Renaissance in France. french renaissance art french renaissance art

1. The revival in France had the same prerequisites as in Italy. But in contrast to Italy, where already at 13 the bourgeoisie becomes the ruling class, in France it remains the nobility. Although the bourgeoisie also became very strong in France in the 15th century, humanistic ideas found their main support in the advanced circles of the nobility, who came into direct contact with the culture of Italy. In general, the influence of Italy is the most important prerequisite for the French revival. Starting from the reign of Francis I, when various campaigns of the French were organized in Italy (1515-1547), and they saw the richness and sophistication of Italian culture, the decoration of Italian cities, the import of Italian Renaissance culture into France began. Italian architects build castles in the new Renaissance style in Blois, Chambord, Fontainebleau. Many translations of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and others appear. learned humanistic drama).

In parallel, there was a study of antiquity, reaching from the part also through Italian mediation. Thucydides, Xenophon, Plutarch and others are being translated. Guillaume Bude, who wrote a huge number of works in Latin on philosophy, history, philology, mathematics and jurisprudence, became a well-known adviser and assistant to Francis in the transformation of France. His main idea is that philology is the most important science for a person, because. studying ancient languages moral development. In many ways, Guillaume is similar in his attitude to E. Rotterdam. The French Renaissance had a special relationship with the initially friendly, and then negatively opposed to humanism, church reformation.

2. In the history of French Protestantism, two periods must be distinguished: before the 1530s and after. The first Protestants of France were scattered intellectuals of a humanistic way of thinking, who were skeptical of the church, but little inclined to fight against it. Of these, the outstanding mathematician and Hellenist Lefebvre d'Etaples, who, having lived in Italy, translated the original of Aristotle and realized that he was interpreted differently in his homeland. Following this, he began to translate the Holy Scriptures and also did not find in it anything resembling the celibacy of the clergy. The Sorbonne condemned this translation, as well as all new heresy. Lefebvre is forced to flee, but Francis returns him and even makes him his son's tutor. He favors the Protestants and the humanist until ... the counter-reformation - a coup conditioned by the fear of the ruling classes of peasant uprisings and the too bold aspirations of the humanists, who threatened to overturn "all the foundations."

3. At this time, French Protestantism enters a new stage. Its head is Jacques Calvin, who moved from France to Geneva, which is now the center leading the Protestant movement in France. Calvin forms his teaching in "instruction in the Christian faith", written in Latin, and five years later in French. From that moment on, the utopian gospel is replaced by harsh Calvinism. There is a bourgeois nature in his teachings (he preaches savings, frugality, recognizes slavery), but he also found support among the nobles who do not want to put up with absolutism => Protestantism is now spreading among the southern French nobles, a stronghold of feudal reaction. Protestantism also changes and becomes not free-thinking, but fanatical (the burning of Cervantes by Calvin). A bloody struggle begins between Catholics and Protestants. At the same time, humanists do not adjoin either one or the other. Some humanists, tempted by the idea of ​​national unity (Ronsard and other members of the Pleiades) for Catholics, but they do not like the narrowness of their thinking. Humanists were repelled from Calvinism by its bourgeois narrow-mindedness and fanaticism. However, the Calvinist idea of ​​an ideal device attracted Agrippa d'Aubigne, and from the earlier time of Maro. Yet such giants of the French Renaissance as Rabelais, Deperier and Montaigne tended to religious freethinking.

4. For the writers of the Renaissance in France, the image of the "universal man" is also characteristic. Rabelais, doctor, archaeologist, lawyer and brilliant satirical writer. Why not a humanist? Maro, M. Navarre, Ronsard, and others also have great versatility in their work. New genres are born or old ones change cardinally. Short stories by M. Naverre, a peculiar form of the satirical novel by Rabelais, a new style in the lyrics of Marot, Ronsard, and then the entire Pleiades, the beginnings of secular Renaissance drama by Jodel, as well as the anecdotal-moral type of memoirs by Brantome and philosophical experiments by Montaigne - evidence of a more realistic approach to reality and the beginning of the Renaissance.

There are several stages in the development of humanism in France:

1) optimistic (early 16c)

2) disappointment of the humanists (after 1530s)

3) the crisis of humanism, but at the same time a deeper understanding of being and the search for oneself in the world (the end of the century).

Francois Rabelais is a great humanist, satirist, philosopher. His life. The history of the creation of the novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel", its sources, main themes, problems, plots, ideas of the novel

Francois Rabelais (1494 - 1553) - the largest representative of French humanism.

Born in the vicinity of Chinon, in the family of a wealthy landowner and lawyer. He studied medicine, was in the service of Francis I for 2 years. He entered the service of the royal office, received 2 parishes. Died in Paris.

Gargantua and Pantagruel. The impetus for the creation of the novel was the publication in 1532 in Lyon of the anonymous folk book The Great and Invaluable Chronicles of the Great and Huge Giant Gargantua. The success of the book, which parodied medieval chivalric romances, led Rabelais to use this form to convey deeper content. In the same year, he published as its continuation the book Terrible and Terrible Deeds and Feats of the Glorious Pantagruel, King of the Dipsodes, Son of the Great Giant Gargantua.

This work, signed with the pseudonym Alcofribas Nazier and then compiling the second book of the entire novel, went through a number of editions in a short time and caused several forgeries.

In 1534, under the same pseudonym, Rabelais published the beginning of the story under the title "The Tale of the Terrible Life of the Great Gargantua, Father of Pantagruel", which constituted the first book of the entire novel.

"The third book of the heroic deeds and sayings of the good Pantagruel" was published in 1546 with the designation of the author's true name. It differs significantly from the previous two books. The satire in the third book became of necessity more restrained and covered.

The first brief edition of the Fourth Book of the Heroic Deeds and Speeches of Pantagruel (1548) is ideologically restrained.

9 years after the death of Rabelais, under his name, the book "Sounding Island" was published, and after another 2 years - the complete "Fifth Book".

Sources. In addition to the folk book about the giant Gargantua, Rabelais served as a model for the rich grotesque and satirical poetry that developed in Italy. Even closer to Rabelais is Teofilo Folengo, who influenced him, author of the poem Baldus (1517), which contained a sharp satire on the mores of his time. However, the main source of Rabelais was folk art, a living folklore tradition that permeates his entire novel, as well as works of French medieval literature. Rabelais drew a lot of motives and satirical features of his novel from the fablio, the second part of the Romance of the Rose, from Villon, but even more - from ritual song imagery, from folk tales, anecdotes, proverbs and jokes of his time. He was greatly helped by his acquaintance with ancient science and philosophy. The novel by Rabelais is full of serious or semi-joking quotations from them, parallels, examples.

Main problems.

1. The problem of education (Rabelais maliciously ridicules the old system of education, any scholasticism. His pedagogical ideas are most clearly expressed in the picture of the education of Gargantua, who had 2 teachers. The first, the pedant Tubal Holofernes, knew only one teaching method - cramming. Another teacher named Ponokrat - "the power of labor" - made sure that the boy meaningfully assimilated knowledge.).

2. The problem of war and peace (Rabelais expressively depicts feudal wars).

3. The problem of the ruler.

4. The problem of the people.

The idle talk and quackery of the scholastics are ridiculed by Rabelais in all forms and aspects. Exposing all the baseness and stupidity of medieval institutions and concepts, Rabelais opposes them with a new, humanistic worldview.

Rabelais puts forward the principle of a uniform, harmonious development of the mental and physical properties of a person, and he considers the latter to be primary. Earth, flesh, matter for him are the foundations of all things. The key to all science and to all morality for Rabelais is a return to nature. The rehabilitation of the flesh is such an important task for Rabelais that he deliberately sharpens it. Love appears in the understanding of Rabelais as a simple physiological need.

Similar information.

The history of French art covers a huge historical period, from the era of antiquity to our time.

France is an amazing country, which is characterized by mystery and sophistication, brilliance and sophistication, sublimity and a special craving for everything beautiful. And the history of the formation of its unique, which has become a standard, such a diverse and unique art is no less amazing than the state itself.

Prerequisites for the formation of the Frankish kingdom

To understand the peculiarities of the emergence and development of French art, it is necessary to make an excursion into the history of the ancient period, when the territory of the modern French state was part of the Great Roman Empire. In the 4th century, active movements of barbarian tribes began from the banks of the Rhine to the borders of the empire. Their attacks and periodic invasions of the Roman lands, which were devastated, greatly undermined the state of the Latins. And in 395, the Roman Empire itself was divided between the sons of the current emperor into two parts: Theodosius bequeathed the richest eastern part of his territories to his eldest son Arcadius, and transferred the western part to his youngest son, Honorius. The division of the Great Roman Empire into parts weakened the already fragile Roman state and made it more vulnerable to external enemies.

The territory of modern France was part of the western part of the former Great Roman Empire. A strong blow in 410 was dealt to Rome by the troops of the Visigoths, led by Allaric. The last Roman emperor of a weak state hid in Ravenna, leaving eternal Rome behind. It was there that he was overtaken by the army of Odoacer, one of the leading military leaders of the Visigothic tribe. It is with this event, which took place in 476, that the final fall of the Roman Empire is associated. As a result of the beginning of the Great Migration, barbarian states began to emerge along the reclaimed lands. In the 5th century, the state of the Franks also arose in part of Gaul.

The Frankish state and the development of French art

The Franks are a group of tribes that have settled along the banks of the Rhine in its lower reaches and along the coast of the Baltic Sea since ancient times. The founder of the first Frankish kingdom in Europe was the young leader of the Franks, Clovis Meroving, who defeated the army of the Roman governor in Gaul at the Battle of Soissons and captured the territories subject to him. In the new territories, he resettled his associates - the Franks, endowing them with land plots, carried out a number of state reforms both in the field of public administration and in the judicial and legislative sphere, putting into effect a unique document - "Salic Truth", compiled on the basis of the tribal orders of the tribe salic francs. In addition, special attention was paid by Clovis to the choice of faith. The adoption of Christianity not only strengthened the new state, but also influenced the formation of Frankish art.

After the Merovingian dynasty became lazy in matters of government, life in the kingdom became more and more difficult. The nobility seized the royal lands. Permissiveness flourished in the management of the nobility of their allotments and peasants. The impoverishment of the population increased. In the 8th century, an external threat from nomadic Arab tribes also loomed. One of the administrators of the last Merovingian king, Karl Martell, took power into his own hands. He carried out a series of reforms that helped strengthen the state and defeat the Arabs. And the son of Pippin the Short was elected by the council of the nobility as the new king of the Franks. This choice was confirmed by the Pope. And the first Frankish emperor was the son of Pippin the Short Charles, who was nicknamed the Great in history. It was to Charles that the Frankish Empire owes a special stage in the flowering of culture and art, which is called the Carolingian Renaissance.

Art of the "original" Franks

If we understand the features of the birth and formation of the Frankish state, then the fate of the cultural heritage that has been located in the Frankish territories since ancient times becomes clear. It was mainly the development of ancient civilization: bridges, residential and temple architecture, sculpture and literature, theater and arts and crafts. However, Christian churchmen did not consider it necessary to preserve these cultural riches, but used that part of them that could be adapted to the practice of religious worship and to the life of the layman. Thus, worship in Christian churches was held in Latin, church books were written in the same language.

It was necessary to use the architectural finds of Antiquity in order to start the construction of temples and monasteries, the use of knowledge of astronomy helped to calculate the dates of the church calendar, which in the Middle Ages declared the life of the entire kingdom. The Franks also adapted the education system of the late Roman Empire to their needs. It is noteworthy that the complex of subjects studied in Frankish schools was called What kind of arts were we talking about? The so-called trivium included the sciences of the word: grammar, rhetoric and dialectics. The quadrivium included the sciences of numbers: arithmetic, geometry, music as the calculation of musical intervals, and astronomy.

The arts and crafts were dominated by the traditions of barbarian creativity, which was characterized by the use of plant and animal ornaments and images of monsters or creatures that did not actually exist and often had a rather frightening appearance as the main motifs. This type of art is called terratological or monstrous.

Art and culture of the Carolingian Renaissance

The reign of Charlemagne is characterized by an unprecedented rise in culture. One of the reasons for this is the very personality of the emperor - a well-educated and highly cultured person. He spoke and read Latin fluently, understood Greek, and was fond of theology and philosophy. One of the unique architectural structures of this period was the palace church in Aachen, amazing in its artistic design.

The art of creating handwritten books also developed: they were written in almost calligraphic handwriting and decorated with beautiful miniatures. Among the books were both theological writings and annals - a time-based record of events that took place in the Frankish Empire over the years.

Schools focused on primary and elite education were opened in the empire. The creator of the first was an associate of Karl Alcuin. And the elite school opened in Aachen united scientists, the emperor's family and the entire court of Charlemagne. At the school, called the "Court Academy", philosophical conversations were held, they studied the Bible and the culture of Antiquity, made riddles and composed poems. And one of the members of the Academy wrote the first secular biography, The Life of Charlemagne.

It was during the era of the Carolingian Renaissance that the foundations for the preservation and revival of the traditions of ancient culture and the basis for the further development of the culture of the Franks were laid.

Formation of France as a state

During the reign of the descendants of Charlemagne, the empire he created was increasingly weakened. When the empire was divided among the sons of Charles, the western part of it went to the eldest son Lothair. And his descendants continued to weaken the fragmented state. The empire has fallen. The last of the Carolingians finally lost their influence and were deposed. The nobility transferred the right to rule to the then powerful Parisian Count Hugh Capet. It was the eastern part of the former Frankish Empire that began to be called France. Thanks to the rule of the Capetians, the new state not only revived, but also received new opportunities for its development, including cultural.

Folk art of medieval France

In the theater and music of the medieval period, a number of changes also occurred in comparison with the ancient one. The Christian church considered the actors to be accomplices of the devil and in every possible way persecuted the artistic fraternity. As a result, the theater ceased to exist as a mass phenomenon, the buildings of theaters and stadiums gradually fell into a state of ruin, and the actors began to form itinerant troupes and played for the people at crossroads, fairs and squares. Mobile groups of universal actors - histrions were a less convenient object for persecution by the church and the authorities, who were subordinate to it and pursued their goals at the same time due to the peculiarity of the direction of the work of histrions and troubadours - itinerant musicians. A special group was made up of vagants - former students or monks who knew versification and the basics of musical art, who wandered alone along the roads and in their works either sang about carnal love, or denounced the decaying church and rotten state.

Three spheres of development of medieval art

9/10 of the population of medieval France were peasants. Therefore, the main culture of the state can be defined as peasant. Most of the day the medieval peasant spent in labor on the land of the feudal lord. But this does not mean at all that he did not have the need and time to communicate with culture and art. Basically, it was song and dance creativity, competitions in strength and dexterity. A special place in communication with art was occupied by viewing performances of histrions. Oral folk art also developed. The wisdom of the people is reflected in folklore: fairy tales, songs, proverbs and sayings. The main theme of the storytellers was the shame of the stupid rich man by the poor, but kind poor man, who, as a rule, came from a peasant family. The tales were acutely social: they revealed the vices of society in the sphere of relations between the nobility and the peasantry, and also talked about the plight of the peasants. Legends and ballads were also created, glorifying the exploits of folk heroes fighting for the honor and dignity of an ordinary person and against feudal arbitrariness.

The second side of medieval culture and art was the life of cities, the growth and flourishing of which was observed starting from the 9th century. The emergence of such a class as the bourgeois was the beginning of the development of bourgeois culture. The skills of craftsmen improved rapidly. The principles of their work and the quality of the products created have changed, many of which are now highly valued as masterpieces of decorative and applied art. It was from this time that such a word as "masterpiece" came into our everyday life. Each master joining the guild fraternity had to demonstrate his skills and make the perfect product. This was the masterpiece. Gradually, a system of interaction and competition between workshops was formed, which initially became a motivator in the development of crafts. However, over time, the workshops began to interfere with the development of crafts, as competitors did not want to be bypassed by the most talented craftsmen, and sometimes they did not want the secret of the manufacturing process of a product or material for it to fall into the hands of competitors. Often members of the guild fraternity even destroyed inventions, and sometimes persecuted their creators.

The third side of medieval culture and art was the existence of a separate world of the aristocracy - the feudal lords. As a rule, all feudal lords carried military service to the king, being his personal vassals. Smaller feudal lords were vassals of their rulers - barons, counts, etc. Carrying horse military service, they represented such a phenomenon of medieval society as chivalry. Knightly culture was also characterized by its special art. This includes the art of creating knightly coats of arms - three-dimensional identification marks of a knightly family or an individual knight. They made coats of arms from expensive materials - gold and silver, enamel and marten or squirrel fur. Each coat of arms was an important historical source and a very valuable work of art.

In addition, within the framework of the boys - future knights - they were taught such arts as singing and dancing, playing musical instruments. They were taught good manners from childhood, knew many poems, and many of the knights themselves wrote poems, dedicating them to a beautiful lady. And of course, it is necessary to recall the unique monuments of medieval architecture - knightly castles built in the Romanesque style, as well as amazing temples that were built in all cities of France, first in the Romanesque, and later in the Gothic style. The most famous temples are the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the place where French monarchs were crowned.

Art of France: Renaissance

The Renaissance, associated with a new round of interest in the ancient cultural heritage and art, originated in sunny Italy in the 14th century. In France, the trends of the Renaissance were reflected in culture and fine arts only at the end of the 15th century. But this period also lasted longer in France than in Italy: not until the 16th, but until the 17th century. The rise in the field of culture and art in the French state was associated with the completion of the unification of the country under Louis XI.

The disengagement from the Gothic traditions in the art of France occurred in connection with the frequent trips of the kings to Italy, where they got acquainted with the amazing Italian art of the Renaissance. However, unlike in Italy, the art of this period in France was more courtly than folk.

As for the nationality of French art, a remarkable poet who created figurative, witty and cheerful poetic works became a bright representative of it in literature.

If we talk about the fine arts of this period, it should be noted that realistic tendencies were embodied in theological miniatures and secular literature. The very first artist of this period in the development of French art was Jean Fouquet, who left to posterity a huge legacy in the form of portraits of aristocrats and the royal family, book miniatures, landscapes, diptychs depicting the Madonna.

She also invited Italian masters of the Renaissance to France: Rosso and Primaticcio, who became the founders of the Fontainebleau school - a trend in the French art of painting that arose in the Fontainebleau estate. This trend was based on the principles of mannerism, which was originally represented by the founders of the school, and was characterized by the use of mythological plots and intricate allegories. Sources have been preserved that give other names of the masters who participated in the design of the Fontainebleau castle: the Italians Pellegrino and Juste de Juste, the French Simon Leroy, Claude Badouin, Charles Dorigny, the Flemish Leonard Tirey and others.

In the 16th century, the genre of portrait, pictorial and pencil, was actively developing in France. Particularly interesting are the works of Jean Clouet, who painted portraits of almost the entire French court.

Sculpture of this period in France is associated with the name of Michel Colombe, who skillfully performed, among other things, relief images and philosophical interpretations of the tombstone. Also interesting are the works of Jean Goujon, imbued with a special musicality and poetry of images and manner of performance.

The work of another sculptor of this period, Germain Pilon, became a counterbalance to the harmonious and ideal in its beauty and grace of Goujon's work. They are akin in their expression and hypertrophy of transmitted feelings and experiences to the works of expressionists of the 19th century. All his characters are deeply realistic, even naturalistic, dramatic and gloomy.

Art of France: 17th century

The 16th century was an era of wars and devastation for the French state. In the first quarter of the 17th century, power in France was strengthened. The process of centralization of power went especially fast under Louis XIII, when Cardinal Richelieu ruled everything in the country. The people groaned under the yoke of the aristocracy and the hardships of daily work. However, the absolutist monarchy contributed not only to the strengthening and increase in the power of France, but also to the fact that during this period the country became one of the leading among other European states. This, undoubtedly, was reflected in the development and main trends of culture and art in the country.

The art of France in the 17th century can be roughly defined as the official court, which was expressed by the pompous and decorative Baroque style.

In contrast to the splendor and exaggerated decorativeness of the Baroque, two trends emerged in the art of France: realism and classicism. The first of these was an appeal to the reflection of real life as it was, without embellishment. Within the framework of this direction, everyday genre and portrait, biblical and mythological genres are developing.

Classicism in the art of France primarily reflects the theme of civic duty, the victory of society over the individual, the ideals of reason. They are positioned as an opposition to the imperfection of real life, an ideal to which one must strive, sacrificing even personal interests. All this is mainly related to the fine arts of France. The basis for the art of classicism was the tradition of ancient art. And this is most reflected in classic architecture. In addition, it was architecture that was most dependent on the practical interests of the state and was completely subordinated to absolutism.

The period of the 17th century in the French state is characterized by the construction of a large number of city-forming architectural ensembles and palace structures. During this period, it is secular architecture that comes to the fore.

If we talk about the reflection of the above trends in the visual arts, then we should mention the work of Nicolas Poussin - an amazing representative of the era, whose painting embodied both the generalization of the worldview and the indomitable energy of the life of ancient art.

Art of France: 18th century

The new upsurge of culture was associated with a huge influence on the creativity of the folk principle, which was primarily clearly expressed in music. In the theater, comedy began to play the main role, the fair theater of masks and the art of opera were actively developing. Less and less creators turned to religious themes, secular art developed more and more actively. The French culture of this period was very diverse and full of contrasts. The art of realism turned to revealing the world of a person of different classes: to his feelings and experiences, the everyday side of life, and psychological analysis.

French art of the 19th century

We move on. Let's talk briefly about the art of France in the 19th century. The life of the state of that time is characterized by another round of growing discontent among the people and pronounced revolutionary sentiments after the restoration of the French monarchy. The theme of struggle and heroism has become one of the leading in the visual arts. It was reflected in the new directions of painting - historicism and romanticism. But there is a struggle with academicism in the fine arts of this period.

The study of the color factor in painting leads to the active development of the landscape genre and to the revision of all systems of French painting.

During this period, arts and crafts received special development as the most reflective of the aspirations of the people. Lubok is becoming very popular, allowing the simplest technique, using satirical images, to reveal the vices and problems of society.

In fact, etching becomes a documentary historical source of the era. Etchings can be used to study the history of France in the 19th century.

The art of France, as we see, is very multifaceted and diverse and is closely connected with the peculiarities of the development of the French state. Each era is a huge block that requires special disclosure, which cannot be done within the framework of one article.

The Renaissance was a significant stage in the development of French culture. At this time, bourgeois relations are rapidly developing in the country and monarchical power is being strengthened. The religious ideology of the Middle Ages is gradually pushed into the background by a humanistic worldview. Secular art begins to play an important role in the cultural life of France. The realism of French art, connection with scientific knowledge, appeal to the ideas and images of antiquity bring it closer to Italian. At the same time, the Renaissance in France has a peculiar appearance, in which Renaissance humanism is combined with elements of tragedy, born of the contradictions of the current situation in the country.

As a result of the many defeats of France during the Hundred Years' War with England, which lasted from 1337 to 1453, feudal anarchy reigned in the country. The peasantry, crushed by unbearable taxes and the atrocities of the invaders, rose to fight against their oppressors. With particular force, the liberation movement flared up at the moment when the British troops, who had captured the north of France, headed for Orleans. Patriotic sentiments resulted in the performance of the French peasants and knights, led by Joan of Arc, against the English troops. The rebels won several brilliant victories. The movement did not stop even when Joan of Arc was captured and, with the tacit consent of the French king Charles VII, was burned at the stake by churchmen.

As a result of the long struggle of the people against foreign invaders, France was liberated. The monarchy used this victory for its own purposes, while the position of the victorious people remained still difficult.

In the second half of the XV century. thanks to the efforts of Louis XI, France became politically unified. The country's economy developed, science and education improved, trade relations were established with other states, and especially with Italy, from which culture penetrated France. In 1470, a printing house was opened in Paris, in which, along with other books, the works of Italian humanists began to be printed.

The art of book miniature is developing, in which mystical and religious images have been replaced by realistic ideas about the surrounding world. At the court of the Duke of Burgundy, the above-mentioned talented artists, the Limburg brothers, work. Famous Dutch masters worked in Burgundy (painters van Eyck brothers, sculptor Sluter), so in this province the influence of the Dutch Renaissance is noticeable in the art of French masters, while in other provinces, for example in Provence, the influence of the Italian Renaissance increased.

One of the largest representatives of the French Renaissance was the artist Anguerrand Charonton, who worked in Provence, who painted monumental and compositionally complex canvases, in which, despite the religious themes, interest in man and the reality surrounding him was vividly expressed (“Madonna of Mercy”, “Coronation of Mary” , 1453). Although Charonton's paintings were notable for their decorative effect (refined lines, combined into a bizarre ornament, symmetry of the composition), but an important place in them was occupied by detailed everyday scenes, landscapes, and human figures. On the faces of the saints and Mary, the viewer can read the feelings and thoughts that own them, learn a lot about the character of the characters.

The same interest in the landscape, in the careful transfer of all the details of the composition, distinguishes the altarpieces of another artist from Provence - Nicolas Froment ("The Resurrection of Lazarus", "The Burning Bush", 1476).

The features of the new in French art were especially clearly manifested in the work of the artists of the Loire school, who worked in the central part of France (in the valley of the Loire River). Many representatives of this school lived in the city of Tours, in which in the 15th century. was the residence of the French king. A resident of Tours was one of the most significant painters of this era, Jean Fouquet.

Jean Fouquet

Jean Fouquet was born around 1420 in Tours in the family of a priest. He studied painting in Paris and, possibly, in Nantes. He worked in Tours as a court painter to King Charles VII, then Louis XI. He had a large workshop in which the orders of the royal court were carried out.

For several years, Fouquet lived in Italy, in Rome, where he got acquainted with the work of Italian masters. But, despite the fact that in his works, especially early ones, the influence of Italian and Dutch art is noticeable, the artist quickly developed his own, unique style.

Fouquet's art manifested itself most clearly in the portrait genre. The portraits of Charles VII and his ministers created by the artist are realistic and truthful, they contain neither flattery nor idealization. Although the manner of execution of these works in many ways resembles the paintings of the Dutch painters, the portraits of Fouquet are more monumental and significant.

Most often, Fouquet depicted his models in moments of prayer, so the heroes of his works seem to be immersed in their own thoughts, they seem to not notice either what is happening around them or the audience. His portraits are not distinguished by ceremonial splendor and luxury of accessories, the images on them are lavish, prosaic and static in a Gothic way.

On the portrait of Charles VII (c. 1445) there is an inscription: "The most victorious king of France." But Fouquet depicted the king so reliably and truthfully that there are absolutely no indications of his victoriousness: the picture shows a frail and ugly man, in whose appearance there is nothing heroic. The viewer sees in front of him an egoist sated with life and tired of entertainment with small eyes, a large nose and fleshy lips.

Just as true and even merciless is the portrait of one of the most influential courtiers of the king - Juvenel des Urzen
(c. 1460). The painting depicts a fat man with a swollen face and a smug look. The portrait of Louis XI is also realistic. The artist did not seek to somehow embellish his models, he depicted them exactly as they were in life.

This is confirmed by the numerous pencil drawings that preceded the pictorial portraits.

Fouquet's masterpiece was a diptych written around 1450, one part of which depicts Etienne Chevalier with St. Stephen, and on the other - the Madonna with the baby Jesus. Maria strikes with her grace and calm beauty. The pale bodies of the Madonna and Child, the gray-blue dress and Mary's ermine robe contrast sharply with the bright red figures of the little angels surrounding the throne. Clear lines, laconic and strict coloring of the picture give the image solemnity and expressiveness.

The images of the second part of the diptych are distinguished by the same strict clarity and inner depth. His characters are pensive and calm, their looks reflect bright character traits. Stefan stands freely and simply, depicted as a real person, not a saint. His hand rests patronizingly on the shoulder of the slightly shackled Etienne Chevalier, who is represented by the artist at the moment of prayer.

Chevalier is a middle-aged man with a wrinkled face, a hooked nose and a stern look in small eyes. This is probably what he looked like in real life. Like the picture with the Madonna, this part of the diptych is distinguished by the integrity of the composition, the richness and sonority of color, based on red, golden and purple hues.

A large place in the work of Fouquet is occupied by miniatures. These works of the artist are very similar to the works of the Limburg brothers, but they are more realistic in depicting the world around them.

Fouquet created wonderful illustrations for the "Great French Chronicles" (late 1450s), Etienne Chevalier's Book of Hours (1452-1460), Boccaccio's "Novels" (c. 1460), "Jewish Antiquities" by Josephus Flavius ​​(c. 1470). In miniatures depicting religious, antique scenes or Italian life, contemporary French cities with quiet streets and large squares, meadows, hills, river banks of the painter’s beautiful homeland, wonderful architectural monuments of France, among which the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Saint-Chapelle.

Miniatures almost always feature human figures. Fouquet liked to depict scenes of peasant, urban and court life, episodes of the battles of the recently ended war. On some miniatures you can see portraits of the artist's contemporaries ("Representation of Our Lady by Etienne Chevalier").

Fouquet is a talented chronicler, his works describe historical events with amazing accuracy, detail and truth. Such is the miniature "The Trial of the Duke of Alençon in 1458", representing more than two hundred characters on one sheet. Despite the huge number of figures, the image does not merge, and the composition remains crisp and clear. The characters in the foreground seem especially alive and natural - the townspeople who came to stare at the court, the guards holding back the pressure of the crowd. The color solution is very successful: the central part of the composition is highlighted by the blue background of the carpet, which covers the place of judgment. Other carpets with beautiful ornaments, tapestries and plants emphasize the expressiveness of the miniature and give it a special beauty.

Fouquet's works testify to the ability of their author to masterfully convey space. For example, his miniature "St. Martin" (Etienne Chevalier's Book of Hours) depicts the bridge, embankment, houses and bridges so accurately and reliably that it is easy to restore the appearance of Paris during the reign of Charles VII.

Many of Fouquet's miniatures are distinguished by subtle lyricism, which is created thanks to the poetic and calm landscape (the sheet "David learns of the death of Saul" from "Antiquities of the Jews").

Fouquet died between 1477-1481. Very popular during his lifetime, the artist was quickly forgotten by his compatriots. His art received a worthy appreciation only many years later, at the end of the 19th century.

One of the most famous artists of the late XV century. was Jean Clouet the Elder, also known as the Master of Moulin. Until 1475 he worked in Brussels, and then moved to Moulin. Around 1498-1499 Jean Clouet the Elder performed his most significant work - a triptych for the Moulin Cathedral, on the central wing of which the scene "Our Lady in Glory" is presented, and on the side - portraits of customers with patron saints.

The central part depicts the Madonna and Child, over whose head angels hold a crown. Probably, Clouet was modeled for the image of Mary by a French girl, fragile and pretty. At the same time, the abstractness of the author's intention, decorative effects (concentric circles around Mary, angels forming a garland along the edges of the canvas) give the work some resemblance to Gothic art.

Of great interest are the beautiful landscapes that Jean Clouet the Elder places in compositions with religious themes. Next to the figures of saints in these works are portrait images of customers. For example, in the canvas "Nativity" (1480), to the right of Mary, you can see chancellor Rolen prayerfully folded his hands.

In the second half of the XV century. Simon Marmion also worked in France, who performed a number of altar compositions and miniatures, among which his most famous work is illustrations for the Great French Chronicles, and Jean Bourdichon, a portrait painter and miniaturist who created wonderful miniatures for Anna of Brittany's Book of Hours.

The largest artist of this time was Jean Perreal, who headed the Lyon school of painting. He was not only an artist, but also a writer, architect, and mathematician. The fame of him went beyond France and spread to England, Germany, Italy. Perreal served with King Charles VIII and Francis I, in Lyon he held the position of an expert in construction. A number of his portrait works have been preserved, including a portrait of Mary Tudor (1514), Louis XII, Charles VIII. One of Perreal's best works is the charming and poetic Girl with a Flower. Also interesting are his paintings of the cathedral in Puy, on which, along with religious and ancient images, the artist placed portraits of French humanists, among them the image of Erasmus of Rotterdam stands out.

At the beginning of the XVI century. France was the largest (by area and population) state in Western Europe. By this time, the position of the peasants had been somewhat alleviated, and the first capitalist forms of production had appeared. But the French bourgeoisie has not yet reached the level to take positions of power in the country, as it was in the Italian cities in the XIV-XV centuries.

This era was marked not only by transformations in the economy and politics of France, but also by the wide spread of Renaissance humanistic ideas, which were most fully represented in literature, in the writings of Ronsard, Rabelais, Montaigne, Du Bellay. Montaigne, for example, considered art the main means of educating a person.

As in Germany, the development of art was closely linked to the reform movement against the Catholic Church. This movement was attended by the peasants, dissatisfied with their position, as well as the urban lower classes and the bourgeoisie. After a long struggle, it was suppressed, Catholicism retained its position. Although the Reformation had only some influence on art, its ideas penetrated the environment of humanist artists. Many French painters and sculptors were Protestants.

The centers of Renaissance culture were such cities as Paris, Fontainebleau, Tours, Poitiers, Bourges, Lyon. King Francis I played a major role in spreading Renaissance ideas, inviting French artists, poets, and scientists to his court. For several years, Leonardo da Vinci and Andrea del Sarto worked at the royal court. Around the sister of Francis, Margherita of Navarre, who was engaged in literary activities, poets and humanist writers united, promoting new views on art and the world order. In the 1530s in Fontainebleau, the Italian mannerists founded a school of secular painting, which had a significant impact on the development of French fine art.

An important place in the painting of France in the first half of the XVI century. occupied the art of the artists Giovanni Battista Rosso, Niccolò del Abbate and Francesco Primaticcio invited from Italy to paint the royal palace in Fontainebleau. The central place in their frescoes was occupied by mythological, allegorical and historical subjects, which included images of naked female figures, which were not found in the paintings of the French masters of that time. The refined and elegant, although somewhat mannered, art of the Italians had a great influence on many French artists, who gave rise to the direction called the Fontainebleau school.

Of great interest is the portrait art of this period. French portrait painters continued the best traditions of the masters of the 15th century, and above all Jean Fouquet and Jean Clouet the Elder.

Portraits were widespread not only at court, pencil images served as modern photographs in many French families. These drawings were often distinguished by their virtuosity of performance and reliability in the transfer of human character traits.

Pencil portraits were popular in other European countries, for example, in Germany and the Netherlands, but there they played the role of a sketch that preceded the pictorial portrait, and in France such works became an independent genre.

The greatest French portraitist of this era was Jean Clouet the Younger.

Jean Clouet the Younger

Jean Clouet the Younger, son of Jean Clouet the Elder, was born c. 1485 Father became his first teacher of painting. There is little information about the artist's life, it is only known that from 1516 Jean Clouet the Younger worked in Tours, and from 1529 - in Paris, where he held the position of court painter.

The portraits of Jean Clouet the Younger are amazingly authentic and truthful. These are the pencil images of the courtiers: Diane Poitiers, Guillaume Goufier, Anna Montmorency. The artist repeatedly painted some of the king’s associates: three portraits of Gaio de Genuillac, a participant in the Battle of Marignano, made in 1516, 1525 and 1526, two portraits of Marshal Brissac, dating back to 1531 and 1537, have survived to this day. One of his best pencil portraits is the image of Count d'Etan (c. 1519), in which the master's desire to penetrate into the depths is noticeable.
the inner world of man. The portrait of Erasmus of Rotterdam (1520) is also remarkable, surprisingly vital and spiritual.

Jean Clouet the Younger mastered not only the pencil, but also the brush. This is proved by a few canvases that have survived to this day. Among them - a portrait of the Dauphin Francis (c. 1519), Duke Claude of Guise (c. 1525), Louis de Cleves (1530).

The images are somewhat idealized in the solemn ceremonial portraits of little Charlotte of France (c. 1520) and Francis I on horseback (1540). Of great interest is the intimate portrait of Madame
Canapel (c. 1523), depicting a sensually beautiful woman with a sly smile on her tender lips, and a simple and strict portrait of an unknown person with a volume of Petrarch in his hand.

Some researchers believe that the portrait of Francis I, currently kept in the Louvre, belongs to the brush of Jean Clouet the Younger. This version is confirmed by a drawing made by the artist, although it is possible that he served as a model for one of the students of Jean Clouet the Younger (for example, his son Francois Clouet) to create a picturesque portrait of the king.

The Louvre portrait of Francis I combines solemnity, decorativeness and the desire to reflect the individual features of the model - the king-knight, as Francis was called by his contemporaries. The splendor of the background and the king's rich attire, the brilliance of accessories - all this gives the picture splendor, but does not overshadow the diverse range of human feelings and character traits that can be read in Francis' eyes: deceit, vanity, ambition, courage. The portrait showed the artist's observation ability, his ability to accurately and truthfully notice that unique thing that distinguishes one person from another.

Jean Clouet the Younger died in 1541. His work (especially drawings) had a great influence on numerous students and followers, among whom perhaps the most talented was his son Francois Clouet, whom Ronsard in his "Elegy to Jean" (Jean's contemporaries called everyone representatives of the Clouet family) called "the honor of our France."

Francois Clouet

François Clouet was born around 1516 in Tours. He studied with his father, Jean Clouet the Younger, helped him in fulfilling orders. After the death of his father, he inherited his position as court painter to the king.

Although the influence of Jean Clouet the Younger, as well as Italian masters, is noticeable in the work of Francois Clouet, his artistic style is distinguished by its originality and bright personality.

One of the best works of François Clouet is the painting “The Bathing Woman” (c. 1571), which, in its manner of execution, is a bit reminiscent of the painting of the Fontainebleau school. At the same time, unlike the mythological compositions of this school, it gravitates towards the portrait genre. Some art historians believe that the painting depicts Diana Poitier, while others believe that this is the beloved of Charles IX, Marie Touchet. The composition contains elements of genre: the painting depicts a woman in a bathtub, next to which stands a child and a nurse with a baby in her arms; in the background is a maid heating water for bathing. At the same time, thanks to a special compositional construction and a clear portraiture in the interpretation of the image of a young woman looking at the viewer with a cold smile of a brilliant secular lady, the canvas does not give the impression of an ordinary everyday scene.

The remarkable skill of François Clouet manifested itself in his portrait work. His early portraits are in many ways reminiscent of the works of his father, Jean Clouet the Younger. In more mature works, the original manner of the French master is felt. Although for the most part these portraits are distinguished by grandeur and solemnity, the brilliance of accessories and the luxury of costumes and draperies do not prevent the artist from presenting the viewer with the vividly individual characteristics of his models.

Several portraits of Charles IX by François Clouet have survived. In an early pencil portrait of 1559, the artist depicted a self-satisfied teenager, looking importantly at the viewer. The drawing of 1561 represents a closed, slightly constrained young man, dressed in a full dress. A picturesque portrait, executed in 1566, shows the viewer Charles IX in full growth. In a fragile figure and a pale face, the artist noticed the main features of his character: indecision, lack of will, irritability, selfish stubbornness.

One of the most remarkable works of French art of the XVI century. became a picturesque portrait of Elisabeth of Austria, painted by François Clouet around 1571. The painting depicts a young woman in a magnificent dress adorned with sparkling jewels. Her beautiful face is turned to the viewer, and expressive dark eyes look wary and incredulous. The richness and harmony of color make the canvas a truly masterpiece of French painting.

In a different manner, an intimate portrait is written in which Francois Clouet portrayed his friend, the pharmacist Pierre Kute
(1562). The artist placed the hero in his usual office environment, near the table on which the herbarium lies. Compared with the previous work, the picture is distinguished by a more restrained color scheme, built on a combination of golden, green and black hues.

Of great interest are the pencil portraits of Francois Clouet, among which the portrait of Jeanne d'Albret stands out, representing an elegant young girl, in whose eyes the viewer can assume a strong and decisive character.

Between 1550 and 1560, Francois Clouet created many graphic portraits, including beautiful drawings depicting little Francis II, the lively and charming girl Marguerite of Valois, Mary Stuart,
Gaspard Coligny, Henry II. Although some images are somewhat idealized, the main feature of the portraits is their realism and truthfulness. The artist uses a variety of techniques: sanguine, watercolor, small and light strokes.

Francois Clouet died in 1572 in Paris. His art had a great influence on contemporary artists and graphic artists, as well as French masters of the next generations.

Cornel de Lyon, who worked in Lyon, was an excellent portrait painter, who painted subtle and spiritualized female images (“Portrait of Beatrice Pacheco”, 1545; “Portrait of Queen Claude”), distinguished by their almost miniature execution and fine glazing and sonorous colors.

Simple and sincere portraits of children and men by Corneille de Lyon are characterized by the ability to reveal the depth of the inner world of the model, the truthfulness and naturalness of poses and gestures (“Portrait of a Boy”, “Portrait of an Unknown Man with a Black Beard”).

From the middle of the XVI century. in France, talented masters of pencil portraits worked: B. Foulon, F. Quesnel, J. Decourt, who continued the traditions of the famous Francois Clouet. Excellent portrait painters who worked in graphic technique were the brothers Etienne and Pierre Dumoustier.

The renaissance in France had basically the same prerequisites for its development as in Italy. However, there were significant differences in the socio-cultural background of the literary process in both countries. Unlike Italy, where in the northern regions already in the XIII century. a political upheaval takes place and a number of completely independent city republics arise in France, where bourgeois development at that time was slower than in Italy, the nobility continued to remain the ruling class.

From all this follows a certain backwardness of the French bourgeoisie in comparison with the Italian or even English, and, in particular, its weak participation in the humanist movement. On the other hand, humanistic ideas found significant support in the circles of the nobility, who came into direct contact with the culture of Italy.

In general, the strong influence of Italy is one of the most important features of the French Renaissance. The rapid flowering of humanistic thought coincides with the first half of the reign of Francis I (1515-1547). The Italian campaigns, which began under his predecessors and continued by him, greatly expanded cultural relations between the two peoples. Young French nobles, once in Italy, were blinded by the wealth of its cities, the splendor of clothes, the beauty of works of art, the elegance of manners. An intensified import of Italian Renaissance culture to France immediately began. Francis 1 attracted to his service the best Italian artists and sculptors - Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea del Sarto, Benvenuto Cellini. Italian architects build him castles in the new Renaissance style in Blois, Chambord, Fontainebleau. There are a large number of translations of Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, and others. A large number of Italian words from the field of art, technology, military affairs, secular amusements, etc. penetrate into the French language. Of the Italian humanists who moved to France at that time, the most prominent was Julius Caesar Scaliger (d. 1558), physician, philologist and critic, author of the famous "Poetics" in Latin, in which he outlined the principles of a learned humanistic drama. .

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In parallel, there was an in-depth study of antiquity, which also reached partly through Italian mediation. In the first years of his reign, Francis I ordered the publication of translations of the works of Thucydides, Xenophon and others “for the instruction of the French nobility”. his famous translation of Plutarch's Lives.

Francis I wanted to personally lead the French Renaissance in order to direct it and keep it under his control, but in reality he only followed the mental movement of the era. Of his advisers, the true leaders of the movement, in the first place should be Guillaume Bude (Guillaume Bude, 1468-1540), who first served as secretary of Francis I, then his librarian. Bude wrote a huge number of works in Latin on philosophy, history, philology, mathematics and jurisprudence. Bude's main idea was that philology is the main basis of education, since the study of ancient languages ​​and literature expands a person's mental outlook and improves his moral qualities. Much in Bude's views on religion, morality, education brings him closer to Erasmus of Rotterdam. Bude's largest undertaking was the plan to create a secular university, carried out by Francis I. According to Bude's plan, teaching in it should be based not on scholasticism and theology, as at the Sorbonne, but on philology. Thus arose in 1530 the College de France, which immediately became the citadel of free humanistic knowledge.

The second most important moment that determined the fate of the French Renaissance is its special relationship with the Reformation, at first consonant with humanism, but then sharply diverged from it.

In the history of French Protestantism, two periods must be distinguished - before the mid-1530s and after. The first Protestants of France were scattered intellectuals of a humanistic way of thinking, who were critical of all issues, including the foundations of religion, but at the same time were little inclined to preaching and fighting. The outstanding mathematician and Hellenist Lefebvre d'Etaples (1455-1537), who visited Italy and got imbued with the ideas of Platonism there thanks to conversations with Marsilio Ficino and Pico della Mirandola, began, returning to France, to interpret Aristotle in a new way, i.e. referring exclusively to the primary sources and trying to penetrate into their true meaning, not distorted by scholastic comments. Following this, Lefebvre had the idea to apply the same method to the books of Holy Scripture - and here he discovered that neither fasting, nor the celibacy of the clergy, nor most of the "sacraments" in the Gospel is said. From this arose in him and his friends the idea to return to the original purity of the gospel teaching, to create an "evangelical" religion. Delving further into the consideration of the principles of Christianity, Lefebvre in 1512, i.e. five years before Luther's speech, he put forward two provisions that later became the main ones for Protestantism of all persuasions: 1) justification by faith, 2) Holy Scripture as the only basis of religious doctrine. To reinforce the new doctrine, Lefebvre published his translation of the Bible, the first in French.

The Sorbonne condemned this translation, as well as all new heresy in general. Several of Lefebvre's followers were executed, and he himself had to flee abroad for a while. Soon, however, Francis I rehabilitated him and even appointed his son's tutor. In general, during this period, the king favored the Protestants and even thought about introducing Protestantism in France. However, in the mid-1530s, a sharp turn took place in his policy, which was caused by the general offensive in Europe of reaction and the counter-reformation associated with it - a coup conditioned by the fear of the ruling classes of peasant uprisings and too bold aspirations of humanistic thought, which threatened to overturn "all the foundations of ". Francis' tolerance for any kind of freethinking - religious or scientific-philosophical - came to an end. Executions of Protestants and free-thinking humanists became commonplace. One of the cases of flagrant arbitrariness was the burning at the stake in 1546 of the outstanding scientist and printer Etienne Dolet.

At this very time, French Protestantism enters its second phase. It becomes its head Jacques Calvin(1509-1564), who moved in 1536 from France to Geneva, which from now on becomes the main center of Calvinism, leading the entire Protestant movement in France. In the same year, 1536, Calvin finally formulated his doctrine in the Instruction in the Christian Faith, which originally appeared in Latin and was reprinted five years later in French. From this point on, contemplative, utopian evangelism is replaced by harsh, militant Calvinism.

The bourgeois essence of the Reformation appears clearly in the teachings of Calvin, who recommends frugality and the accumulation of wealth, justifies usury and even allows slavery. The basis of Calvin's doctrine are two provisions - about "predestination" and about the non-intervention of God in the life of the world, subject to immutable laws. According to the first of them, every person from birth is destined either for eternal bliss or eternal torment, regardless of how he will behave in life. He does not know what he is destined for, but he must think that salvation awaits him and must show this with his whole life. Thus, this doctrine of "predestination" does not lead to fatalism and passivity, but, on the contrary, is a stimulus to action.

The followers of Calvin and his main provisions on predestination and non-intervention of God develop the doctrine of "worldly vocation", according to which everyone should strive to extract as much profit and benefit from his profession, and of "worldly asceticism", prescribing thrift and moderation in satisfying his needs in order to increase their property. Hence the view of work as a "duty" and the transformation of the thirst for accumulation into the "virtue of accumulation".

Despite the clearly expressed bourgeois nature of Calvinism, he found numerous supporters in those layers of the nobility who did not want to come to terms with absolutism, mainly in the south, which was annexed relatively late (in the 13th century), as a result of which the local nobility had not yet had time to forget about their liberties and tried to be on her own. Thus, if in the second quarter of the XVI century. Protestantism spread almost exclusively among the bourgeoisie, and more or less evenly throughout France, but since the middle of the century it has been spreading intensively among the southern French nobility, the stronghold of feudal reaction. When in the second half of the XVI century. religious wars broke out, it was the Calvinist nobles who fought against absolutism who acted as organizers and leaders of the uprising; moreover, after the end of the war, many of them willingly joined Catholicism.

At the same time, the character of Protestantism is changing, renouncing the principle of freedom of research and imbued with the spirit of intolerance and fanaticism. A vivid example is the burning by Calvin in 1553 of Miguel Serveta (1511 - 1553), a Spanish theologian, physician, naturalist, accused by him of belonging to the revolutionary Anabaptist sect.

Rice. 29.2.

In France, divided into two camps - Catholics and Protestants, there was no complete national party, since both warring parties, to the detriment of their homeland, often acted in alliance with foreign rulers. The Huguenots (as the Protestants were called in France), who had no support among the people, constantly called for help from their co-religionists from Germany, Holland and England. As for the Catholics, at first they were a party of national and religious unity, but over time, especially after the Catholic League was created in 1576, the leaders of the party began to seek support from Spain and even thought about transferring the French crown to the Spanish king Philip II . True patriotism could be found in those days only among the masses of the people: among the peasants or among the urban plebeian masses, who, completely ruined by civil wars and driven to despair, suddenly rose, like their great-grandfathers in the Hundred Years War, to beat both the Spanish soldiers and the German soldiers at the same time. Reiters, and most importantly - their own nobles - landowners of any political grouping and any religion. But these peasant uprisings, of which the largest occurred around 1580 and around 1590, could not succeed and were ruthlessly suppressed, often with the help of betrayal and treason.

Humanism had some points of contact with both parties, but even more differences. Many humanists were attracted to the Catholic party by the idea of ​​national unity (Ronsard and other members of the Pleiades), but most of them could not put up with the narrowness of thought and the superstitions of Catholicism. And the humanists were repelled from Calvinism by its bourgeois narrow-mindedness, ever-increasing fanaticism. But still, the rationalistic ferment of Calvinism, its heroic spirit, high moral exactingness and the dream of some ideal structure of human society attracted many humanists to it (Agrippa d'Aubigne, and from an earlier time - Maro). However, the most profound humanists, such great writers of the French Renaissance as Rabelais, Denerier, Montaigne, eschewed religious strife, equally alien to the fanaticism of both faiths, and most likely tended to religious freethinking.

The writers of the French Renaissance, in comparison with the early medieval authors, are characterized by an extraordinary expansion of the horizon, a large coverage of intellectual interests. The greatest of them acquire the features of the "universal man" typical of the Renaissance, receptive to everything and involved. The most striking example of this is the work and activities of Rabelais, a doctor, naturalist, archaeologist, lawyer, poet, philologist and brilliant satirical writer. Great versatility can also be observed in the work of Maro, Marguerite of Navarre, Ronsard, d'Aubigné and others.

Typical features, more or less common to all writers of the century, are, on the one hand, spontaneous materialism, susceptibility to everything material and sensual, on the other hand, the cult of beauty, concern for the elegance of form. In accordance with this, new genres are born or old ones are radically transformed. A colorful and realistically developed short story appears (Marguerite of Navarre, Denerier), a peculiar form of a satirical novel (Rabelais), a new style in lyrics (Marot, then especially Ronsard and Pleiades), the beginnings of a secular Renaissance drama (Jodele), an anecdotal-moral type of memoir (Brant), civic accusatory poetry (d'Aubigné), philosophical "experiments" (Montaigne), etc.

Both poetry and prose of the French Renaissance are characterized by a broader, more realistic approach to reality. Images are more specific and individual. Abstraction and naive edification are gradually disappearing. Artistic truthfulness becomes a measure and a means of expressing the ideological content.

In the French Renaissance, several stages should be distinguished. In the first half of the century, humanistic ideas flourished, optimism prevailed, faith in the possibility of building a better, more perfect way of life. Although since the mid-1530s this mood has been overshadowed by impending reaction, the religious and political split has not yet had time to fully manifest its destructive effect.

In the second half of the century, in the midst of religious wars beginning or being prepared, the first signs of doubt and disappointment are observed among humanists. Nevertheless, in the third quarter of the century, powerful efforts are being made to create a new, completely national poetry and a rich national language. Beginning in the 1560s, the crisis of humanism reaches its full strength, and literature reflects, on the one hand, the battles and fermentation of minds caused by civil wars, on the other hand, profound quests that prepare the later forms of social and artistic consciousness.

Questions and tasks

• 1. When does the Renaissance begin in France?
• 2. What is the specificity of the origin and development of the Renaissance in France compared to Italy?
• 3. What is the role of Francis I in the development of the French Renaissance?
• 4. Using reference books and encyclopedias, get an idea of ​​what the Reformation and Calvinism are.
• 5. What are the characteristic features of the worldview and creativity of the representatives of the French Renaissance?
• 6. Make a table of the stages of the Renaissance in France, reflecting in it: 1) historical events; 2) main ideas; 3) a brief description of the most significant authors; 4) titles and dates of the main works.

Topics of abstracts and reports

• 1. The role of Italy in the development of the French Renaissance.
• 2. Italian masters in France: Leonardo da Vinci and Benvenuto Cellini.
• 3. Reformation in France.

The beginning of the French Renaissance dates back to the middle of the 15th century. It was preceded by the process of formation of the French nation and the formation of a national state. On the royal throne, the representative of the new dynasty - Valois. Under Louis XI, the political unification of the country was completed. The campaigns of the French kings in Italy introduced the artists to the achievements of Italian art. Gothic traditions and Netherlandish art tendencies are supplanted by the Italian Renaissance. The French Renaissance had the character of a court culture, the foundations of which were laid by kings-patrons starting with Charles V.

Jean Fouquet (1420-1481), the court painter of Charles VII and Louis XI, is considered the greatest creator of the Early Renaissance. He is also called the great master of the French Renaissance.

He was the first in France to consistently embody the aesthetic principles of the Italian Quattrocento, which presupposed, first of all, a clear, rational vision of the real Zh world and comprehension of the nature of things through the knowledge of its internal laws.

In 1475 he became the "painter of the king". In this capacity, he creates many ceremonial portraits, including Charles VII. Most of Fouquet's creative legacy is made up of miniatures from watch books, in the performance of which his workshop sometimes took part. Fouquet painted landscapes, portraits, paintings on historical subjects. Fouquet was the only artist of his time who had an epic vision of history, whose greatness is commensurate with the Bible and antiquity. His miniatures and book illustrations were made in a realistic manner, in particular for the edition of the Decameron by G. Boccaccio.

At the beginning of the 16th century, France turned into the largest absolutist state in Western Europe. The royal court becomes the center of cultural life, and the first connoisseurs and connoisseurs of beauty are the courtiers and the royal retinue. Under Francis I, an admirer of the great Leonardo da Vinci, Italian art becomes the official fashion. The Italian mannerists Rosso and Primaticcio, invited by Margherita of Navarre, sister of Francis I, founded the Fontainebleau school in 1530. This term is usually called the direction in French painting, which arose in the 16th century in the castle of Fontainebleau. In addition, it is used in relation to works on mythological subjects, sometimes voluptuous, and to intricate allegories created by unknown artists and also dating back to mannerism. The Fontainebleau school became famous for creating majestic decorative paintings of the castle ensembles. The art of the Fontainebleau school, along with the Parisian art of the early 17th century, played a transitional role in the history of French painting: in it one can find the first symptoms of both classicism and baroque.

In the 16th century, the foundations of the French literary language and high style were laid. The French poet Joashen du Bellay (c. 1522-1560) in 1549 published a program manifesto "Protection and glorification of the French language." He and the poet Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585) were the most prominent representatives of the French poetic school of the Renaissance - "The Pleiades", which saw its goal in raising the French language to the same level with the classical languages ​​\u200b\u200b- Greek and Latin. The poets of the Pleiades focused on ancient literature. They abandoned the traditions of medieval literature and sought to enrich the French language. The formation of the French literary language was closely connected with the centralization of the country and the desire to use a single national language for this.

Similar trends in the development of national languages ​​and literatures were also manifested in other European countries.

Among the prominent representatives of the French Renaissance was also the French humanist writer Francois Rabelais (1494-1553). His satirical novel "Gargantua and Pantagruel" is an encyclopedic monument of French Renaissance culture. The work was based on folk books about giants common in the 16th century (the giants Gargantua, Pantagruel, the truth-seeker Panurge). Rejecting medieval asceticism, restriction of spiritual freedom, hypocrisy and prejudices, Rabelais reveals the humanistic ideals of his time in the grotesque images of his heroes.

The great humanist philosopher Michel de Montaigne (1533-1592) put an end to the cultural development of France in the 16th century. Coming from a wealthy merchant family, Montaigne received an excellent humanistic education and, at the insistence of his father, took up law. The fame of Montaigne was brought by the “Experiments” (1580-1588) written in the solitude of the Montaigne family castle near Bordeaux, which gave the name to a whole trend of European literature - essays (French essai - experience). The book of essays, marked by freethinking and a kind of skeptical humanism, is a set of judgments about everyday mores and principles of human behavior in various circumstances. Sharing the idea of ​​​​pleasure as the goal of human existence, Montaigne interprets it in the Epicurean spirit - accepting everything that is released to man by nature.