Early
Beginnings in
Western Art
TimeLine
(Dates)
Region
(Location)
Dominant Subject
Matter
Dominant Media
Iconic Works
Function
Significance/Contributions
Historical
Context
Paleolithic Art
30,000 B.C.E.9,000 B.C.E.
Earliest
beginnings in
Europe, Africa
Animals
Women
Natural Jewelry
Cave painting and
Sculpture (ivory,
wood, stone)
Caves at Lascaux and
Altamira, and Chauvet
Venus of Willendorf,
Bison with turned Head,
La Madeleine, Dordonne
France
Stone tower in Jericho
Restored skulls
w/plastered faces,
Stonehenge
Ҫatal Hüyük wall painting
(Anatolia)
Spiritual?
Story Telling?
Hunting Records?
Beginning of art making
Earliest examples of human
creativity and skill reflecting
man’s response to his or her
surroundings/ environment
Stone Age
Neanderthals vs.
Cro-Magnons
Hunter and
Gatherer Existence
Ceremonial purposes,
art functioned as a
means for a more
permanent , agrarian
existence
Start of monumental
architecture and sculpture
Earliest landscape painting
Composite view of figure
Domestication
occurring ,
agriculture based
cultures as
opposed to strictly
hunting, final
recession of ice
age
Development of
writing
(pictographscuneiform)
Independent citystates appear,
earliest civilization,
polytheistic,
hierarchy of scale
Laws Established,
ruler’s status
equaling gods
(absolute
monarchy)
Mesolithic Art
8,000-4,000
B.C.E.
Neolithic Art
4,000-3,000
B.C.E.
Europe, Asia,
and Africa
Figurative
sculptures,
plastered skulls,
monumental
sculpture, pottery
Sculpture, stone
Architecture,
megaliths
Sumerian Art
3500-2300
B.C.E.
Southern Iraq
Between the
Tigris and
Euphrates
Mesopotamia
Figurative works
glorifying gods
and eventually
rulers, burial
artifacts, narrative
carvings
Architecture
(ziggurat)
Sculpture
Mosaic/ inlay
Mural painting
The Epic of Gilgamesh
(literature), Bull-headed
Lyre,
Standard of Ur, Warka
Vase, Female Head
(Inanna) from Uruk, Stele
of the Vultures
Narratives, Records,
of significant events,
art reflected history,
musical instruments,
important people and
religious symbols,
seals
Formalized the depiction of
the human body, pottery
wheel invented, luxurious
artifacts created for burial.
Akkadian Art
2300 B.C.E.2150 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
Rulers, rulers
equaling gods,
hierarchy of scale,
figurative
narratives
Sculpture, relief
sculpture, Diorite,
stone, hollowbronze casting
Bronze head of an
Akkadian ruler,
Victory Stele of NaramSin
Codes of Conduct, established
great Semitic empire,among
the earliest examples of
hollow bronze casting
Neo-Sumerian
Art
2150 B.C.E.1800 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
Sculpture
portraying Gudea
ensi of Lagash
(pious ruler),
votive statuettes
Architecture
Ziggurats, diorite
Ziggurat at Ur (one of the
greatest in
Mesopotamia), seated
statue of Gudea holding
temple plan
Imposing sculpture of
rulers, rulers
establishing
dominance through
carved narratives,
commemorative
military conquests
Worship/religious
purposes,”Figures/
stand-ins for servicing
gods and symbolizing
perpetual devotion
Babylonian Art
1800-B.C.E.1600 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
Gods,rulers esp.
Hammurabi(divine
authority),
figurative
narratives with
accompanying
text
Black basalt
sculpture
Stele with law code of
Hammurabi
Political artwork to
embody the new
concept of monarchy,
religious purposes,
codes of conduct and
or laws
New representation of the
figure, attempts @
foreshortening
Record of their belief system,
Hammurabi’s law code
(prescribed penalties for
offences)
Largest Ziggurat example,
around 20 statuettes of
Gudea survived, return to
Sumerian votive tradition,
temple construction and
reconstruction
Akkadians were
conquered by the
Guti (mountain
people) Sumerians
reacted to foreign
invaders by uniting
to establish a NeoSumerian state.
Political turmoil –
Babylonians est.
rule post Elamites
using art to
establish rule/
formed a
centralized gov.
Early
Beginnings in
Western Art
TimeLine
(Dates)
Region
(Location)
Dominant Subject
Matter
Dominant Media
Iconic Works
Function
Significance/Contributions
Historical
Context
Hittite Art
1600 B.C.E.900 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
Stone fortresses,
guardian stone
lions/ beasts at
entrances
stone
Lion Gate, Boghazköy,
Turkey
Stone lions acted as
the protectors to the
Baghazköy citadel/
barriers to stave off
attacks.
Established power and
authority through art
Elamite Art
1500 B.C.E.641 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
A Turkish gated
city was
established by
retreating
aggressors of
Babylonians; warlike society
Assyrian Art
900 B.C.E612 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
Royalty,
Important figures,
most extensive
series of narrative
reliefs in the
ancient Near East.
Statues/sculpture,
mural paintings,
grand
architecture
(palaces)
Religious,
power/authority of
king, art/architecture
served as an
expression of King
Sargon’s
grandeur/power and
piety (self-proclaimed
“King of the World”)
Glorification of kings, art
reflecting royal grandeur and
authority, adaptation of
Sumerian bent-axis approach
within ziggurat construction
(2,000 years later), high relief
monumental sculptures and
extensive historical painted
and relief narratives, most
extensive degree of
documentary detail anywhere
ever until Roman empire.
Conquered
Mesopotamia,
built marvelous
palaces and
expanded land to
Egypt.(constant
warfare)
Neo-Babylonian
Art
612 B.C.E.538 B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
Real and
imaginary animals
affiliated with
gods, royal
sculpture and
architecture
Defeated Assyrians
until Persian
conquest
538 B.C.E-330
B.C.E.
Mesopotamia
Fortified grand
palaces, royal
processions to
include subject
nation
representatives,
Assyrian-inspired
lamassus (wingedman-headed
bulls)
Buildings for
government and
worship; images relay
stories, depict
important figures
such as gods and
kings and animal/
beast affiliations
Expression of Persian
imperial ambitions,
fortitude, power,
grandeur
Restored Babylonian grandeur
under king Nebuchadnezzar II,
“Hanging Gardens” (one of 7
wonders) and “Tower of
Babel” (“Must See” list by
Greek poet Antipater.)
Achaemenid
Persian Art
Stone sculpture
and architecture,
“landscape
architecture”,
blue-glazed
molded relief
bricks
Painted carved
reliefs,
monumental
architecture to
include massive
columned,
soaring
apadanas(royal
audience halls),
stone
Contributed an important source of
knowledge of Persian architecture
(through ruins of palace of Persepolis)destroyed by Alexander the Great
(revenge for Persian sack of Athenian
acropolis in early 5th century B.C.E.),
technical stone cutting achievements,
subtle modeling and crisp chiseled
details in relief carving, reflects Assyrian
inspiration however offers more
rounded, higher relief forms., fabric fold
treatment reflects Archaic Greek
influence and greatly influenced along
with Egyptian style Greek Art
(Orientalizing Period) EXCHANGE
Defeated NeoBabylonians under
Cyrus of Persia
(Elamite descent),
Persian empire
became largest yet
known (Indus
River-Danube
River and Egypt)
until Alexander the
Great. (Greek)
Iwan-brick audience hall (barrel vault)/
blind arcades/serves as standard to later
Islamic architectural feats (1,000 yrs +)
Challenged Roman
empire authority
Sasanian Art
(New Persian
Empire during
Late Roman
empire)
224 C.E.- 636
C.E. (defeated
by
Arabs)ISLAMIC
ART BEGINS
Mesopotamia
Royal splendor
Plundered/stole stelea of
Naram-Sin and
Hammurabi, created
bronze & copper statue
of Queen Napir-Asu (wife
of one of most powerful
Elamite kings)
Lamassu:
Winged man-headed
bulls that would stand on
either side of an
entranceway (warding
off king’s visible and
invisible enemies), royal
citadel of King Sargon the
II (unfinished), glazed
murals and relief carvings
of palaces of
Ashurnasirpal II and
Ashurbanipal
“Hanging Gardens of
Babylon”,
Ziggurat =”Tower of
Babel”, Ishtar Gate
Palace at Persepolis
under Darius I and Xerxes
(successors of Cyrus)
especially Royal audience
hall ((apadana)
Palace of Shapur I, Head
of Sasanian king
(Shapur?), “Triumph of
Shapur I over Valerian”
(Roman emperor) rock
cut relief