Italy is a wonderful blessed land that has presented the world with a huge gallery of priceless works of art. Italian artists are great masters of painting and sculpture, recognized throughout the world. No country can compare with Italy in the number of famous painters. Why so - not in our power to understand it! But then we can once again recall the names of the great masters, the era in which they lived, and amazing paintings that came out of the world from under their brush. So, let's start a virtual tour of the beautiful world and take a look at Italy from the Renaissance.
Italian Artists of the Proto-Renaissance
The term "Renaissance" (Renaissance) refers to the time span from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. Historical documents indicate that until this time Europe was immersed in religious obscurantism and ignorance, which, accordingly, did not allow art to develop. But now the time has come, secular life began to revive little by little, which gave impetus to the development of science and culture, the era of the Proto-Renaissance began. The artists of the Italian Renaissance were revealed to the world .
In Italy of the 14th century, innovative painters appeared who began to look for new creative techniques (Giotto di Bondone, Cimabue, Niccolo Pisano, Arnolfo di Cambio, Simone Martine). Their work became a harbinger of the coming birth of the titans of world art. The most famous of these artists, perhaps, is Giotto, who can be called a real reformer of Italian painting. His most famous painting is Judas Kiss.
Italian artists of the early Renaissance
Following Giotto came such painters as Sandro Botticelli, Masaccio, Donatello, Filippo Brunelleschi, Filippo Lippi, Giovanni Bellini, Luca Signoreli, Andrea Mantegna, Carlo Crivelli. All of them showed the world beautiful paintings that can be seen in many modern museums. All of them are Italian great artists of the early Renaissance, and we can talk about the work of each of them for a very long time. But in the framework of this article, we will touch upon only the one whose name is most widely known - the unsurpassed Sandro Botticelli.
Here are the names of his most famous paintings: "The Birth of Venus", "Spring", "Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci", "Portrait of Giuliano Medici", "Venus and Mars", "Madonna Magnificat". This master lived and worked in Florence from 1446 to 1510. Botticelli was a court painter of the Medici family, this is due to the fact that his creative heritage abounds not only with paintings on religious subjects (there were a lot of such works in his work), but many samples of secular painting.
High Renaissance Artists
The High Renaissance - the end of the XV and the beginning of the XVI century - the time when Italian artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian, Giorgione created their masterpieces ... What names, what geniuses!
Particularly impressive is the legacy of the great trinity - Michelangelo, Raphael and da Vinci. Their paintings are stored in the best museums in the world, their creative heritage delights and leads to awe. Probably, in the civilized modern world, there is no such person who does not know what the “Portrait of Madame Lisa Giocondo” by the great Leonardo, the “Sistine Madonna” by Raphael or the beautiful marble statue of David created by the frantic Michelangelo looks like.
Italian masters of painting and sculpture of the late Renaissance
The late Renaissance (mid-16th century) gave the world many beautiful painters and sculptors. Here are their names and a short list of the most famous works: Benvenuto Cellini (Perseus statue with the head of Medusa Gorgon), Paolo Veronese (paintings "Triumph of Venus," Ariadne and Bacchus "," Mars and Venus ", etc.), Tintoretto (paintings" Christ in front of Pilate, “The Miracle of St. Mark” and others), Andrea Palladio-architect (Villa “Rotonda”), Parmigianino (“Madonna with a Baby in Her Hands”), Jacopo Pontormo (“Portrait of a Lady with a Basket for Yarn”). And although all these Italian artists worked during the sunset of the Renaissance, their work was included in the golden fund of world art.
The Renaissance has become a unique and inimitable period in the life of mankind. From now on, no one will ever be able to unravel the secrets of the craftsmanship of those great Italians, or at least get closer to their understanding of the beauty and harmony of the world and the ability to transfer perfection to canvas with the help of paints.
Other famous Italian artists
After the end of the Renaissance, sunny Italy continued to present talented art masters to humanity. One cannot but mention the names of such famous creators as the Karachchi brothers - Agostino and Annibale (end of the 16th century), Caravaggio (17th century) or Nicola Poussin, who lived in Italy in the 17th century.
And today, creative life does not calm down on the Apennine Peninsula, however, Italian contemporary artists still do not reach the level of skill and fame that their ingenious predecessors had. But, as you know, perhaps the Renaissance awaits us again, and then Italy will be able to show the world new titans of art.