Gardner’s Art Through the Ages
Chapter 5
Ancient Greece
1
The Greek World
2
Ancient Greece
• Humanism – the driving force behind Ancient Greece,
it is the belief that humans are “the measure of all
things” - Protagoras
– Helped to create democracy (rule by the demos)
– Greek gods were very “human” in form and actions
– Because humans are the measure in their perfection
they are beautiful
• Perfection became the Greek ideal
3
Geometric Period (9th – 8th centuries BCE)
4
Greek Pottery
The only examples of Greek painting that
have survived are on pottery.
5
Meander (key) pattern
dominates the rim
2 bands of figures mourning
Silhouettes are painted
frontally
Figure 5-2 Geometric krater, from
the Dipylon cemetery, Athens,
Greece, ca. 740 BCE. 3’ 4 1/2” high.
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York.
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Orientalizing Period (7th century BCE)
• Increased trade with eastern countries resulted in an
influence of those cultures on Greek Art
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Amphora – two handled
storage jar
Black-figure –black
silhouettes painted on
surface while red clay
showed through
Bands of painted animals
both native to Greece
(boar) and those exotic
(lions and panthers)
Eastern monsters –
sphinx, lammasu and
sirens
Figure 5.5 Corinthian black-figure
amphora with animal friezes, from
Rhodes, Greece, ca. 625–600 BCE. 1’
2” high. British Museum, London.
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Archaic Vase Painting
• Some vases were labeled and contained artist’s signatures
• François vase – signed by painter Kleitias and potter Ergutimas,
contained 200 figures in 6 registers, detail (next slide) shows
centaurs battling after a wedding where they attempted to kidnap
maidens and young boys.
– It is said to have images of all the Greek gods.
– Figures are painted in the traditional composite style of
ancient art.
9
Figure5-20 KLEITIAS and ERGOTIMOS, François Vase (Athenian black-figure volute krater),
from Chiusi, Italy, ca. 570 BCE. General view (top) and detail of centauromachy on other side of vase
(bottom). 2’ 2” high. Museo Archeologico, Florence.
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Archaic Vase Painting ****
•Exekias – famous black-figure painter who created Achilles and
Ajax Playing a Dice Game.
– The figures are monumental and within just one framed
panel.
– Ajax and Achilles have spears and shields at hand – they are
ready at a moment’s notice.
•Red-figure – first used on bilingual vases – one side was blackfigure, the other side red. Its advantages: it allowed more detail, and
an artist could build up layers to achieve textures or areas of
shading
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Figure 5-21 EXEKIAS, Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game (detail from an Athesnian
black-figure amphora), from Vulci, Italy, ca. 540–530 BCE. Whole vessel 2’ high; detail 8
1/2” high. Musei Vaticani, Rome.
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Figure 5-22 ANDOKIDES PAINTER, Achilles and Ajax playing a dice game (Athenian bilingual
amphora), from Orvieto, Italy, ca. 525–520 BCE. Black-figure side (left) and red-figure side (right). 1’
13
9” high. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Figure 5-23 EUPHRONIOS, Herakles wrestling Antaios (detail of an Athenian red-figure calyx
krater), from Cerveteri, Italy, ca. 510 BCE. Whole vessel 1’ 7” high; detail 7 3/4” high. Louvre,
Paris.
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Figures in ¾ view
(foreshortened)
Earlier artists felt this
was incomplete
Had phrase:
“Euthymides painted me
as never Euphronios
(could do)”
Figure 5-24 EUTHYMIDES, Three
revelers (Athenian red-figure amphora),
from Vulci, Italy, ca. 510 BCE. 2’ high.
Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich.
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Classical Pottery
White ground technique - chalky white slip
applied to create background
An example of Polychrome painting (which
would have been created on wooden panels
as well)
Colors would easily fade so these were not
used for daily purposes but as lekythos perfume bottle
Figure 5-58 ACHILLES PAINTER, Warrior taking
leave of his wife (Athenian white-ground lekythos),
from Eretria, Greece, ca. 440 BCE. Approx. 1’ 5”
high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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One side is devoted to the
massacre of the children of
Niobe. She felt she was superior
to the goddess Leto because she
had 10 more children. Leto sent
her two children, Apollo and
Artemis to punish Niobe’s hubris.
A landscape is created with rocks
and trees.
The figures actively interact with
each other and their
surroundings.
One figure, a slain son, is hidden
partially behind a rock and his
face is painted in 3/4 view something never done before.
Figure 5-59 NIOBID PAINTER, Artemis and Apollo slaying the children of Niobe (Athenian
17 redfigure calyx krater), from Orvieto, Italy, ca. 450 BCE. 1’ 9” high. Louvre, Paris
.
Figure 5-60 PHIALE PAINTER, Hermes bringing the infant Dionysos to Papposilenos
(Athenian white-ground calyx krater), from Vulci, Italy, ca. 440–435 BCE. 1’ 2” high.
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Musei Vaticani, Rome.
Archaic Period (650-480 BCE)
Beginning of monumental Greek Sculpture which follows
closely Egyptian canonical format
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Archaic Sculpture
• The increase of trade throughout the Mediterranean put the
Greeks into contact with the culture and artistic achievements of
Ancient Egypt.
• From this influence, arose two types of archaic statuary:
– Kouros – a young, standing nude male
– Kore – a draped young female
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Figure 5-8 Kouros, ca. 600 BCE. Marble, 6’ 1/2”
high. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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Archaic Sculpture
• The sculpture of the Archaic era was a bold innovation from the
Egyptian sculpture that inspired it.
• First, the kouros is free of the back slab that supported Egyptian
sculptures. They are the first freestanding sculptures.
• Second, the kouros were nude unlike the sculpture of the other
ancient cultures.
• It marks the beginning in the quest of Greek artists to create the
ideal human form.
22
Rhonbos was patron – representative
of himself (?) bringing offering to
Athena
Bearded so he is not a youth
Thin cloak, once painted – indicates
noble perfection and maturity
He has a smile – which later archaic
sculptures include to show the
aliveness of their subjects.
Figure 5-9 Calf Bearer, dedicated by
Rhonbos on the Acropolis, Athens, Greece,
ca. 560 BCE. Marble, restored height 5’ 5”;
fragment 3’ 11 1/2” high. Acropolis Museum,
Athens.
23
Monument of man who died in battle. An
inscription on the base reads: “Stop and
show pity beside the marker of Kroisos,
dead, whom once in battle’s front rank
raging Ares destroyed.”
Same Egyptian stance as earlier kourous
but has a more natural body
Originally painted using encaustic
(painting with wax) most Greek
sculptures would have been painted in a
similar fashion
Figure 5-10 Kroisos, from Anavysos, Greece, ca.
530 BCE. Marble, 6’ 4” high. National
Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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Traces of encaustic paint on
the Peplos Kore.
Peplos – long woolen belted
garment
Extended left arm broke away
from convention
Athena or maiden?
Women are always depicted
with clothing
Figure 5-11 Peplos Kore, from the Acropolis,
Athens, Greece, ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 4’
high. Acropolis Museum, Athens.
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Shows typical garments worn
by women of the time – chiton
(light linen) worn over a
heavier himation (mantle) –
the garment of choice for
fashionable women
Also shows how sculptors
tried to represent folds of
fabric and intricate patterns
Figure 5-12 Kore, from the Acropolis,
Athens, Greece, ca. 520–510 BCE. Marble,
1’ 9” high. Acropolis Museum, Athens.
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Archaic Temple sculpture
• Sculpture was a major part of the temples of Greek gods and
would inhabit the pediments and friezes.
• Archaic temple sculpture is characterized by:
– Figures look toward the viewer
– Contain the “archaic smile”
– Are somewhat unnatural in their size or stance in order for
them to fit within the space they are carved
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Medusa –Archaic bent legs, in shape of pinwheel
Two great felines serve as guardians
Bottom right Zeus is slaying a giant
Left –scene from Trojan war of how Neoptolemos killed King Priam
Figure 5-17 West pediment from the Temple of Artemis, Corfu, Greece,
ca. 600–580 BCE. Limestone, greatest height 9’ 4”. Archaeological Museum,
Corfu.
28
Figure 5-19 Gigantomachy, detail of the north frieze of the Siphnian
Treasury, Delphi, Greece, ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 2’ 1” high. Archaeological
Museum, Delphi.
29
Archaic front view and smile – West pediment
Figure 5-28 Dying warrior, from the west pediment of the Temple of Aphaia,
Aegina, Greece, ca. 500–490 BCE. Marble, 5’ 2 1/2” long. Glyptothek, Munich.
30
A more natural pose (Classical) – East Pediment
Figure5-29 Dying warrior, from the east pediment of the Temple of Aphaia, Aegina,
Greece, ca. 480 BCE. Marble, 6’ 1” long. Glyptothek, Munich.
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Greek temples
• Many early temples did not survive because they were
constructed of wood and mud brick.
• Later temples were built using limestone and in some
cases marble
• Archaic temples were inspired by the Egyptian columnar
halls
• Figural sculpture played a major role – to embellish, to
narrate the story of the deity or as votive offering
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Greek Temples
• Carved columns and moldings added to the “sculpture” of
the temples
• Temples were elevated above the city on an acropolis
• Difference between Greek temples and later religious shrines
– Altar was outside the temple at the east end, facing the
rising sun
– Temple proper housed the so-called cult statue - image of
god or goddess of the temple
– House of god or goddess not their followers
Greek Temples continued
• The temples’ design reflected the simplicity of the
megaron of the Mycenaean.
• They reflected the Greeks’ ideal of perfect form by
approaching the proportion of 1:2 of its sides
• This interest in proportion, to the Greeks, was
reflective of cosmic order
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Greek Temples continued
• Parts of a Greek temple
– Cella (naos) – room with no windows, housed cult
statue
– Pronaos – porch with two columns
– Anta – extended walls
– Opisthodomos – rear porch of early temples, not
functional but decorative
– Prostyle –Colonnade on front of temple
– Amphiproatyle – colonnade across front and back
of temple
– Peristyle – colonnade around entire cella
– Stylobate – platform on which the columns stand
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Peripteral Greek Temple
Figure 5-13 Plan of a typical peripteral Greek temple.
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Greek Orders of Architecture
• Doric –formulated on the Greek mainland and was preferred by the western
colonies
– Fluted (vertical channels) shaft, flutes meet in sharp ridges (arrises)
– Top of shaft marked with several horizontal line (necking)
– Capital has two parts: echnus (lower) is convex, abacus (upper) is a flat
square block
– Entablature has three parts: architrave (epistyle) – the main weigh bearing
element, the frieze is divided into triglyphs and metops and the cornice –
a molded horizontal projection that with the two sloping (raking) cornices
forms the pediment.
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Greek Orders continued
• Ionic – order of choice of the Aegean Islands and the west coast of Asia
Minor
– Fluted columns, are slimmer and rise from molded bases, flutes are flat
(fillets)
– Echinus is small and supports a bolster ending in volutes (scroll-like
spirals)
– Architrave is subdivided into 3 horizontal bands (fasciae)
– Frieze is left open for continuous relief sculpture
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Compare Doric and Ionic Orders
Figure 5-14 Elevations of the Doric and Ionic orders.
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Temple of Hera I (Basilica)
• 80x100ft built circa 550 BCE
• Doric order
• Unusual because it includes a central row of columns which divides the cella
into two aisles, this is common in Archaic architecture, perhaps they felt the
structure needed the additional support
• This did not allow for space for the cult statue
• The columns are closely spaced and in order to correspond with the interior,
there are nine columns on the facade
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Figure 5-15 Temple of Hera I (“Basilica”), Paestum, Italy, ca. 550 BCE.
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Figure 5-16 Plan of the Temple of Hera I, Paestum, Italy, ca. 550 BCE.
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