5 4 Aesthetics of artists of the High Renaissance

The High Renaissance in the culture of Italy is characterized by a special flourishing of the creativity of brilliant artists - Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Titian. In the culture of the German Renaissance, such a universal figure was Albrecht Durer. The sensual beauty of the world and man reaches the heights of perfection in their work, since it arises from the unity of the artistic idea and the sensually perfect way of its ideal existence in art. The aesthetic theory of artists is a consequence of understanding the laws of the creative process. The sensually given image of perfection, which was developed by the aesthetics of humanism and Neoplatonism, is most adequately embodied by art in the pictorial image of beauty. It is precisely the picturesqueness that constitutes the characteristic feature of the art of the Renaissance. As already mentioned, the Renaissance is a phenomenon of the person's departure from the contemplative way of life and an active assertion of an active attitude to the world. Renaissance figures actively realize their creative potential in various types of creativity, establishing the universalism of the personality, characteristic of the Renaissance. We have already had the opportunity to see that almost all famous figures of the Renaissance were universal personalities: Daite, Petrarch, Alberto, Mirandola, etc. The High Renaissance is especially distinguished by the development of personality universalism. For example, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was an artist, sculptor, architect, anatomist, mathematician, physicist, natural scientist, engineer, inventor, experimental scientist, etc. The manuscript heritage of Leonardo da Vinci testifies to the universal talent of the genius master. It contains a large section "Science", as well as sections "Art" and "Fiction". Of particular interest to the theory of aesthetics are the works devoted to the issues of the theory of painting: "The Dispute of the Painter with the Poet, the Musician and the Sculptor", "On Painting and Perspective", "On Light and Shadow, Color and Paints", "On Composition", "On Sculpture and Architecture", etc. The artist raises the issue of painting's belonging to the liberal arts, proving the validity of such a vision, since its subject is not only nature, but also "an infinite number of things that nature has never created". Leonardo da Vinci explains the reasons why painting did not find its place among the liberal arts by the fact that no scientific justification for its aesthetic principles was created. He sees a special place for painting among the liberal arts in its ability to "communicate its final results to all generations of the universe, since its final result is the subject of the ability of sight ... and therefore does not need, like writing, interpreters of different languages, but directly satisfies the human race ... ". Comparing various arts with their inherent subject and means of depiction, the scientist does not oppose them to each other, but notes the importance of each for perception and experience.

In his treatises, the idea sounds (it is repeatedly traced in the works of humanist and Neoplatonic philosophers) regarding the creative nature of the human personality, which in its capabilities is equal to God. "Sciences are available for imitation, such that with their help the student becomes equal to the creator and also creates his fruit." Regarding painting, then, according to the genius, it cannot be copied, and therefore, it cannot be learned. "It alone remains noble, it alone gives glory to its creator."

Leonardo da Vinci belongs to the theoretical substantiation of the specificity of the artistic and figurative language of painting, the subject of pictorial depiction (sensory reality of world phenomena) and the means that give life to the image. He calls painting a science. Comparing philosophy and painting, the artist emphasizes: painting, with its means, embraces the truth of those bodies that philosophy seeks to understand, penetrating into these bodies. That is, both painting and philosophy comprehend the truth, but each has its own means for this. The painter is able to comprehend the truth and reflect the essence of things, providing them with an inner vitality in which the soul of the depicted shines. Indeed, everything that exists in the universe as an essence, as a phenomenon or as a representation, the artist "must first be in the soul, then in the hands, which are so miraculous that at the same time they create the same proportional harmony in a single glance that objects form." He considers the miraculous properties of the eye to comprehend the beauty of the universe, thanks to which the eye is the "window of the soul." The value of painting lies in the fact that, unlike things in the objective world, which are destroyed by time, art perpetuates their beauty, and therefore allows the eye to enjoy its perception. Leonardo da Vinci reveals the difference between painting and poetry in the depiction of beauty in favor of the former, because the latter, calling the beauty of individual objects, "cannot compose a harmonious proportionality from them." In an objective analysis of the possibilities of each of the arts, the artist comes to the conclusion that each

has its own possibilities of displaying beauty and truth about things. And if a poet describes heaven or hell, then a painter will put things in front of a person that will silently tell about pleasures or horrors. The nuances of the differences between poetry, music, on the one hand, and painting, on the other, are intended to show that painting has the same rights to be called a free art as they do. Much attention in the treatises is paid to the issues of professionalism in art, in particular, the requirements are put forward for the painter to correspond to his purpose, and therefore, not only to be able to draw, relying on the judgments of the eye, but also to have knowledge of the objects depicted. On this basis, painting is considered both an art and a science. Explaining why painting is a science, Leonardo da Vinci defines those means of creating a pictorial image, without which the existence of this art as a whole is impossible. He calls them "ten categories of the eye." This is the science of perspective, proportion, light and shadow, color and paint, images of figures and faces, composition, etc. The author's analysis of the language of painting is valuable not only as practical instructions for the artist, not only as a result of the artist's own searches and creative achievements in the art of painting. The theoretical value of the treatise is that it substantiates the aesthetic features of the art of painting and its equality among other liberal arts.

A prominent theorist of aesthetics was the German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528). His work was influenced by the art of the Italian Renaissance. However, he created his own style and his own problems, which revealed the uniqueness of German humanism and the reform movement in Germany. His significant works on the theory of painting are the treatise "Guide to Measurement" and "Four Books on Proportions", fragments of the unfinished work "Book on Painting". A. Durer's treatises are more applied in nature compared to Leonardo da Vinci's treatises, full of philosophical depth. Durer gives artists practical instructions on modeling the human figure and the proportional relationships of its parts, on color and light and shadow and the technique of creating volume in pictorial images. A. Durer substantiates the humanistic view of man and his creative abilities in an aspect related to Italian humanism. He sees man as capable of cognizing the truth and reproducing it in a sensory-figurative way, believing that the necessary conditions for this are "the desire to know a lot and therefore understand the true essence of all things." He believes that the need to know is inherent in human nature. However, the condition for finding the truth, in his opinion, is training and exercises to improve knowledge and skills. The artist pays much attention to vision as a source of knowledge about the world, calling vision (probably not without the influence of Leonardo da Vinci's ideas) "the feeling of man", that is, he considers it as a synthesis of human sensory and intellectual abilities. Leonardo da Vinci's idea of ​​the uniqueness of a pictorial image is also close to his, it gives a holistic image of an object, in contrast to auditory impressions of it. The synthesis of what is heard and seen creates the fullness of knowledge about a phenomenon and the depth of impressions about it. Thanks to the eyes, A. Durer emphasizes, every figure that we see penetrates our soul. Let us note: we are talking specifically about the ability of painting as a visual art to organize a person's spiritual mood, to form its indifferent attitude to the object of perception. However, not any image serves this purpose, but only that which corresponds to the concept of beauty. "A good figure is created by correct proportions, and this is not only in painting, but in all things that can be created." In the treatise "Guide to Measurement" A. Durer, just like Leonardo da Vinci, believes that teaching the art of painting only on the basis of everyday practice, without studying theory, is able to form a real painter, since he is not able to act moderately, that is, to follow the logic of the subject of the image, and instead listens only to his own whim. The logic of the image is conditioned by the logic of the subject of the image. It is said about the soul, or the essence of the subject of the image, which reflects in the image, which Leonardo da Vinci also paid attention to. The emphasis on knowledge of the laws of artistic representation, that is, the laws of the language of pictorial art and practical and theoretical guidelines regarding the science of truly artistic representation make up the content of the treatise "Four Books on Proportions". The following opinion of A. Durer sounds relevant in the context of the present: "... Without the right foundation, you cannot do anything truthful and good, even if you had the best skills of free work in the world. This is a trap that will destroy you."

Let's pay attention to the echo of the thoughts of Leonardo da Vinci and A. Durer, which we have already noted. The artists discovered the laws of artistic formation of the image in painting, defined them as a condition of aesthetic and artistic expressiveness and depth of a work of art and as a condition for the existence of the art of painting in general. This was a significant contribution to the theory of aesthetics of Renaissance artists. A significant contribution of Renaissance aesthetics to the theory of art and aesthetics was the overcoming of the medieval canonicity of art and the creation of foundations for freedom of artistic creativity.