The main directions of classicism in painting. Classicism in painting

You will learn all about the representatives of classicism by reading this article.

Representatives of classicism

What is classicism?

Classicism Is a style in art that is based on imitating the standards of Antiquity. The flowering of this trend dates back to the 17th-19th centuries. It reflects the desire for integrity, simplicity, and consistency.

Representatives of Russian classicism

Classicism in Russia appeared at the beginning of the 18th century from the moment of the transformations of Peter I and the publication of the theory of "Three Calms" by Lomonosov and the reform of Trediakovsky. The most prominent representatives of this trend are:

• Antioch Dmitrievich Cantemir,
• Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov
• Ivan Ivanovich Chemnitser.

Russian architecture mixed Russian baroque and Byzantine culture. The main representatives of classicism in architecture - Eropkin, Kazakov, Zemtsov, Rossi, Korobov, Montferrand and Stasov.

In painting, the smoothness of forms is emphasized, and chiaroscuro and line are the main elements of the form. Representatives of classicism in painting: I. Akimov, P. Sokolov, K. Lorrain and N. Poussin. Lorrain created landscapes in which he depicted the connection between nature and man, their harmony and interaction. And Poussin painted masterpieces depicting heroic deeds in a historical style.

Representatives of classicism in Russian literature

The brightest representatives of classicism in literature: Sumarokov, Trediakovsky, Kantemir, Lomonosov. A little more detail about each of them. Trediakovsky went down in history as a man who revealed the essence of classicism. But Lomonosov did an excellent job on the artistic form. Sumarokov is the founder of the dramatic system of classicism. His famous work "Dmitry the Pretender" revealed opposition to the tsarist regime.

It is worth noting that all subsequent famous representatives of classicism studied under Lomonosov. He owns the design of the rules of versification and the processing of the grammar of the Russian language. This writer introduced the principles of classicism into Russian literature. He divided all words into three main groups ("three calm"):

• The first group is distinguished by solemnity and grandeur. It is dominated by the old Russian vocabulary. Odes, tragedies, heroic epics were suitable for it.
• The second group included elegies, dramas, satire.
• The third group included comedies and fables.

Vivid representatives of classicism divided their heroes into positive (who always win) and negative characters. The plot, as a rule, was based on a love triangle, the struggle of men for possession of a woman. The action of the works is limited in time (no more than 3 days) and takes place in one place.

Representatives of classicism in world literature

The practitioners of classicism were primarily French writers: the poet Mahlerbe, playwrights Corneille, Racine,

The definition of classicism (from Lat. Сlassicus - exemplary) is an artistic style and direction in the art of Europe in the 17th - 19th centuries. It is based on the ideas of rationalism, the main goal of which is to educate the public on the basis of a certain ideal, a model, which is similar to modernism. The culture of the ancient world served as such an example. The rules, the canons of classicism were of paramount importance; they had to be observed by all artists working in the framework of this direction and style.

Definition of the classics

Classicism, as a style, replaced the lush and pompous exterior. By the end of the 17th century, European society was imbued with the ideas of enlightenment, which found its reflection in the culture of art. The attention of architects and sculptors was attracted by the severity, simplicity, clarity and brevity of ancient culture, in particular, ancient Greek. , architecture became the subject of imitation and borrowing.

As a trend, classicism embraced all types of art: painting, music, literature, architecture.

The history of the classical style: from antiquity to the Renaissance

Classicism, whose main goal is to educate the public on the basis of a certain ideal and adherence to all generally accepted canons, is completely opposite, which denied all the rules and was a rebellion against any artistic tradition in any direction.

Provincial classicism in Russia

This direction is typical only for Russian architecture. Most of the historical buildings in St. Petersburg and Moscow, Yaroslavl, Pskov are made in provincial classicism. Its origins date back to the Golden Age. Classical representatives of architectural structures, made in the style of classicism: Kazan Cathedral, St. Nicholas Cossack Cathedral, etc.

Periods: early, middle, late (high)

In its development, classicism went through 3 periods, which can be listed as follows:

1. Early(1760s - early 1780s) - the flowering of the direction, the adoption of the concept of a new style, the determination of the reasons, and for what features the style will belong to classicism;
2. Strict or medium(1780s - 1790s) - rooting of the style, description in many literary and visual works, construction of buildings;
3. Late or high, which received the name (the first 30 years of the XIX century).

The photo shows the Arc de Triomphe in Paris - a vivid example of classicism.

Characteristics and features of the world style

Characteristics of the classics in all areas of creativity:

• clear geometric shapes,
• high quality materials,
• noble finish and restraint.

Majesty and harmony, grace and luxury - these are the main distinguishing features of classicism. These features were later reflected in interiors in style.

Characteristic features of classicism in a modern interior

Essential features of the style:

• smooth walls with soft floral motifs;
• elements of antiquity: palaces and columns;
• stucco molding;
• exquisite parquet;
• fabric wallpaper on the walls;
• elegant, graceful furniture.

Calm rectangular shapes, restrained and at the same time diverse decorative design, verified proportions, dignified appearance, harmony and taste have become a feature of the Russian classicist style.

Exterior of the direction of the classics: buildings

The external signs of classicism in architecture are pronounced, they can be identified at the first glance at the building.

1. Constructions: stable, massive, rectangular and arched. The compositions are clearly planned, strict symmetry is observed.
2. Forms: clear geometry, volume and monumentality; statues, columns, niches, rotunda, hemispheres, pediments, friezes.
3. Lines: strict; regular planning system; bas-reliefs, medallions, smooth drawing.
4. Materials: stone, brick, wood, stucco.
5. Roof: complex, intricate shape.
6. Prevailing colors: saturated white, green, pink, purple, sky blue, gold.
7. Characteristic elements: discreet decor, columns, pilasters, antique ornament, marble staircase, balconies.
8. Window: semicircular, rectangular, elongated upward, modestly decorated.
9. Doors: rectangular, paneled, often decorated with statues (lion, sphinx).
10. Decor: carving, gilding, bronze, mother-of-pearl, inlay.

Interior: signs of classicism and architectural genres

In the interior of the premises of the era of classicism, there is nobility, restraint and harmony. Nevertheless, all interior items do not look like museum exhibits, but only emphasize the delicate artistic taste and respectability of the owner.

The room has the correct shape, filled with an atmosphere of nobility, comfort, warmth, refined luxury; not overloaded with details.

The central place in interior decoration is occupied by natural materials, mainly precious woods, marble, stone, silk.

• Ceilings: light tall, often multi-level, with stucco moldings, ornaments.
• Walls: decorated with fabrics, light, but not bright, pilasters and columns, stucco molding or painting are possible.
• Flooring: parquet from valuable wood species (merbau, kamša, teak, jatoba) or marble.
• Lighting: chandeliers made of crystal, stone or expensive glass; gilded chandeliers with shades in the form of candles.
• Mandatory interior attributes: mirrors, fireplaces, cozy low armchairs, low tea tables, light handmade carpets, paintings with antique subjects, books, massive floor vases stylized as antiquity, tripod stands for flowers.

Antique motifs are often used in the decor of the room: meanders, festoons, laurel garlands, threads of pearls. Expensive textiles are used for decoration, including tapestries, taffeta and velvet.

Furniture

Furniture of the era of classicism is notable for its good quality and respectability, made of expensive materials, mainly of valuable wood. It is noteworthy that the texture of wood acts not only as a material, but also as a decorative element. Furniture items are handmade, decorated with carvings, gilding, inlay, precious stones and metals. But the form is simple: strict lines, precise proportions. The dining room tables and chairs are made with graceful carved legs. Dishes - porcelain, thin, almost transparent, patterned, gilded. One of the most important attributes of furniture was considered a secretaire with a cubic body on high legs.

Architecture: theaters, churches and other buildings

Classicism turned to the foundations of ancient architecture, using not only elements and motives, but also patterns in construction. The basis of the architectural language is the order with its strict symmetry, the proportionality of the composition being created, the regularity of the layout and the clarity of the volumetric form.

Classicism is the complete opposite with its pretentiousness and decorative excesses.

Unfortified palaces, garden and park ensembles were created, which became the basis of the French garden with its straightened alleys, trimmed lawns in the form of cones and balls. Typical details of classicism are accented staircases, classic antique décor, domes in public buildings.

Late classicism (Empire style) acquired military symbols ("Arc de Triomphe" in France). In Russia, St. Petersburg can be called the canon of the architectural style of classicism, in Europe it is Helsinki, Warsaw, Dublin, Edinburgh.

Sculpture: ideas and development

In the era of classicism, public monuments were widespread, personifying the military valor and wisdom of statesmen. Moreover, the main solution for the sculptors was the model of the image of famous figures in the image of ancient gods (for example, Suvorov - in the form of Mars). It has become popular among private individuals to order tombstones for sculptors to perpetuate their names. In general, the sculptures of the era are characterized by calmness, restraint of gestures, impassive expressions, purity of lines.

Fashion: clothes of Europe and Russia

Interest in antiquity in clothing began to manifest itself in the 80s of the 18th century. This was especially evident in the female costume. A new beauty ideal has emerged in Europe, celebrating natural forms and beautiful female lines... The thinnest smooth fabrics of light colors, especially white, have come into fashion.

Women's dresses lost their frames, linings and petticoats and got the form of long, pleated tunics that were cut at the sides and intercepted with a belt under the bust. They were worn on a flesh-colored leotard. Sandals with ribbons served as shoes. Hairstyles were copied from antiquity. Powder remains in fashion, which covered the face, hands, neckline.

Among the accessories used were either muslin turbans decorated with feathers, or Turkish scarves or Kashmiri shawls.

From the beginning of the 19th century, ceremonial dresses began to be sewn with trains and a deep neckline. And in casual dresses, the neckline was covered with a lace scarf. The hairstyle gradually changes, and the powder goes out of use. Short hair is in vogue, twisted into curls, tied with a gold ribbon or decorated with a crown of flowers.

Men's fashion was influenced by the British. The English cloth coat, dressing coat (outerwear resembling a frock coat), frill and cuffs are becoming popular. It was in the era of classicism that men's ties came into fashion.

Art

Painting and fine arts

In painting, classicism is also characterized by restraint and severity. The main elements of the form are line and chiaroscuro. Local color emphasizes the plasticity of objects and figures, separates the spatial plan of the picture. The largest master of the 17th century. - Lorrain Claude, known for his "ideal landscapes". Civil pathos and lyricism combined in the "decorative landscapes" of the French painter Jacques Louis David (18th century). Among Russian artists, one can distinguish Karl Bryullov, who combined classicism with (19th century).

Classicism in music is associated with such great names as Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn, who determined the further development of musical art.

Literature: heroes and personality in works

The literature of the era of classicalism promoted the mind, conquering the senses. The conflict between duty and passions is the basis of the plot of a literary work, where the personality is constantly in tension and must choose which decision to make. The reform of the language was carried out in many countries and the foundations of poetic art were laid. The leading representatives of the direction are François Malherbe, Cornel, Racine. The main compositional principle of the work is the unity of time, place and action.

In Russia, classicism is developing under the auspices of the Enlightenment, the main ideas of which were equality and justice. The most prominent author of the literature of the era of Russian classicism is M. Lomonosov, who laid the foundations of versification. Comedy and satire became the main genre. Fonvizin and Kantemir worked in this vein.

The "Golden Age" is considered the era of classicism for theatrical art, which developed very dynamically and improved. The theater was quite professional, and the actor on the stage did not just play, but lived, worried, while remaining himself. Theatrical style was proclaimed the art of recitation.

An example of a painting in a classic style:

The main representatives of the classicists: artists, architects

Among the brightest world cultural figures-classicists of fine arts, architecture, one can also distinguish such names as:

• Jacques-Ange Gabriel, Piranesi, Jacques-Germain Soufflot, Bazhenov, Carl Rossi, Andrey Voronikhin, (architecture);
• Antonio Canova, Thorvaldsen, Fedot Shubin, Boris Orlovsky, Mikhail Kozlovsky (sculpture);
• Nicolas Poussin, Lebrun, Ingres (painting);
• Voltaire, Samuel Johnson, Derzhavin, Sumarokov, Chemnitser (literature).

Video: traditions and culture, distinctive features, music

Conclusion

The ideas of the era of classicism are successfully used in modern design. It retains nobility and grace, beauty and grandeur. The main features are wall painting, drapery, stucco molding, natural wood furniture. There are few adornments, but they are all luxurious: mirrors, paintings, massive chandeliers.

Classicism (from Lat. Classicus - exemplary), style and direction in literature and art 17 - early. 19th centuries, who turned to the ancient heritage as a norm and an ideal model. Classicism took shape in the 17th century. in France. The principles of rationalist philosophy underlying classicism have conditioned the view of theorists and practitioners of classicism on a work of art as the fruit of reason and logic, triumphing over the chaos and fluidity of sensually perceived life. Orientation to a reasonable beginning, to enduring patterns determined the firm normativeness of ethical requirements. The consolidation of the theoretical doctrines of classicism was facilitated by the activities of the Royal Academies founded in Paris - painting and sculpture and architecture. Classicism 18th - early 19th centuries (in foreign art history, it is often called neoclassicism), which has become a common European style, was also formed mainly in the bosom of French culture, under the strongest influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment.

In painting of classicism, line and chiaroscuro became the main elements of form modeling, local color clearly reveals the plasticity of figures and objects, separates the spatial plans of the picture; marked by the loftiness of the philosophical and ethical content. Strict regulation of the behavior of heroes. In this regard, a clear definition of the standard of posture, gesture, movement, expression of eyes, facial expressions. The engraved compositional rhythm should be perceived as a reflection of the rational principle, tempering base impulses and giving greatness to a person's actions. Three-plan construction and obligatory wings. Strict drawing requirements: central perspective; oval shapes; eliminate parallel lines and equal angles. The priority of the line over the paint is a clear outline. The "sculpturality" of the elements. Elimination of sharp color contrasts and complete subordination of color to line and shape.

The largest representatives of classicism are N. Poussin, C. Lorrain, J. L. David, J. OD Ingres.

The founder of classicism and the greatest master of classicism of the 17th century - Poussin Nicolas. Since the 1620s, the painter Nicolas Poussin has created pictures of high civic sound (The Death of Germanicus), poetic compositions on literary and mythological themes, marked by a sublime system of images, emotionality of an intense, softly harmonized color. The clear compositional rhythm prevailing in the works of Nicolas Poussin of the 1630s is perceived as a reflection of the rational principle, which gives greatness to the noble deeds of man (“ Arcadian shepherds ”;“Finding Moses”). Since the 1650s, ethical and philosophical pathos has been growing in Poussin's work. Developing the principles of an ideal landscape, Nicolas Poussin makes nature the embodiment of expediency and perfection ("Landscape with Polyphemus"; a series of landscapes "The Seasons", "Apollo and Daphne"). Introducing mythological characters into the landscape, personifying various elements, using episodes of biblical legends. In one of the best works on the antique theme "Kingdom of Flora"(the artist collected the characters of Ovid's epic, which after death turned into flowers (Narcissus, Hyacinth, etc.). The dancing Flora is in the center, and the rest of the figures are located in a circle, their poses and gestures are subordinated to a single rhythm - thanks to this, the whole composition is permeated with a circular movement The landscape, soft in color and gentle in mood, is painted rather conditionally and looks more like a theatrical scenery.

Claude Lorrain- one of the greatest masters of classical landscape... The characters in the artist's works are mainly ancient heroes and characters from biblical legends. With great skill, the artist depicted the play of sunlight at different hours of the day, the freshness of the morning, the midday heat, the transparency of clean air and the distance covered with a light fog. In the picture "Abduction of Europa" he reflected a complete and rich image of nature. The plot, which the artist revealed against the background of the landscape, served only as the basis for writing the sea panorama.

Another famous painting by Lorrain is "Acis and Galatea". The work is written in the classical style, requiring strict compliance, dividing the space into a number of plans, the proportions are carefully calibrated in the picture, the compositions of trees frame the picture on both sides, like a curtain or a frame.

Lorrain's latest work - " Landscape with Oskaniya shooting a deer "(Museum in Oxford) completed in the year of the artist's death and is considered a true masterpiece.

The largest representative of the "new classicism" was Jacques-Louis David ; Painting "Oath of the Horatii" calls for the fulfillment of civic duty. Strict correctness of the drawing, clear and laconic gesture, heroic content, archaeological fidelity of costumes, clear cut-off modeling. David's talent was revealed most fully during the years of the revolution. his extremely laconic and dramatic artistic language served with equal success to promote the ideals French revolution (« Death of Marat "1793) and First Empire (« Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I » ). To the picture " Death of Marat»The artist managed, as never more organically, to combine the features of a portrait and a picture on a historical theme in this work. Marat's right hand is still gripping the pen, although life has already left him, in his left hand is a letter from Charlotte Corday. At the lower edge of the canvas, the artist depicted the murder weapon - a knife stained with blood. David gave the forms a truly sculptural monumentality. in 1804 it was David who became "Napoleon's first artist."

One of the largest representatives of classicism yavl. Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres. The author of historical, literary and mythological compositions acted as a convinced guardian of the inviolability of the academic ideal. The work "The Ambassadors of Agamemnon at Achilles", for which Ingres received the "Grand Prix de Rota", says that he completely mastered the classicist system: the composition is strictly logical, the figures resemble antique bas-relief, color scheme is subordinate to the drawing. "Madonna before the Chalice with the Sacrament", one of the most famous works of the artist. The painting was commissioned by the future Russian Emperor Alexander II to Ingres. The rigid hieratic posture and the correct Raphaelian facial features of the Madonna echo with Catholic iconography. Ingres's pictorial language of the middle of the 19th century. strikes with its perfect accuracy and constructiveness of the image. The academicism of French art was greatly influenced by the late classicist traditions of the painter. Ingres was always far from politics and did not take part in the events of 1830 in France. But at this time he writes a wonderful portrait of the head of the political press of that time, the owner of the popular newspaper Louis François Bertin the Elder, a mighty gray-haired old man with an intelligent, calm look "master of life and circumstances."

One of the most significant works written by Ingres at the end of his life - "A source". This image of a young girl holding a jug from which water is pouring is an allegorical symbol of the eternal source of life.

In Russia, classicism formed in the 18th century and played an important role in the development of national culture. In the visual arts, the development of classicism is closely connected with the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, founded in 1757. Retaining to one degree or another the features of idealization, abstraction and allegorism, the Russian masters of historical painting of classicism - A ... P. Losenko, G. I. Ugryumov, A. I. Ivanov, A. E. Egorov, V. K. Shebuev, in the early works - K. P. Bryullov and A. A. Ivanov- promoted educational ideas of humanism, patriotic civil service.

The founder of the academic school of painting of Russian classicism is considered A. Losenko... One of the best pictures of the painter is "Hector's Farewell to Andromache". Taking advantage of certain motives of the ancient epic, the artist put a different content into the work, completely based on the principles of classicism. Losenko's idea is based on the idea of ​​duty to the motherland and heroic self-sacrifice in the name of the fatherland.

- artistic style in European art of the 17th – early 19th centuries, one of the most important features of which was the appeal to the forms of ancient art as an ideal aesthetic and ethical standard. Classicism, which developed in acute polemic interaction with the Baroque, developed into an integral style system in the French artistic culture of the 17th century. The principles of rationalist philosophy underlying classicism have conditioned the view of theorists and practitioners of the classical style on a work of art as a product of reason and logic, triumphing over the chaos and fluidity of sensually perceived life.

The principles of rationalist philosophy underlying classicism have conditioned the view of theorists and practitioners of classicism on a work of art as the fruit of reason and logic, triumphing over the chaos and fluidity of sensually perceived life. Orientation to a reasonable beginning, to enduring models determined the firm normative nature of ethical requirements (subordination of the personal to the general, passions - to reason, duty, the laws of the universe) and the aesthetic demands of classicism, the regulation of artistic rules; the consolidation of the theoretical doctrines of classicism was facilitated by the activities of the Royal Academies founded in Paris - painting and sculpture (1648) and architecture (1671). In the painting of classicism, the main elements of modeling the form became line and chiaroscuro, local color clearly reveals the plasticity of figures and objects, separates the spatial plans of the picture (marked by the loftiness of the philosophical and ethical content, the general harmony of the work of N. Poussin, the founder of classicism and the greatest master of classicism of the 17th century ; "Ideal landscapes" by K. Lorrain). Classicism 18th - early 19th centuries (in foreign art history, it is often called neoclassicism), which has become a common European style, was also formed mainly in the bosom of French culture, under the strongest influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. In architecture, new types of an exquisite mansion, a ceremonial public building, an open city square (J.A. Gabriel, J.J. Souflot), the search for new, orderless forms of architecture were identified. striving for austere simplicity in the work of K.N. Ledoux anticipated the architecture of the late stage of classicism - the Empire style. Civic pathos and lyricism combined in the plasticity of Zh.B. Pigal and J.A. Houdon, decorative landscapes by J. Robert. The courageous drama of historical and portrait images is inherent in the works of the head of French classicism, painter J.L. David.

Painting from David to Delacroix represents the period of the reign of classicism. David's first paintings did not bring anything fundamentally revolutionary into contemporary art, but his "Oath of the Horatii", which appeared in 1784, made an unheard-of impression not only on the artistic world, but on the whole society, whose mood this work fully corresponded to. The strict correctness of the drawing, the heroic content, which was so far different from the daily petty interest, and, finally, the archaeological fidelity of the costumes, architecture and all the circumlocutions transported the audience to the ancient world, which had already become attractive to them earlier. This picture was followed by "Brutus and the lictors, who brought the corpses of his sons, executed at his own command"; after that David wrote (1787) "Death of Socrates" (the slave gives him a cup of poison, turning away and crying). All this was so new and contrary to the Rococo style, it seemed so sublime that it served as a reason for society to speak out with enthusiasm about David as an artist and a citizen; because of civic merit, the artistic flaws of his works were not even noticed. Such a fascination with his paintings is understandable for our time, if we take into account what the artist had in mind, who so decisively assimilated, as he thought, the ancient views on art. David set himself the task of portraying a person driven by the strongest motives, corresponding to the highest moments of life, extremely remote in character from the usual moments of everyday life, which was considered base. A person with such an uplifting spirit could be depicted, according to David, only with the corresponding plastic perfection of the forms, which were also far from the forms we meet every day. Only antique art left us with examples of perfect forms, and therefore David considered it necessary to give his heroes the antique form, which he studied in statues, on vases, and bas-reliefs. This was the artistic understanding of David, expressed by him in the already named paintings, as well as in "The Sabine Women" (1799) and his other works. Society found civic ideas in the works of David in his "Horace" and "Brutus", ideal citizens who put family and family ties below a sense of duty in relation to their fatherland. In "Socrates" they saw a preacher of lofty truths, perishing from the injustice of tyrants. David himself was imbued with such convictions, and when during the terror one of the artists, a man close to David, asked Robespierre to intercede in order to save the petitioner's sister from the guillotine, David coldly replied: “I wrote to Brutus, I find that the government is fair, and I will not ask Robespierre. " Consequently, David's paintings, to some extent tendentious, could be successful only at the time and in the society when they appeared. In that era, the younger generation responded to him, and the social significance of his paintings was enormous: the pictures breathed a republican spirit. Their artistic significance for that era was equally great: the effeminacy, playfulness and sensuality of modern painting could not resist the depiction of lofty and noble feelings, the exclusivity of which no one could then condemn. Moreover, David returned art to the correct drawing, not only in agreement with ancient beauty, but also with nature, since he taught to be in conformity with nature. David's artistic teaching is actually a continuation of Vien's teaching, but David acted more decisively, breaking all connection with the Rococo style; possessing a strong will and taking advantage of the spirit of the times, he despotically forced others to follow the path indicated by him. David proclaimed that "hitherto art served only to delight the ambition and whim of the Sybarites, who sat up to their throats in gold." “The despotism of certain strata of society,” he said, “kept out of favor anyone who wanted to express the pure ideas of morality and philosophy. Meanwhile, it is necessary that the depiction of examples of heroism and civic virtues electrify the people and arouse in them a love of glorifying and increasing the welfare of their fatherland. " This is approximately how the citizen and artist David, a republican, spoke not only in words, but, as you know, in deeds. The painter Bouquier condemned the art of the 18th century even more vigorously, saying approximately the following: “it is time, instead of these shameful works (by previous artists), to place in the galleries others that could rivet the eyes of the republican people who honor good manners and virtue. In national galleries, instead of erotic and mannered paintings by Boucher and his followers, or paintings by Vanloo, with his feminine brush, works of masculine style should be placed that would characterize the heroic deeds of the sons of freedom. Expressing the energy of such a people requires a strong style, a bold brush and a fiery genius. " David became the head of the new trend, and the old was already condemned by the revolutionary trend of society, which destroyed everything that had existed until then, replacing it with a new one. Artists of the previous trend tried to join a new trend, and since, due to their talent and habits, they did not succeed, they either completely ceased their activities, or changed beyond recognition. Dreams and Fragonard suddenly lost their significance, lost moral and material support from society and died forgotten by everyone. Fragonard was even compelled to take part in David's efforts to strengthen art its proper place in the new social order, and it was required that art ennoble the mores of society and teach it. Sculptors, engravers and even artisans-artists, goldsmiths, carvers - all obeyed David. It is remarkable that the republican themes of David's paintings ("Horace", "Brutus") were approved or appointed, and the paintings were bought by Louis XVI himself, who by such a concession to public opinion seemed to participate in the general movement of ideas, since the social significance of these works was for everyone clear. Upon the deposition of the king and after his sentencing to death, in which David also participated by his vote, and during the entire period of terror until the fall and execution of Robespierre, David's artistic activity was expressed in two paintings - "The Assassination of Pelletier" and later - "The Assassination of Marat", which were written with a patriotic purpose. However, in them the artist treated his theme without any thought of K., and the second picture came out such that now it has not lost its artistic significance. After the execution of Robespierre, David, as one of his accomplices, barely escaped mortal danger, after which he wrote "The Sabine Women". During the time of Napoleon, he painted several official paintings to glorify him, had the least success in this kind, and during the restoration, expelled from France as a regicide, in Brussels again surrendered to antique subjects and did not change his direction until his death. Artistic and partly civic aspirations of David, since the latter are expressed in painting, were first shown in his "Belisarius" (1781) - a theme that then became a favorite, because it reminded of the ingratitude of sovereigns. Now, when it is possible to judge about his paintings only from the artistic side, they are presented by the composition as theatrical and declamatory. Even in Horace, the artist's original intention was to present the event as it was portrayed on stage in 1782, in the last act of Corneille's tragedy; only on the advice of his friends, David depicted a moment more suitable for painting, in spirit directly corresponding to Corneille's play, but not in it. David's drawing was strict, the lines were deliberate, noble. At his school, not only antiques were studied, but also nature, which, however, he advised to change, as much as possible, to approximate the ancient art of sculpture. In general, in his instructions, as in paintings, he mixed the tasks of sculpting with the tasks of painting. Regarding his "Horatii", a correct criticism was expressed that the figures painted in the picture could have served without change for a bas-relief, and, however, the theatrical pathos of the forms would still remain a disadvantage. In terms of color, his paintings seem completely unsatisfactory, since his characters do not resemble living people, but palely painted statues. The painting technique is too smooth and coherent and extremely far from the courage and confidence, a certain degree of which is needed for the optical characterization of objects; in addition, furniture, architectural and other minor items are written out with the same diligence as the bodies of the characters. It should be noted that portraits of David or portrait figures in his paintings are much more vital than his antique heroes, although in his portraits he sometimes pursued antique poses, as, for example, in the portrait of Madame Recamier. Love for antiquity did not teach David to look at nature correctly, as Diderot demanded. David, a free-thinking republican, did not allow the same freedom either in his political opponents or in his artists; by pursuing the academics of the old school, he made many enemies for himself. At that time, events followed one another so quickly that David could not keep up with expressing them with a brush. So, the huge picture he began, depicting the conspirators in Zhedepom (event of 1789), remained unfinished. In July 1794, at the national convention, an indictment was made against David himself, in which, by the way, he was exposed as a tyrant of art. Indeed, he suppressed one academic system in order to create another, also exceptional. In his time, the shortcomings of his system were not obvious, and its merits attracted not only French, but also foreign artists-painters, engravers, sculptors to the David's school, who then spread the teachings of David throughout Europe. In a relatively short time he had more than 400 disciples, and his influence survived for many decades, but with constant modification; initially, it was academic in the narrow sense of the word and pseudo-classical, because it represented the ancient life as if cold and dispassionate, and also because it transferred antique K. to an unusual modern soil (in the pictures of modern life), trying to depersonalize the characteristic individuality of poses, movements, forms and expressions and give them types that satisfy the canonical rules that could be learned, like the rules of the art of building. David was not highly talented; he probably would not have been able to give the expression of passions their true form, he introduced much more thought than imagination and feelings into his paintings, but his success came from the reasons explained above. Society was carried away by such a faithful representation of the antique; Powdered hair and fancy Rococo costume accessories were abandoned, and women's costumes, similar to Greek tunics, became fashionable. Some of David's disciples (les Primitives) began to dress like Paris and Agamemnon. At the time of the Directory, the representatives of the people were even prescribed a cut of clothing that, if possible, matched the ancient. When David was painting his painting "The Sabine Women", the fascination with the antique was such that three ladies of the best society posed for the models in front of the artist. At the end of the painting, David exhibited it separately, a detailed description explained to the public the reason why the heroes of the painting were depicted naked; the author was convinced that the Greeks and Romans would find his painting in harmony with their mores. The exhibition was attended for 5 years and delivered over 65,000 francs and general accolades to the artist. However, Napoleon, who did not understand painting, but who knew the war and the soldier, remarked quite rightly that the Romans of David were fighting too dispassionately. At the end of Napoleon's reign, David completed (1814) the long-conceived and begun painting "Leonidas at Thermopylae" - an academic work, without life and truth; what David wanted and what needed to be expressed in the figure and face of Leonidas far surpassed the means of the artist, who is always superficial in terms of expressing feelings. However, he himself was pleased with the expression of Leonidas' head and was sure that no one else could express in it what he expressed.

Vien, whose merits were mentioned above, was not alone in understanding that the art of the 18th century itself was striving with its extremes to fall. Almost simultaneously with Vien and Pierre Perron (1744-1815), he tried to return art to the study of antiquities and nature. In the same year with David, he also exhibited The Death of Socrates, but remained in this work with much of the old, both in terms of composition and in the interpretation of forms and draperies. Jean Joseph Tallazon, a student of Vien, understood and portrayed the ancient world, as Racine and Corneille did in their tragedies. Guillaume Guillon Lethier (1760-1832), who was director of the French academy in Rome for ten years, wrote Brutus (1801) like David, but at a different moment; nude bodies and draperies are made from Roman sculptures in the spirit of the Davidic reform. Another painting - "The Death of Virginia", conceived in 1795, was completed only in 1831, when K.'s tendencies were already out of date. Guillaume Menaggio (1744-1816), also for a long time director of the academy in Rome, hesitantly stopped between the old and the new. The only artists who did not disappear unnoticed under David were Jean Baptiste Regnaud (1754-1829) and François-André Vincent (1746-1816). The first of them, although he retained all his life a penchant for the grace and nymphs of the 18th century, but from an early age, having fallen to Rome, took part in the general trend towards antiquity. His Education of Achilles (1783) gave him his name. In general, he promised to compete with David, whom at first he even surpassed in a colorful respect. Among his other paintings of the ancient world we will name "The Death of Cleopatra", "Alcibiades and Socrates", "Pygmalion", "The Toilet of Venus", "Hercules and Alcestus"; Regno also painted modern historical paintings, adhering to the views of David. Vincent, a student of Vien, like David, made a name for himself before David performed with his most important works. Vincent, under Vien's leadership, also contributed to the improvement of drawing and the study of forms, but shared the shortcomings of the new direction in relation to theatrical poses and lifelessness of color. His favorite subjects are taken from Russian history, he was the predecessor and head of subsequent artists of this kind and, by the way, Horace Verne. From Vincent's paintings we will name: "Belisarius begging for alms", "Zeuskis, choosing a model among Croton girls", "Henry IV and Sully", "Battle under the pyramids". An even more determined champion of the classical school was Pierre Guerin (1774-1833), who graduated from the Regno school. His painting Mark Sextus Returning from Exile (1799) made almost the same strong impression on society as Horace a few years ago, for its appearance coincided with the epoch of the return of French emigrants to their homeland. It is remarkable that this picture first depicted the blind Belisarius, returning to his family, then the eyes of the main figure were opened and she was converted into Sextus. In 1802 the painting "Hippolyte, Phaedra and Theseus" was exhibited, then "Andromache" (1808), "Aeneas and Dido" (1817). The main character of Guerin's works is the combination of the theatrical stilt of that time with sculpture, and in this way the artist was very inventive; his painting was cold. Of these pictures, in which for the main characters he took as models the then theatrical celebrities, the actor Talma and the actress Duchenois, the latter is still better than others.

Drouet (1763-1788) left the school of David, on whom the teacher had high hopes; his painting "Mari at Manturn" was a success, but now it appears soulless and also with conventional theatrical figures. By execution - painting like that of David. Another disciple of David, Girodet de Trioson (1767-1824), was more fond of Greek mythology at the beginning than Roman history. His Sleeping Endymion, in which the moonlight gave rise to some color, was well received by the public, but the figure shows a lack of school. In his Hippocrates, theatricality of movements is visible. In 1806, he exhibited a flood scene depicting the dying calamities of a group of people seeking salvation; for this work, the artist received in 1810 the Napoleon Prize, awarded for the best work of the past decade. Contemporary criticism saw in the artist a combination of Michelangelo and Raphael, and now his painting is an academic and artificial composition, but with a certain tinge of passion; now I like his "Atala and Shaktas" more. Gerard (1770-1830), also a student of David, first became famous for the painting Belisarius (a favorite subject of the time) carrying his companion (1791), one of the best works of the classical movement; she was a great success, but his Psyche was less liked. Gerard became famous as a portrait painter and, indeed, comparing the portraits of his work with portraits of the 18th century, for example, Hyacinth Rigaud (1659-1743), shows a huge step towards simplicity and naturalness, since Rigaud models his portraits, sometimes artificial and cutesy, then solemn , often attached even the attributes of mythological gods. Even the portraits of Greuze and Louise Vigee-Lebrun, due to the lack of characteristic individuality in the depicted person and some generalization of heterogeneous types, put forward the portraits of Gerard. Robert Lefebvre and Keynesom, contemporaries of Gerard, fashionable portrait painters who tried to give more pleasure to their models than those who were chasing the truth are now forgotten, Gerard still matters, although the vitality of his portraits is far from being as deep as in the works of great masters ... The portrait painter Isabe, of the school of David, owes her a good drawing, but his paintings do not have great merit. The most significant artist to come out of David's workshop is Gro (1771-1835), but his fame is based on works in which he did not follow the advice of his teacher. His classic motives: "Sappho throwing herself into the sea", "Ariadne and Bacchus", "Hercules throwing Diomedes his horse" (1835) show his incapacity for this genus, while "The Battle of Abukir", "Plague in Jaffa" at one time a great movement towards understanding reality, show great talent, observation and power of representation seen in nature. It's amazing how Gro did not understand the kind of his talent and, completely obeying the views of his teacher, considered, along with him, the content of the paintings of modern life as something accidental and their interest transitory for art. "Read Plutarch," David said and wrote to him many times, "there you will find samples worthy of your brush." Gro was highly respected by his compatriots, some critics exaggeratedly saw in him a combination of Rubens and Veronese, his school formed up to 400 artists. But when Gro renounced his best works and taught him to follow David in everything, and he himself returned at the first opportunity to classical subjects, with which, however, he coped so poorly, he lost all meaning for his contemporaries. Another of David's talented students - François-Xavier Fabre (1766-1837), who wrote in the classical style: "Oedipus in the Column", "Death of Narcissus", "Neoptolemus and Ulysses", etc., did not live up to the hopes of his teachers. In historical paintings, written constantly under the recollection of the lessons of the school, he also did not rise, and in the last years of his activity he limited himself to landscapes and portraits. Jean-Baptiste Vicard (1762-1834), who wrote, among other things, "Orestes and Pylades" and "Electra", "Virgil reads the Aeneid to Augustus", spent most of his life in Italy, had no direct influence on French art with his works , but his activity is noted in another respect (see Vikar). Among other followers of K. - Louis Ducy (1773-1847) wrote on motives from mythology; Philippe-August Gennequin (1763-1833), Claude Gautereau (1765-1825), Charles Thévenin (1760-1838), Jean-Baptiste Debre (1763-1845), Charles Meunier (1768-1832) and some others wrote part of the antique and allegorical, partly historical paintings, partly portraits. Almost all of these artists, who adhered to the world of ideal, from the point of view of academic K., forms, did not have enough talent to breathe real life into them. Some of them were the official painters of churches and monasteries and Louvre plafonds. Some of them and another group depicted in monumental proportions battles, military scenes and parades, reigning persons in different periods of their life and work. The same can be said about the students of Regnault and Vincent, but all of them for the most part had examples of David and Gros, who, after the expulsion of David from France in 1815, became the official representative of French painting; no one was particularly talented and no one dared to be original, with rare and weak exceptions.

When David was at the height of his influence, both artistic and social, few artists retained their isolation. Pierre-Paul Prudhon (1758-1823), although he took plots from mythology ("Graces", "Aphrodite", "Psyche", "Zephyrs", "Adonis"), but he inspired this material with his feeling and possessed the color of life. His attitude to the school of David is evident from his opinion about Drouet, one of the most capable students of David. "In the paintings and in the theater, you can see people depicting passions, which, however, without expressing the character inherent in the represented object, look as if they are playing a comedy and are only parodying what they should be." David, recognizing the talent of Prudhon, unfairly called him a modern Boucher; Prudhon possessed an understanding of the forms of nature and movement unknown to Boucher, who often painted complex paintings without nature, but who prided himself on the fact that he could gracefully bend an arm or leg. Of Prudhon's paintings, one ("Crime Pursued by Justice and Vengeance") is considered a harbinger of a new direction by passion and power of expression and by color, which, however, was discovered only fifteen years later. It is remarkable that in the same year (1808) the public got acquainted with the painting by Girodet "Atala and Shaktas", the plot of which was taken from Chateaubriand, and not from history or the ancient world, as everyone did in that era, a painting that differed in color from ordinary works of the school of David. But all of Prudhon's long-term, extremely original for that time activity did not in the least shake the school of David.

1. Introduction.Classicism as an artistic method...................................2

2. Aesthetics of classicism.

2.1. Basic principles of classicism .......................... ……………. ... ..... 5

2.2. Picture of the world, the concept of personality in the art of classicism ... ... ... 5

2.3. The aesthetic nature of classicism ............................................... ........nine

2.4. Classicism in painting ............................................... .........................15

2.5. Classicism in sculpture ............................................... .......................16

2.6. Classicism in architecture ............................................... .....................eighteen

2.7. Classicism in literature ............................................... .......................twenty

2.8. Classicism in music ............................................... .............................. 22

2.9. Classicism in the theater ............................................... ............................... 22

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism ............................................... .... 22

3. Conclusion……………………………………...…………………………...26

Bibliography..............................…….………………………………….28

Applications ........................................................................................................29

1. Classicism as an artistic method

Classicism is one of the artistic methods that really existed in the history of art. It is sometimes referred to by the terms "direction" and "style". Classicism (fr. classicisme, from lat. classicus- exemplary) - the artistic style and aesthetic direction in European art of the 17th-19th centuries.

Classicism is based on the ideas of rationalism, which were formed simultaneously with the same ideas in the philosophy of Descartes. A work of art, from the point of view of classicism, should be built on the basis of strict canons, thereby revealing the harmony and consistency of the universe itself. Interest for classicism is only eternal, unchanging - in each phenomenon, he seeks to recognize only essential, typological features, discarding random individual features. The aesthetics of classicism attaches great importance to the social and educational function of art. Classicism takes many rules and canons from ancient art (Aristotle, Horace).

Classicism establishes a strict hierarchy of genres, which are divided into high (ode, tragedy, epic) and low (comedy, satire, fable). Each genre has strictly defined features, the mixing of which is not allowed.

The concept of classicism as a creative method presupposes by its content a historically conditioned method of aesthetic perception and modeling of reality in artistic images: the picture of the world and the concept of personality, the most common for the mass aesthetic consciousness of a given historical era, are embodied in ideas about the essence of verbal art, its relationship with reality , its own internal laws.

Classicism arises and forms in certain historical and cultural conditions. The most widespread research belief associates classicism with the historical conditions of the transition from feudal fragmentation to a single national-territorial statehood, in the formation of which the centralizing role belongs to the absolute monarchy.

Classicism is an organic stage in the development of any national culture, despite the fact that different national cultures pass the classical stage at different times, due to the individuality of the national version of the formation of a general social model of a centralized state.

The chronological framework of the existence of classicism in different European cultures is defined as the second half of the 17th - the first thirty years of the 18th century, despite the fact that the early classicist trends are felt at the end of the Renaissance, at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries. Within these chronological limits, French classicism is considered the standard embodiment of the method. Closely associated with the flourishing of French absolutism in the second half of the 17th century, it gave European culture not only great writers - Corneille, Racine, Molière, Lafontaine, Voltaire, but also the great theoretician of classicist art - Nicolas Boileau-Despreot. Being himself a practicing writer who earned a lifetime fame for his satyrs, Boileau was mainly famous for the creation of the aesthetic code of classicism - the didactic poem Poetic Art (1674), in which he gave a coherent theoretical concept of literary creativity, derived from the literary practice of his contemporaries. Thus, classicism in France became the most self-conscious embodiment of the method. Hence its reference value.

The historical prerequisites for the emergence of classicism link the aesthetic problems of the method with the era of exacerbation of the relationship between the individual and society in the process of the formation of an autocratic statehood, which, replacing the social permissiveness of feudalism, seeks to regulate by law and clearly distinguish between the spheres of public and private life and the relationship between the individual and the state. This defines the content aspect of art. Its main principles are motivated by the system of philosophical views of the era. They form the picture of the world and the concept of personality, and already these categories are embodied in the totality of artistic techniques of literary creativity.

The most general philosophical concepts that are present in all philosophical trends of the second half of the 17th - the end of the 18th century. and directly related to the aesthetics and poetics of classicism - these are the concepts of "rationalism" and "metaphysics", relevant for both idealistic and materialistic philosophical teachings of this time. The founder of the philosophical doctrine of rationalism is the French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650). The fundamental thesis of his doctrine: "I think, therefore I exist" - was realized in many philosophical movements of that time, united by the common name "Cartesianism" (from the Latin version of the name Descartes - Cartesius). In essence, this thesis is idealistic, since it deduces the material existence from an idea. However, rationalism, as an interpretation of reason as the primary and highest spiritual ability of a person, is to the same extent characteristic of the materialistic philosophical currents of the era, such as, for example, the metaphysical materialism of the English philosophical school of Bacon-Locke, which recognized experience as a source of knowledge, but put it below the generalizing and analytical activity of the mind, which extracts the highest idea from the multitude of facts obtained by experience, the means of modeling the cosmos - the highest reality - from the chaos of individual material objects.

The concept of "metaphysics" is equally applicable to both varieties of rationalism - idealistic and materialistic. Genetically, it goes back to Aristotle, and in his philosophical doctrine it denoted a branch of knowledge that explores the higher and unchanging principles of all things inaccessible to the senses and only rationally-speculatively comprehended. Both Descartes and Bacon used the term in the Aristotelian sense. In modern times, the concept of "metaphysics" has acquired additional meaning and began to denote an anti-dialectical way of thinking, perceiving phenomena and objects outside their interconnection and development. Historically, this very accurately characterizes the peculiarities of thinking in the analytical era of the 17th-18th centuries, the period of differentiation of scientific knowledge and art, when each branch of science, standing out from the syncretic complex, acquired its own separate subject, but at the same time lost its connection with other branches of knowledge.

2. Aesthetics of classicism

2.1. Basic principles of classicism

1. The cult of reason 2. The cult of civic duty 3. The appeal to medieval subjects 4. Abstraction from the image of everyday life, from the historical national originality 5. Imitation of antique models 6. Compositional harmony, symmetry, unity of a work of art 7. Heroes are carriers of one main feature, given outside of development 8. Antithesis as the main method of creating a work of art

2.2. World picture, personality concept

in the art of classicism

The picture of the world generated by the rationalistic type of consciousness clearly divides reality into two levels: empirical and ideological. The external, visible and tangible material-empirical world consists of a multitude of separate material objects and phenomena, which are in no way connected with each other - this is a chaos of separate private entities. However, above this disordered multitude of individual objects, there is their ideal hypostasis - a harmonious and harmonious whole, the universal idea of ​​the universe, which includes the ideal image of any material object in its highest, purified from particulars, eternal and unchanging form: in the way it should be according to the original intention of the Creator. This general idea can be comprehended only by a rational-analytical way of gradual cleansing of an object or phenomenon from its specific forms and appearance and penetration into its ideal essence and purpose.

And since design precedes creation, and thinking is an indispensable condition and source of existence, this ideal reality has a supreme primary nature. It is easy to see that the basic laws of such a two-level picture of reality are very easily projected onto the main sociological problem of the period of transition from feudal fragmentation to autocratic statehood - the problem of the relationship between the individual and the state. The world of people is the world of separate private human beings, chaotic and disorderly, the state is an all-embracing harmonious idea that creates a harmonious and harmonious ideal world order out of chaos. It is this philosophical picture of the world of the 17th-18th centuries. determined such substantial aspects of classicism aesthetics as the concept of personality and the typology of conflict, universally characteristic (with the necessary historical and cultural variations) for classicism in any European literature.

In the field of human relations with the outside world, classicism sees two types of connections and positions - the same two levels from which the philosophical picture of the world is formed. The first level is the so-called "natural man", a biological being, standing along with all the objects of the material world. It is a private entity, possessed by selfish passions, disorderly and unlimited in its desire to ensure its personal existence. At this level of human ties with the world, the leading category that determines the spiritual appearance of a person is passion - blind and unrestrained in its striving for realization in the name of achieving individual good.

The second level of the concept of personality is the so-called "social person", harmoniously included in society in his highest, ideal image, realizing that his good is an integral part of the common good. The "public man" is guided in his worldview and actions not by passions, but by reason, since it is reason that is the highest spiritual ability of a person, which gives him the opportunity of positive self-determination in the conditions of human community, based on ethical norms of a consistent community. Thus, the concept of the human personality in the ideology of classicism turns out to be complex and contradictory: a natural (passionate) and social (reasonable) person is one and the same character, torn apart by internal contradictions and in a situation of choice.

Hence - the typological conflict of the art of classicism, directly arising from such a concept of personality. It is quite obvious that the source of a conflict situation is precisely the character of a person. Character is one of the central aesthetic categories of classicism, and its interpretation differs significantly from the meaning that modern consciousness and literary criticism puts into the term "character". In the understanding of the aesthetics of classicism, character is precisely the ideal hypostasis of a person - that is, not an individual make-up of a particular human personality, but a certain universal form of human nature and psychology, timeless in its essence. Only in this form of an eternal, unchanging, universal human attribute could character be the object of classicistic art, which is uniquely attributed to the highest, ideal level of reality.

The main components of character are passions: love, hypocrisy, courage, stinginess, a sense of duty, envy, patriotism, etc. It is by the predominance of any one passion that character is determined: "in love", "stingy", "envious", "patriot". All these definitions are precisely "characters" in the understanding of the classicist aesthetic consciousness.

However, these passions are unequal to each other, although according to philosophical concepts of the 17th-18th centuries. all passions are equal, since they are all from human nature, they are all natural, and it is impossible for a single passion to decide which passion is consistent with the ethical dignity of a person and which is not. These decisions are made only by reason. While all passions are equally categories of emotional spiritual life, some of them (such as love, stinginess, envy, hypocrisy, etc.) are less and more difficult to agree with the dictates of reason and are more associated with the concept of selfish good. Others (courage, a sense of duty, honor, patriotism) are more subject to rational control and do not contradict the idea of ​​the common good, the ethics of social ties.

So it turns out that in a conflict, passions collide reasonable and unreasonable, altruistic and egoistic, personal and social. And reason is the highest spiritual ability of a person, a logical and analytical tool that allows you to control passions and distinguish good from evil, truth from falsehood. The most common type of classicist conflict is a conflict situation between personal inclination (love) and a sense of duty to society and the state, which for some reason excludes the possibility of realizing love passion. It is quite obvious that by its nature this conflict is psychological, although a necessary condition for its implementation is a situation in which the interests of a person and society collide. These most important worldview aspects of the aesthetic thinking of the era found their expression in the system of ideas about the laws of artistic creation.

2.3. The aesthetic nature of classicism

The aesthetic principles of classicism have undergone significant changes during its existence. A characteristic feature of this trend is admiration for antiquity. The art of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome was considered by the classicists as an ideal model of artistic creation. "Poetics" by Aristotle and "The Art of Poetry" by Horace had a tremendous influence on the formation of the aesthetic principles of classicism. There is a tendency to create sublimely heroic, ideal, rationalistically clear and plastically complete images. As a rule, in the art of classicism, modern political, moral and aesthetic ideals are embodied in characters, conflicts, situations borrowed from the arsenal of ancient history, mythology, or directly from ancient art.

The aesthetics of classicism guided poets, artists, composers to create works of art that are distinguished by clarity, consistency, strict balance and harmony. All this, according to the classicists, was fully reflected in the ancient art culture. For them, reason and antiquity are synonyms. The rationalistic nature of the aesthetics of classicism manifested itself in the abstract typification of images, strict regulation of genres, forms, in the interpretation of the ancient artistic heritage, in the appeal of art to reason, and not to feelings, in an effort to subordinate the creative process to unshakable norms, rules and canons (the norm is from lat. norma - guiding principle, rule, pattern; generally accepted rule, pattern of behavior or action).

As in Italy the aesthetic principles of the Renaissance found the most typical expression, so in France in the 17th century. - the aesthetic principles of classicism. By the 17th century. the artistic culture of Italy has largely lost its former influence. But the innovative spirit of French art was clearly evident. At this time, an absolutist state was formed in France, which united society and centralized power.

The consolidation of absolutism meant the victory of the principle of universal regulation in all spheres of life, from economics to spiritual life. Debt is the main regulator of human behavior. The state embodies this duty and acts as a kind of entity alienated from the individual. Submission to the state, the fulfillment of the public duty is the highest virtue of the individual. A person is no longer thought of as free, as was typical of the Renaissance worldview, but subordinate to norms and rules alien to him, limited by forces beyond his control. The regulating and limiting force appears in the form of an impersonal mind, to which the individual must obey and act in accordance with his commands and instructions.

The high rise in production contributed to the development of the exact sciences: mathematics, astronomy, physics, and this, in turn, led to the victory of rationalism (from the Latin ratio - reason) - a philosophical trend that recognizes reason as the basis of knowledge and behavior of people.

Ideas about the laws of creativity and the structure of a work of art are as much due to the epochal type of world perception as the picture of the world and the concept of personality. Reason, as the highest spiritual ability of a person, is conceived not only as an instrument of cognition, but also as an organ of creativity and a source of aesthetic pleasure. One of the most striking leitmotifs of Boileau's Poetic Art is the rational nature of aesthetic activity:

French classicism asserted the personality of a person as the highest value of being, freeing him from religious and church influence.

Interest in the art of ancient Greece and Rome manifested itself back in the Renaissance, which, after centuries of the Middle Ages, turned to the forms, motives and subjects of antiquity. The greatest theorist of the Renaissance, Leon Batista Alberti, back in the 15th century. expressed ideas that foreshadowed certain principles of classicism and were fully manifested in Raphael's fresco "School of Athens" (1511).

The systematization and consolidation of the achievements of the great Renaissance artists, especially the Florentine ones, led by Raphael and his student Giulio Romano, formed the program of the Bologna school of the late 16th century, the most characteristic representatives of which were the Carracci brothers. In their influential Academy of Arts, the Bolognese preached that the path to the heights of art lies through a scrupulous study of the heritage of Raphael and Michelangelo, imitation of their mastery of line and composition.

Following Aristotle, classicism considered art to be an imitation of nature:

However, nature was understood by no means as a visual picture of the physical and moral world, presented to the senses, but as the highest intelligible essence of the world and of man: not a specific character, but his idea, not a real-historical or modern plot, but a universal human conflict situation, not given landscape, but the idea of ​​a harmonious combination of natural realities in an ideal-perfect unity. Classicism found such an ideal-perfect unity in ancient literature - it was it that was perceived by classicism as the already achieved peak of aesthetic activity, an eternal and unchanging standard of art, which recreated in its genre models that very high ideal nature, physical and moral, which art should imitate. It so happened that the thesis about imitation of nature turned into a prescription to imitate ancient art, from where the term "classicism" came from (from Latin classicus - exemplary, studied in class):

Thus, nature in classical art appears not so much as reproduced, but modeled after a high model - “decorated” with the generalizing analytical activity of the mind. By analogy, one can recall the so-called “regular” (ie, “correct”) park, where trees are trimmed in the form of geometric shapes and symmetrically planted, paths with the correct shape are strewn with colored pebbles, and water is enclosed in marble pools and fountains. This style of gardening art reached its peak in the era of classicism. The desire to present nature “decorated” also implies the absolute predominance of poetry over prose in classicism literature: if prose is identical to simple material nature, then poetry, as a literary form, is undoubtedly an ideal “decorated” nature. "

In all these ideas about art, namely, as a rational, ordered, normalized, spiritual activity, the hierarchical principle of thinking of the 17th-18th centuries was realized. Within itself, literature also turned out to be divided into two hierarchical rows, low and high, each of which thematically and stylistically was associated with one - material or ideal - level of reality. Low genres included satire, comedy, fable; to the high - ode, tragedy, epic. In low genres, everyday material reality is depicted, and a private person appears in social relations (in this case, of course, both a person and reality are all the same ideal conceptual categories). In high genres, a person is presented as a spiritual and social being, in the existential aspect of his existence, alone and along with the eternal foundations of the issues of being. Therefore, for high and low genres, it turned out to be relevant not only thematic, but also class differentiation based on the character's belonging to a particular social stratum. The hero of low genres is a middle-class person; the hero of the tall - a historical person, a mythological hero, or a fictional high-ranking character - usually a ruler.

In low genres, human characters are formed by low everyday passions (stinginess, bigotry, hypocrisy, envy, etc.); in high genres, passions acquire a spiritual character (love, ambition, vindictiveness, a sense of duty, patriotism, etc.). And if everyday passions are unambiguously unreasonable and vicious, then everyday passions are subdivided into reasonable - social and unreasonable - personal, and the hero's ethical status depends on his choice. He is unequivocally positive if he prefers a rational passion, and unequivocally negative if he chooses an unreasonable one. Classicism did not allow halftones in its ethical assessment - and this also reflected the rationalistic nature of the method, which excluded any mixture of high and low, tragic and comic.

Since in the genre theory of classicism those genres that reached the greatest flourishing in ancient literature were legalized as the main ones, and literary creativity was thought of as a reasonable imitation of high models, the aesthetic code of classicism acquired a normative character. This means that the model of each genre was established once and for all in a clear set of rules, which were unacceptable to deviate from, and each specific text was aesthetically evaluated according to the degree to which it corresponded to this ideal genre model.

Ancient examples became the source of the rules: the epic of Homer and Virgil, the tragedy of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Seneca, the comedy of Aristophanes, Menander, Terentius and Plautus, the ode to Pindar, the fable of Aesop and Phaedrus, the satire of Horace and Juvenal. The most typical and indicative case of such a genre regulation is, of course, the rules for the leading classicist genre, tragedies, gleaned both from the texts of ancient tragedians and from Aristotle's Poetics.

For the tragedy, a poetic form was canonized ("Alexandrian verse" - a six-foot iambic with a paired rhyme), an obligatory five-act construction, three unity - time, place and action, a high style, a historical or mythological plot and a conflict that presupposes an obligatory situation of choosing between reasonable and unreasonable passion, and the very process of choice was to constitute the action of the tragedy. It was in the dramatic section of the aesthetics of classicism that rationalism, hierarchy and normativity of the method were expressed with the greatest completeness and obviousness:

Everything that has been said above about the aesthetics of classicism and the poetics of classicist literature in France applies equally to almost any European variety of the method, since French classicism was historically the earliest and aesthetically most authoritative embodiment of the method. But for Russian classicism, these general theoretical positions found a peculiar refraction in artistic practice, since they were conditioned by the historical and national characteristics of the formation of the new Russian culture of the 18th century.

2.4. Classicism in painting

At the beginning of the 17th century, young foreigners flock to Rome to get acquainted with the heritage of antiquity and the Renaissance. The most prominent place among them was occupied by the Frenchman Nicolas Poussin, in his paintings, mainly on the themes of ancient antiquity and mythology, who gave unsurpassed examples of geometrically accurate composition and thoughtful correlation of color groups. Another Frenchman, Claude Lorrain, in his antiquated landscapes of the surroundings of the "eternal city" ordered pictures of nature by harmonizing them with the light of the setting sun and introducing peculiar architectural curtains.

Poussin's cold-minded normativeism met with the approval of the Versailles court and was continued by court artists like Lebrun, who saw in classicist painting the ideal artistic language for praising the absolutist state of the "sun king." Although private clients preferred various options for Baroque and Rococo, the French monarchy kept Classicism afloat by funding academic institutions such as the School of Fine Arts. The Rome Prize provided the most talented students with the opportunity to visit Rome for a first-hand acquaintance with the great works of antiquity.

The discovery of "genuine" antique painting during the excavations of Pompeii, the deification of antiquity by the German art critic Winckelmann and the cult of Raphael, preached by an artist close to him in his views, Mengs, breathed new breath into classicism in the second half of the 18th century (in Western literature, this stage is called neoclassicism). The largest representative of the "new classicism" was Jacques-Louis David; his extremely laconic and dramatic artistic language served with equal success to promote the ideals of the French Revolution ("Death of Marat") and the First Empire ("Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I").

In the 19th century, the painting of classicism enters a period of crisis and becomes a force holding back the development of art, and not only in France, but also in other countries. The artistic line of David was successfully continued by Ingres, who, while preserving the language of classicism, in his works often turned to romantic subjects with an oriental flavor ("Turkish Baths"); his portraits are marked by a subtle idealization of the model. Artists in other countries (like, for example, Karl Bryullov) also filled the works of classicism in form with the spirit of romanticism; this combination is called academism. Numerous art academies served as its breeding grounds. In the middle of the 19th century, the younger generation gravitating towards realism, represented in France by the Courbet circle, and in Russia by the Itinerants, rebelled against the conservatism of the academic establishment.

2.5. Classicism in sculpture

The impetus for the development of classicist sculpture in the middle of the 18th century was the works of Winckelmann and the archaeological excavations of ancient cities, which expanded the knowledge of contemporaries about ancient sculpture. On the verge of Baroque and Classicism, sculptors such as Pigalle and Houdon wavered in France. Classicism reached its highest embodiment in the field of plastic in the heroic and idyllic works of Antonio Canova, who drew inspiration mainly from the statues of the Hellenistic era (Praxitel). In Russia, Fedot Shubin, Mikhail Kozlovsky, Boris Orlovsky, Ivan Martos gravitated towards the aesthetics of classicism.

Public monuments, which became widespread in the era of classicism, gave sculptors the opportunity to idealize the military valor and wisdom of statesmen. Fidelity to the ancient model required sculptors to depict models naked, which contradicted accepted moral norms. To resolve this contradiction, the figures of our time were initially depicted by the sculptors of classicism in the form of naked ancient gods: Suvorov - in the form of Mars, and Pauline Borghese - in the form of Venus. Under Napoleon, the issue was resolved by switching to the image of contemporary figures in antique togas (such are the figures of Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly in front of the Kazan Cathedral).

Private customers of the era of classicism preferred to immortalize their names in tombstones. The popularity of this sculptural form was facilitated by the arrangement of public cemeteries in the main cities of Europe. In accordance with the classicist ideal, figures on tombstones tend to be in a state of deep rest. Sharp movements, external manifestations of such emotions as anger are generally alien to the sculpture of classicism.

Late Empire classicism, represented primarily by the prolific Danish sculptor Thorvaldsen, is imbued with a dryish pathos. Purity of lines, restraint of gestures, dispassionateness of expressions are especially appreciated. In the choice of role models, the emphasis shifts from Hellenism to the archaic period. Religious images are coming into fashion, which, as interpreted by Thorvaldsen, make a somewhat chilling impression on the viewer. The gravestone sculpture of late classicism often carries a slight touch of sentimentality.

2.6. Classicism in architecture

The main feature of the architecture of classicism was the appeal to the forms of ancient architecture as a standard of harmony, simplicity, rigor, logical clarity and monumentality. The architecture of classicism as a whole is characterized by regularity of planning and clarity of volumetric form. The basis of the architectural language of classicism was the order, in proportions and forms close to antiquity. For classicism, symmetric-axial compositions, restraint of decoration, and a regular system of city planning are characteristic.

The architectural language of classicism was formulated at the close of the Renaissance by the great Venetian master Palladio and his follower Scamozzi. The Venetians made the principles of ancient temple architecture so absolute that they applied them even in the construction of such private mansions as Villa Capra. Inigo Jones brought Palladianism north to England, where local Palladian architects followed the Palladian precepts with varying degrees of fidelity until the mid-18th century.

By that time, the satiety of the "whipped cream" of the late Baroque and Rococo began to accumulate among the intellectuals of continental Europe. Born by the Roman architects Bernini and Borromini, the Baroque thinned out in the Rococo, predominantly chamber style with an emphasis on interior decoration and arts and crafts. For the solution of large urban planning problems, this aesthetics was of little use. Already under Louis XV (1715-74), urban planning ensembles in the "ancient Roman" taste were built in Paris, such as the Place de la Concorde (architect Jacques-Ange Gabriel) and the Church of Saint-Sulpice, and under Louis XVI (1774-92) a similar "noble laconicism "is already becoming the main architectural direction.

The most significant interiors in the classicist style were designed by the Scotsman Robert Adam, who returned to his homeland from Rome in 1758. He was greatly impressed by both the archaeological research of Italian scientists and the architectural fantasies of Piranesi. In Adam's interpretation, classicism appeared as a style that was hardly inferior to rococo in terms of sophistication of interiors, which earned him popularity not only among democratically minded circles of society, but also among the aristocracy. Like his French counterparts, Adam preached a complete rejection of details lacking a constructive function.

The Frenchman Jacques-Germain Soufflot, during the construction of the Saint-Genevieve church in Paris, demonstrated the ability of classicism to organize vast urban spaces. The massive grandeur of his projects foreshadowed the megalomania of Napoleonic Empire and late classicism. In Russia, Bazhenov was moving in the same direction as Soufflot. The Frenchmen Claude-Nicolas Ledoux and Etienne-Louis Bull went even further towards the development of a radical visionary style with a bias towards abstract geometrization of forms. In revolutionary France, the ascetic civic pathos of their projects was in little demand; only the modernists of the 20th century fully appreciated Ledoux's innovation.

The architects of Napoleonic France drew inspiration from the majestic images of military glory left behind by imperial Rome, such as the triumphal arch of Septimius Severus and Trajan's Column. By order of Napoleon, these images were transferred to Paris in the form of the triumphal arch of Carrousel and the Vendome Column. With reference to the monuments of military greatness of the era of the Napoleonic wars, the term "imperial style" is used - empire style. In Russia, Karl Rossi, Andrei Voronikhin and Andreyan Zakharov showed themselves to be outstanding masters of the Empire style. In Britain, the Empire style corresponds to the so-called. "Regency style" (the largest representative is John Nash).

The aesthetics of classicism favored large-scale urban planning projects and led to the ordering of urban development on the scale of entire cities. In Russia, almost all provincial and many uyezd cities were redesigned in accordance with the principles of classicist rationalism. Such cities as St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Warsaw, Dublin, Edinburgh and a number of others have turned into genuine open-air classicism museums. The entire space from Minusinsk to Philadelphia was dominated by a single architectural language dating back to Palladio. Ordinary development was carried out in accordance with standard project albums.

In the period following the Napoleonic wars, classicism had to coexist with romantically colored eclecticism, in particular with the return of interest in the Middle Ages and the fashion for architectural neo-Gothic. In connection with the discoveries of Champollion, Egyptian motives are gaining popularity. Interest in ancient Roman architecture gives way to reverence for everything ancient Greek ("neo-Greek"), which was especially clearly manifested in Germany and the United States. German architects Leo von Klenze and Karl Friedrich Schinkel are building up Munich and Berlin, respectively, with grandiose museums and other public buildings in the spirit of the Parthenon. In France, the purity of classicism is diluted with free borrowings from the architectural repertoire of the Renaissance and the Baroque (see Beauz-ar).

2.7. Classicism in literature

The founder of the poetics of classicism is considered the Frenchman Francois Malherbe (1555-1628), who carried out the reform of the French language and verse and developed poetic canons. The leading representatives of classicism in drama were the tragedians Corneille and Racine (1639-1699), whose main subject of creativity was the conflict between public duty and personal passions. "Low" genres also reached high development - fable (J. La Fontaine), satire (Boileau), comedy (Moliere 1622-1673).

Boileau became famous throughout Europe as the "legislator of Parnassus", the largest theorist of classicism, who expressed his views in the poetic treatise "Poetic Art". Under his influence in Great Britain were the poets John Dryden and Alexander Pope, who made Alexandrina the main form of English poetry. For English prose of the era of classicism (Addison, Swift), Latinized syntax is also characteristic.

Classicism of the 18th century developed under the influence of the ideas of the Enlightenment. The work of Voltaire (1694-1778) is directed against religious fanaticism, absolutist oppression, filled with the pathos of freedom. The goal of creativity is to change the world for the better, to build society itself in accordance with the laws of classicism. From the standpoint of classicism, the Englishman Samuel Johnson surveyed contemporary literature, around whom a brilliant circle of like-minded people formed, including the essayist Boswell, the historian Gibbon and the actor Garrick. Three unities are characteristic of dramatic works: the unity of time (the action takes place one day), the unity of the place (in one place) and the unity of the action (one plot line).

In Russia, classicism originated in the 18th century, after the transformations of Peter I. Lomonosov carried out a reform of Russian verse, developed the theory of "three calm", which was essentially an adaptation of the French classical rules to the Russian language. Images in classicism are devoid of individual traits, since they are called upon, first of all, to capture stable generic signs that do not pass over time, acting as the embodiment of any social or spiritual forces.

Classicism in Russia developed under the great influence of the Enlightenment - the ideas of equality and justice have always been in the focus of attention of Russian classicist writers. Therefore, in Russian classicism, genres that imply a mandatory author's assessment of historical reality: comedy (D.I.Fonvizin), satire (A.D. Kantemir), fable (A.P. Sumarokov, I.I. (Lomonosov, G.R.Derzhavin).

In connection with the call proclaimed by Rousseau for closeness to nature and naturalness, crisis phenomena are growing in classicism of the late 18th century; the absolutization of reason is replaced by the cult of tender feelings - sentimentalism. The transition from classicism to pre-romanticism was most clearly reflected in the German literature of the era of "Storm and Onslaught", represented by the names of I. V. Goethe (1749-1832) and F. Schiller (1759-1805), who, following Rousseau, saw in art the main force of education person.

2.8. Classicism in music

The concept of classicism in music is consistently associated with the works of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, called Viennese classics and determined the direction of further development of musical composition.

The concept of "music of classicism" should not be confused with the concept of "classical music", which has a more general meaning as the music of the past that has stood the test of time.

The music of the era of Classicism glorifies the actions and deeds of a person, emotions and feelings experienced by him, an attentive and holistic human mind.

2.10. The originality of Russian classicism

Russian classicism arose in similar historical conditions - its prerequisite was the strengthening of autocratic statehood and the national self-determination of Russia since the era of Peter I. Europeanism of the ideology of Peter's reforms aimed Russian culture at mastering the achievements of European cultures. But at the same time, Russian classicism arose almost a century later than French: by the middle of the 18th century, when Russian classicism was just beginning to gain strength, in France it reached the second stage of its existence. The so-called "Enlightenment classicism" - a combination of classicistic creative principles with the pre-revolutionary ideology of the Enlightenment - flourished in the works of Voltaire in French literature and acquired an anticlerical, socially critical pathos: several decades before the Great French Revolution, the times of apology for absolutism were already a distant history. Russian classicism, due to its strong connection with secular cultural reform, firstly, initially set itself educational tasks, trying to educate its readers and instruct monarchs on the path of public good, and secondly, it acquired the status of a leading trend in Russian literature towards the time when Peter I was no longer alive, and the fate of his cultural reforms was under attack in the second half of the 1720s - 1730s.

Therefore, Russian classicism begins "not with the fruit of the spring - an ode, but with the fruit of the autumn - satire," and socially-critical pathos is characteristic of it from the very beginning.

Russian classicism also reflected a completely different type of conflict than Western European classicism. If in French classicism the socio-political principle is only the soil on which the psychological conflict of rational and unreasonable passion develops and the process of free and conscious choice between their decrees is carried out, then in Russia, with its traditionally anti-democratic collegiality and the absolute power of society over the individual, the matter was completely otherwise. For the Russian mentality, which had just begun to comprehend the ideology of personalism, the need for the humility of the individual in front of society, the personality in front of the authorities was not at all such a tragedy as it was for the Western worldview. The choice, which is relevant for the European consciousness as an opportunity to prefer one thing, in Russian conditions turned out to be imaginary, its outcome was predetermined in favor of society. Therefore, the very situation of choice in Russian classicism has lost its conflict-forming function, and another has come to replace it.

The central problem of Russian life in the 18th century. there was a problem of power and its continuity: not a single Russian emperor after the death of Peter I and before the accession of Paul I in 1796 came to power in a legal way. XVIII century - this is an age of intrigues and palace coups, which too often led to the absolute and uncontrolled power of people who did not at all correspond not only to the ideal of an enlightened monarch, but also to ideas about the role of the monarch in the state. Therefore, Russian classical literature immediately took a political and didactic direction and reflected this problem as the main tragic dilemma of the era - the inconsistency of the ruler with the duties of the autocrat, the conflict of experiencing power as an egoistic personal passion with the idea of ​​power exercised for the benefit of his subjects.

Thus, the Russian classicist conflict, while retaining the situation of a choice between rational and unreasonable passion as an external plot drawing, was fully realized as a socio-political in nature. The positive hero of Russian classicism does not humble his individual passion in the name of the common good, but insists on his natural rights, defending his personalism from tyrannical encroachments. And the most important thing is that this national specificity of the method was well understood by the writers themselves: if the plots of French classicistic tragedies were drawn mainly from ancient mythology and history, then Sumarokov wrote his tragedies on the plots of Russian chronicles and even on the plots of not so distant Russian history.

Finally, another specific feature of Russian classicism was that it did not rely on such a rich and continuous tradition of national literature as any other national European variety of the method. What any European literature had at the time of the emergence of the theory of classicism - namely, a literary language with an ordered stylistic system, the principles of versification, a defined system of literary genres - all this had to be created in Russian. Therefore, in Russian classicism, literary theory has outstripped literary practice. The normative acts of Russian classicism - the reform of versification, the reform of style and the regulation of the genre system - were implemented between the mid-1730s and the end of the 1740s. - that is, basically before a full-fledged literary process unfolded in Russia in the mainstream of classicist aesthetics.

3. Conclusion

For the ideological prerequisites of classicism, it is essential that the individual's striving for freedom is assumed here to be just as legitimate as the need of society to bind this freedom with laws.

The personal principle continues to retain that immediate social significance, that independent value, which it was first endowed with by the Renaissance. However, in contrast to him, now this beginning belongs to the individual, along with the role that society now receives as a social organization. And this implies that any attempt by the individual to defend his freedom in spite of society threatens him with the loss of the fullness of life ties and the transformation of freedom into a devastated subjectivity devoid of any support.

The category of measure is a fundamental category in the poetics of classicism. It is unusually multifaceted in content, has both a spiritual and a plastic nature, touches but does not coincide with another typical concept of classicism - the concept of a norm - and is closely related to all aspects of the ideal affirmed here.

The classicist mind as a source and guarantor of balance in nature and human life bears the stamp of poetic faith in the original harmony of everything, trust in the natural course of things, confidence in the presence of an all-encompassing correspondence between the movement of the world and the formation of society, in the humanistic, human-oriented nature of this communication.

I am close to the period of classicism, its principles, poetry, art, creativity in general. The conclusions that classicism makes about people, society, and the world seem to me to be the only true and rational. Measure, as the middle line between opposites, the order of things, systems, and not chaos; strong relationship of a person with society against their rupture and enmity, excessive genius and selfishness; harmony against extremes - in this I see the ideal principles of being, the foundations of which are reflected in the canons of classicism.

List of sources