Western European classicism painting definition. Classicism in Russian painting the formation of classicism in

Formation of classicism in Russia The emergence and formation of classicism in Russia is closely connected with the development of social thought and educational ideas of the second half of the eighteenth century. The ideas of civic consciousness and duty, as well as the moral education of a citizen, were widely developed. Classicism as a new artistic direction was defined in the 1760s. He chose the ancient classics for imitation and appreciated it for the clarity of form and logic of thought, but most of all for the ideal of a person-citizen created by it. The aesthetics of classicism was based on the assertion that art, in one ideal image of beauty, unites what in reality exists in separate and disparate parts. Art should make up for the beauty and harmony that is lacking in nature in nature. In Russia, the style of classicism captured a fairly long period of time, so there is its division into chronological stages. The first period - 1760 -1780s - early classicism, mature classicism "fit" in the last twenty years of the eighteenth century. The beginning of the 19th century gave rise to a new name for the late phase of classicism. In Napoleonic France, the so-called "style of the empire" was born - the Empire style, which spread to Russia as well.

AP Losenko - the founder of Russian classicism AP Losenko (1737 -1773) is rightly considered the founder of the academic school of Russian classicism. One of the painter's best paintings - "Hector's Farewell to Andromache" The plot of the work is taken from Book VI of Homer's Iliad. Hector, son of the Trojan king Priam, says goodbye to his wife and little son. He goes to protect the city of Troy besieged by the Achaeans.

LOSENKO DOES NOT EXACTLY ILLUSTRATE THE CONTENT OF THE OPEN SCENE. USING SEPARATE MOTIVES OF ANTIQUE EPOS, THE ARTIST INSERTED A DIFFERENT CONTENT INTO THE WORK, FULLY PROCEEDING FROM THE PRINCIPLES OF CLASSICISM. IN THE BASIS OF LOSENKO'S DESIGN IS THE IDEA OF DUTY TO THE NATIVE AND HEROIC SELF-SACRIFICATION IN THE NAME OF THE FATHERLAND. THIS HIGH IDEA IS SUBJECT TO THE ENTIRE LEAF SOLUTION. EVERYTHING PERSONAL, DEEP HUMAN, LEFT TO THE SECOND PLAN. COMPARED WITH GOMER'S HEROES, THE IMAGES CREATED BY THE CLASSISTIC ARTIST SEE MORE DISTRACTED BUT ELEVATED. THEY LOSE THEIR LIFE AND DIFFERENCE, BUT BECOME EXPRESSORS OF ONE IDEA, ONE SENSE. THE COMPOSITION OF THE PICTURE IS CLEARLY THOUGHTED AND LOGICALLY BUILT. TWO MAIN FIGURES - HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE - MOVED FORWARD AND PLACED IN THE CENTER. THEY ARE WRITTEN IN A CLASSIC TRIANGLE AND HIGHLIGHTED. ON THE LEFT IS A GROUP OF ARMENIANS AND WARRIORS WITH A BANGLE. RIGHT - SERVANTS HOLDING HELMET, SPEAR AND HECTOR'S SHIELD. THEY SHAPE THE MAIN CHARACTERS IN SEMI-CIRCULAR. SECONDARY FIGURES PERFORM THE FUNCTION OF SOME STATISTS, THEY DO NOT PARTICIPATE IN THE ACTION. WARRIORS AND SERVANTS MAKE A PASSIVE "CROWD", WHICH IS OPPOSED TO ACTIVE "HEROES". HERE IS A CLEAR OFFICIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE HISTORY AS ABOUT THE ACTS OF KINGS AND HEROES, THE PEOPLE CANNOT AND SHOULD NOT TAKE ANY PARTICIPATION IN THEM.

The main idea of ​​the work is embodied only by the central characters. The influence of classicism is reflected in the solution of the main images no less clearly than in the solution of the composition. Hector, in a pathetic pose, with an outstretched hand, raising his eyes to the sky, vows to give his life for the freedom of Troy. Tragic pathos marks not only the pose and gesture of the hero, but also his entire appearance, courageous and noble. Hector embodies the classic ideal of male beauty.

A classic example of the style of classicism in the portrait genre is the famous "Portrait of Catherine II - Legislator in the Temple of the Goddess of Justice" (1783) by DG Levitsky. The conventionally rhetorical pathos of the image is embodied with the help of the plastic expressiveness of posture and gesture characteristic of this style. The figure of Catherine is highlighted and highlighted. With her outstretched hand, she points to the altar on which poppy flowers are burned (poppy is a symbol of sleep).

In the portrait characterization of Catherine the Great, the most valued in classicism, universally significant, official and high, which overshadows the personal and emotional side of the soul, comes to the fore. The "godlike" empress is presented in an antique dress - the dress is likened to a tunic, on her head is not an imperial crown, but a laurel Nenets.

An example of mature classicism and in Russian historical painting is the painting "The election of Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov to the kingdom on March 14, 1613" by GI Ugryumov (17641823), a follower of AP Losenko.

The artist chose one of the important moments in Russian history - the election to the kingdom of the young boyar M.F. Romanov, who became the founder of a new dynasty that ruled in Russia until 1917. In transferring the plot, the painter proceeded from the official interpretation of this event by historians: Mikhail, realizing the difficult situation in which Russia was, only yields to the requests of the people. The embarrassed young man, putting his right hand to his heart, the other, as it were, moves away from the embassy that has appeared to him. A group of the main characters - Michael, his mother, and Archbishop Theodorite - are represented in the center of the composition, on the pulpit in front of the iconostasis. The characters are highlighted compositionally, as well as with the help of light and bright colorful combinations. Famous historical figures are depicted on the right. Their gestures are full of gravity and solemnity. In contrast, they depict the commoners on the left, ardently and invitingly aspiring to the newly-born tsar. Ugryumov paints with great skill a rich interior, a carved iconostasis, luxuriant clothes of the depicted people.

The Colosseum, like no other monument, is closely related to ancient mythology and history. As a true classicist artist, Matveev strove to express the idea of ​​heroic beauty and sublimity, to convey the majestic breath of the past. The "protagonist" Colosseum is located strictly in the center of the composition. The painter divides the space. Following the rules of classicism, Matveyev takes plans parallel to the canvas. accurately conveys the outlines of an object with a contour, In the foreground, stones, bushes and line and chiaroscuro characterize its structure, and the granite parapet color reflects the color of the object outside are arranged as if "layers" depending on lighting conditions, reflexes one after another. The extent of adjacent items. Classicism raises everything of the second plan, it is revealed not only what is observed in nature into a certain absolute, the thickness of the Colosseum, but also from the perspective, therefore, the local color turns into the soil and buildings and gardens of Rome into an ideal cut of objects. The entire depth on both sides of the vegetation is green, the ruins are the Colosseum. The third plan is brown, yellow for the architectural details, the background for the main object. gray - for walls of houses.

Portraits of mature classicism (empire style) in the work of V. L. Borovikovsky An example of an empire portrait can be a work by V. L. Borovikovsky (17571825) "Portrait of M. I. Dolgoruka", which was created by the artist in 1811

The perfect figure of a beautiful woman stands out in clear silhouette against the smooth background of the wall. Borovikovsky here combined the fullness of plastic forms with the beauty of the silhouette and the nobility of color. The lines are elastic, the volumes are expressive. The artist constructs the space in such a way that the dark red velvet of the dress perfectly sets off the whiteness of the open shoulders and arms. The artist is extremely laconic and expressive. Over time, the lofty ideas of classicism began to become obsolete. Society was "tired" of the repeated repetition of ready-made samples, and the apologists of the style continued to insist that perfection had already been achieved by ancient art and there was nothing more to invent, invent, discover. Gradually, classicism turned into academicism.

The art of classicism followed ancient, that is, classical, patterns that were considered the ideal aesthetic standard. Unlike the baroque masters, the creators of classicism tried to follow the firmly established canons of beauty. The new era has developed rigid rules that determined how to write poetry and plays, how to create pictures, how to dance, etc. The basic principles of classicism are strict adherence to established norms and grandeur.

Through the efforts of the French Academy, founded in 1634, in France, instead of numerous local dialects, a single literary language was gradually established, which became the most important means of not only developing culture, but also strengthening national unity. The Academy dictated linguistic norms and artistic tastes, contributing to the establishment of the general canons of French culture. The development of classicism was also facilitated by the activities of the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, the Academy of Architecture, the Academy of Music, which determined the norms of artistic creativity in the corresponding areas of art. The artistic canons of that era were formed under the influence of philosophical rationalism, the founder of which was an outstanding French thinker of the first half of the 17th century. R. Descartes.

Cartesianism, as Descartes' philosophy is called, affirmed the belief in the omnipotence of the human mind and its ability to organize all human life on rational foundations.

The leading poet of classicism and its theorist in the field of poetry was N. Boileau, author of the poetic treatise "Poetic Art" (1674).

Dramaturgy

In drama, where classicism reached its greatest completeness, the principle of "three unities" was established, which meant that the whole plot was developed in one place, at the same time and in one action. Tragedy was recognized as the highest genre of theatrical art. In classical drama, the characters were clearly distinguished and opposed to each other: positive characters embodied only virtues, negative ones became the personification of vice. At the same time, good always had to conquer evil.

The founder of the classic French tragedy was P. Cor-nel, who not only wrote plays, until now recognized as masterpieces of world drama, but also became a leading theorist of theatrical art.

Ballet

Ballet achieved high perfection in the era of classicism, for which the "sun king" had a weakness, often appearing on stage himself. Ballet, which came from Renaissance Italy, under the auspices of the King of France, has become a special kind of performing arts. By the end of the 17th century. his canons were developed, making ballet the most classical of all types of classical arts.

Opera

Opera also came to France from Italy. The national operatic tradition, which originated at the court of Louis XIV, was also formed in the mainstream of classicism.

The classical canons in painting formed N. Poussin... French painting of the 17th century laid the foundations of a great national tradition, the further development of which brought France an undeniable primacy in the field of fine arts.

Portrait

Louis XIV placed the royal palace of the Louvre at the disposal of the servants of the muses, which acquired its majestic eastern façade during his reign. Paris and its suburbs during the reign of the "sun king" were adorned with remarkable architectural monuments. "His Majesty's buildings" turned into a whole industry, and everything built then was, in the words of the biographer of Louis XIV, "a permanent worldwide exhibition of masterpieces of French classical taste."

Since the time of Louis XIV, the primacy of France has become generally recognized in many spheres of culture. For a long time, French influence determined the main directions of the development of world art. Paris became the center of European artistic life, a trendsetter and tastes that became role models in other countries. Material from the site

Palace and park en-samble Versailles

An outstanding achievement of that era is the grandiose palace and park ensemble of Versailles. The best architects, sculptors and artists of that time took part in its construction. The parks of Versa la are a classic example of French park art. Unlike an English park, which is more natural, landscape in its essence, embodying the desire for harmony with nature, the French park is characterized by a regular layout and a desire for symmetry. Alleys, flower beds, ponds - everything is arranged in accordance with the strict laws of geometry. Even trees and bushes are trimmed in the form of regular geometric shapes. Various fountains, rich sculpture, luxurious interiors of palaces also became attractions of Versailles. In the opinion of the French historian, no treaty "gave so much for the glory of our country as the ensemble of Versailles." "One of a kind in proportions, combining the play of all arts, reflecting the culture of a unique era", Versailles still amazes the imagination of visitors.

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.

How a certain direction was formed in France in the 17th century. French classicism asserted the personality of a person as the highest value of being, freeing him from religious and church influence.

Painting

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 at the end of the 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.

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 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 environs 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 Winkelmann and the cult of Raphael, preached by the artist Mengs, close to him, 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, classicist painting enters a period of crisis and becomes a force that holds back the development of art, not only in France, but also in other countries. The artistic line of David was successfully continued by Ingres, while preserving the language of classicism in his works he often turned to romantic plots 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 academicism. 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.

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 decorative 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, a satiety of late Baroque and Rococo "whipped cream" 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. This aesthetics was of little use for solving large urban planning problems. 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 developing 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; Ledoux's innovation was fully appreciated only by modernists of the 20th century.

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. 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 the albums of standard projects.

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 ("neogrek"), 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 borrowing from the architectural repertoire of the Renaissance and the Baroque (see Beauz-ar).

38. Artistic culture of Europe during the Enlightenment.

Age of Enlightenment- one of the key eras in the history of European culture, associated with the development of scientific, philosophical and social thought. This intellectual movement was based on rationalism and free-thinking. Starting in England, this movement spread to France, Germany, Russia and other European countries. Particularly influential were the French enlighteners who became the "masters of thoughts". The principles of the Enlightenment formed the basis of the American Declaration of Independence and the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. The intellectual and philosophical movement of this era had a great influence on the subsequent changes in the ethics and social life of Europe and America, the struggle for the national independence of the American colonies of European countries, the abolition of slavery, and the formation of human rights. In addition, it shaken the authority of the aristocracy and the influence of the church on social, intellectual and cultural life.

The term itself education came to the Russian language, as well as to English ( The enlightenment) and German ( Zeitalter der Aufklärung) from French ( siècle des lumières) and mainly refers to the philosophical trend of the 18th century. At the same time, it is not the name of a certain philosophical school, since the views of the philosophers of the Enlightenment often differed significantly from each other and contradicted each other. Therefore, enlightenment is considered not so much a complex of ideas as a certain direction of philosophical thought. The philosophy of the Enlightenment was based on criticism of the traditional institutions, customs and morals that existed at that time.

The Enlightenment is a social, aesthetic, ideological and cultural movement in the countries of America and Europe, associated with changes in living conditions that have developed under the influence of the collapse of feudal and the formation of capitalist relations in the economy. The historical framework is 1689-1789.

The prerequisites and root causes of aesthetic evolution in society were changes in science, politics, ideology, culture, and art. Culture in the era of the Enlightenment waged a struggle for the triumph of the "kingdom of reason", primarily due to the development of science. It was supposed to be based on the principle of "natural equality", with the resulting principles of political freedom and civil equality.

The enlighteners were convinced materialists and idealists who recognized reason as the basis of knowledge and behavior of people. Philosophical currents of social thought in the culture of the Enlightenment were a kind of unity, which was expressed in goals and ideals - freedom, tolerance, prosperity and happiness, rejection of violence, freethinking, as well as a critical view of any authority.

Scientific knowledge, previously available only to a narrow circle of scientists, spreads far beyond the boundaries of laboratories and universities. Science is gradually becoming the subject of discussion of cultural figures, popularly setting out the latest achievements of philosophy and science.

Famous people of the Enlightenment came from different estates and classes: from the aristocracy and the nobility, ending with the employees of commercial and industrial complexes. In each country, the culture of the Enlightenment bore the imprint of national identity.

After the revolutions and civil wars in the 17th and 18th centuries, contradictions in society were smoothed out, parliamentarism developed, which led to the strengthening of political struggle in the legal field. The Church did not oppose itself to the Enlightenment and to a certain extent even corresponded to its ideal of religious tolerance. All this contributed to the rapid development of culture. A balance has been preserved between the traditional values, the custodian of which was the church, and the special innovative values ​​that the culture of the Enlightenment carried.

The artistic culture of the 18th century is a period of breaking up the artistic system that has been erected over the centuries: a skeptical and ironic attitude towards everything that was previously considered chosen and sublime. For the first time, the possibilities of freedom of observation and creativity opened up before artists. The culture of the Enlightenment used the stylistic forms of the classics, reflecting with their help a completely new content.

The art of Europe of the 18th century combined two opposite principles: classicism, which means the subordination of man to the system, and romanticism. In the culture of different peoples, classics and romanticism either formed a kind of synthesis, then existed in all sorts of mixtures and combinations.

A new beginning in the culture of the Enlightenment was also the emergence of trends that did not have their own stylistic form and did not feel the need to generate it. One of the largest trends was, first of all, sentimentalism, which fully reflected the enlightenment ideas about the kindness and purity of human nature, which were lost along with the "natural state" of society, during its gradual distance from nature. Sentimentalism, first of all, turned to the inner, intimate, personal world of human thoughts and feelings, therefore it did not require special stylistic refinements. Sentimentalism was close to romanticism. The "natural" man, praised by him, constantly experiences the tragedy of collision with the forces of nature and society, with life itself, which prepares him for great upheavals. Their foreboding permeates the entire culture of the Enlightenment.

The process of displacing religion in art by secular ones is a characteristic feature of the culture of the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, secular architecture, for the first time in its long history, prevails over religious architecture throughout Europe. Genre painting, which reflected the artists' everyday observations of the life of real people in the real world, is widely spread across the territory of European countries, and sometimes even seeks to occupy a dominant place. The place of the ceremonial portrait, so popular in the past, is taken by the intimate portrait, and in landscape painting there is a “landscape of mood” presented by such artists as Gainsborough, Guardi, Watteau.

A characteristic feature of the culture of the Enlightenment is the increasing attention to the sketch, and not only among the artists themselves, but even among critics and art historians. Individual perception, moods, reflected in sketches, sometimes have an emotional and aesthetic effect than a completely finished work. Engraving and drawing are valued above paintings because they establish a more pronounced connection between the viewer and the artist. The tastes and preferences of the era have changed the very requirements for the color of paintings. Artists of the 18th century intensify the decorative perception of color in their works, paintings begin to decorate the place in which they are located.

The culture of the Enlightenment, embodied in the architecture and painting of Rococo, was primarily set up to create comfort for the person who would enjoy these works. Small rooms do not look cramped due to the illusions of "playing space", which is achieved by architects and artists through the use of various artistic means: ornaments, mirrors, panels, special colors, etc. This style became popular in poor houses, in which he introduced the spirit of comfort and coziness without excessive pomp and luxury.

Another distinctive feature of the culture of the Enlightenment was the display through artistic means of human sensations and pleasures - spiritual and physical. Since the 18th century. both the public and the critics demand more “pleasant” or “sensual” from new painting, music and theater.

In the endless disputes between them, modern theories of human rights arose as an independent citizen and part of civil society, democracy in the rule of law, ethics of individualism and a market economy.

The old ideology, feudalism, was replaced by the time of economists, philosophers, sociologists and writers of the Enlightenment.

Culture of the Enlightenment.

Con. 17 –beginning 18th century Received the name "Age of Enlightenment" or "Age of Reason"

This period begins in England in 1689. Then it spreads in France and Germany. And this era ends with the Great French Revolution in 1789.

Signs of the Enlightenment:

· The idea of ​​equality of all people before the law, before other people, society.

· Victory of reason. The enlighteners saw deliverance from all social ills in the dissemination of knowledge. They considered their task to spread knowledge, to teach ordinary people.

· Historical optimism. Representatives of this era believed in the possibility of changing a person for the better, creating a just society.

In political, economic and cultural life, there was a process of abandonment of feudal relations and the formation of capitalism.

The Age of Enlightenment was a period of rapid development of philosophy and spirit. to-ry Prominent English philosopher 2nd floor. 17th century was John Locke. In his writings, an English program was formulated. Enlightenment. He believed that a person has three basic rights: to life, to freedom, to property.

French enlightenment is represented by:

· Ball by Louis Monterey. He sharply criticized absolutism, despotism and opposed them with the ideals of political freedom.

· Voltaire worked in different genres: tragedy, history. essays, philosopher. novels, political treatises and articles. He opposed the church and clericalism, ridiculed the morality of feudal society, absolutism.

· Jean-Jacques Rousseau - the teaching was reduced to the requirement to bring society out of the state of general depravity of morals. He saw a way out in moral education, material and political equality. He believed that morality depends on politics and social order.

Denis Diderot was a prominent figure in the French enlightenment. He headed the publication of the 35-volume encyclopedia "Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts". It was a complete body of knowledge about the world around us. It was published from 1751 to 1772. The German enlightenment was formed under the influence of the philosopher Christian Wulff. He combined the cult of reason with a deep respect for the Christian religion. The peculiarity of the German enlightenment is that the initiative to spread new ideas came from King Frederick the Great.

A prominent representative of the German enlightenment was a professor at the University of Königsberg, Emmanuel Kant. He formed the principles of moral and intellectual liberation of man. He substantiated the legal forms and methods of struggle for changing the state. and a social system that presupposed a path of gradual reforms that exclude violence.

The Age of Enlightenment was a turning point in the spiritual development of Europe. Enlighteners have created a new system of values, addressed to a person and not dependent on his social affiliation. This system became the basis for Western European civilization. Enlighteners paid great attention to art. Since they saw in him an important means of enlightenment.

Western European art of the 18th century is represented by the following areas: classicism, sentimentalism, realism.

At the turn of the 17-18 centuries. there are also cultural changes. The center of culture of the 18th century. Becomes France.

In the 18th century. change in attitudes towards various types of arts. Painting gives way to music.

On the 18th century. The activities of the following famous violin makers are accounted for: Shati, Stradivali, Guarneri.

At the 18th century. The activities of the following musicians account for the Italian (Vivaldi), the flourishing of the Vienna School (Haydn, Mozart), the German School (Beethoven, Bach).

The opera was reformed by the composer Gluck.

The leading genre of enlightenment literature were satirical and family-household royans, a philosophical story and drama.

Writers of education tried to bring literature closer to life and, through literature, to transform public mores.

German literature is represented by Friedrich Schiller (historical dramas): Maiden of Arlian, Wilhelm Tell, Maria Stuart.

At this time, the development of the realistic direction begins: Jonathan Swift ("Gulliver's Travels"), Daniel Defoe ("Robinson Crusoe").

Many representatives of the Enlightenment, led by Dani Diderot, opposed the refined art of Rococo. They demanded art that faithfully portrayed life and would have a beneficial effect on society.

The main trend was classicism, which on the eve of Vel. The French Revolution manifested itself in the form of the so-called revolutionary classicism. The head of this direction was the French. artist Jean Louis David. His most famous paintings: on an antique plot ("The Oath of Horace"), in a realistic manner ("The Murder of Marat").

At this time, a realistic direction in painting by Jean Baptiste Chardin developed. He paints still lifes, genre paintings in which he depicts home life.

A prominent Spanish artist was 18-19 centuries. Francisco Goya. He was a court painter, but his paintings were distinguished by their sharp character and grace. The most famous are Goya's etchings (prints), which were called Capriches.

An outstanding French sculptor was Etienne Maurice Falconet. He was in charge of the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory. He created small plastic biscuits (not glazed porcelain). He is the author of The Bronze Horseman.

Sentimentalism arose within the enlightenment. His followers believed that it was not possible to overcome social disasters and transform society through education and re-education, and sentimentalists turned their attention to the feelings of people. They evaluate a person according to his ability to sincerely and deeply experience.

The heroes of the works were unremarkable people. The main genre in the literature is the novel in letters. The novels of Richardson and Fielding are very popular.

Sentimental writers paid much attention to the landscape.

A prominent French artist in this direction was Jean Baptiste Greuza, and in England - Thomas Gainsborough. They paint female portraits, genre paintings.

European to-ra 19th century.

Historical events in the beginning. 19th century They were associated with the military campaigns of Napoleon 1. After the overthrow of Napoleon in France, a constitutional monarchy was created. In 1848, as a result of the revolution, King Bourgeois Louis Philippe Bourbon was overthrown. In 1871, an uprising took place in Paris as a result of which the Paris Commune was created. After the defeat of the commune, a republican form of government was established, which gradually took on a modern look.

In the 2nd floor. 19th century Austria lost its position as a great power. However, in 1868, by agreement with Hungary, a single state of Austria-Hungary was formed.

Classicism (from the Latin "classicus", ie "exemplary") - a trend in painting, one of the characteristic features of which was strict adherence to a number of rules and canons. The rules were designed as a means to the main goal of educating the public by showing them sublime patterns and examples.

Classicism was guided by works of ancient art, but this did not mean ordinary copying. The movement also assumed the continuity of the aesthetic traditions of the Renaissance, whose artists very often turned to the theme of antiquity.

Classicism originates in the painting of artists of Western European countries at the end of the 16th century. The Carracci brothers made a great contribution to the systematization and consolidation of the achievements of the great masters of the Renaissance, especially Michelangelo and Raphael. In the 1580s. they opened the Academy of Arts in Bologna, where training was based on a detailed study of the principles of work of great painters (from the basics of composition to drawing) and imitation of their skills.

At the beginning of the 17th century. novice painters from different countries come to Rome to study painting on the basis of acquaintance with the masterpieces of antiquity and the Renaissance. The Frenchman Nicolas Poussin (1594-1664) achieved great success. Subsequently, he created many artistically worthy works on the themes of antiquity and mythology. His works were distinguished by unsurpassed accuracy of composition and thoughtfulness of color solutions (Midas and Bacchus, 1625; Triumph of Neptune, 1634).

Another French artist Claude Lorrain (1600-1682) painted a series of landscapes around Rome. He became the first of the painters who became seriously interested in the issue of depicting morning and evening lighting, light saturation. Filigree work with light and with images of silhouettes, creating the effect of depth of space - all this creates the style of Lorrain's works (Landscape with Merchants, 1628; Abduction of Europa, 1655, etc.).

Classicism reaches its peak in the 17th century. together with the flourishing of the absolute monarchy in France and the pronounced rise of theatrical art. At the head of the direction is the Academy of Arts, opened in 1648 in Paris, which created a set of unshakable rules and laws for painting.

Only the beautiful and the sublime could become the subject of art; Antiquity remained an aesthetic ideal (therefore, in the works of the classicists, one cannot find a person with a shapeless figure or flabby skin). The Academy also established the principles of depicting "passions"; she also divided the genres of art into “high” (historical, religious, mythological) and “low” (portrait, landscape, still life, genre), and the combination of genres in the paintings was not allowed.

In the works of classicism, the main meaning was given to: the logical meaning of the plot, a clear and competent composition, the correct transfer of volume. Line and chiaroscuro became the main elements of building the form; the division in the landscape plans was carried out using color (the foreground was made brown, the middle one was greenish, the far one was blue).

Prominent representatives of European "late classicism" or "neoclassicism" were the French artists Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867). The extremely dry and dramatic language of Jacques-Louis David sang with equal success the ideals of the Great French Revolution (Death of Marat, 1793) and glorified the First Empire in France (The Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I, 1805-07).

The paintings of Ingres, who often turned to romantic subjects, delight with a sense of style, grace of lines, a magnificent play of color and light ("Big Odalisque", 1814; "Seated Bather", 1808).

Gradually, the painting of European neoclassicism, despite the activities of individual major painters (Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres), degenerates into an official apologetic or sentimental salon art.

Russian classicism appeared in the process of Europeanization of Russia under Catherine II and was widespread at the end of the 18th and in the 1st half of the 19th centuries. On the canvases of artists, ideas of civic consciousness, lofty moral ideals, patriotism, and the value of the human person become dominant. Ancient culture, as well as in European classicism, is taken as absolute classics and priceless historical heritage. Art is seen as a means that should tame coarse passions and engage in moral education through the romantic affirmation of beauty.

The representatives of Russian classicism include primarily portrait painters D.G. Levitsky (1735-1822), F. Rokotov (1736-1808), V.A.Tropinin (1776-1857), O. Kiprensky (1782 -1836), V. Borovikovsky (1757-1825). The painters have created a whole gallery of wonderful portraits of their contemporaries - works that glorify the inner beauty and nobility of human aspirations.

The portraits brought to us the images of famous people and showed the maturity and artistic skill of the artists. Among the most famous works - "Coronation portrait of Catherine II" by F. Rokotov, 1763; "Portrait of E. I. Nelidova" by D. Levitsky, 1773; "Portrait of MI Lopukhina" by V. Borovikovsky, 1797; "Portrait of Pushkin" by V. Tropinin, 1827

The famous Russian classicist is K. A. Bryullov (1799-1852). In his paintings, academic classicism was combined with romanticism. The most famous painting by the artist "The Last Day of Pompeii" (1830-33) is distinguished by a dramatic plot, theatrical spectacular plastics, the complexity of lighting and virtuoso performance.

These and other artists - representatives of classicism - in their works largely anticipated the achievements of Russian realism in subsequent decades.

- 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 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 painting of classicism, line and chiaroscuro became the main elements of modeling the form, the local color clearly reveals the plasticity of figures and objects, separates the spatial plans of the picture (marked by the elevation 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 severe 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 to 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, so far different from the daily petty interest, and, finally, the archaeological fidelity of the costumes, architecture and all the roundabouts 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 the 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 has 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 kinship and family ties below a sense of duty in relation to their fatherland. In "Socrates" they saw a preacher of high 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 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 paintings breathed a republican spirit. To the same extent, their artistic significance was great for that era: 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 sure to conform to nature as well. 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 for the joy of ambition and the 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 portrayal 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 this, 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 meaning, 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 reacted to 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 Sabines". During the time of Napoleon, he painted several official paintings for his glorification, 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 expressible in painting, first appeared in his "Belisarius" (1781) - a theme that then became a favorite, because it reminded of the ingratitude of the 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 the 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 did David depict 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 without change serve for the 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 heroes 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, architecture 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 ancient 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, among other things, 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 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 brought 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 bizarre 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 painted 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 picture consistent 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 the only one who understood that the art of the 18th century itself tended to fall by its extremes. 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 he 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 Lettier (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 Regno (1754-1829) and François-André Vincent (1746-1816). The first of them, although he retained all his life a penchant for the graces and nymphs of the 18th century, but from an early age in Rome, he took part in the general trend towards antiquity. His "Education of Achilles" (1783) was 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 in the 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. Among the paintings of Vincent 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 defender of the classical trend was Pierre Guerin (1774-1833), who graduated from the school of Regnault. 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 student 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. Modern 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 portraitist and, indeed, a comparison of the portraits of his work with those 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 the 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 kind, 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 disowned 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 a different 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 pupils of Regnault and Vincent, but all of them for the most part had examples of David and Gro, 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 only parody what they should be." David, recognizing the talent of Prudhon, unfairly called him a modern Boucher; Prudhon had 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 lasting, extremely original for that time activity did not in the least shake the school of David.