Greek Art from
E l Cl
Early
Classicall to
Hellenistic Period
AP Art History
Mrs. Cook
Greek Classical Art
• Scholars have characterized Greek Classical art as
being based on three general concepts:
• Humanism
• Rationalism
• Idealism
• Idea “Man
Man is the measure of all things”
things – “know
know
thyself” – seek inner significance of forms; and
“Nothingg in excess.” – his bodyy and mind in balance
• Greeks imagined their gods looked like perfect
human beings
Greek Art & Architecture
• Greeks valued reason over emotion, nothing
happens by accident
• Practicing the faith in rationality expressed by their
philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, and logic
and reason underlie natural processes,
• Greeks saw life,, includingg the arts,, as havingg meaningg
and pattern,
• The creation of the orders in architecture and the
canon of proportions in sculpture
• The great Greek artists and architects were not only
practitioners but theoreticians as well.
5-29: Temple of Hera II
The first great monument of Classical
y p , the site of the
architecture at Olympia,
Olympic games, architect was Libon of
Elis
The temple was made of stone, it was
decorated with sculpture of imported
marble, the themes demonstrated the
power of the gods Zeus, Apollo, and
Athena.
5-30: East Pediment, Temple of Zeus
The subject of the east
pediment is the chariot race
Seer, east p
pediment Temple
p of Zeus
Seer is a rare depiction of old age, balding, wrinkled head, sagging musculatureshocking expression on his face - We have moved away from the archaic smile, not a
regular feature until the Hellenistic age
Athena, Herakles, and Atlas with Apples of the Hesperides
Severe Style – The Early Classical style of
Greek sculpture – 480-450 BCE
Herakles cleaning
Augean Stables:
Labor #5
5-34: Kritios Boy
Marble, 2’10”
Cue Card
Transitional piece from Archaic to Classical art - Under life-size,
life size, art historians
thought it was the work of sculpture Kritios, they believe this is one of the most
important statues in the history of art. – Never before had a sculptore been
concerned with portraying a human being as he truly stands.
K iti Boy
Kritios
B was th
the fifirstt to
t grasp this
thi anatomical
t i l ffactt – the
th body
b d shifts
hift weight
i ht when
h it
moves – This weight shift is called “contrapposto” (counterbalance) This
separates Archaic Greek period from the Classical periods,
CONTRAPPOSTO
CONTRAPPOSTO ((or COUNTERPOISE),
),
an Italian word, describes the stance of the
human body in which one leg bears the
weight while the other is relaxed. An
asymmetry is created in the shoulder-hip
shoulder hip
axis. This is a natural, relaxed body pose.
Early sculptures of human figures, while
anatomically correct, appeared stiff and
unnatural
CONTRAPPOSTO
If we look at the early Greek sculpture, the
Anavysos Kouros (c 525 BCE), the
unnatural stiffness is still present.
...the shoulders are level
...the hips are level
...both fists are level
...even the knees are level
...but
b t the
th left
l ft leg
l is
i thrust
th
t forward.
f
d
The left leg is forward and would
have to be six inches longer!
CONTRAPPOSTO
Contrapposto first appeared in classical Greek
sculpture.
...the left shoulder is higher than the right shoulder
...an angle from the right shoulder to the left hip. The leg is
relaxed and the hip bone is lower.
...the right leg bears all the body’s weight.
Also notice how the knees are not level and at an
angle. The shoulders counterbalance the hips.
If the hips and shoulders were parallel, we could not
balance and would fall over!
CONTRAPPOSTO
The classical Greeks progressed to where they were able to model the human in a
nonsymmetrical, relaxed stance that appears much more realistic. This was lost
during the Middle Ages and was rediscovered by artists like Donatello during the
Renaissance
5-35: Warrior, from the sea off Riace
c. 460-450 BCE, Bronze, 6’6”
Cue Card
•An unknown sculptor
carried the innovation
off the
th Kritios
K iti Boy
B into
i t a
bronze statue.
•The statue lacks its
sshield,
e d, spea
spear,, a
and
d
helmet.
•Contrapposto is more
pronounced, It is a
masterpiece of
hollow-casting
method.
•Natural motion in
space has replaced
Archaic frontality and
rigidity!
the head turns
more forcefully
to the right, his
shoulders tilt,
tilt
his hips swing
more markedly,
his arms are
freed from the
body
y - than in
the Kritios Boy.
Hollow-casting
Hollow
casting technique
Charioteer
•This
Thi exceeds
d the
h Riace
Ri
warrior
i iin technical
h i l quality,
li
•The stance is almost an Archaic but the turn of the head and
feet in opposite directions as well as the slight twist at the
waist is keeping with the Severe style, originally part of a
group representing a team of horse pulling a chariot driven
by this charioteer
•Assemblage required hundreds of individually cast pieces
soldered
ld d ttogether
th
5-38: Zeus (or Poseidon?)
c. 460-450 BCE, Bronze, 6’10”
•The male human form is in motion,
• the bearded god once hurled a weapon
held in his right hand, probably a
thunderbolt
•boldly extends both arms and raises his
right heel off the ground
5-39: MYRON, Diskobolos (Discus Thrower)
c. 450 BCE, Roman copy, Marble, 5’1”
Cue Card
•Original is lost
lost, only marble copy exists
exists, (roman times
times, when
demand so far exceeded the supply of Greek statues, the
industry met the call by producing in marble, which presented
a very different appearance from shiny bronze – without them
we would not be able to reconstruct the history of Greek
sculpture)
•Myron (sculpture) froze the action and arranged the body
and limbs to form to intersecting arcs – (one from the
discus to the left hand, one from the head to the right knee)
•The tension is not mirrored on his face, mid-swing,
impossible to throw the discus this way but optically the pose
works,
k viewpoint
i
i t mainly
i l fform th
the ffrontt
• Idealized heroic body
•Use of negative space opens large areas in the sculpture.
5-40: POLYKLEITOS,
Doryphoros
(Spear Bearer)
c. 450-440 BCE,
Roman copy, marble,
6’11”
Cue Card
•Most copied, this was the
embodiment of Polykleitos’s
vision of the ideal statue of a
nude male athlete or warrior
warrior.
•He made it a demonstration piece
to accompany a treatise on the
subject
j
– Canon, the contrapposto
pp
is more pronounced than ever, his
aim was to render a figure that
stands naturally, His aim was to
impose order on human
movement to make it beautiful
and perfect.
•He achieved this by a system of
cross balance, (right arm and left leg
are relaxed, the tensed supporting
leg opposes the flexed arm with the
spear head turns to the right while
spear,
the hips twist to the left) He appears
to step forward but doesn't move,
dynamic asymmetrical balance, this
motion
ti while
hil att rest,
t and
d resulting
lti
harmony of opposites are the
essence of Polykleitian style, closed
stance, movement restrain,
Chiastic (cross balance)
Chiastic (cross balance) is
asymmetrical balance
…right arm and leg rigid & stiff
creating columnar stability and
anchoring
h i
…the bent left arm and leg
…head turns right, hips twist
left, back foot turns outward
creating a twist in the body
5-41; KRESILAS, Pericles
Roman herm copy, c 429 BCE,
Marble, 4’6”
46
•Kresilas the copies reproduce the
head onlyy in the form of a herm ((a bust
on a square pillar)
•He is wearing a helmet that shows he
was a general, unblemished features,
his body’s
body s perfect physique,
physique noble and
important men to appear even more
noble in their portraits •Greek portraits were not likenesses
but idealized images in which
humans appeared godlike –
Classical beauty
Herm – Bust
on a square pillar
5-42 to 5-44: Aerial View &
Model of the Acropolis, Iktinos
and Kallikrates, 447-438 BCE,
Cue Card
•Under the leadership of Pericles
Pericles, the
Athenians undertook the costly project of
reconstructing the Acropolis after the Persian sac
of 480 BCE
•It is dedicated to the god Athena
•Greatest Athenians architects – Iktinos and
Kalikrates,
Iktinos believed harmonic proportions produced
•Iktinos
beautiful buildings, In the Parthenon, the ratio of
larger and smaller parts is x=2y +1 (8 columns on
the façade, 17 on the side
IKTINOS and KALLIKRATES, Parthenon
Cue Card
IKTINOS and KALLIKRATES, Parthenon
The Parthenon may be viewed as the ideal solution to the Greek architect’s quest for the
perfect proportions in Doric temple design – Its well-spaced columns, with slender
shafts, and capitals – ultimate refinement – the architects believed that beautiful
proportions resulted from strict adherence to harmonic numerical ratios, whether
in a temple of 200 feet long or a statue of a nude man
man, the ratio was 9:4
9:4, Although the
harmonious design, it is really irregular in shape, the building are deviations from strict
horizontal and vertical lines of Greek post-and-lintel structures, these deviations meant
that virtually every block had to be carved according to special set of instructions,
Some modern observers say that the curving horizontal lines and tilting vertical ones
create a dynamic balance in the building-kind of architectural contrapposto-giving it a
greater sense of life
One of the ironies is that the Doric temple had Ionic elements, inner frieze was Ionic,
maybe it was suggesting that they were the leader of all the Greeks – ionic/Doric
Marble
copy
5-46: PHIDIAS, Athena Parthenos, c. 438 BCE, 38’
•Phidias was in charge of all entire acropolis
project,
•The colossal gold-and-ivory statue, Iktinos
designed the Parthenon around her, Athena
was fully armed with shield, spear, helmet, and
she held a Nike (the winged personification of
Victory – this referred to the victory in 479 BCE)
•The memory of the Persian sack of the
Acropolis was still vivid, the Athenians were
intensely conscious that by driving back the
Persians, they had save their civilization from
the Eastern “barbarians”, sandals represented
of a centauromacy (battle of Greeks and
centaurs)- over chaos, civilization over
barbarism a metaphor for triumph of order d
Athens over Persia
5-47: Lapith versus centaur
centauromacy
•Phidias took up the same themes in the Parthenon’s metopes,
•Best preserved are those on the south side, the sculptor brilliantly distinguished the
vibrant living centaur form the lifeless Greek corpse
•The relief are so high in parts that it is fully in the round
Cue Card
5-48 & 5-49: Phidias, Pediments of the Parthenon
Helios and his horses, and
Dionysis
Three Goddess (Hestia, Dione, and
A h dit ?)
Aphrodite?)
1. Helios
4. Nike
7. Hera
10. Atlas
2. Herakles
5. Athena
8. Hephaistos
11. The Hesperides
3. The Fates
6. Zeus
9. Hermes
12. Nyx
Cue Card
5-48 & 5-49: Phidias, Pediments of the Parthenon
Helios and his horses, and
Dionysis
Three Goddess (Hestia, Dione, and
A h dit ?)
Aphrodite?)
•The east pediment depicts the birth of the goddess, Athena
•The Athenian sculptors full understood not only the surface appearance of human
anatomy, both male and female, but also the mechanics of how muscles and ones make
th b
the
body
d move,
•Three Goddess: “Figures are related to one another in their poses, positions, and
interconnected meaning, clinging, wet drapery reveals the voluptuous bodies beneath,
deeply cut draper, figures sit naturally within the framework of the pediment, Phidias
designed this – his assistant might have executed it
Parthenon, West Pediment: Athena vs. Poseidon
Cue Card
•At the west, the contest between Athena and Poseidon to determine which one would
become the city’s patron deity.
•Athena won, g
giving
g her name to the p
polis and its citizens.
•Phidias, discovered an new way to deal with the pediment, Its floor is now the horizon
line and the charioteers and their horse move through it effortlessly, figures and
animals are brilliantly characterized, reclining figures fill the space,
Details of the Panathenaic
Festival procession frieze
•Took place every 4 years
•This is the first instance in Greek art of the depiction of a human event on a temple, The
procession began at the Dipylon Gate, passed through the agora (central square) and
ended on the Acropolis, where the Athenians placed the wooden statue of Athena. The
procession begins on the west, the upper part of the relief is higher than the lower part,
so more of the frieze is legible from the bottom – Another example of how Parthenon’s
Parthenon s
designers took optical effects into consideration, The Olympian deities do not take part
in the festival but are spectators, The Parthenon celebrated the greatness of Athens
and the Athenians as much as it honored Athena
Erechtheion from the west
5-52: Erechtheion and Plan
c. 421-405 BCE
Cue Card
•The Erechtheion is the antithesis of the Doric Parthenon directly across form it. An
Ionic temple, it has some of he finest decorative details of any ancient Greek
building,
•It honored Athena and housed a wood image but it also incorporated shrines to a
host of other gods and demigods who were important in the city’s past.
• The site of the temple was where the contest between Athena and Poseidon took
place Poseidon striker the rock with this trident and producing a salt-water spring,
place,
spring
Athena had cause an olive tree to grow, constant reminder of the victory over
Poseidon.
•Asymmetrical plan, unknown architect had to deal with the uneven terrain, couldn’t
leveled because it would disturb the ancient sacred sites, result four sides with very
different character, each side rest on a different ground level,
Caryatid from south porch
of Erechtheion
Caryatid from south porch
of Erechtheion
Most striking and famous
feature is the architect
replaced Ionic columns
with caryatids, flutelike
drapery folds concealing
their stiff weight-bearing
l
legs
underscore
d
th
the
architectural supports,
small degree of flexibility
to suggest
gg
the living
g
body.
KALLIKRATES,
Temple of Athena Nike
c. 427-424 BCE
•This temple commemorates the victory over the
Persians
•The sculptors devoted part of the frieze to represent
the decisive battle at Marathon, which turned the tide
against the Persian, human events like the
procession frieze, dozens of images of winged Victory
adorned the parapet on three sides of the Athena
Nike temple
temple, the sculptor carved this Nike with
garments that appear almost transparent, drapery
folds form intricate linear patterns , supple beauty of
the young female body, modeled in high relief
5-56: Nike adjusting her sandal
South side of the parapet
Parapet: a low protective
wall along the edge
of a balcony or roof
Grave stele of Hegeso
The Athena Nike parapet reliefs
was set up in memory of a
woman named Hegeso- subject
young woman in her home
home,
attended y her main, the
composition has parallels to
Classical vase painting,
5:58: ACHILLES
PAINTER, Warrior
taking leave of his
wife
ife
Lekythos (flask
to hold
perfumed
f
d oil)
il)
White-ground
Foreshortening
o es o te g
White-ground technique (painter covered
the pot with a slip of fine white clay, then
applied black glaze to outline figures,
diluted brown, purple, red, and white to
color them) they could add more colors but
they had to be added after the firing, This
technique was almost exclusively use on a
scene: husband is preparing to go to warhelmet, shield, and spear- who will depart,
never to return, the woman is the survivor
The artist attempted to render the eyes in
profile, foreshortening used,
Krater
5-59: NIOBID PAINTER,,
Artemis and Apollo slaying
the children of Niobe
3-Quarter Profile
Red-figure krater, placement of figures on
different levels in a landscape depicting the
massacre off the
th Niobids
Ni bid reflects
fl t the
th
compositional influence of panel painters,
they actively interact with their setting,
5-61: Youth Diving
•Cover slab of the Tomb of the diver
This type of scene often occurs in Greek vases
•This
•Scene most likely symbolize the plunge form life into the
next
Late Classical
• This period was lead by Alexander III or
Alexander the Great
• New creative spirit- new subjects and
styles
• They observed the basic Classical
approach to composition but they no
longer adhered rigidly to is conventions
• Architecture moved outside of Athens
and added popular structures such as
the tholos and monumental tomb.
•Statue once was housed in around temple and could only
have been seen by someone peeking through columns;
voyeuristic view,
•The
The original lost
lost, carved from marble
•The new approach to art is immediately apparent in the
work of Praxitelses, one of the great masters of the 4th
century.
y
•Deities lost some of the solemn grandeur and took on a
worldly sensuousness, see a new humanizing spirit,
goddess of love completely nude
•Female nudity was rare in earlier Greek art
art, it had been
confined almost exclusively on paintings on vases for
household use, considered “superior to all works in the
whole world”
•This cause such a sensation in its time because
Praxiteles took the unprecedented step of representing
the goddesses of love nude, No one had dared place
inside a temple a statue of a goddess wearing no clothes
•She in fact engaging in a trivial act of everyday life,
bathing, she has removed her garment, draped it over a
large hydria (water pitcher) and is about to step in the
b th
bath,
•It isn’t openly erotic (she covers with her hand) but is
quite sensuous
•She has a welcoming look and slight smile, S-curve of
5-62: PRAXITELES
Aphrodite of Knidos
5-62: Hermes and the infant Dionysos
•Hermes leans on a tree truck (which
is an integral part of the compositions)
•Body forms an S
S-curve
curve that is
hallmark of Praxiteles’ statues
•Gazes dreamily into space while
dangles a bunch of grapes (missing)
as a temptation for the infant, who is to
become the Greek god of the vine.
•This interaction between adult and
child – one encounters often in real life
is new
•The quality of carving is superb,
modeling is smooth and subtle, soft
shadow,
h d
shallow
h ll
S
S-shaped
h
d curve,
subtle modeling of musculature, soft
shadows play on body surface
•Lysippos introduced a new canon of
proportions
p
p
in which the bodies were
more slender than those of Polykleitos and
head roughly one-eighth the height of the
body rather than one-seventh , as in the
previous century
p
y
•This was the most famous was the bronze
statue (only marble left) - an athlete scraping
oil from his body after exercising, exhibits new
proportions, new change
g in physique,
y
nervous
energy,
•The scraper is about to reach the end of the
right arm and at any moment the switch other
hand to scrape his left arm
•Shift in his weight and reverse position of his
legs, began to break down the dominance of
the frontal view and encourage to observe the
view of his athlete form multiple angles, right
arm boldly thrust forward
•Figure break out of the rectangular box that
define early statues, the observer must move
to the side and view the work at three-quarter
angle or in full profile, head is one-eighth of
body, far away look on the face
5-65: LYSIPPOS,
Apoxyomenos,
(Th Scraper)
(The
S
)
Roman copy of
bronze, c. 330 BCE,
6’9”
Great Late
Classical sculpture
- Lysippos, was so
renown that
Alexander the
Great selected him
to create his official
portrait,
Hermes and the
infant Dionysos
Scaper
Spear Bearer
Comparing with the Spear Bearer - This reveals the sweeping change in artistic attitude
and intent, the deities still posses a beauty mortals can aspire to but not achieve but
they are no long a aloof, they have entered the world of human experience,
Cue Card
5-66: LYSIPPOS, Farnese Herakles
Roman copy, c. 320 BCE, 10’5”
Colossal statue
statue, viewer must walk around it,
it original is nearly twice life
life-size,
size
exaggerated muscular development, depicted the hero so weary he must lean on his
club for support or he will topple over, rejecting stability and balance, holds golden
apples in his right hand behind his back, unseen unless you walk around it, we see pain
and weariness, eloquent testimony to Late Classical sculptors interest in humanizing the
Greek gods and heroes,
5-67: LYSIPPOS: Alexander the Great
He was the official sculpture of
Alexander the Greek, it
provides insight into his
personality
lit
5-68: Stag hunt
Pebble mosaic: the floors consist of
small stones of various colors collect
from beaches and riverbanks and set
into a thick coat of cement
cement, It was the
scene of a Stag hunt, the artist signed
the work like the ceramic vase painters.
This is the earliest mosaicist’s
signature known
Pebble mosaic
5-70: Battle of Issus, (AKA Battle of Alexander
the Great and Darius)
•Large mosaic, decorated the
floor of a room in a appointed
Roman house at Pompeii, The
mosaicists employed tesserae
(cubical pieces of glass or tiny
stones cut to the desire size
and shape)
p ) instead of p
pebbles
•The subject is Alexander the
Great and the Persian King
Darius III. Artist depiction of
the rearing horse seen in three
quarter rear view, reflection of
a man’s terrified face, Persian
to the right of the rearing horse
has fallen to the ground and
raises backward, dropped
shield to protect himself from
being trampled
trampled,
•The interest in reflection,
shiny surface and the absence
of light (shadow), It is a
psychological
h l i l iintensity
t
it off th
the
drama unfolding before the
viewer,
5-71: Theater, Epidauros
5-71: Polykleitos the Younger
Theater, Epidauros
•In ancient Greece, actors performed pays only during sacred festivals, Greek drama
closel associate with
closely
ith religious
religio s rites and was
as not p
pure
re entertainment
entertainment.
• The architect was, Polykleitos the Younger
•Circular patch of earth where actors performed sacred rites, songs, and dances, the
circular hard and level surface was the orchestra ((means dancing
gp
place” the spectators
p
sat on the slope overlook the orchestra – the theatron means “place of seeing” The
Greeks always situated the auditorium on a hillside, acoustics were excellent
•The cavea, composed of wedge-shaped sections of stone benches separated by stairs,
the auditorium 387 feet in diameter and 55 rows of seats that accommodate about
12,000 spectators (everyone could hear perfectly), the entered the theater via a
passageway between the seating area and the scene building which house dressing
rooms for the actors, it also formed the backdrop for the plays, The plan was simple but
perfectly suited for its function.
•Theaters often had a view of the sea; the sea plays an important role in Greek drama
5-72: THOLOS, SANCTUARY OF ATHENA PRONAIA at Delphi
•Tholos
Th l – This
Thi is
i the
h best
b
preserved
d
example of a round temple of the
Classical period,
It had Doric columns on the exterior and
•It
Corinthian columns inside.
•Consistent with the conservative nature of
Greek temple design, architects did not
readily
dil embrace
b
th
the C
Corinthian
i thi capital,
it l
they used them for the interiors of sacred
buildings
5-74: Choragic Monument
The earliest instance of a Corinthian
capital on the exterior of a Greek
building which is not really a
b ildi
building,
it iis a monumentt tto
commemorate the victory of a
theatrical contest in 334 BCE,
Engaged
g g Corinthian columns adorn
the drum of this monument, huge
Corinthian capital sits atop the roof
Gardner’s 11th ed., p. 147
Hellenistic Period
• Death of Alexander the
Great – His lasting legacy is
the spread of Greek culture
beyond
y
its borders
• Where the earlier artist
sought the ideal and the
general, Hellenistic sought
the individual and the
specific
ifi
• They moved to individual
emotion,
ti
appeall tto th
the
senses
Temple of Apollo, Didyma
•Great scale, a theatrical element of surprise, willingness to break from traditional
rules of Greek temple design
•One of the most ambitious projects of the period, Started with two architects native
to the area, Paionios and Daphnis, the work of the temple continued on and off for
500 years - and it was never completed.
5-78: Altar of Zeus, Pergamon
This is the most famous Hellenistic
sculptural
l t l ensemble.
bl Alt
Altar placed
l
d on an
elevated platform up a dramatic fight of
stairs, contains an altar dedicated to Zeus,
Ionic colonnade with p
projecting
j
g wings
g on
each side, All around the altar platform was
a sculpted frieze almost 400 feet long,
populated about 100 life-size figures,
•The scene is Zeus and
the g
gods against
g
the
giants
• This has emotional
intensity without parallel in
earlier sculpture
sculpture, violent
movement, battle of the
gods and the giants, the
giants as helpless
•gods victory over the
giants which parallel to
Alexander the Great’s
defeat of the Persians
•Figures overlap one
another (masterful
handling of spatial illusion)
gigantomachy
5-79: Athena
battling Alkyoneos,
Altar of Zeus
5-79: Athena battling Alkyoneos, Altar of Zeus
gigantomachy
Parthenon
Athena
Siphnian Treasury at Delphi
5-80: Gallic chieftain
•The defeat of the Gauls
g suicide
•The Gallic chieftain committing
after taking his wife’s life (if captured,
would be sold as a slave) He preferred
death to surrender
•Intensely expressive face
face, powerful torso
torso,
woman’s limp, lifeless body, twisting
posture, almost theatrical gestures,
emotional intensity of the suicidal act,
5-81: Dying Gaul Trumpeter
•Trumpeter
Trumpeter who collapses upon his large oval shield as blood pours from the
gash in his chest, he stares at the ground in a pained expression.
•Bulging veins on the left leg, the drama of this dying and suffering Gaul are
very pronounced – very emotional, seen as a hero to the Greeks, figure meant
t be
to
b seen in
i the
th round,
d greatt emotion
ti on the
th fface,
Compare
the drama of this dying and suffering Gaul
are very pronounced – very emotional
5-82: Nike alighting on a
warship
(Nike of Samothrace)
c 190 BCE,
c.
BCE Marble
Marble, 8’1”
81
Masterpieces of the Hellenistic baroque sculpture, wind sweeps her drapery, thick folds
around her right leg, chiton is pulled tightly across her abdomen and left leg, theatrical
effect, Art and nature combined here to create one of the most successful sculptured
Hellenistic statues interact with their environment and appear living, breathing, and
intensely emotional human (or divine) presence. probably built to commemorate a naval
victory in 191 BCE
BCE, a dramatic twist and contrapposto of the torso,
torso Monumentality of the
figure, Her missing right arm may have raised a victory crown or held and open hand in
greeting,
5-83: Venus de Milo
c.150-125 BCE, Marble,
6’7”
Theyy explored
p
the eroticism of the nude
female form. Larger-than-life marble
statue, the goddess of love is overtly
sexual, left hand holds the apple Paris
awarded her when he judge her the most
beautiful goddess, right hand is lightly
grasped the edge of drapery near left hip –
halfhearted attempt to keep it from slipping
father down her body,
May of the Hellenistic sculptors especially
those for private patrons, went even further
depicting goddess of love as and object of
sexual desire. Elegance of pose, long Sshaped curve, softly modeled forms; light
and shadow softly play on surface,
Hellenistic
H
ll i ti sculptors
l t
often
ft portrayed
t
d sleep,
l
suspension of consciousness and entrance
into the fantasy world of dreams, drunken,
restlesslyy sleeping
p g satyr,
y , eroticism comes
in this statue,
5-84: Sleeping Satyr (Barberini Faun)
c. 230-200 B.C.E.
marble
85 in. high
5-86: Seated boxer
c.100-50 BCE, Bronze 4’2”
They didn’t leave all
themes especially the
Greek athlete but they
treated in new ways, he
isn’t the victorious boxer
with perfect face but a
heavily battered, defeated
veteran whose upward
gaze maybe directed to
the man that beat him, his
nose and teeth broken,
smashed ears,
Using emotion to show
the one-mighty fighter
5-87: Old market woman
Roman copy, 4’1”
•Statue depicting
p
g the lowest rungs
g of the
social order, we only saw this on vase
painting but not in sculpture, haggard old
woman, brining fruits and vegetables to sell
in the market,
market face is wrinkled,
wrinkled her body
bent with age, her spirit broken by a
lifetime of poverty, interest in social realism
absent before, art reflect this different
social climate, wider variety of physical
types,
•Hellenistic work in its extreme realism and
interest in old age
Unearthed in Rome in 1506 by the
artist Michelangelo,
Story: the Trojan priest who tried to
warn his people of the dangers lurking
inside the hose given to Troy by the
Greeks; snakes were sent by the gods
to p
prevent him form speaking
p
g The g
gods
who favored the Greeks in the war
against Troy had sent the serpents to
punish Laocoon,
High Drama! in terrible agony
agony, the
three Trojans writhe in pain as they
struggle to free themselves from the
death grip of the serpents, One bits into
his hip and lets out a cry, twisting,
curving forms; the eye cannot rest,
wanders around the composition,
viewing the composition form many
angles is encourage, Heightened
musculature
5-89: Athanadoros, Hagesandros, and Polydoros
of Rhodes, Laocoön and his sons, 1st century
C.E., marble
94 1/2 in. high
Laocoon and his sons
Compare with 5-79
Alkyoneos
Summary
• The Greeks have had a powerful influence on history
that we have dubbed their art “classical”
• Greek pottery had the geometric and orientalizing style.
p
• Greek theaters are built carefullyy into the landscape.
• Greek Archaic art is known for the upright figures with
animated smiles. The Classical pperiod byy the use of
contrapposto and humanizing expressions. Hellenistic
shows figures with a greater range of expression and
movement.
• Greek art has provided a standard against which other
classicizing
l i i i trends
t d in
i artt history
hi t
hhave bbeen measured.
d