Development of artistic culture of the 17th century in Italy. Italy in the XVII-XVIII centuries. Art of Italy of the 17th century. Common problems

Painting and graphics To learn to draw, you must first learn to see. Anyone can draw; both a camera and mobile phone, but, as is believed in painting, the “artist’s face” is difficult to achieve. Juna left her mark in painting. Her paintings

PAINTING OF SPAIN Art of Spain, like all spanish culture in general, was distinguished by significant originality, which consists in the fact that the Renaissance in this country, having barely reached the stage of high prosperity, immediately entered a period of decline and crisis, which were

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PAINTING OF FRANCE France occupied a special place among the leading European countries in the field of artistic creativity in the 17th century. In the division of labor among national schools of European painting in solving genre, thematic, spiritual and formal problems, the share of France

Moscow State Regional University

Abstract on art history

Italian art of the 17th century.

Completed:

correspondence student

33 groups of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Science

Minakova Evgenia Yurievna.

Checked:

Moscow 2009

• Italy in the 17th century
• Architecture. Baroque style in architecture.
• Architecture. Early Baroque.
• Architecture. High, or mature, baroque.
• Architecture. Baroque architecture outside Rome.
• Fine Art. General characteristics.
• Fine Art. Early Baroque.
• Fine Art. Realistic flow.
• Fine Art. The second generation of artists of the Bolognese school.
• Fine arts. High, or mature, baroque.
• Fine arts. Late Baroque.

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

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

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

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

The difficult economic situation in Italy did not make it possible to build very large structures. At the same time, the church and the highest aristocracy needed to strengthen their prestige and influence. Hence the desire for unusual, extravagant, ceremonial and sharp architectural solutions, the desire for increased decorativeness and sonority of forms.

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

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

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

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

Baroque is a style of contrasts and uneven distribution of compositional elements. Special significance it produces large and juicy curvilinear, arched forms. Baroque buildings are characterized by frontality and façade construction. Buildings are perceived in many cases from one side - from the side of the main facade, which often obscures the volume of the structure.

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

Colonnades and decorative walls enclosing the space in front of the cathedral entrance covered the disorderly, random buildings located behind them. There is no connection between the square and the adjacent complex network of alleys and random houses. Individual buildings that are part of baroque ensembles seem to lose their independence, completely subordinating to the general compositional plan.

Baroque posed the problem of the synthesis of arts in a new way. Sculpture and painting, which play a very important role in the buildings of this time, intertwining with each other and often obscuring or illusorily deforming architectural forms, contribute to the creation of that impression of richness, splendor and splendor that Baroque monuments invariably produce.

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

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

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

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

Giacomo della Porta. Giacomo della Porta (1541-1608) was a student of Vignola. Its earliest construction, the Church of Sight Catarina in Funari (1564), belongs to the Renaissance in its style. However, the façade of the Church del Gesù, which this architect completed after the death of Vignola (from 1573), is much more Baroque than the original project of his teacher. The façade of this church, with its characteristic division into two tiers and side volutes, and the construction plan were a model for a number of Catholic churches in Italy and other countries. After the death of Michelangelo, Giacomo della Porta completed the construction of the large dome of the Cathedral of St. Petra. This master was also the author of the famous Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati near Rome (1598-1603). As usual, the main building of the villa is located on the mountainside; A two-way rounded ramp leads to the main entrance. On the opposite side of the building there is a garden. At the foot of the mountain there is a semicircular grotto with arches; above it there is a water cascade framed by stairs. The building itself is of a very simple prismatic shape and is completed with a huge broken pediment.

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

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

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

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

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

Maderna's early work is the facade of the early Christian Basilica of Susanna in Rome (c. 1601). Based on the design of the façade of the Church of the Gesù, the facade of the Church of Susanna is clearly divided by orders, decorated with statues in niches and numerous ornamental decorations.

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

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

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

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

Since 1629, Bernini, after the death of Maderna, continued the construction of the Cathedral of St. Petra. In 1633, he built a large bronze canopy in the cathedral above the main dome, supported by four twisted, deconstructive columns at its base. According to tradition, this canopy is considered to be the first work of mature Baroque. Bernini's interior decoration of the cathedral was inspired by Michelangelo's design. This decoration is a wonderful example of a Baroque church interior.

The largest architectural work Bernini designed the square in front of St. Peter (1655-1667). The architect created two squares - a large elliptical one, framed by columns, and a trapezoid-shaped square immediately adjacent to it, limited on the opposite side by the main facade of the cathedral. An obelisk and two symmetrically located fountains were installed within the oval square.

Bernini continued and developed Maderna's plan: the colonnades do not make it possible to approach the cathedral from the sides. Only the main façade remains accessible to the viewer.

The majestic architecture of Piazza Bernini provided a worthy backdrop for the ceremony of the congress of the nobility for the solemn service held in the cathedral. In the 17th and 18th centuries, this congress was a magnificent and solemn spectacle. Square of the Cathedral of St. Petra is the largest Italian Baroque ensemble.

In the Vatican, Bernini created the ceremonial Royal Staircase - “Scala Regia” (“Rock of the Site”), in which he used the technique of artificially enhancing the perspective reduction. Due to the gradual narrowing of the march and reduction of the columns, the impression of greater depth of the room and an increase in the size of the staircase itself is created.

Among Bernini's most characteristic works is the small church of San Andrea in Quirinale (1678), the main façade of which looks like a portal with pilasters and a triangular pediment. This portal is, as it were, mechanically attached to the main volume of the building, which is oval in plan.

Bernini's main work in the field of civil architecture is the Palazzo Odescalchi in Rome (1665), designed according to the usual Renaissance design. The compositional center of the building is, as usual, the courtyard, bounded by arcades on the ground floor. The distribution of windows on the facades and their decorative decoration are also reminiscent of a 16th century palazzo. Only the central part of the main facade has been developed in a new way: the two upper floors are covered by a large order in the form of Corinthian pilasters, the first floor in relation to this order plays the role of a pedestal. A similar breakdown of the façade wall would later become widespread in classicist architecture.

Bernini also continued the construction of the Palazzo Barberini, begun by Maderna. The building does not have an enclosed courtyard, which is common in Italian palaces. The main building is bounded on both sides by wings protruding forward. The central part of the main facade is perceived as an appliqué applied, for decorative purposes, to the surface of the wall. The central risalit has very wide and high arched windows, with half-columns placed in the spaces between them; on the ground floor there is a deep loggia. All this sharply distinguishes the central part of the facade from the more massive side parts, designed in the traditions of 16th century architecture. A similar technique was also very widespread in Italian Baroque architecture.

The Palazzo Barberini's oval staircase with spiral flights supported by double Tuscan columns is interesting.

Francesca Borromsh. Of no less importance for the Italian Baroque is the work of Francesco Borromini (1599-1667), a collaborator of Bernini, and later his rival and enemy. Borromini's works are distinguished by their particular splendor and “dynamic” forms. Borromini brought the Baroque style to its maximum intensity.

Borromini's main work in the field of temple architecture is the Church of San Carlo "at the four fountains" (1638-1667). Its facade is perceived as an independent architectural composition, independent of the building. It is given curving, wave-like shapes. Within this facade you can see the entire arsenal of baroque forms - broken arched cornices, oval cartouches and other decorative details. The church itself has a complex shape in plan, reminiscent of two bells placed together with their bases. The ceiling is an oval dome. As in many other buildings of this time, the composition of the church is based on the contrast of external and internal architectural volumes, on the surprise of the effect that occurs upon entering the building.

One of the architect's most significant works is the Roman church of San Ivo, included in the building of the Sapienza (university, 1642-1660). It should be noted the complex outlines of the church plan and the complete discrepancy between the outer and inner shells of the dome. From the outside, one gets the impression of a tall drum and a flat dome covering this drum. Having gone inside, you are convinced that the heel parts of the dome cover are located directly at the base of the drum.

Borromini designed Villa Falconieri in Frascati. In addition, he rebuilt the Palazzo Spada and worked before Bernini on the Palazzo Barberini (see above).

Carlo Rainaldi. Carlo Rainaldi (1611-1691) is one of the main builders of the heyday of the Baroque. Rainaldi's most important works are the churches of San Agnese and Sita Maria in Campitelli.

The Church of San Agnese (begun in 1651) is located on the axis of Piazza Navona, which preserves the outlines of the ancient Circus of Domitian that was previously located here. The square is decorated with baroque fountains by Bernini, typical of this time. The church has a centric plan and is topped with a large dome; its arched, concave façade is bounded on both sides by bell towers. Unlike most Roman churches of this time, the dome is not hidden by the plane of the facade, but acts as the main compositional center of the entire area.

The Church of Sita Maria in Campitelli was built later, in 1665-1675. Its two-tier façade, designed according to the Church del Gesù system, and its interior design are a typical example of mature Baroque architecture.

Rainaldi also owned the rear façade of the Roman church of Santa Maria Maggiore (1673).

In the 17th century, Roman architecture was enriched with several new villas located in the vicinity of the city. In addition to the Villa Doria Pamphilj, built by the architects Algardi and Grimaldi (c. 1620), among others, Villa Mandragone and Villa Torlonia were created - both located in Frascati, as well as Villa d'Este in Tivoli. These stately estates have beautiful pools, rows of cypress trees, evergreen bushes, variously decorated terraces with balustrades, grottoes, numerous sculptures. The sophistication and splendor of the decorative decoration were often combined with elements of wild nature introduced into the artificially created landscape.

Baroque outside Rome produced a number of major architects. Bartolomeo Bianco worked in Genoa in the 17th century. His main work is the building of the University in Genoa (from 1623) with a wonderful courtyard bounded by two-story arcades and beautiful staircases adjacent to them. Due to the fact that Genoa is located on a mountain slope, like an amphitheater descending to the sea, and individual buildings are built on plots with a large slope, the latter are dominated by the placement of buildings and courtyards at different levels. In the University building, the front vestibule, the central courtyard and, finally, the staircases located behind the openwork two-tier arcade leading to the garden are strung on one horizontal compositional axis in ascending order.

The architect Baltassare Longhena (1598-1682) worked in Venice. His main work is the largest, along with the Cathedral of St. Mark, Church of Venice Santa Maria delle Salute (1631-1682); it is located on the arrow between the Giudecca Canal and the Grande Canal. This church has two domes. Behind the main, octagonal volume, topped with a dome, there is a second volume containing the altar; it is also equipped with a dome, but smaller in size. The entrance to the temple is designed in the form triumphal arch. The drum of the main dome is combined with the main walls of the church by 16 spiral volutes with sculptures installed on them. They enrich the silhouette of the building and give it a special character. Despite the splendor of the decoration, the external appearance of the church is marked by a certain fragmentation of architecture and dryness of details. Inside, the church, clad in light gray marble, is spacious but cold and formal.

On the Grand Canal of Venice are located both of the most significant palazzos built by Longhena - Palazzo Pesaro (c. 1650) and Palazzo Rezzonico (1680). In terms of the structure of their facades, the latter are in many ways similar to the palaces of Venice during the Renaissance, in particular with the Palazzo Corner Sanso-Vino, but at the same time they differ from them in incomparably more richness and decorative forms.

The architect Guarino Guarini (1624-1683), a former monk of the Theatine order, worked in Turin. Guarino Guarini - “the most baroque of all baroque architects” - can be compared in his creative temperament only with Francesco Borromini. In his works, he often used recycled motifs of Moorish and Gothic architecture for decorative purposes, in addition to conventional forms. He erected many buildings in Turin, including the Palazzo Carignano (1680), ceremonial and majestic, but purely decorative in design. The solution of the main building of the palazzo is typical. Its main rectangular volume seems to have a central part inserted into it with a front, intricately designed staircase. The walls that border it and the marches have an arched shape in plan. All this is reflected accordingly on the facade. If its side sections retain rectangular outlines, then the center is a plane curving in opposite directions with a slot in the middle, into which a completely different motif is inserted as an applique - a two-tier loggia, also of a curved shape. The window casings on the facades have a broken cartilaginous configuration. The pilasters are dotted with small, graphic shapes.

Among the churches built by Guarini, the church of the Madonna della Consolata with an oval nave behind which is a hexagonal altar must be highlighted. The churches built by Guarini are even more whimsical and complex in form than his civil buildings.

In the fine arts, as in the architecture of Italy, in the 17th century the Baroque style gained dominant importance. It arises as a reaction against “mannerism”, far-fetched and complex forms which is contrasted, first of all, by the great simplicity of the images, drawn both from the works of the masters of the High Renaissance, and due to self-study nature. Keeping a keen eye on the classical heritage, often borrowing individual elements from it, the new direction strives for the greatest possible expressiveness of forms in their rapid dynamics. New painting techniques also correspond to the new quests of art: the calm and clarity of the composition are replaced by their freedom and, as it were, randomness. The figures are shifted from their central position and are built in groups mainly along diagonal lines. This construction is important for the Baroque. It enhances the impression of movement and contributes to a new transfer of space. Instead of dividing it into separate layers, usual for Renaissance art, it is covered by a single glance, creating the impression of a random fragment of an immense whole. This new understanding of space belongs to the most valuable achievements of the Baroque, which played a certain role in the further development of realistic art. The desire for expressiveness and dynamics of forms gives rise to another feature, no less typical of the Baroque - the use of all kinds of contrasts: contrasts of images, movements, contrasts of illuminated and shadow plans, color contrasts. All this is complemented by a pronounced desire for decorativeness. At the same time, the pictorial texture is also changing, moving from a linear-plastic interpretation of forms to an increasingly broader picturesque vision.

The noted features of the new style acquired more and more specific features over time. This justifies the division of 17th-century Italian art into three unevenly lasting stages: the “early”, “mature” or “high”, and the “late” Baroque, whose dominance lasts much longer than the others. These features, as well as chronological limits, will be noted below.

The Baroque art of Italy serves mainly the dominant Catholic Church, established after the Council of Trent, the princely courts and the numerous nobility. The tasks set before the artists were as much ideological as decorative. The decoration of churches, as well as palaces of the nobility, monumental paintings of domes, lampshades, and walls using the fresco technique are receiving unprecedented development. This type of painting became the specialty of Italian artists who worked both in their homeland and in Germany, Spain, France, and England. They retained undeniable priority in this area of ​​creativity until the end of the 18th century. The themes of church paintings are lush scenes glorifying religion, its dogmas or saints and their deeds. Allegorical and mythological stories, serving as a glorification of ruling families and their representatives.

Large altar paintings are still extremely common. In them, along with the solemnly majestic images of Christ and the Madonna, images that had the most powerful impact on the viewer are especially common. These are scenes of executions and tortures of saints, as well as their states of ecstasy.

Secular easel painting most willingly took on themes from the Bible, mythology and antiquity. Landscape, battle genre, and still life are developed as independent types.

On the verge of the 16th and 17th centuries, two directions emerged as a reaction against mannerism, from which all subsequent painting in Italy developed: Bolognese academicism and Caravaggism.

Balance school. Carracci brothers. Bolognese academicism formed into a coherent artistic system already in the mid-1580s. Three Bolognese artists - Ludovico Carracci (1555-1609) and his cousins ​​Agostino (1557-1602) and Annibale (1560-1609), who ranks first among the brothers - develop the foundations of a new style, relying mainly on the study of the classical heritage of the 16th century . The influence of the Venetian school, the work of Correggio and later Roman art of the 16th century determines a decisive turn from mannerism towards simplicity, and at the same time the majesty of images.

The first works of the Carracci brothers in painting the palaces of Bologna (Palazzo Fava, Palazzo Magnani) do not yet allow one to clearly differentiate their stylistic features. But the easel paintings of Annibale Carracci, in which reminiscences of the Parma school were initially strong, indicate the emerging bright artistic individuality. In 1587 and 1588, he created two altar paintings, which are like the first works of a new style: “The Ascension of the Madonna” and “Madonna with St. Matthew" (both in the Dresden Gallery). If in the first there is still a lot of mannerism in the movement of the figures and in their expression, then “Madonna with St. Matvey" is characterized by a calm majesty of images, indicative of the beginning of a new stage in Italian painting.

In the 1580s, the Carracci brothers opened an Academy in Bologna, which they called "Academia dei Incaminati" (Academy embarking on a new path). Instead of the previous training of future artists, which provided for the acquisition of the necessary skills through auxiliary work in painters' workshops, the Carracci advocated the systematic teaching of subjects required in the artist's practice. Along with teaching drawing and painting, the said Academy taught anatomy, perspective, as well as such disciplines as history, mythology, and literature. The new method was destined to play a major role in the history of European art, and the Bologna Academy was the prototype of all subsequent academies opened since the 17th century.

In 1595, the Carracci brothers, who had already gained great fame, were invited to Rome by Cardinal Farnese to paint his palace. Only Annibale responded to the invitation, leaving Bologna forever. In Rome, close contact with the traditions of the local school and the influence of antiquity opened a new phase in the master’s art. After a relatively insignificant painting of one of the halls of the Palazzo Farnese (“Camerino”, mid-1590s), Annibale Carracci created the famous gallery ceiling there, which was, as it were, the crown of his work and the starting point of most decorative paintings of the 17th century. Annibale divides the gallery space (about 20x6 m), covered with a low box vault, into a number of independent sections. The compositional structure of the lampshade resembles a painting Sistine Chapel Michelangelo, from whom he borrows, in addition to the breakdown of the plane, also the illusionistic nature of the interpretation of sculpture, living human figures and paintings. The overarching theme is the love stories of the gods of Olympus. In the center of the ceiling is the crowded and noisy “Triumphal Procession of Bacchus and Ariadne.” On the sides there are two other mythological compositions, and below there is a strip dissected by marbled Herms and Atlanteans, at whose feet sit seemingly living young men. These figures are framed either by round medallions, imitating bronze medallions, with ancient scenes, or by purely pictorial narrative compositions. At the corners, this frieze seems to be broken by the image of balustrades, above which cupids are written against the sky. This detail is important as an early, still timid attempt to break the real space, a technique that later became especially characteristic of Baroque lampshades. The plastic power of the figures, the variety of decorative forms and colorful richness created an ensemble of extraordinary splendor.

The easel paintings created by Annibale Carracci during the Roman period of creativity are devoted mainly to religious subjects. The cold perfection of forms leaves little room for feeling in them. “Lamentation of Christ” (1599, Naples, National Gallery), where both are equally high, belongs to the exceptions. The style of painting of most paintings is dominated by the desire for a clear linear-plastic identification of figures. “The Myrrh-Bearing Women at the Tomb of Christ” (c. 1605, Hermitage) belongs to the most characteristic examples of this type of work by the artist.

Often turning to the landscape genre, Annibale Carracci became the founder of the so-called “classical” landscape, which later became widespread. The essence of the latter lies in the fact that its representatives, using sometimes very subtly observed motives of nature, strive first of all to “ennoble” its forms. Landscapes are built in the artist's studio using developed schemes, in which the most important role is played by the balancing of masses, smooth contour lines and the use of groups of trees or ruins as scenes. “Landscape with the Adoration of the Magi” by Annibale Carracci in the Doria Gallery in Rome can be called one of the first stylistically complete examples of this type.

Caravaggism. A few years after the formation of Bolognese academicism, another artistic movement emerged, even more opposed to Mannerism, distinguished by a pronounced search for realistic images and having a largely democratic character. This movement, extremely important in the general history of the development of realism, is usually designated by the term “Caravaggism,” derived from the name of its leader, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1574-1610). Widely known by the name of the place of his homeland, Caravaggio developed as a painter under the influence of the art of Northern Italy. As a young man, he ends up in Rome, where he attracts attention with a number of genre paintings. The depicted half-figures of girls and boys, gypsies and sharpers are endowed with a hitherto unknown materiality. The details of the compositions are depicted in the same material way: baskets of flowers and fruits, musical instruments. The painting “The Lute Player” (1594-1595, Hermitage), which belongs to the best works of this circle, gives an idea of ​​the type of such works. It is characteristic of early Caravaggio and has a clear linear style of painting.

A simple image, devoid of any idealization, decisively different from the ennobled images of Carracci, is given by Caravaggio in his “Bacchus” (1596-1597, Florence, Uffizi),

In the late 1590s, Caravaggio received his first major commission to create three paintings for the Church of San Luigi dei Francesi in Rome. In the altarpiece “Matthew the Apostle Writing, whose hand is guided by an angel” (1597-1598, the painting was destroyed during the Second World War), Caravaggio abandoned any idealization of the apostle, depicting him with unvarnished truthfulness as a man of the people. This image caused sharp condemnation from customers, who demanded that the painting be replaced with another, more acceptable option for them. In one of the next compositions of the same order, representing “The Calling of the Apostle Matthew” (1598-1599), Caravaggio gave the first example of the so-called “funerary” painting. In this picture, a dark tonality prevails, contrasted with sharply lit details, especially important for the composition: heads, outlines of figures, hand gestures. This technique had a particularly definite influence on European painting in the first third of the 17th century.

One of Caravaggio’s most famous masterpieces of painting, “Entombment” (Rome, Pinacoteca Vatican), dates back to the first years of the 17th century (1601–1603). Built diagonally in height, this composition is distinguished by extreme expressiveness and vitality of the images; in particular, the figure of a bending disciple supporting the feet of the dead Christ is conveyed with utmost realism. The same realism, which does not allow any idealization, characterizes the “Assumption of Mary” (1605-1606, Louvre), executed a few years later. Over the lying body of the Madonna, barely touched by decay, the disciples of Christ stand in deep sadness. The genre-based nature of the painting, in which the artist decisively departed from the traditional presentation of the theme, again caused criticism from the church.

Caravaggio's rebellious temperament constantly brought him into conflict with the environment. It so happened that during a quarrel he killed his opponent in a ball game and was forced to flee Rome. A new stage opened in the master’s biography, marked by a constant change of place. After a short stay in Naples, he finds himself on the island of Malta, where he has great success in the service of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta, is elevated to the rank of nobleman, but soon, after a new quarrel, ends up in prison. He then appears again in Naples, after which he receives permission to return to Rome, but due to a mistake by the authorities, mistaking him for someone else, he is deprived of his property, ends up on a deserted seashore and dies of fever.

During this late period of creativity, the master created several wonderful works. Among the most outstanding are the “Portrait of the Grand Master of the Order of Malta Alof de Wignacourt” (1608), which is striking in its realism, as well as “The Adoration of the Shepherds” (1609, Messina), which is exceptional in its simplicity of story and deep humanity.

The master’s work, distinguished by the novelty of its depiction of life and the originality of its painting techniques, had a strong influence on many artists, both Italians and foreigners who worked in Rome. Thus, it was the most important stimulus for the development of realism in pan-European painting of the 17th century. Among the Italians, Orazio Dschentileschi (1565–1647) belongs to the most prominent followers of Caravaggio.

Domenichino. As for the closest students and successors of Carracci’s art, Domenichino is especially outstanding among them. Domenico Zampieri, nicknamed Domenichino (1582-1641), is known as the largest representative of monumental narrative art in the 17th century. fresco painting. He combines the majesty of idealized but natural forms with the seriousness of conveying the content. These features are most fully reflected in the painting of the Roman church of Sant'Andrea della Valle (1624-1628), where at the end of the apse, among the stucco, white and gold, ornament, Domenichino depicted scenes of the gospel narrative from the life of the apostles Andrew and Peter, and on the sails of the dome - four evangelists surrounded by angels. Of the master’s easel paintings, the most famous is “The Last Communion of St. Jerome” (1614, Rome, Vatican). The classicism of forms, caused partly by his fascination with Raphael, is combined in the interpretation of faces with a deep religious feeling. Domenichino's works are often marked by the lyrical nature of the images. Indicative in this regard is his early “Girl with a Unicorn”, painted above the entrance door of the Palazzo Farnese gallery, and especially the painting conventionally called “The Hunt of Diana” (1620, Rome, Galleria Borghese). The painting depicts an archery competition between Diana's companions and the appearance of Actaeon among them. The naturalness of the staging is enhanced by the freshness of the interpretation of the images.

Francesca Albani. Francesco Albani (1578-1660) was mainly an easel painter and is interesting, among other things, for the introduction of a new type of canvases - small, so-called “cabinet” paintings, designed to decorate rooms of limited volume. In them, Albani usually depicted idyllic landscapes, against the background of which figures of cupids frolic and dance.

Guado Reni. Guido Reni (1575-1642), who became the head of the Bolognese school after Carracci, was influenced by the art of Caravaggio in the early period of his work. It is manifested in the absence of idealization of images and sharp contrast of chiaroscuro (“Crucifixion of the Apostle Peter”, ca. 1605, Rome, Vatican). Soon, however, Reni develops his own style, which represents the most striking expression of one of the trends observed in the art of 17th century Italy. This so-called “classicist” movement of the early Baroque is characterized by restraint of artistic language, as well as the severity of idealized forms. Guido Reni’s style is revealed in its entirety for the first time in the famous “Aurora” (1613-1614, Palazzo Rospigliosi), painted using fresco technique on the ceiling of the Roman Palazzo Rospigliosi. Against the background of a golden-yellow sky, surrounded by a round dance of graces, Apollo races in a chariot. Aurora flying in front of him scatters flowers on the ground and the lead sea, which has not yet been touched by the rays of the sun. The linear-plastic interpretation of forms, a balanced composition built like an easel painting, as well as the contrast of different, but subdued colors, make this fresco extremely indicative of the early stage of the development of Baroque decorative painting. The same features, but with more contrived poses, appear in the later easel painting - “Atalanta and Hippomenes” (c. 1625, Naples). Reni often introduces traits of sentimentalism and sweetness into his religious paintings. The Hermitage painting “The Youth of the Madonna” (1610s) attracts with the intimacy of its depiction of pretty girls engaged in sewing. In a number of other works, the idealization of images does not exclude their naturalness and depth of feeling (Lamentation of Christ, Bologna, Pinacoteca, 1613-1614; Madonna and Child, New York, private collection, late 1620s).

The third decade of the 17th century opens a new stage of Baroque art, covered by the concept of “high, or mature, Baroque.” Its most significant features are the increased dynamism and expressiveness of forms, the picturesqueness of their rendering and the extreme increase in decorativeness. In painting, intense color is added to the noted features.

Giovanni Lanfranco. One of the masters who asserted the dominance of the new style, Giovanni Lanfranco (1580-1641), relying mainly on the monumental art of Correggio, already by 1625 created his painting of the dome of St. Andrea della Valle, depicting “Paradise”. Arranging countless figures in concentric circles - the Madonna, saints, angels, he leads the viewer's eye into an endless space, in the center of which the luminous figure of Christ is depicted. This artist is also characterized by the combination of figures into broad masses that form picturesque streams of light and shadow. The same painting techniques are repeated in Lanfranco’s easel paintings, among which one of the most significant is “The Vision of Saint Margaret of Cortona” (Florence, Palazzo Pitti). The state of ecstasy and the formation of diagonal groups are extremely characteristic of Baroque art.

Guercino. Common to the developed phase of monumental Baroque art, the illusion of exploding space above the viewers’ heads is expressed even more clearly than in Lanfranco by his contemporary Francesco Barbieri, nicknamed Guercino (1591-1666). In the ceiling of the Palazzo Ludovisi in Rome (1621-1623), as well as in the above-mentioned ceiling of Guido Reni, Aurora is depicted, this time rushing on a chariot among a cloudy sky. The tops of the walls and towering cypress trees depicted along the edges of the composition, when viewed from a certain point of view, create the illusion of a continuation of the real architecture of the room. Guercino, which is like a connecting link between artistic manners Carracci and Caravaggio, borrows from the former the character of their figures, and from the latter - the techniques of his chiaroscuro painting. “The Burial of Saint Petronilla” (1621, Rome, Capitoline Gallery) is one of the clear examples of early Guercino painting, in which the naturalness of images is combined with the breadth and energy of pictorial execution. In "The Execution of St. Catherine" (1653, Hermitage), as in other late works of the master, the truthfulness of the images is replaced by the elegance of the composition.

Domenico Fetti. Among other artists of this time, Domenico Fetti (1589-1624) should also be mentioned. In his compositions, elements of the realistic everyday genre coexist with a rich colorful palette, which was influenced by the art of Rubens. His paintings “Madonna” and “Healing of Tobit” (1620s, Hermitage). distinguished by their sonority and softness of color, they allow us to get a certain idea of ​​​​the artist’s coloristic quest.

Lorenzo Bernini. The central figure of high baroque art is the brilliant architect and sculptor Lorenzo Bernini (1599-1680). The master's sculpture represents a unique combination of all the characteristic features of the Baroque style. It organically merged the extreme sharpness of a realistic image with the immense breadth of decorative vision. Added to this is an unsurpassed mastery of the techniques of processing marble, bronze, and terracotta.

The son of a sculptor, Lorenzo Bernini belongs to the masters who very early found their artistic language and reached maturity almost from the first steps. Already around 1620, Bernini created several marble sculptures that belong to undisputed masterpieces. His statue “David” dates back to 1623 (Rome, Galleria Borghese). It is distinguished by its extraordinary skill in realistically conveying the tension of the spiritual and physical forces of the biblical hero, depicted at the moment of throwing a stone with a sling. Two years later, the group “Apollo Pursuing Daphne” (1620s, Rome, Galleria Borghese) is performed. The picturesque forms of the running figures and the exceptional perfection of surface treatment are complemented by the rare subtlety of expression on the faces of Daphne, who does not yet feel the metamorphosis taking place (her transformation into a laurel tree), and Apollo, who understands that the victim he has overtaken is irretrievably lost.

The twenties and thirties of the 17th century - the time of the pontificate of Urban VIII - strengthened Bernini's position as the leading artist of Rome. In addition to numerous architectural works, during the same period he created a number of monumental sculptures, portraits, as well as works of a purely decorative nature. Of the latter, the most perfect is the “Fountain of Triton” (1637), which rises on one of the squares in Rome. The bizarre outlines of a huge shell supported by dolphins and a newt towering above it are in harmony with the streams of cascading waters.

The strongly expressed decorativeness of most of the master’s works can be contrasted with the portraits of Constance Buonarelli (Florence, National Museum) and Cardinal Scipione Borghese (Rome, Galleria Borghese) from the same stage of Bernini’s activity, which are amazing in their realistic sharpness of characteristics from the 1630s.

The accession of Innocent X to the papal throne in 1640 entailed the temporary removal of Bernini from his leading role in the construction and decoration of Rome. In the short period separating him from the subsequent official recognition, Bernini performed a number of new remarkable works. Having in mind the temporary non-recognition of his artistic merits, he creates the allegorical group “The Truth That Time Reveals.” The figure of time remained unfulfilled, but the seated allegorical female figure amazes with the extreme expressiveness of its realistic forms.

A masterpiece of monumental Baroque sculpture was the famous group “Ecstasy of St. Teresa”, decorating the Cornaro Chapel of the Roman Church of Santa Maria della Vittoria (1645-1652), An angel with an arrow in her hand appears above the saint bending in a state of ecstasy. Teresa's feelings are expressed with all the inexorability of a realistic rendering. The interpretation of her wide robe and the figure of an angel contains decorative features. The white color of the marble group, placed against the background of golden rays, merges with the colorful shades of the colored marble of the architectural surroundings into an elegant color ensemble. The theme and execution are very characteristic of the Italian Baroque style.

Another of Bernini's most important creations dates back to 1628-1647 - the tombstone of Pope Urban VIII in the Cathedral of St. Peter's in Rome. Due to the majestic expressiveness of its design and the mastery of its plastic design, this monument belongs to the most remarkable works of funerary sculpture. Against the background of a niche lined with colored marble, a white pedestal with an expressive bronze figure of the pope rises. His hand raised in blessing imparts a formidable grandeur to the figure. Below, on the sides of the green marble sarcophagus, there are white figures embodying the virtues of Urban VIII - wise Justice and Mercy. A bronze half-figure of a winged skeleton rising from behind the sarcophagus attaches to the pedestal a board with the name of the deceased inscribed.

The period of temporary non-recognition of Bernini is soon replaced by the same Innocent X with recognition of him as the official head of the Roman school, and almost with greater glory than before. Among the sculptural works of the second half of Bernini's career, one can note the grandiose bronze pulpit of the Cathedral of St. Peter in Rome, the figure of Emperor Constantine galloping on horseback (ibid.), and in particular the creation of a new type of portrait, the best image of which is the marble bust of Louis XIV, executed by the master during his stay in 1665 (at the invitation of the French court) in Paris. While maintaining the expressiveness of facial features, the main attention is now focused on the decorativeness of the whole, achieved by a picturesque interpretation of the flowing curls of a huge wig and fluttering draperies, as if caught by the wind.

Endowed with exceptional expressiveness and originality fine style and the perfection of technical skill, Bernini's art found countless admirers and imitators who influenced the plastic art of Italy and other countries.

Pietro da Nortona. Of the painters, the most representative of the High Baroque style is Pietro Berrettini da Nortona (1596-1669). He initially distinguished himself with his multi-figure easel paintings (“The Victory of Alexander the Great over Darius”, “The Rape of the Sabine Women” - 1620s, both - Capitoline Museum, Rome), in which he discovered deep knowledge material culture Ancient Rome, acquired as a result of the study of ancient monuments. But Norton's main achievements relate to the field of monumental and decorative paintings. Between 1633 and 1639 he painted a grandiose lampshade in the Palazzo Barberini (Rome), which is a striking example of Baroque decorative painting. The plafond glorifies the head of the Barberini house, Pope Urban VIII. In the space enclosed by a heavy rectangular frame, the figure of Divine Wisdom is depicted surrounded by many allegorical characters. On the left, above her, a slender girl with a crown of stars in her raised hands, personifying Immortality, flies up to the heavens. Even higher, powerful figures of the Muses, serving as a reminder of the poetic activity of Urban VIII, carry a huge wreath, in the center of which three bees of the Barberini coat of arms fly. On the sides of the frame, at the curve of the transition to the walls, mythological scenes are depicted, in an allegorical form telling about the activities of the pope. The richness of pictorial motifs, diversity and vitality of images corresponds to the sonorous colorfulness of the whole.

The organic fusion, characteristic of Norton's monumental style, into a single decorative system of architectonics of compositions, painting and plastic ornamentation found its most complete expression in the painting of a number of halls of the Palazzo Pitti in Florence (1640s), designated by the names of the gods of Olympus. This time the glorification of the house of the Medici is distinguished by an extraordinary variety of compositions. The most interesting is the lampshade that decorates the “Hall of Mars” and speaks of the military virtues of the owners of the Palazzo. The dynamics inherent in this image, the asymmetry of construction, as well as the irrationality of the composition, expressed in the fact that light figurines of cupids support the massive stone coat of arms of the Medici, belong to the extreme expressions of the Baroque style, which has reached the fullness of its development.

At the same time, realistic tendencies find their development in the work of a number of Italian masters, mainly working outside Rome.

Salvator Rosa. Among the most original artists of the mid-17th century is Salvator Rosa (1615-1673), who was not only a painter, but also a poet, pamphleteer and actor. A native of Naples, where the influence of the Caravaggio school was especially persistent, Rosa is close to the latter in the reality of his images and his style of painting with dark shadows. The subject matter of this artist's work is extremely varied, but the most important for the history of art are his numerous battle scenes and landscapes. The artist’s stormy temperament was fully revealed in the battle compositions. A similar battle genre, picked up by imitators, would become widespread throughout European art. The master’s landscapes depicting rocky sea coasts, due to the motifs of the depicted nature, the dynamics of the composition, the sharp contrast of lighting and emotionality general solution can be called romantic. Thus, they can be contrasted with the classical landscapes of the Carrachi school and the highly realistic landscapes of the northern schools. Among Rosa’s large-figure paintings, “Odysseus and Nausicaä” (1650s) and “Democrat Surprising at the Dexterity of Protagoras” (from the same time), stored in the Hermitage, stand out. They serve as excellent examples of the master's narrative style and painting technique.

In the sixties of the 17th century, the last, longest phase in the development of baroque art in Italy, the so-called “late baroque,” ​​began. It is characterized by less strictness in constructing compositions, greater lightness of figures, especially noticeable in female images, increasing subtleties of color and, finally, a further increase in decorativeness.

Giovanni Battista Gauli. The main exponent of new trends in painting is Giovanni Battista Gauli (1639-1709), known both as an easel painter and as an artist who created a number of frescoes. His art is closely related to the art of the late Bernini. Among the best works of Gauli are his early, light-colored paintings of the sails of the church of Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona in Rome (c. 1665). Instead of the evangelists, the most common church architecture in these places, Gauli depicted allegorical scenes of Christian virtues, distinguished by their lightness of form. Particularly attractive is the one in which two young girls are presented, one of whom places a wreath of flowers on the other. Works of Gauli's mature style are the paintings of the ceiling, dome and concha of the apse of the main church of the Jesuit order Il Gesu in Rome (1670s-early 1680s). This lampshade, known as the Adoration of the Name of Jesus, is very indicative of the late Baroque style. Among the painted architecture, which continues the real forms of the church, a heavenly space extending into the depths is presented, filled with innumerable figures, like waves shimmering from dark to increasingly dark. light groups. Another type of the master’s paintings are his devoid of any decorative embellishments, psychologically superbly characterized portraits of his contemporaries (“Pope Clement IX”, Rome, Gallery of St. Luke; “Portrait of Bernini”, Rome, Galleria Corsini).

Andrea Pozzo. The search for the illusory nature of architectural structures reaches its highest development in the work of Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709). His major work is the ceiling fresco of the Church of Saint Ignazio in Rome, viewed from the central nave, depicted on it with tiers of terraces, arcades, colonnades of towering walls, above which Ignatius of Loyola stands out among the many figures - creates the illusion of architectural space. Like other similar lampshades, the harmony and correctness of construction are immediately violated as soon as the viewer moves away from the point for which it was designed.

To the most famous masters The Neapolitan Luca Giordano (1632-1705) also belonged to decorative painting. A talented and extremely prolific master, he was nevertheless devoid of inner strength and originality and often imitated other artists. Among his best works is the ceiling glorifying the Medici family of the Florentine Palazzo Ricardi.

In the area easel painting Among the contemporaries of these artists, Carlo Maratta (1625-1713), belonging to the Roman school of the late 17th century, stands out. He took the place of the largest representative of the late Baroque. His altar paintings are distinguished by their smooth lines and majestic calm compositions. He found himself to be an equally strong artist in the field of portraiture. Among his works, the Hermitage “Portrait of Pope Clement IX” (1669), sharp in characterization and magnificent in painting, stands out. Francesco Solimena (1657-1749), who worked in Naples, in his biblical and allegorical paintings, recalls the techniques of Caravaggio with sharp contrasts of light and shadow, but uses them in purely decorative compositions. The late Bolognese Giuseppe Maria Crespi (1664-1747), one of the most gifted artists of the period under review, had a strong influence on 18th-century painting. The master is characterized by a strongly expressed realistic orientation. It manifests itself both in religious compositions and even more clearly in his everyday paintings (“The Death of St. Joseph,” ca. 1712, Hermitage; “Series of Sacraments,” 1710s, Dresden Gallery).

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

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

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

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

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

One of the main tasks of Baroque artists was to surround secular and ecclesiastical authorities with an aura of greatness and caste superiority, and to propagate the ideas of militant Catholicism. Hence the typical Baroque desire for monumental elation, large decorative scope, exaggerated pathos and deliberate idealization in the interpretation of images. In Baroque art, there are acute contradictions between its social content, designed to serve the ruling elite of society, and the need to influence the broad masses, between the conventionality of images and their emphatically sensual form. In order to enhance the expressiveness of images, Baroque masters resorted to all kinds of exaggeration, hyperbole and naturalistic effects.

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

The autonomy of each art form inherent in the art of the Renaissance, their equal relationship with each other, is now being destroyed. Subject to architecture, sculpture and painting organically merge into one common decorative whole. Painting seeks to illusorily expand the space of the interior; sculptural decor, growing out of architecture, turns into picturesque decoration; The architecture itself either becomes increasingly plastic, losing its strict architectonics, or, dynamically forming internal and external space, acquires the features of picturesqueness.

In the Baroque synthesis of arts, there is not only a merging of individual types of art, but also a merging of the entire artistic complex with the surrounding space. Sculptural figures appear as if alive from niches, hanging from cornices and pediments; the interior space of the buildings continues with the help of illusionistically interpreted lampshades. The internal forces inherent in architectural volumes seem to find their way out in the colonnades, staircases, terraces and trellises adjacent to the building, in decorative sculptures, fountains and cascades, in the receding perspectives of the alleys. Nature, transformed by the skillful hand of a park decorator, becomes an integral part of the Baroque ensemble.

This desire of art for a wide scope and universal artistic transformation of the surrounding reality, limited, however, to the solution of externally decorative tasks, is to some extent consonant with the advanced scientific worldview of the era. Giordano Bruno's ideas about the universe, its unity and infinity revealed new horizons to human knowledge and posed the eternal problem of the world and man in a new way. In turn, Galileo, continuing the traditions of the Empirical Science of the Renaissance, moves from the study of individual phenomena to knowledge general laws physics and astronomy.

The Baroque style had analogues in Italian literature and music. A typical phenomenon of the era was Marine’s pompous, gallant and erotic lyrics and the whole movement in poetry that he spawned, the so-called “Marinism”. The gravity of artistic culture of the 17th century. to synthetic unification various types art received a response in the brilliant flowering of Italian opera and the emergence of new musical genres - cantata and oratorio. In Roman opera of the 1630s, that is, the period of mature Baroque, decorative spectacle acquired great importance, subordinating both singing and instrumental music. They are even trying to stage purely religious operas, full of ecstatic pathos and miracles, when the action covers the earth and sky, just as was done in painting. However, like literature, where Marinism faced classicist opposition and was ridiculed by advanced satirical poets, opera very soon went beyond the boundaries of court culture, expressing more democratic tastes. This was reflected in the penetration of folk song motifs into the opera and the cheerful entertainingness of the plot in the spirit of commedia dell'arte (comedy of masks).

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

In all Italian fine art of the 17th century. One can name only two great masters of pan-European significance - Caravaggio and Bernini. In a number of its manifestations, Italian art of the 17th century. bears a specific imprint of the decline of social life, and it is very significant that Italy, earlier than other countries, came up with a new realistic program in painting, turned out to be unable to implement it consistently. Italian architecture has an incomparably brighter historical significance than painting, which, along with French, occupies a leading place in European architecture of the 17th century.