way to the new Time and its companion, the Enlightenment. For all three centuries, the church fought science as best it could, using everything that was possible, but it didn’t work out completely - culture still continued to flourish, new minds appeared that challenged the power of churchmen. And the Renaissance is still considered the crown of European medieval culture, leaving behind monuments-witnesses of those distant events.

RENAISSANCE IN EUROPE

AND IN RUSSIA

The Renaissance appears before us not so much as an epoch, but as concrete historical processes in all the complexity of their manifestations and relationships.

Italy is the birthplace of the classical renaissance. In Italy, the Renaissance began in the 14th-15th centuries, and on a European scale in the 16th century. This phenomenon manifested itself in the breakdown of feudal relations and the emergence of capitalist ones, in the strengthening of the role of the bourgeois strata of society and bourgeois ideology, and the related development of national languages, criticism of the church and the restructuring of religious teachings.

The phenomenon of the Renaissance is characterized by the use of ancient traditions, ancient erudition, ancient languages. The use of ancient sources by humanists, Renaissance figures led to the strengthening of the secular line in culture. The Renaissance was able to turn antiquity into a source of a new culture.

The revival precedes the reformations and is supplanted by them, although it was humanism that cleared the way for the reformers and provided the ideological and cultural "equipment" without which their activity would be impossible. Reformation currents assimilated, reworked and used the skills of historical thinking of the Renaissance, which consisted in the ability to oppose ancient traditions to modern ones, consciously turn to the distant past for "support". The revival is associated with the desire to increase the value, to restore the distorted ancient values. The idea of ​​"return" is associated with a strong rejection of many existing traditions; the struggle against the main tendencies of previous eras marks the very beginning of the Renaissance. The Renaissance, being on the whole a secular movement, was nevertheless carried out within the framework of Christian Catholic principles, without breaking with them, although in many ways undermining them from within. The Renaissance "reformed" the traditions of medieval culture and morality.

In their struggle for a secular human culture imbued with reason, the humanists were inspired by the light of ancient wisdom. In general, the problem of humanism is inseparable from the entire process of the Renaissance, if we consider humanism as an advanced ideology of the Renaissance, which approved the right to independent existence and development of secular culture, although humanistic thought was formed in a Christian-pagan shell not only in England, but also in Italy. Humanism led to the fact that views on the place and role of man in the world radically diverged from traditional feudal Catholic views and man became the center of attention.

The sovereignty of the human mind is only one of the sides of the humanistic worldview. Its cornerstone was the belief in the exceptional merits of man as a natural being, in the inexhaustible wealth of his physical and moral strength, his creative potential, in his principled inclination towards goodness. Naturally, asceticism, which is the core of religious morality, was hated by humanists, that Renaissance humanism ignored the fundamental Christian dogmas of original sin, redemption and grace: a person can achieve perfection not by virtue of redemption and special divine mercy, but by his own mind and will, aimed at the maximum revealing his natural abilities.

The humanistic conviction in the ability of the human will to resist the external forces of fate freed a person from fear, the conviction in the naturalness of pleasure and joy debunked the imaginary sanctity of suffering.

Humanism took shape not before and not even so much during the open anti-feudal struggle, but mainly after its victory in the most developed Italian cities. The struggle against feudal forces, feudal-church and feudal-estate ideologies continued, and the humanistic culture of the Renaissance developed in close connection with it, but in the conditions of already established early bourgeois urban republics, where the dominance of the nobility had already been thrown off, and the estate system was destroyed or thoroughly undermined and debunked. Obviously, this was supposed to contribute to a significant maturity and freedom of the early bourgeois consciousness in Renaissance Italy, but at the same time (or for the same reason), with the undeniable social activity and liberating, anti-feudal orientation of humanism, history did not put before him the need to ideologically lead the open struggle of the masses, and he did not become a battle banner of social battles. It is widely believed that humanism was addressed only to a narrow circle of the elite, the elite; besides, it was not an ideology of struggle.

The Renaissance worked out and realized a very definite type of relationship between society and the individual. The revival was focused on the formation of a certain ideal of a person, intellectually and spiritually active, moving the cultural progress of society. The Renaissance was, first of all, a system focused on the education and familiarization with the culture of a particular individual, and only through him - to the "cultivation" of society.

The truth of humanism is a comprehensively developed person, but this is too vague, many-sided truth. Therefore, the humanists were not ready to kill, not to die for beauty, belles-lettres.

We must not lose sight of the fact that humanism has not been able to completely overcome the theological worldview. And at the same time, Renaissance humanism was the first integral manifestation of freethinking after a millennium of the Middle Ages, the first form of bourgeois enlightenment. It was humanism that gave rise to the greatest ideological, artistic and scientific achievements that have far outlived their era.

It is impossible to talk about the Renaissance without touching upon the issues of art.

The concept of the late Renaissance covers a combination of heterogeneous artistic phenomena, including conservative aspirations in art, attempts to further develop Renaissance features and the emergence of new trends that were to be fully embodied in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The specificity of humanism in different countries, including Byzantium, where the humanistic direction in culture was formed as an anti-Christian worldview, is very interesting.

The question of the Russian Renaissance is one of the most controversial areas in the development of the problem of the Renaissance.

For the history of Russian culture, the problem of the Renaissance is of paramount interest. In terms of the scope of the literature, the complexity and inconsistency of the concepts that make up the historiographic developments of the Renaissance plots based on the material of Russian history, this topic certainly deserves a special study.

The possibility and even the need to raise the problem of the Renaissance in Russia can be determined by genetic proximity, Christian community, political, economic and cultural contacts between Russia and Western Europe since the time of Kievan Rus. However, if we are not talking about private analogies, or about borrowing Renaissance motifs and elements, or about importing the Renaissance, then most approaches to this topic are united by the idea of ​​commonality of the stages passed by Russia and Western Europe, albeit with a full understanding of the specificity of the Russian trajectory.

So, D. V. Sarabyanov. emphasizing that Russia in the XIV-XV centuries experienced a "failed Renaissance", writes: "This is a kind of parallel to the Renaissance, but behind the barrier that separates them as cultures of different stages of development." A. I. Bogolyubov notes that the question of the Russian Renaissance does not completely fit into the classical scheme of the Western European Renaissance, but that the specifics of Russian historical development can make significant corrections to this classical model. One way or another, he is convinced that the second half of the XVI century. can be called the Renaissance: “True, this is a purely Russian Renaissance, with all the advantages and disadvantages of a state unexpectedly discovered in the East of Europe” D.S. Likhachev, speaking of the Russian XVI century, expresses one very important thought: “Never before century was not such a foreboding" of the next as the sixteenth. This is due to the fact that the need for the Renaissance is ripe, despite the obstacles to its development. The aspiration to the Renaissance, which appeared in the second half of the 15th century, was a hallmark of the 16th century. At the same time, the author also speaks of the "failed Renaissance."

The discussion between different authors about when the renaissance is observed in Russia - after Peter I and the end of the Middle Ages or within the Middle Ages - is also very characteristic. Just as characteristic in its own way is the attempt to build a concept of Russian literature, which would go through the same stages as the European one, but in the wrong order and pace, and somewhat different in content. These authors place the Renaissance in the first third of the 19th century.

Even earlier, the idea was expressed that Russian literature of the 18th century. “in fact, it is the beginning of the Russian Renaissance with all the signs inherent in the Western European Renaissance in its diverse manifestations from the 14th to the 16th centuries,” and lasting from the time of Kantemir to the Pushkin era inclusive. About the "failed Russian Renaissance" of the XV-XVI centuries, that it was tragically cut short, but that the Petrine era "fulfilled the duties" of the Renaissance, although not in its usual forms, using the post-Renaissance European experience, they spoke at the beginning of our century .

Noteworthy is the terminology often used in the interpretation of the question of the Renaissance on the basis of Russian history. Renaissance "failed", "failed", "slowed down", "hidden", "spread out" - such a Renaissance, no matter what periods its presence or absence is placed in, is still quite paradoxical. Some rather sensitive researchers, having in their field of vision the classical model of the European Renaissance, do not find the Renaissance “as such” in Russia, but they clearly see either the place where it could be placed, or the content of the Renaissance role played, however, by other epochs, or some vague image, inseparable from several centuries of our history. And even if the Renaissance did not take place, then the need for it, at least for a number of authors, is really beyond doubt.