Lecture “Topic No. 2”

Epochs, styles, directions

A work of art is a form of existence of art. It reflects the world in all its complexity of diversity and aesthetic richness.

Artists* always strive to convey the world truthfully. In the process of creativity, a certain artistic method is born, so truth in art is not always identical to verisimilitude.

In the formation of artistic and figurative techniques and methods, many social and cultural prerequisites are involved, associated with ideas about truth, with the religious and ideological views of society, with the worldview of the artist himself.

The historically established structural uniformity of artistic techniques, artistic language, relationships between content and form, which in a given era unites the works of masters who worked in different types and genres of art, is calledstyle .

The word style can be used in a broad sense - lifestyle, playing style, clothing style, etc., and in a narrow sense - “style in art”.

In different historical eras, Style manifests itself in separate types, which are called current.

Social development occurs unevenly. If it is slow in nature, as in Antiquity, then the change in the system of artistic forms occurs very slowly over thousands of years, centuries, then such development is usually called an artistic era.

Later, from the 17th century. world public development is significantly accelerating, art is faced with diverse tasks, aggravation of social contradictions, so there is a rapid change of styles.

In the art of the 19th and 20th centuries, only individual stylistic trends appear; the ideological instability of society prevents the formation of unified styles, and rapidly changing directions emerge.

Primitive art (20,000 - 5,000 BC) developed in complete dependence on nature, on the everyday needs of man, and was associated with magic. Characteristic is the development of ceramics with regular shapes, ornaments, carvings, and realistic images of animals (rock paintings).

*The word “artists” is used in a broad sense, i.e. artists, architects, writers, etc. , i.e. creators of works of art.

:

Rock paintings depicting animals. Paintings in the caves of Lascaux (France), Altamira (Spain), Tassilin Ajer (North Africa).

Sculptural images of women, the so-called Paleolithic Venus.

Megalithic structures Stonehenge (England), Stone Grave (Ukraine).

Ancient despotism (the art of the interfluve and Ancient Egypt (5000 BC - VIII century BC)) represent an artistic era. During this period, many artistic discoveries took place, but the main thing that defines the era remains unchanged:

Complete submission to religion,

Development of funeral cults

Development of canons in all types of art,

Formation of the fundamentals of construction equipment,

Synthesis of arts in architecture,

gigantism.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Mesopotamia.

Bulls - I’m walking from the palace of Sargon II to Dur Shurrukin.

Harp with a bull's head from the royal tomb of Ur.

Gate of the goddess Ishtar. Babylon.

Ancient y Egypt:

Pyramids at Giza

Temples of Amon Ra in Karnak and Luxor

Abu Simbel Temple

Thutmose. Sculpture. Head of Queen Nefertiti

Sculpture of the royal scribe Kaya

Fayum portrait of a young man wearing a golden crown

Antiquity (the art of Ancient Greece (VII-III century BC) and Ancient Rome (III century AD)) explained the world mythologically. It was both realistic and illusory - a fantastic view of the world. In art this is expressed in:

glorification of the ideal image

harmony of internal and external appearance

humanization of art

Sculpture becomes contemporary art. Ancient artists convey the image of a perfect person with the highest skill and realism. Sculptural portraiture developed in Ancient Rome.

Antiquity developed building systems that we still use today. In Ancient Greece, an order building system developed, a combination of columns and ceilings, and in Ancient Rome, based on the discovery of cement, a round arch and a dome were used. New types of public and engineering buildings were created.

:

Knossos Palace, Fr. Crete

Lion Gate, Mycenae

Ancient Greece:

Architectural ensemble of the Parthenon (main temples: Parthenon, Erechtheion).

Pergamon Altar.

Halicarnassus Mausoleum.

Phidias (sculptor). Sculpture of the Parthenon.

Phidias. Sculpture of Olympian Zeus.

Miron (sculptor). Discus thrower.

Polykleitos (sculptor). Spearman.

Sculpture. Venus de Milo.

Sculpture. Nike of Samothrace.

Sculpture. Laocoon.

Ancient Rome:

Pantheon in Rome (temple of all gods)

Colosseum, Flavian Amphitheater (Rome)

Pont Du Gard (France)

Equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius

Trajan's Column (Rome)

Medieval art (V – XVI centuries) is subordinated to Christian ideology, filled with allegories and symbols. Characteristic is the synthesis of art subordinate to Christian liturgy. The current view was architecture.

The era is divided into two periods: Romanesque (XI - XII centuries) and Gothic (late XII - XIV centuries)

Romanesque architecture uses design features of the architecture of Ancient Rome (Roma). Romanesque cathedrals are built in the form of basilicas, they are heavy with dark interiors, with two round towers on the facade of the building. The sculpture decorating the cathedral is planar, schematic (usually a relief), located mainly above the portals.

Gothic art - This is a qualitative leap in the development of medieval art. The cathedral, while maintaining the shape of a basilica, is now being built on the basis of a new frame system. The essence of which is that a brick frame is built using a pointed arch. The spaces between the pillars - supports (buttresses) are filled with windows - stained glass. Therefore, the interiors become as if permeated with light. The building is richly decorated with sculpture and architectural decoration. The façade is flanked by towers that are now square in plan. The façade of the cathedral, the only real wall, is richly decorated with sculpture. Now very realistic, round sculpture predominates. Above the main portal there is a round carved window called the “rose”.

Late Gothic (XV - XVI centuries) is distinguished by the architectural decoration of the facade - it resembles tongues of flame, the rose window disappears. This kind of Gothic was called flaming.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Worms Cathedral (Germany) – Romanesque architecture

Notre Dame de Paris (Paris) - Gothic

Cologne Cathedral (Germany) – late

St. Anne's Cathedral (Vilnius, Lithuania) – flaming

After the collapse of the Great Roman Empire in the 4th century AD, it was divided into the Western Empire, with its capital in Rome, and the Eastern Empire, with its capital in Byzantium. In the West, Catholicism and, accordingly, Romanesque and Gothic culture developed. And in Eastern (it became known as Byzantium) Orthodoxy spread. In Byzantium, the entire culture was also subordinated to religious ideology. Byzantium existed from the 4th to the 15th centuries. but art reached its greatest flowering during the reign of Justinian (VI century AD). In architecture, centric, domed, and later cross-domed cathedrals corresponded to Orthodoxy. Monumental painting (mosaics and frescoes) and easel painting (icon painting) are developing. Subject to religious dogma, painting was strictly canonized.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Sophia of Constantinople (Istanbul)

Church of San Appolinare (Ravenna)

Church of San Vitale (Ravenna)

Old Russian state (X - XVII centuries) adopted Orthodoxy, respectively, the cross-domed system of temple buildings and the picturesque canon. But in the process of development it developed unique national features. A national type of temple building is emerging: cross-domed, cuboid with wavy or keel-shaped walls (zakomar). The domes are raised on high drums.

In strictly canonized painting, the Slavic type of face predominates, Russian saints appear, national ornaments appear, and the entire characteristic of the images becomes more humane.

The influence of folk architecture was very strongly manifested in the transfer of artistic expressions, decor, and color into stone construction and was called “patterned” (XVI-XVII centuries). Folk technical techniques were embodied in the appearance of stone and tented temples.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Sofia Kyiv, Kyiv. (13 domes)

Demetrius Cathedral, Vladimir. (1 dome)

Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa, Chernigov. (1 dome)

Aristotle Fiorovanti. Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. (5 domes)

Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir.

St. Basil's Cathedral (Protection on the Moat), Moscow.

Icon of the Intercession with a portrait of B. Khmelnitsky.

Oranta. Mosaic of Sophia of Kyiv.

A. Rublev. Trinity (icon).

Renaissance (Renessanse) as the basis of the ancient heritage at a new historical stage arose in Italy, here at the end of the 13th – 16th centuries the humanistic ideals of antiquity were revived. Hence the name of the era “Renaissance”. The Renaissance claims that the world is knowable, and man is a titanic personality capable of changing the world. Artists discovered the individuality of man, so the portrait appeared; They developed the theory and practice of perspective, artistically mastered the anatomy of the human body, developed the harmony of composition, used color effects, the depiction of nudes and the female body was a visible argument in the fight against medieval asceticism.

In the sculpture, the main image is the shuttle, and not the deity. The main types of sculpture have emerged: monumental and decorative. After antiquity, the equestrian statue is being revived again.

In architecture, along with the requirement of ancient forms (the use of arcades, the Greek portico), the development of its own artistic language occurs. A new type of public buildings is being created, a city palace (parade ground) and country houses - villas..

Major monuments and leading artists :

Giotto di Bonde. Murals of the Chapel del Arena, Padua.

Botticelli. Birth of Venus.

Leonardo da Vinci. Jokona. Mona Lisa.

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna of the Rocks.

Leonardo da Vinci. Painting “The Last Supper” (Milan).

Rafael Santi. Sistine Madonna.

Rafael Santi. Murals in the Vatican (Vatican Stanza, Rome).

Michelangelo. Sculpture. David.

Michelangelo. Ceiling paintings of the Sistine Chapel (Vatican)

Giorgione. Judith.

Giorgione. Storm.

Titian. Portrait of Pope Paul III with his nephews.

Titian. Young man with a glove.

Titian. Assunta.

Veronese. Marriage in Cana of Galilee.

Brunelleschi. Church of Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence.

Palladio. Villa near Rome.

Donattello. Equestrian statue of Gattamelata, Padua.

In the Nordic countries (Netherlands, Germany, France) the ideas of the Renaissance penetrated from the end of the 15th century. The uniqueness of national cultures, medieval traditions, combined with the ideas of the Italian Renaissance, have developed a unique style, which is commonly called Northern Renaissance.

The 17th century was a time of intensive formation of national states, national cultures, the establishment of absolute power in some countries and the emergence of bourgeois relations in others. It became impossible to express the complexity and inconsistency of the era in one artistic formula, therefore in the 17th century a variety of artistic forms arose, i.e. styles. In the 17th century, styles appeared: classicism, baroque, realism.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Durer. Portrait of a Venetian.

Durer. Four Apostles.

Durer. Graphic illustrations for "Apocalypse"

Van Eyck. Madonna of Chancellor Rollin.

Van Eyck. Ghent Altarpiece.

Limburg brothers. Miniatures of “The Magnificent Book of Hours of the Duke of Berry.”

Bruegel. Blind.

Bosch. Ship of fools.

Baroque - the most common style of the 17th century. This is art built on contrasts, asymmetry, a tendency towards grandeur, and overload with decorative motifs.

In painting and sculpture characteristic:

diagonal compositions

image of exaggerated movement

illusory image

black and white contrasts

bright color, picturesque spot (in painting)

In architecture :

bent, volute-shaped forms

asymmetry

use of color

abundance of decor

the desire to deceive the eye and go beyond the real space: mirrors, enfilades, ceiling lamps depicting the sky.

ensemble organization of space

synthesis of arts

the contrast of elaborately decorated architecture and the clear geometry of gardens and parks, or city streets.

Baroque triumphed in those countries where feudalism and the Catholic Church dominated. These are the following countries: Italy, Spain, Flanders, later Germany and in the 18th century - Russia. (in architecture)

Major monuments and leading artists :

Caravaggio. Lutenist.

Rubens. Perseus and Andromeda.

Rubens. Self-portrait with Isabella Brant.

Bernini. Sculpture "Ecstasy of Saint Teresa"

Bernini. Sculpture "Apollo and Daphne"

Jules Hardouin Mansart. Palace of Versailles (France).

Bernini. St. Peter's Square in Rome.

Classicism (Lat. exemplary). French absolutism of the 17th century. regulated life, enclosing it within the strict framework of statehood. The hero of classicism is not free in his actions, but is subject to strict norms, social duty, humility of feelings with reason, adherence to abstract norms of virtue - this is the aesthetic ideal of classicism.

The classicism of the 17th century was a model for itself. chose Greek antiquity. IN architecture The Greek order is used. The sculpture contains ideal mythological images. In painting:

stern majesty

sublime beauty of images

horizontal or side-by-side composition

careful selection of details and colors

standard images, theatricality of gestures and feelings

Major monuments and leading artists :

Poussin. Arcadian shepherds.

Poussin. Seasons.

Lorren. The Rape of Europa.

Dutch culture. In the 17th century In the countries where capitalism was emerging, there was a struggle for national independence. The victory of the burghers determined the character of Dutch culture, the birth of realism, and the emergence of independent genres of easel painting (portrait, everyday genre, still life).

Major monuments and leading artists :

Holland XVII :

Rembrandt. Self-portrait with Saskia on her lap

Rembrandt. Return of the Prodigal Son.

Vermar of Delft. A girl reading a letter.

Vermar of Delft. Geographer.

Terborch. A glass of lemonade.

Hals. Gypsy.

Spain XVII :

Velazquez. Spinners.

Velazquez. Portrait of Pope Innok X

Velazquez. Surrender of Breda

Velazquez. Portrait of Inflanta Margherita

El Greco. Funeral of Count Orgaz

Rococo. With the beginning of the 18th century, a crisis of French absolutism emerged. Strict etiquette is replaced by an atmosphere of frivolity and pleasure. An art emerges that can satisfy the most elaborate and refined tastes - this is Rococo. This is a completely secular art, the main theme is love and erotic scenes, favorite heroines are nymphs, bacchantes, mythological and biblical themes of love.

This art of miniature forms found its main expression in painting and applied art. Light colors, fractional and openwork forms, complex patterns, asymmetry, creating a feeling of unease.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Watteau. Society in the park.

Boucher. Diana's bathing.

Boucher. Portrait of Madame Pampadour.

Fragonard. Swing.

Fragonard. A kiss on the sly.

Education. Since the 40s, a new social stratum of the emerging bourgeoisie, the so-called “third estate,” has appeared in France. This is what determined the development of the new philosophical and artistic movement, the Enlightenment. It originated in the depths of philosophy, and its meaning was that all people from birth have equal opportunities and only education and enlightenment (i.e. training) can distinguish them from the general mass of equal members of society.

The main genre is the everyday picture, depicting the modest life of the third estate; integrity and hard work are glorified.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Chardin. Cook.

Dreams. Spoiled child.

Houdon. Sculpture. Voltaire in a chair.

In England, the Enlightenment originated in literature at the end of the 17th century. Therefore, everyday painting becomes narrative, i.e. artists and graphic artists create whole series of paintings that consistently tell about the fate of the heroes and are of a moral and edifying nature. The English Enlightenment was characterized by the development of portraiture.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Hagarth. Fashionable marriage.

Gainsborough. Portrait of the Duchess de Beaufort.

Russian Enlightenment developed in the 18th – early 19th centuries and is associated with ideological and philosophical movements. Russian Enlightenmentists: philosophers - F. Prokopovich, A. Kantemir, M. Lomonosov and writers - Tatishchev, Fonvizin, Radishchev believed in the limitless mind of man, in the possibility of harmonizing society through the development of the creative principles of each individual, through education. At this time, home education is rapidly developing in Russia, new educational institutions are opening, and newspaper, magazine and book publishing is developing.

All this served educational purposes, the upbringing of the individual - the “son of the Fatherland”; and therefore the development of the portrait.

But the Russian Enlightenment also had an anti-serfdom orientation, because They quite rightly believed that peasants (serfs) were also endowed with a wealth of mental and emotional abilities.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Argunov. Portrait of P. Zhemchugova.

Nikitin. Portrait of a floor hetman.

Livitsky. Portraits of Smolyanok.

Borovikovsky. Portrait of Lopukhina.

Rokotov. Portrait of Struyskaya.

Shubin. Portrait of Golitsyn.

Falcone. Monument to Peter I in St. Petersburg (“Bronze Horseman”)

But creating ideal images of peasants, the art of the Enlighteners of the late 18th - early 19th centuries. merged with sentimentalism .

Major monuments and leading artists :

Tropinin. Portrait of A. Pushkin.

Tropinin. Goldsmith.

Venetsianov. Spring.

Venetsianov. On the arable land.

Baroque in Russian and Ukrainian architecture. With the advent of absolutist monarchies, including in the Vatican - the center of the capitalist church, the pomp, splendor, and theatricality of court art intensified, which contributed to the development of baroque in the architecture of Italy and France in the 18th century, in Russia (18th century), Ukraine (“Cossack baroque ") second half of the 17th - 18th centuries.

Features of Baroque architecture:

synthesis of arts in architecture

ensemble (a palace in a park with a large number of pavilions)

increase in decorativeness, stucco decorations, sculpture

the use of order elements: bent pediments, bunches of pilasters or semi-columns, niches that completely cover the wall and enhance the light and shadow contrast

color use: turquoise wall, white architectural details, gold molding

interiors: lush decorative theatricality, enfilades, painting with illusory effects, use of mirrors

Ukrainian or “Cossack Baroque”- This is a completely independent stage in the development of European Baroque. There is no palace pomp in it. Bent pediments, “creases” in the roofs and domes of churches are used. Wall decor is a flat carving, white on a white or light blue wall background. Instead of palaces, houses of the Cossack elite, offices, and collegiums are built. And the religious architecture continues the traditions of folk wooden architecture (three-domed cathedrals).

Major monuments and leading artists :

Rastrelli. Winter Palace (St. Petersburg)

Rastrelli. St. Andrew's Church (Kyiv)

Grigorovich Barsky. St. Nicholas Church on the Embankment (Kyiv)

Kovnir. Bell tower at the Far Caves (Kievo-Pechersk Lavra)

Kovnir. Intercession Cathedral in Kharkov.

In the last third of the 18th century, a bourgeois revolution took place in France. Its tasks and requirements for citizens of society coincided with the heroic-civic ideals of Roman antiquity. In Ancient Roman society, the individual, his freedom and even life are sacrificed to society. The story was interpreted as the act of an outstanding personality. It is the hero, the outstanding personality, who is the bearer of the moral values ​​of society. This became the model for artists of the late 18th century. and developed into the last great pan-European style.

Classicism (in the works of J. David it is customary to say “revolutionary classicism”).

Painting is characterized by the artistic techniques of 17th century classicism. But the historical picture reflects civic and journalistic themes, and the portraits, in accordance with the ideals of the revolution, reflected the personality, the image of a contemporary of great changes.

From the beginning of the 19th century. classicism in painting loses its citizenship, only the external side remains: the strict logic of the composition of details, colors, statuesque figures. Thus, classicism in painting turns into academicism.

Major monuments and leading artists :

David. Death of Marat

David. Oath of the Horatii

Engr. Odalisque

Classicism in architecture. In France at the end of the 18th century, and in Russia from the beginning of the 19th century, the classicism style dominates in architecture. The style was formed under the influence of the ideas of patriotism and citizenship based on the use of ancient samples. Compositional techniques:

symmetry; usually the main building with a portico in the center and two wings

the sculpture is concentrated at the main entrance - the portico. A sculptural image of a chariot drawn by four or six horses driven by the goddess of Glory is often used.

Classicism is associated with the growth of cities and the need to organize their space. In Russia, classicism appears as the idea of ​​a universal style that creates uniform construction techniques; the use of local materials, plaster, creates new types of buildings: gymnasiums, universities, trading houses, triumphal arches, the type of noble estate.

The architectural style of late classicism is called empire style- completing the development of style. Along with the use of ancient forms (both Greek and Roman), stylized Egyptian motifs appear, especially in interiors.

Major monuments and leading artists :

Russia. General Staff Building (St. Petersburg)

Voronikhin. Kazan Cathedral (St. Petersburg)

Bozhenov. Pashkov house. Moscow.

Baretti. University building. Kyiv.

Soufflot. Pantheon (Paris)

Romanticism. The Great French Bourgeois Revolution ended with the restoration of the monarchy. The style of romanticism (early 19th century) was the result of people's disappointment in the possibility of a reasonable transformation of society based on the principles of freedom, equality, and fraternity. The desire to rise above the prose of life, to escape from the oppressive everyday life, which is why artists are so interested in exotic subjects, the dark fantasy of the Middle Ages, and the theme of the struggle for freedom. Artists are interested in the ancient world of man, his individual exclusivity. The romantic hero is always portrayed in emergency situations; usually he is a proud, lonely hero, experiencing vivid and strong passions. This is expressed in the expressive and sensual power of color, where color begins to dominate the design.

Painting is characterized by:

nervous excitement, composition expression

strong contrasts of color spots

exotic themes, gothic symbolism

software works, i.e. based on historical and literary subjects

Chronology (from the Greek χρόνος - time and λόγος - doctrine) is the science of measuring time, an auxiliary historical discipline that studies the methods of calculating the time of various peoples in different historical periods. Its purpose is to give the historian correct information about the time of historical events or determine exact dates.

Today we know that the great historian of Ancient Greece, Herodotus, lived in 484-425. BC e., in 490 BC. e. Persian troops were defeated at Marathon, Alexander the Great died in 323 BC. e., March 15, 44 BC. e. Gaius Julius Caesar was killed in the 1st century. BC e. Virgil and Horace created. How is it established exactly when events so distant from us took place? After all, even the historical sources that have reached us often do not have a date. And no written sources have survived from more distant eras.

Historical chronology has various methods that make it possible to quite reliably establish the date of a historical event. The main condition for establishing a reliable date for a source is an integrated approach, i.e., the use of data from paleography, diplomacy, linguistics, archeology and, of course, data from astronomical chronology. If, when dating a historical fact, all components of the study are not taken into account, an error is inevitable. This makes it difficult to establish the chronology of ancient history.

To measure time, phenomena that were repeated in nature were used: the periodic change of day and night, the change of lunar phases and the change of seasons. The first of these phenomena determines the unit of time - the day; the second is the synodic month, the average duration of which is 29.5306 days; the third is the tropical year, equal to 365.2422 days. The synodic month and the tropical year do not contain an integer number of solar days, so all three of these measures are incommensurable. An attempt to at least to some extent coordinate the day, month and year with each other led to the fact that in different eras three types of calendars were created - lunar (based on the duration of the synodic month), solar (based on the duration of the tropical year) and lunar- solar (combining both periods). They became the basis of the lunisolar calendar.

In ancient times, each country had its own methods of calculating chronology and, as a rule, there was no single era, that is, counting years from a specific event. In the states of the Ancient East, the year was designated by outstanding events: the construction of temples and canals, military victories. In other countries, time was counted according to the years of the king's reign. But such records were not accurate, since there was no sequence in recording the events of the history of the country as a whole; sometimes these records stopped altogether due to military or social conflicts.

But these ancient records can only be correlated with modern chronology if they can be associated with a precisely dated (most often astronomical) phenomenon. The most reliable chronology is verified by solar eclipses. So, for example, on this basis all the events in the history of Western Asia, starting from 911 BC. e., are dated most accurately; the error, as a rule, does not exceed 2 years.

The chronology of Ancient Egypt was conducted according to the records of the reign of the pharaohs, starting from the era of the Early Kingdom of the 21st-28th centuries. BC e. However, in these records, as in the royal lists of Mesopotamia, there are a lot of inaccuracies, errors sometimes reach 300 years or more. Egyptian historian Manetho, who lived at the end of the 4th century. BC e., carefully studied and largely clarified the lists of the pharaohs of Ancient Egypt based on materials from the archives of the pharaohs, and his chronology is still used in world historical science.

The same can be said about the chronology of Ancient China. In China, as in Egypt, Greece and Rome, special historical works were created, which necessarily provided chronological information. The outstanding historian of Ancient China, Sima Qiang, wrote “Historical Notes”.

In his work, he paid great attention to chronology, giving a chronological framework for the history of Ancient China - from the legendary date of the creation of the world to the end of the 2nd century. BC e. However, he did not indicate the sources and grounds for dating the events, which is why the dating cannot be considered unconditionally reliable.

The most reliable chronological systems of antiquity are the counting of years in Greek and Roman history. In Greece there was a pan-Greek system of chronology based on the Olympics. According to legend, the first Olympics took place in 776. Then the Games were successively held every four years. The connection between the dating and events of Greek history can also be traced with the dating of the reign of the archons - officials in Athens (these notes have partially survived to this day).

The reliability of Greek chronology can be considered proven subject to constant comparison of data from various historical sources, the results of archaeological excavations, and numismatic material. So, for example, thanks to the method of comparative analysis, it was established that Alexander the Great died in the 114th Olympiad, i.e. in 323 BC. e.; a year after his death, his teacher, the great philosopher of antiquity, Aristotle (384-322 BC), died.

The chronology of Rome also has its own specific starting point. The Roman era begins in 753 BC. e. - from the legendary date of the founding of Rome. Recent archaeological excavations have confirmed this date. But back in the 1st century. BC e. The Roman historian Marcus Terence Varro used the method of comparative analysis of Greek dating according to archons and Olympiads with Roman dating according to consuls. Thus, he calculated the year of the founding of Rome, placing it in the third year of the sixth Olympiad (754-753 BC).

In 46 BC. e. In Rome, Julius Caesar adopted the solar calendar developed by the Alexandrian astronomer Sosigenes. In the new calendar, three years in a row contained 365 days (simple years), and every fourth (leap year) - 366. The New Year began on January 1. The length of the year was 365 days, 6 hours, i.e. it was 11 minutes 14 seconds longer than the tropical one. This calendar, called the Julian calendar, was recognized as mandatory for all Christians at the Nicene Ecumenical Council in 325.

A new attempt to create a chronology system was made only in the 4th century. n. e. Dionysius the Insignificant (he was nicknamed this way because of his small stature) proposed starting a new calendar from the date of the birth of Jesus Christ, considering the birthday of Christ to be December 25, 753 from the founding of Rome.

The new era was not immediately recognized in the world. For a long time, the countdown here coexisted with the countdown from the “creation of the world”: 5508 BC. e. - according to the dating of the Eastern Christian Church. The Muslim era even now begins from the date of the journey of the prophet Muhammad from Mecca to Medina (622 AD) - according to the Muslim calendar, now only the 14th century begins.

Gradually, chronology from the beginning of our era (from the conventional date of birth of Jesus Christ) was accepted by most peoples of the world.

But the difference between the tropical and calendar years gradually increased (every 128 years by 1 day) and by the end of the 6th century. was 10 days, as a result of which the spring equinox began to fall not on March 21, but on 11. This complicated the calculations of church holidays, and the then head of the Catholic Church, Pope Gregory XIII, carried out a reform of the Julian calendar in 1582 according to the project of the doctor and mathematician Aloysio Lilio . A special papal bull ordered that after Thursday, October 4, skip 10 days in the count and consider the next day to be Friday, October 15. In order to prevent the day of the equinox from moving in the future, it was prescribed to exclude 3 days from every four hundred Julian calendar years, so the leap year system also changed. Of the “century” years, those whose first two digits were divisible by 4 without a remainder remained leap years - 1600, 2000, 2400, etc. The Gregorian calendar is more accurate than the Julian calendar; a difference of one day accumulates in it in 3280 years. During the XVI-XVIII centuries. it has been adopted in most European countries.

The calendar of the ancient Slavs was lunisolar; The counting of days within months began from the new moon. Two years had 354 days each (12 lunar months of 29 and 30 days), and the third year had 384 days (354 + 30). The beginning of the year occurred on the spring new moon (around March 1). The names of the months were associated with the change of seasons and agricultural work: grass (when the first spring grass sprouted), serpen (harvest time), leaf fall, jelly, etc. With the introduction of Christianity, the Orthodox Church adopted the Julian calendar and the era from the “creation of the world” ( The church, according to Byzantine tradition, dated the “creation of the world” to 5508 BC). The New Year (since 1492) began on September 1. This time reckoning system lasted until the end of the 17th century, when Peter I carried out a calendar reform. He moved the beginning of the year to January 1 and introduced the era from the Nativity of Christ. Now it is accepted in historical science and is called the new era (AD).

The introduction of the generally accepted era and the January beginning of the year facilitated trade, scientific and cultural ties for Russia. However, the Julian calendar was preserved, and already in the 19th century. Russia felt serious inconvenience due to calendar isolation. Privately, the Gregorian calendar was used in the ministries of foreign affairs, finance, railways, internal affairs, the commercial and navy, as well as astronomical meteorological services. The government and the Orthodox Church opposed the Gregorian calendar, since its canons and accounting of chronological cycles were associated with the Julian calendar.

The calendar reform was carried out after the October Revolution of 1917. The Decree of the Council of People's Commissars determined that after January 31, 1918, February 14, rather than February 1, should be considered. Now we celebrate the New Year twice: January 1 according to the new style and January 13 according to the old style.

The development of chronology continues on the basis of the systematic use of achievements of archaeological, paleographic, linguistic and other research methods, which will ultimately make it possible to clarify the still controversial dating of the history of many countries.

Date reduction

• 1. Translation of dates of the Byzantine era.
  • a) Dates of the September year. If the event occurs in the months from January to August, 5508 years should be subtracted; if the event occurs in the months from September to December, 5509 years should be subtracted.
  • b) Dates of the March year. If the event occurs in the months from March to December, 5508 years should be subtracted, and if in January and February, 5507 years should be subtracted.
• 2. Converting dates from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
  • a) Dates are translated by adding to the number of the month:
    • 10 days for the 16th century. (from 1582) - XVII century,
    • 11 days for the 18th century. (from March 1, 1770),
    • 12 days for the 19th century. (since March 1, 1800),
    • 13 days for the 20th century. (since March 1, 1900) - XXI century,
    • 14 days for the 22nd century. (since March 1, 2100).
  • b) In the 21st century. the difference between the Julian and Gregorian calendars will be 13 days, as in the 20th century, since the year 2000, which ends the 20th century, will be a leap year both according to the Julian and Gregorian calendars. The difference will increase only in the 22nd century.
  • c) The number of days changes when converting dates from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar due to the additional day that ends February of a leap year (February 29), so the difference increases from March 1.
  • d) Centuries end with years with two zeros at the end, and the next century begins with the 1st year - 1601, 1701, 1801, 1901, 2001 (3rd millennium), etc.

The number of styles and trends is huge, if not infinite. They do not have clear boundaries, smoothly transform into one another and are in continuous development, mixing and opposition. This is why it is often so difficult to distinguish one from the other. Many of the styles in art coexist simultaneously and therefore there are no “pure” works (painting, architecture, etc.) at all.

However, understanding and being able to distinguish between styles largely depends on knowledge of history. When we understand the history of the formation and transformation of Western European art, the features and historical features of each style will become more clear.

1. Art of the Ancient World: before 5th century AD

Ancient Egypt

The art of Ancient Egypt, as well as the art of Mesopotamia that preceded it, are de facto not Western European. But it had a significant influence on the Minoan and, indirectly, on the ancient Greek civilization. The characteristic features of Egyptian art is the enormous importance of the funeral cult, for the sake of which many works of art were created that had a more utilitarian function for contemporaries.

Ancient Greece

Ancient ancient Greek art laid the foundation for the development of all European art in the future, creating a number of standard examples (for example, the Parthenon and Venus de Milo). The Greeks created ideal examples of classical sculpture. Significant (but having much less influence on subsequent generations) was the genre of vase painting. No examples of painting from Ancient Greece have survived.

Parthenon

Characteristics of the visual language — ideality of appearance, calculated anatomical canon, harmony and balance, golden ratio, taking into account optical distortions. Over the next centuries, art will several times turn to the heritage of Ancient Greece and draw ideas from it.

Ancient Rome

Ancient Roman art was influenced by both ancient Greek and local Italic Etruscan art. The most significant monuments of this period are powerful architectural structures (for example, the Pantheon), as well as carefully designed sculptural portraits. A large number of picturesque frescoes have also reached us.

Pantheon

Early Christian art adopted iconography and types of architectural structures from Roman ones, significantly reworking them under the influence of the new ideology.

2. Middle Ages: V - XV (XVI) centuries.

The art of the Middle Ages is characterized by a decline in visual means compared to the previous era of antiquity. The onset of the Dark Ages, when a large number of both skills and monuments were lost, led to a greater primitivization of works of art.

An additional aspect is the priority of the spiritual rather than the physical, which led to a weakening of interest in material objects and to a more noticeable generalization and coarsening of works of art.

Byzantium

Byzantine mosaic (5th century)

Byzantine art was at first the heir to late Roman art, enriched by a rich Christian ideology. The characteristic features of the art of this era are sacralization, as well as the exaltation of the emperor. From new genres: excellent achievements in the genre of mosaics and icon painting, from old ones - in temple architecture.

Early Middle Ages

Art of the Early Middle Ages (until about the 11th century) created in the Dark Ages, when the situation was complicated by the migrations of barbarian peoples across the territories of the former Roman Empire.

Almost all surviving monuments from this period are illuminated manuscripts, although architectural objects and small decorative items can also be found.

Romanika

Romanesque art (XI-XII centuries) continued until it was replaced by Gothic. This was a period of increasing European prosperity, and for the first time a pan-European style can be seen, consistently found from Scandinavia to Spain.

Painting of the crypt of the Basilica of St. Isidore

Characteristic features: energetic and straight shapes, bright colors. The main genre is architecture (thick-walled, using arches and vaults), but stained glass and enamel work are also becoming an important genre. Sculpture is developing.

Gothic

Fragment of a stained glass window

Gothic (XIII-XVI years)- the next international style to sweep Europe. It originated in France as the next stage in the development of architectural techniques. The most recognizable Gothic detail is the pointed arch and stained glass. Sacred painting is actively developing.

Proto-Renaissance

In Italian culture XIII-XIV centuries Against the backdrop of the still strong Byzantine and Gothic traditions, features of a new art began to appear - the future art of the Renaissance. That is why this period of its history was called the Proto-Renaissance.

Fresco "Kiss of Judas", Giotto

There was no similar transition period in any of the European countries. In Italy itself, proto-Renaissance art existed only in Tuscany and Rome. Italian culture intertwined features of old and new. “The last poet of the Middle Ages” and the first poet of the new era, Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), created the Italian literary language.

3. Revival: the beginning XV — 90s of the XVI centuries.

The advent of the Renaissance radically changes ideology. The sacred fades into the background, interest in the human personality and individuality is actively manifested (thanks to this, the portrait genre flourishes). Artists and sculptors look back at the art of antiquity and try to follow its standards and objectives.

There is a discovery of perspective construction, as well as chiaroscuro. Painters simultaneously combine high technicality and skill in depicting nature with humanistic ideals, belief in beauty and attempts to create ideally balanced harmonious works.

"Birth of Venus", Sandro Botticelli

Thanks to the appeal to antiquity, not only forgotten genres appear in art, but also characters — ancient gods, which become as popular as the depiction of Christian characters.

Late Renaissance (Mannerism)

Mannerism is the final stage of the Renaissance ( mid-16th - 90s of the 16th century), transitional to the Baroque era. Mannerism is characterized by a loss of Renaissance harmony, a crisis of personality, and a turn to darker, twisted or dynamic interpretations.

"Descent from the Cross" Jacopo Pontormo.

4. Modern times: XVII - early XIX bb .

Baroque

Baroque (XVII-XVIII centuries), which gravitated toward the solemn “grand style,” at the same time reflected ideas about the complexity, diversity, and variability of the world.

"Young Man with a Basket of Fruit", Caravaggio

The most characteristic features of Baroque are eye-catching floridity and dynamism. The main directions, channels of the Baroque: verism (naturalistic authenticity and reduced, everyday themes, interpretation of the motif), classicism, “expressive baroque”. Baroque architecture is characterized by spatial scope, unity, and fluidity of complex, usually curvilinear forms.

Rococo

Rococo — art movement 18th century, basically courtly "cute" art.

"Dancing Camargo" by Nicola Lancret

Characteristic the desire for lightness, grace, sophistication and whimsical ornamental rhythm, fantastic ornaments, charming naturalistic details.

Classicism

Classicism arises in XVII century and develops in parallel with the Baroque.

Then it reappears during the period of the French Revolution (in Western historiography this period is sometimes called neoclassicism, since there was another classicism in France before the onset of the Baroque era. There was no such thing in Russia, and therefore it is customary to call it exclusively “classicism”). Was popular until the beginning of the 19th century.

Cupid and Psyche, Antonio Canova

The style is characterized by adherence to the principles of ancient (Greek and Roman art): rationalism, symmetry, purposefulness and restraint, strict compliance of the work with its form.

Romanticism

Ideological and artistic direction late XVIII - 18th - 1st half of the 19th centuries. As a style of creativity and thinking, it remains one of the main aesthetic and ideological models of the 20th century. Romanticism originated first in Germany and then spread throughout the Western European cultural region.

"Wanderer Above the Sea of ​​Fog", Caspar David Friedrich,

Romanticism is an aesthetic revolution. It is characterized by an affirmation of the intrinsic value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the depiction of strong (often rebellious) passions and characters, spiritualized and healing nature. It has spread to various spheres of human activity. In the 18th century, everything strange, fantastic, picturesque and existing in books and not in reality was called romantic.

Sentimentalism

The state of mind in Western European and Russian culture and the corresponding literary direction. Works written within this artistic movement focus on the reader's perception, that is, on the sensuality that arises when reading them. In Europe there was from the 20s to the 80s of the 18th century, in Russia — from the end of the 18th to the beginning of the 19th century.

Pre-Raphaelitism

Movement in English poetry and painting in second half of the 19th century, formed in the early 1850s with the aim of fighting against Victorian era conventions, academic traditions and blind imitation of classical models.

The name “Pre-Raphaelites” was supposed to denote a spiritual relationship with the Florentine artists of the early Renaissance, that is, the artists “before Raphael” and Michelangelo.

Historicism (eclecticism)

The direction in architecture that dominated in Europe and Russia in 1830s-1890s It is characterized by the use of elements of the so-called “historical” architectural styles (neo-Renaissance, neo-Baroque, neo-Rococo, neo-Gothic, neo-Russian style, neo-Byzantine style, Indo-Saracenic style, neo-Moorish style).

5. Modern times: second half of the 19th century and — today

Realism

An aesthetic position according to which the task of art is to capture reality as accurately and objectively as possible. Originated in second half of the 19th century and was widespread until the 20th.

"The Death of Mazzini", S. Lega

In the field of artistic activity, the meaning of realism is very complex and contradictory. Its boundaries are changeable and uncertain; stylistically it has many faces and many options.

Impressionism

Art direction last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries, which originated in France and then spread throughout the world, whose representatives sought to develop methods and techniques that made it possible to most naturally and vividly capture the real world in its mobility and variability, to convey their fleeting impressions.

"Impression. Rising Sun, Claude Monet

Usually the term “impressionism” refers to a direction in painting (but this is, first of all, a group of methods), although its ideas also found their embodiment in literature and music, where impressionism also appeared in a certain set of methods and techniques for creating literary and musical works, in which the authors sought to convey life in a sensual, direct form, as a reflection of their impressions.

Modernism and avant-garde

These directions in art XX century they sought to find something completely new, to establish unconventional principles in art, through the continuous renewal of artistic forms, as well as the conventionality (schematization, abstraction) of style.

Due to the fact that there are still no theories and typologies of modernism and avant-garde (avant-garde) as literary and artistic phenomena, the range of opinions about the relationship between these two concepts varies from their complete opposition to complete interchangeability.

“Icon” of the world avant-garde — “Black Square”, Kazimir Malevich

In general, modern times in art can be characterized as a desire for everything new and unconventional. There is a strong mixture of schools and styles.

The following styles also belong to the era of modern times:

• Modern
• Art Deco
• Post-Impressionism
• Fauvism
• Cubism
• Expressionism
• Surrealism
• Primitivism
• Pop Art

3. AGES AND PERIODS IN HUMAN HISTORY

The history of mankind goes back many hundreds of thousands of years. If in the middle of the 20th century. It was believed that man began to emerge from the animal world 600 thousand - 1 million years ago, then modern anthropology, the science of the origin and evolution of man, came to the conclusion that man appeared about 2 million years ago. This is the generally accepted view, although there are others. According to one hypothesis, human ancestors appeared in Southeast Africa 6 million years ago. These two-legged creatures did not know tools for more than 3 million years. They acquired their first tools 2.5 million years ago. About 1 million years ago, these people began to settle throughout Africa, and then beyond its borders.

The two-million-year history of mankind is usually divided into two extremely uneven eras - primitive and civilizational (Fig. 2).

civilization era

Primitive era

about 2 million

years BC e.

BC e. milestone

Rice. 2. Epochs in human history

era primitive society accounts for more than 99% of human history. The primitive era is usually divided into six unequal periods: Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age.

Paleolithic, the ancient Stone Age, is divided into the Early (Lower) Paleolithic (2 million years BC - 35 thousand years BC) and the Late (Upper) Paleolithic (35 thousand years BC - 10 thousand years BC). During the Early Paleolithic period, man entered the territory of Eastern Europe and the Urals. The struggle for existence during the Ice Age taught man how to make fire and make stone knives; the proto-language and the first religious ideas arose. During the Late Paleolithic period, Homo habilis turned into Homo sapiens; races were formed - Caucasian, Negroid, Mongoloid. The primitive herd was replaced by a higher form of social organization - the clan community. Before the spread of metal, matriarchy reigned.

Mesolithic, the Middle Stone Age, lasted about 5 thousand years (X thousand years BC - V thousand years BC). At this time, people began to use a stone ax, bow and arrows, and the domestication of animals (dogs, pigs) began. This is the time of mass settlement of Eastern Europe and the Urals.

Neolithic, the new Stone Age (VI thousand years BC - IV thousand years BC), is characterized by significant changes in technology and forms of production. Ground and drilled stone axes, pottery, spinning and weaving appeared. Various types of economic activity have developed - agriculture and cattle breeding. The transition from gathering, from an appropriating economy to a producing one, began. Scientists call this time Neolithic revolution.

During Chalcolithic, Copper-Stone Age (IV thousand years BC – III thousand years BC), Bronze Age(3rd millennium BC – 1st millennium BC), iron age(II thousand years BC - end of the 1st thousand years BC) in the most favorable climatic zone of the Earth, the transition from primitiveness to ancient civilizations began.

The appearance of metal tools and weapons in different regions of the Earth did not occur simultaneously, therefore the chronological framework of the last three periods of the primitive era varies depending on the specific region. In the Urals, the chronological framework of the Chalcolithic is determined by the 3rd millennium BC. BC - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC e., Bronze Age - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. – mid-1st millennium BC e., Iron Age - from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e.

During the spread of metal, large cultural communities began to emerge. Scientists believe that these communities corresponded to the language families from which the peoples who currently inhabit our country emerged. The largest language family is Indo-European, from which 3 groups of languages ​​have emerged: Eastern (current Iranians, Indians, Armenians, Tajiks), European (Germans, French, English, Italians, Greeks), Slavic (Russians, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Poles, Czechs , Slovaks, Bulgarians, Serbs, Croats). Another large language family is Finno-Ugric (current Finns, Estonians, Karelians, Khanty, Mordovians).

During the Bronze Age, the ancestors of the Slavs (proto-Slavs) emerged from the Indo-European tribes; archaeologists find monuments belonging to them in the region located from the Oder River in the west to the Carpathians in eastern Europe.

Civilization era is about six thousand years old. In this era, a qualitatively different world was created, although for a long time it still had many connections with primitiveness, and the transition to civilization itself was carried out gradually, starting from the 4th millennium BC. e. While part of humanity made a breakthrough - moved from primitiveness to civilization, in other areas people continued to be at the stage of a primitive communal system.

The era of civilization is usually called world history and is divided into four periods (Figure 3 on page 19).

Ancient world began with the emergence of civilization in Mesopotamia or Mesopotamia (in the valleys of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers). In the 3rd millennium BC. e. A civilization arose in the Nile River valley - the ancient Egyptian. In the 2nd millennium BC. e. Ancient Indian, ancient Chinese, Hebrew, Phoenician, ancient Greek, and Hittite civilizations arose. In the 1st millennium BC. e. The list of ancient civilizations was replenished: the civilization of Urartu was formed on the territory of Transcaucasia, the civilization of the Persians was formed on the territory of Iran, and the Roman civilization was formed on the Apennine Peninsula. The zone of civilizations covered not only the Old World, but also America, where the civilizations of the Mayans, Aztecs and Incas developed.

The main criteria for the transition from the primitive world to civilizations:

The emergence of the state, a special institution that organizes, controls and directs the joint activities and relationships of people and social groups;

the emergence of private property, the stratification of society, the emergence of slavery;

social division of labor (agriculture, crafts, trade) and the producing economy;

the emergence of cities, special types of settlements, centers

Newest

Ancient world Middle Ages Modern times

IV thousand 476 beginning

BC e. BC e. XV-XVI 1920s

Rice. 3. Main periods of world history

crafts and trade, in which the inhabitants, at least partially, were not engaged in rural labor (Ur, Babylon, Memphis, Thebes, Mohenjo-Daro, Harappa, Pataliputra, Nanyang, Sanyang, Athens, Sparta, Rome, Naples, etc.);

the creation of writing (the main stages are ideographic or hieroglyphic writing, syllabic writing, alphabetic or alphabetic writing), thanks to which people were able to consolidate laws, scientific and religious ideas and pass them on to posterity;

creation of monumental structures (pyramids, temples, amphitheatres) that have no economic purpose.

The end of the Ancient World is associated with 476 AD. e., the year of the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Back in 330, Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to its eastern part, to the shores of the Bosphorus, to the site of the Greek colony of Byzantium. The new capital was named Constantinople (the ancient Russian name for Tsargrad). In 395, the Roman Empire split into Eastern and Western. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Eastern Roman Empire, officially called the “Empire of the Romans”, and in literature - Byzantium, became the successor to the ancient world. The Byzantine Empire lasted for about a thousand years, until 1453, and had a huge influence on Ancient Rus' (see Chapter 7).

Chronological framework middle ages, 476 - the end of the 15th century, are determined, first of all, by the events and processes that took place in Western Europe. The Middle Ages were an important stage in the development of European civilization. During this period, many special features emerged and began to develop that distinguished Western Europe from other civilizations and had a tremendous impact on all of humanity.

Eastern civilizations did not stop in their development during this period. There were rich cities in the East. The East presented the world with famous inventions: the compass, gunpowder, paper, glass, etc. However, the pace of development of the East, especially after the invasion of nomads at the turn of the 1st – 2nd millennium (Bedouins, Seljuk Turks, Mongols), was slower compared to the West. But the main thing was that eastern civilizations were focused on repetition, on the constant reproduction of old forms of statehood, social relations, and ideas that had developed in ancient times. Tradition placed strong barriers holding back change; Eastern cultures resisted innovation.

The end of the Middle Ages and the onset of the third period of world history is associated with the beginning of three world historical processes - a spiritual revolution in the life of Europeans, the Great Geographical Discoveries, and manufacturing production.

The spiritual revolution included two phenomena, a kind of two revolutions in the spiritual life of Europe - the Renaissance (Renaissance) and the Reformation.

Modern science sees the origins of the spiritual revolution in the crusades organized at the end of the 11th - 13th centuries. European chivalry and the Catholic Church under the banner of the struggle against the “infidels” (Muslims), the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem and the Holy Land (Palestine). The consequences of these campaigns for the then poor Europe were important. Europeans came into contact with the higher culture of the Middle East, adopted more advanced methods of cultivating the land and craft techniques, brought from the East many useful plants (rice, buckwheat, citrus fruits, cane sugar, apricots), silk, glass, paper, woodcuts ).

The centers of the spiritual revolution were medieval cities (Paris, Marseille, Venice, Genoa, Florence, Milan, Lubeck, Frankfurt am Main). Cities achieved self-government and became centers not only of crafts and trade, but also of education. In Europe, city residents achieved recognition of their rights at the national level and formed the third estate.

Renaissance originated in Italy in the second half of the 14th century, in the 15th-16th centuries. spread throughout all Western European countries. Distinctive features of Renaissance culture: secular character, humanistic worldview, appeal to the cultural heritage of antiquity, as if “reviving” it (hence the name of the phenomenon). The creativity of the Renaissance figures was imbued with faith in the limitless possibilities of man, his will and reason. Among the brilliant galaxy of poets, writers, playwrights, artists and sculptors whose names humanity is proud of are Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarch, Giovanni Boccaccio, Francois Rabelais, Ulrich von Hutten, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Miguel Cervantes, William Shakespeare, Geoffrey Chaucer, Thomas More, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael Santi, Michelangelo, Titian, Velazquez, Rembrandt.

Reformation- a social movement in Europe in the 16th century directed against the Catholic Church. Its beginning is considered to be 1517, when the doctor of theology Martin Luther came out with 95 theses against the sale of indulgences (certificates of remission of sins). The ideologists of the Reformation put forward theses that actually denied the need for the Catholic Church with its hierarchy and the clergy in general, and denied the rights of the church to land and other wealth. Under the ideological banner of the Reformation, the Peasant War in Germany (1524-1526), ​​the Dutch and English revolutions took place.

The Reformation marked the beginning of Protestantism, the third movement in Christianity. This direction, which broke away from Catholicism, united many independent churches and sects (Lutheranism, Calvinism, the Anglican Church, Baptists, etc.). Protestantism is characterized by the absence of a fundamental opposition between the clergy and the laity, the rejection of a complex church hierarchy, a simplified cult, the absence of monasticism, and celibacy; in Protestantism there is no cult of the Virgin Mary, saints, angels, icons, the number of sacraments is reduced to two (baptism and communion). The main source of doctrine for Protestants is the Holy Scripture (that is, the Old Testament and the New Testament).

The Renaissance and Reformation placed at the center the human personality, energetic, striving to transform the world, with a clearly expressed strong-willed beginning. However, the Reformation had a more disciplinary effect; she encouraged individualism, but placed it within the strict framework of morality based on religious values.

Great geographical discoveries- a set of the most significant discoveries on land and sea from the mid-15th to the mid-17th centuries. The discoveries of Central and South America (H. Columbus, A. Vespucci, A. Velez de Mendoza, 1492-1502), and the sea route from Europe to India (Vasco da Gama, 1497-1499) were important. F. Magellan's first trip around the world in 1519-1522. proved the existence of the World Ocean and the sphericity of the Earth. Great geographical discoveries became possible thanks to technical discoveries and inventions, including the creation of new ships - caravels. At the same time, long sea voyages stimulated the development of science, technology, and manufacturing. The era of colonial conquests began, which was accompanied by violence, robberies and even the death of civilizations (Mayans, Incas, Aztecs). European countries seized land in America (from the beginning of the 16th century, blacks began to be imported there), Africa, and India. The wealth of the enslaved countries, usually less developed socio-economically, gave a powerful impetus to the development of industry and trade, and ultimately to the industrial modernization of Europe.

At the end of the 15th century. originated in Europe manufactories(from Latin - I do with my hands), large enterprises based on the division of labor and manual craft techniques. Often the period of European history from the emergence of manufactories to the beginning of the industrial revolution is called "manufacture". There were two forms of manufacture: centralized (the entrepreneur himself created a large workshop, in which all operations for the manufacture of a particular product were carried out under his leadership) and much more widespread - dispersed (the entrepreneur distributed raw materials to home-based artisans and received from them a finished product or semi-finished product) . Manufactures contributed to the deepening of the social division of labor, the improvement of the instruments of production, the growth of labor productivity, and the formation of new social strata - the industrial bourgeoisie and wage workers (this social process will end during the industrial revolution). Manufactories prepared the transition to machine production.

World historical processes indicating the end of the Middle Ages required new ways of transmitting information. This new method was printing. Johannes Gutenberg made a breakthrough in book production technology. Gutenberg's invention was a mature and prepared development of the book industry in previous centuries: the appearance in Europe of paper, the technique of woodblock printing, the creation in scriptoria (monastic workshops) and in universities of hundreds and thousands of handwritten books of predominantly religious content. Gutenberg in 1453–1454 In Mainz he first printed a book, the so-called 42-line Bible. Printing has become the material basis for the dissemination of knowledge, information, literacy, and sciences.

Chronological framework of the third period of world history, new times(beginning of the 16th century - beginning of the 1920s) are defined in the same way as the medieval period, primarily by events and processes that took place in Western Europe. Since in other countries, including Russia, development was slower compared to the West, the processes characteristic of modern times began here later.

With the advent of modern times, the destruction of medieval foundations (that is, political and social institutions, norms, customs) and the formation of an industrial society began. The process of transition from a medieval (traditional, agrarian) society to an industrial society is called modernization (from French - newest, modern). This process took about three hundred years in Europe.

Modernization processes occurred at different times: they began earlier and proceeded faster in Holland and England; these processes proceeded more slowly in France; even slower - in Germany, Italy, Russia; there was a special path of modernization in North America (USA, Canada); began in the East in the 20th century. modernization processes were called Westernization (from English - Western).

Modernization covered all spheres of society, it included:

Industrialization, the process of creating large-scale machine production; the process of ever-increasing use of machines in production began with the industrial revolution (it first began in England in the 1760s, in Russia it began at the turn of the 1830s-1840s);

Urbanization (from Latin - urban), the process of increasing the role of cities in the development of society; the city gains economic dominance for the first time,

pushing the countryside into the background (already at the end of the 18th century, the proportion of the urban population in Holland was 50%; in England this figure was 30%; in France - 15%, and in Russia - about 5%);

democratization of political life, creation of prerequisites for the formation of a rule of law state and civil society;

Secularization, limiting the influence of the church in the life of society, including the conversion by the state of church property (mainly land) into secular; the process of spreading secular elements in culture was called the “secularization” of culture (from the word “secular” - secular);

Rapid, compared to the past period, growth of knowledge about nature and society.

The ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in the process of modernization and the spiritual revolution. Education, as an ideological movement based on the conviction of the decisive role of reason and science in the knowledge of the “natural order” corresponding to the true nature of man and society, arose in England in the 17th century. (J. Locke, A. Collins). In the 18th century Enlightenment spread throughout Europe, reaching its highest peak in France - F. Voltaire, D. Diderot, C. Montesquieu, J.-J. Rousseau. French educators, led by D. Diderot, participated in the creation of a unique publication - the “Encyclopedia, or Explanatory Dictionary of Sciences, Arts and Crafts,” which is why they are called encyclopedists. Enlighteners of the 18th century. in Germany - G. Lessing, I. Goethe; in the USA - T. Jefferson, B. Franklin; in Russia - N. Novikov, A. Radishchev. Enlightenmentists considered ignorance, obscurantism, and religious fanaticism to be the causes of all human disasters. They opposed the feudal-absolutist regime, for political freedom and civil equality. The Enlighteners did not call for revolution, but their ideas played a revolutionary role in the public consciousness. The 18th century is most often called the “century of Enlightenment.”

Revolutions and fundamental changes in the socio-political system, characterized by a sharp break with the previous tradition and a violent transformation of social and state institutions, played a huge role in the process of modernization. In the West in the XVI-XVIII centuries. revolutions swept four countries: Holland (1566-1609), England (1640-1660), USA (War of Independence of the North American Colonies, 1775-1783), France (1789-1799). In the 19th century revolutions swept other European countries: Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Germany, Italy, Spain. In the 19th century The West “got sick” of revolutions, having undergone a kind of vaccination.

The 19th century is called the “century of capitalism” because in this century industrial society was established in Europe. Two factors were decisive in the victory of industrial society: the industrial revolution, the transition from manufacture to machine production; a change in the political and social structure of society, almost complete liberation from state, political, and legal institutions of traditional society. For the main differences between industrial and traditional societies, see table. 1. (page 27).

The end of modern times is usually associated with the First World War (1914 -1918) and the revolutionary upheavals in Europe and Asia in 1918 -1923.

The fourth period of world history, which began in the 1920s, was called modern times in Soviet historiography. For a long time, the name of the last period of world history was given a propaganda meaning as the beginning of a new era in the history of mankind, opened by the October Revolution of 1917.

In the West, the last period of world history is called modernity, modern history. Moreover, the beginning of modernity is moving: once it began in 1789, then in 1871, now in the early 1920s.

The question of the end of the fourth period of world history and the onset of the fifth period, just like the whole problem of periodization, is debatable. It is quite obvious that in the world at the turn of the 20th - 21st centuries. V. dramatic changes have occurred. Understanding their essence, significance and consequences for humanity, which has entered the 3rd millennium after the birth of Christ, is the most important task of economists, sociologists, and historians.

Table 1.

Main features of traditional and industrial societies

Signs	Society
	traditional	industrial
Sector dominating the economy	Agriculture	Industry
Basic means of production	Manual technique	Machinery
Main energy sources	Physical strength of humans and animals	Natural springs (water, coal, oil, gas)
Nature of the economy (mainly)	Natural	Commodity-money
Place of residence of the bulk of the settlement
Society structure	Estate	Social class
Social mobility
Traditional type of power	Hereditary monarchy	Democratic Republic
Worldview	Completely religious	Secular
Literacy

What are historical eras, and in what order are they located? On what basis was this particular chronology built? What features are characteristic of each era, and why did this or that type of art or technology develop in a certain period of time? Modern historians are ready to give answers to all these questions.

What is a historical era

An era in history is a period of time. Its duration is determined by events, characteristic features, features of the development of industry, art, and humanity as a whole.

The very word-definition “epoch” has Greek, or more precisely, ancient Greek roots, and is translated literally as “a significant moment.” Not all historical periods became epochs. For example, no significant events occurred in a given period of time, and they remained in the so-called timelessness.

Literary facts can be cited as an example. The appearance in literature of such works as “War and Peace” or “Quiet Don” can be called unique epoch-making events.

Social formations and formations in art became the criteria for the periodization of historical processes. Based on them, the following were identified:

• Ancient world,
• Middle Ages,
• New time
• Modern times.

And if we consider these time periods through the “prism” of events, features of the development of art, literature, industry, then we can understand in detail what historical eras are.

Each of the listed time periods of human development can be divided into additional eras, which are characterized by certain events. A striking example of this is the era of the ancient world. It was during this period of history that man made a colossal leap in the development of the bowels of the earth, introducing even the simplest innovations into his life.

The ancient world as an era in the development of mankind

Many historical sources position the era of the Ancient World as Prehistoric Time, which includes the primitive period of human development and the Ancient World. The time period is divided into several eras:

• paleolithic,
• Mesolithic,
• Neolithic.

The longest period of the ancient world was the Paleolithic. It lasts from 2.5 million BC to 10,000 BC. The following signs are characteristic of the Paleolithic: man lived thanks to what nature provided, hunted, collected roots, berries, and mushrooms. Primitive people did not produce anything on their own, and even their food was not subjected to any processing. People simply did not have any tools for this, they did not have the skills. Only at the end of the era did humans have the likes of tools for labor and hunting made of stone.

The Mesolithic era (from 10,000 BC to 6,000 BC) was marked not only by human achievements, but also by a natural phenomenon - the end of the last ice age and the rise of the world's ocean levels. People began to form the first communities - clan communities, improved stone tools and expanded the scope of their use.

The Neolithic era during the period of the Ancient World has no clear time boundaries. But it was at this stage of his development that man moved from gathering to production, discovered iron, studied its properties and learned to use it in everyday life, hunting and other areas of life.

In the last stages of the Ancient World era, humans acquired writing, empires and states arose, where the division into higher and lower classes began. Against the backdrop of the development of new lands, wars flared up, which became a kind of impetus for innovation in the development of industry and military affairs.

The Middle Ages and its significance in human history

The Middle Ages became the first bright milestone in the history of human development. This era is characterized by significant events and fundamental changes in art and industry. Historians consider this particular time period to be the beginning of the emergence of civilization in Europe.

At the beginning of the era, the agricultural sphere developed widely, but on the basis of feudalism. The political system of the countries already represented a certain system, which included

• feudal estates, satisfying to a greater extent only their needs and requirements,
• monasteries, on the basis of which art and literature originated, chronicles of events were kept that had a special influence on the course of history already in those days,
• a royal court that did not have a specific “address”, constantly changing its location, which made it easier to control monasteries and estates, collect taxes and taxes.

In the second half of the Middle Ages, the accelerated evolution of human society began, monetary relations and commodity production appeared, that is, manufactories were formed that produced a certain type of product.

Society was actually ruled by religion. Communities of this type had a huge influence on both the political system and production. An era within an era began when the church sought not only to share spheres of influence on society with the state, but to take all the reins of government into its own hands. Religion slowed down the development of science, fearing that new knowledge would become the cause, a kind of catalyst, for its downfall.

New time in history

The era of modern times (from 1480 to 1790 AD) in the history of mankind is interesting because not all nations and countries entered it at the same time. During this period, Europe and European states had a huge influence on the whole world. The era is characterized by the emergence of civil society, the development of laws and the legislative framework as a whole, and its acceptance by society.

During this time period, a philosophy was born that made it possible to explain the chronology and principle of the development of humanity, production and other spheres from the point of view of rationality. In addition, the formation of the capitalist system begins, and on the basis of civil law and legislation, the first world communities emerge. And, oddly enough, against this background, alienation appears between some states or their groups, based on the principles

• nationalism,
• religiosity,
• ideology.

In the modern era, the world begins to divide into capitalist and socialist camps, military blocs are formed, destabilizing the world and relations between countries.

Despite all the negative characteristics of the New Age, it was during this era that the development of the economy and industry began, significant changes took place in art and literature, and new technologies were introduced into use.

The modern era in human history

The era of modern times, according to most historical sources and works, begins in 1918. It is the most controversial and the most critical at the same time. Colonial empires begin to disintegrate, revolutions break out, significant changes occur both legally and socially, and the integration of religious movements and communities occurs.

Despite the fact that a large number of military clashes and economic crises occurred and are occurring during this historical period, industry is rapidly developing, more and more innovative technologies are being introduced, and rapid technological breakthroughs are occurring in many industries.

Art is also changing, new trends are appearing, avant-garde art and unusual musical trends are coming to the fore, and new trends are appearing in literature.

Historians believe that for posterity the most interesting era will be the modern era in the history of mankind. How long and significant this era will be will be judged by those who will have the task of analyzing it and summing up what has been done.