Art for the princes

Heir of classical antiquity, the exceptional importance of this period in art history, his works are a model of aesthetic perfection of the Renaissance to the present day. Are imposed the principles of harmony, balance the proportions, symmetry, a fair measure. The process of aesthetization is no longer separate of the purification of forms, the desire for a balanced and idealized beauty, synonymous with elegance and grace. Art does not imitate nature, she must sublimate it, transfiguring it by expressing the beauty ideal, harmonious perfection that is the cosmos itself.

The humanism of the Renaissance rehabilitates and expressly claimed, in the late Middle Ages comes a second stage that extends into the XVIII century. Is the premise of aesthetic modernity with the appearance of status separate from the artist craftsman, with the idea of the creative power of the artist-genius signing their works, with the unification of the arts in particular unitary concept of art in its modern sense, applying to all the fine arts, with works designed to please a lucky and educated public and not simply already communicating religious teachings and to meet the requirements of the dignitaries of the Church. The aesthetic dimension of art itself becomes important, the artist must endeavor to eliminate any imperfections and find images that are consistent with what is more beautiful, more harmonious in nature. With the gradual emancipation of artists in relation to corporations, they will benefit, through its contracts with sponsors, a margin of initiative until then unknown: the adventure of empowering the artistic and aesthetic mastery is underway.

This secular moment is contemporary of the life in the court, the appearance of fashion and elegance of their games, the treaties of "manners" but also an architecture that offers the very picture of refinement and grace, aesthetic urbanism inspiration, gardens with terraces that appear to paintings, sculptures, ponds, fountains, broad perspectives, designed to enchant and amaze the eye. Not only just commoditas, but the grace of harmonious forms, aesthetic pleasure, the venustas (Alberti), in pleasant, beautiful cities, "a pleasant appearance and pleasant stay" (Francesco di Giorgio Martini). Artists are requested and invited to the European courts to create magnificent scenery, decorate the inside of castles and planning parks. Churches wanting to seduce and attract the faithful offer, with the Baroque period, a lush theatrical spectacle with overloaded facades of sculptures, structures that disappear under the trimmings, optical effects, games of shadow and light, canopies, tabernacles, pulpits, wards, chalices, ciboria abundantly decorated, opens a whole exuberant art to create a grand spectacle, enhance the beauty and splendor of decoration ornaments. Monarchs, princes, the aristocratic classes throw themselves into large intended to make their cities and their finest residences, send build castles marked by elegance of style, build palaces, sumptuous villas, framed by huge parks full of statues and entrusted to the best architects. Remodel cities according to an aesthetic point of view, creating buildings consist of aligned harmonious facades, streets that offer great effects prospects squares beautification of cities has become a very important political goal. It must be an "urban art", a theatrical staging of city and nature, ennobling the inhabited environment and increasing the prestige, the greatness, the glory of kings and princes.

From the Renaissance, the art, the beauty, the aesthetic values acquired a value, a dignity, new social importance, which is witnessed by urban planning, the architecture, gardens, furniture, works of glass and faience in the nude painting and sculpture, the ideals of harmony and proportion. Taste for art and willingness to styling the framework of life that functions as a means of social assertiveness, way to mark the status and prestige of the larger more powerful. The aristocratic aesthetization, throughout this cycle, the intense process of aesthetization (elegance, refinement, grace of forms) in place in the upper echelons of society is not driven by social logic, political strategies of dramatization of power, the imperative of social representation and the primacy of competition for status and prestige of the constituent holistic society in which the importance of the relation of men overcomes the relation of men to things.