Gardner’s
ART
THROUGH THE
AGES
5
Ancient
greece
The ideals of Greek art are
considered by historians to be
the foundation of Western
civilization and to have
touched literally all aspects of
modern western culture…
Ancient Greece
The Persian king Darius III, detail of Philoxenos of Eretria,
Battle of Issus, Roman mosaic copy of a painting of ca. 310
BCE. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples.
Greek painters were the first to employ foreshortening consistently,
to model figures in color, and to depict reflections and shadows –
practices that became standard in later painting in the western world.
The Greek World
Gardner’s
ART
THROUGH THE
Ancient greece:
AGES
5
Geometric, orientalizing, &
Archaic
periods
Geometric period
900 – 700 bce
Greek Archaic Art
New York Kouros
• Grave marker
• Frontal
• Cleared from block of stone,
but hands attached to hips
• One food in front of the other
• Bent arms
• Sharp shin lines
• Smile
• Knotted treatment of hair
• Nudity
http://www.metmuseum.org/Work
s_Of_Art/viewOne.asp?dep=1
3&viewmode=0&item=32.11.1
Peplos Kore
• Peplos: belted garment
• Figure looks like a column
• Some of painted surface
survives
• Hair falls in heavy knotted
strands
• Archaic smile
• One hand raised, breaks the
symmetry
http://www1.hollins.edu/faculty/sal
oweyca/Athenian%20Woman/
Nadia%20Manifold/peplos%20
kore.htm
Advanced Art History © by John Nici, published by Teaching Point, Inc.
9
Greek Archaic Art
Calf-Bearer
• Bearded
• Left foot forward
• Thin coat
• Rhobos the Calf-Bearer who brings offerings to Athena
as thanks for his prosperity
• Archaic smile
http://www.ancient-greece.org/images/museums/acropolismus/pages/109_0907b_jpg.htm
Advanced Art History © by John Nici, published by Teaching Point, Inc.
10
Greek Archaic Art
Dying Warrior, Temple of
Aphaia, Aegina
• Pediment sculpture
• Tight curly hair
• In action
• Stiffness
• Archaic smile
http://faculty.cva.edu/Stout/Greek/
DyingWarriorEast1.jpg
Dying Warrior, from the west
pediment of the Temple of
Aphaia, Aegina
• Pediment sculpture
• Tight curly hair
• In action
• Stiffness
• Archaic smile
• Bronze arrow in chest, no
signs of pain on body
• Complex cross-legged pose
http://faculty.cva.edu/Stout/Greek/
DyingWarriorWest1.jpg
Advanced Art History © by John Nici, published by Teaching Point, Inc.
11
Greek Pottery
Exekias, Ajax and Achilles
Playing Dice
• Greek Archaic art
• Black figure style
• Legs, spears and poses mirror
each other
• Spears show depth
• Decorative curly-cues
dominate legs
• Cloaks elaborately engraved
• Amphora
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exekia
s
Klietias, François Vase
• Greek Archaic art
• Black figure style
• Krater
• Nearly everything is labeled
• Every mythological god on the
vase, there to attend a
wedding
• Six superimposed rows
• 200 figures
• Artist and painted signed vase
(twice each)
Advanced Art History © by John Nici, published by Teaching Point, Inc.
12
Greek Pottery
Oesimos, Girl Preparing to Bathe
• Drinking cup or kylix
• Red figure style
• Border around figure
• Simple act of a figure taking clothes off to take a
bath
• Simple servant girl
• Stiff falling of drapery
• Body turns gently
Advanced Art History © by John Nici, published by Teaching Point, Inc.
13
Hero and centaur
(Herakles and Nessos?),
from Olympia, Greece, ca.
750-730 BCE. Bronze, 4
½” high. Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York.
Sculpture of the Geometric
period is small scale, and
the figures have simple
stylized shapes. This solidcast bronze statuette
depicts a hero battling a
centaur – an early example
of mythological narrative.
Statuette of a
horse, Greece,
8th century
BCE. Bronze, 6
15/16 in. high.
Small-scale
bronzes, such as
this horse, were
produced in
workshops
throughout the
Greek mainland
and represent the
most innovative
sculptural
achievements of
the period.
This solid-cast bronze horse exemplifies
Geometric art at its best. The flat parts
of the neck and legs are carefully
integrated with the cylindrical muzzle
and body of the animal.
The base, articulated with triangular
patterns suggesting a rocky terrain, further
contributes a sense of volume and lends
definition to the space occupied by the
figure. Freestanding figures of animals,
such as this one, were often dedicated in
Greek sanctuaries.
Geometric krater, from the Dipylon
cemetery, Athens, Greece, ca. 740
BCE. 3’ 4 1/2” high. Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York.
Figure painting reappeared in Greece in the Geometric period, named
for the abstract ornamentation on vessels like this krater, which
features a mourning scene and procession in honor of the deceased.
During the Geometric
period, monumental
grave markers were
introduced in the
form of large vases,
often decorated with
funerary
representations.
This magnificent
krater is attributed to
the Hirschfeld
Workshop.
The main scene, which occupies the widest portion of the vase,
shows the prothesis, a ritual in ancient Greek funerary practice in
which the deceased is laid out on a high bed (bier), usually within
the house. During the prothesis, relatives and friends may come to
mourn and pay their respects to the deceased. Here, the figure
seated at the foot of the bier may be the dead man's wife, and the
smaller figure on her lap their child.
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/14.130.14
Pyxis (box with lid),
Greece, mid-8th
century BCE. Attic
Terracotta, 9 15/16 in.
high.
This type of pyxis is an innovation in Athens around 850 BCE,
based on influences from Mycenaean and Proto-Geometric
pyxides and wooden boxes. It features a strongly curving body
and lid, a single, large motif, and concentric bands of dogtooth,
zigzag, and dots.
Although most pyxides
are found in graves,
ancient repairs on many
of these vessels indicate
their use during an
owner's lifetime. This
pyxis may have served as
a container for small
objects, such as jewelry
and toiletries. Its lid and
rim are perforated for a
string so that the vessel
could have been
suspended from a shelf,
for example.
Mantiklos Apollo, statuette of a
youth dedicated by Mantiklos to
Apollo, from Thebes, Greece,
ca. 700-680 BCE. Bronze, 8”
high. Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
Mantiklos dedicated this statuette
to Apollo, and it probably
represents the god. The treatment
of the body reveals the interest
seventh-century BCE Greek artist
had in reproducing details of
human anatomy.
Mantiklos Apollo, statuette of a
youth dedicated by Mantiklos to
Apollo, from Thebes, Greece,
ca. 700-680 BCE. Bronze, 8”
high. Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
Mantiklos dedicated this statuette
to Apollo, and it probably
represents the god. The treatment
of the body reveals the interest
seventh-century BCE Greek artist
had in reproducing details of
human anatomy.
Corinthian black-figured
amphora with animal
friezes, from Rhodes,
Greece, ca. 625-600 BCE.
1’2” high. British Museum,
London.
The Corinthians invented
the black-figured technique
of vase painting in which
artist painted black
silhouettes and then incised
linear details within the
forms. This early example
features Orientalizing
animals.
Lady of Auxerre (“Auxerre Goddess”),
ca. 650-625 BCE. Limestone, 2’ 1 ½”
high. Louvre, Paris.
Probably from Crete, this kore (maiden)
typifies the so-called Deadalic style of the
seventh century BCE with its triangular
face and hair and lingering Geometric
fondness for abstract pattern
Kouros (“New York
Kouros”), ca. 600 BCE.
Marble, 6 ½” high.
Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.
The sculptors of the earliest
life size-statues of kouroi
(young men) adopted the
Egyptian pose for standing
figures, but the kouroi are
nude and liberated from the
original block of stones.
Kouros (New York)
• Grave marker
• Frontal
• Cleared from block of stone,
but hands attached to hips
• One food in front of the other
• Bent arms
• Sharp shin lines
• Smile
• Knotted treatment of hair
• Nudity
http://www.metmuseum.org/Works_Of_Art/viewOne.as
p?dep=13&viewmode=0&item=32.11.1
Sunion Kouros
The “Naxian Sphinx”
from Delphi, 570-560
BCE. Marble, 87.4 in.
high. Archaeological
Museum of Delphi.
Calf bearer, dedicated by
Rhonbos on the Acropolis,
Athens, Greece, ca. 560 BCE.
Marble, restored height 5’ 5”;
Fragment 3’ 11 ½” high.
Acropolis Museum, Athens.
This statue of a bearded man
bringing a calf to sacrifice ion
thanksgiving to Athena is one of
the first to employ the so called
Archaic smile, the Archaic Greek
sculptor’s way of indicating a
person is alive.
Anavysos Kouros
Kroisos, from Anavysos, Greece,
ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 6’ 4” high.
National Archeological Museum,
Athens.
This later kouros stood over the
grave of Kroisos, a young man who
died in a battle. This statue displays
increased naturalism in its
proportions and more rounded
modeling of the face, torso, and
limbs.
Peplos Kore, from the
Acropolis, Athens, Greece,
ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 4’
high. Acropolis Museum,
Athens.
Peplos Kore
Unlike men, women are
always clothed in
Archaic statuary. This
kore is a votive statue
of a goddess wearing
four garments. She
once held her
identifying attribute in
her missing left hand.
Peplos Kore
• Peplos: belted garment
• Figure looks like a column
• Some of painted surface
survives
• Hair falls in heavy knotted
strands
• “Archaic Smile”
• One hand raised, breaks the
symmetry
http://www1.hollins.edu/faculty/saloweyca/Athenian%2
0Woman/Nadia%20Manifold/peplos%20kore.htm
The Peplos Kore is a female figure taking her name from the
heavy wool garment she wears over a chiton. Her dress is
simple and rigid, however her figure showing through seems
to swell. The face of the Peplos Kore is characterized by an
interest in converging planes. Her eyes and mouth are
emphasized by the hollowness of her face. She has strongly
protruding cheeks and a broad nose. Her mouth, although in
an archaic smile is soft and relaxed. She is said to have
worn a stephane or wreath on her head and carried an
attribute in her right hand. She is considered a hallmark of
the Attic Style. She is missing her left forearm and the lower
right corner of her skirt with forepart of her feet.
Women in art during this time were mainly presented in a
very modest but enchanting manner. This portrayal reflected
the attitudes of the time.
(left to right)
1. The Auxerre Goddess perhaps from Crete, limestone, c. 2.1' h, c.
640-630 BCE (Louvre, Paris)
2. The Berlin Kore from Keratea, Attica, stone, c. 6.3' h, c. 570-560
BCE (Staatliche Museen, Berlin)
3. The Peplos Kore from the Acropolis, stone, c. 3.8' h, c. 530 BCE
(Acropolis Museum, Athens)
4. Kore, stone, size NA, c. 500 BCE (Acropolis Museum, Athens)
5. Kore from the Acropolis, stone, c. 20" h, c. 480 BCE (Acropolis
Museum, Athens)
greek Women
• daily life
• education
• religion
• role in male-dominated
society
• child birth
• other activities
http://www1.hollins.edu/faculty/saloweyca/Athenian%20Woman/homepage/homepage.htm
(left to right)
1. Kouros from Attica, stone, c. 6' h, c. 600-590 BCE (Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York)
2. Kouros of Melos, stone, c. 7' h, c. 570-560 BCE (National
Museum, Athens)
3. Kouros of Tenea, stone, c. 4.5' h, c. 550 BCE (Glyptothek,
Munich)
4. Kouros of Anavysos, stone, c. 6.3' h, c. 540-530 BCE (National
Museum, Athens)
5. Pireaus Apollo, hollow cast bronze, c. 6' h, c. 530-520 BCE
(National Museum, Athens)
6. Kouros for Aristodikos, stone, c. 6' h, c. 510-500 BCE (National
Museum, Athens)
Temple of Hera I
(“Basilica”),
Paestum, Italy, ca.
550 BCE.
The peristyle of this huge
early Doric temple consists of
heavy, closely spaced, cigarshaped columns with bulky,
panacakelike capitals,
characteristics features of
Archaic Greek architecture.
West pediment from the temple of Artemis, Corfu, Greece, ca.
600-580 BCE. Limestone, greatest height 9’ 4”.
Archaeological Museum, Corfu.
The hideous Medusa and two panthers at the center of this early
pediment serve as temple guardians. To either side, and much
smaller, and scenes from the Trojan War and battle of gods and
giants.
Reconstruction
drawing of Siphnian
treasury, Delphi,
Greece, ca. 530 BCE
(John Burge).
Treasuries were
storehouses in
sanctuaries for a city’s
votive offerings. The Ionic
treasury in Siphnians
erected at Delphi
featured caryatids in the
porch, and sculputres in
the pediment and frieze.
Gigantomachy, detail of the north frieze of the Siphnian
Treasury, Delphi, Greece, ca. 530 BCE. Marble 2’ 1” high.
Archaeological Museum, Delphi.
Greek friezes were brightly painted. As in contemporaneous vase,
painting, the Siphnian frieze also had painted labels identifying the
various gods and giants. Some of the figures held metal weapons.
Gigantomachy, detail of the north frieze of the Siphnian
Treasury, Delphi, Greece, ca. 530 BCE. Marble, 2’ 1” high.
Archaeological Museum, Delphi.
Greek friezes were brightly painted. As in contemporaneous vase
painting, the Siphnian frieze also had painted labels identifying the
various gods and giants. Some of the figures held metal weapons.
KLEITIAS and Ergotimos,
francois Vase (Athenian
black-figure volute krater),
from Chiusi, Italy, ca. 570 2’
2” high. Museo
Archeologico, Florence.
Found in an Etruscan tomb, this
huge krater is signed by both
the painter and the potter and
has more than 200 mythological
figures presented in registers,
as a Geometric and
Orientalizing vases.
Exekias, Achilles
and Ajax playing a
dice game (detail
from an Athenian
black figure
amphora), from
Vulci, Italy, ca. 540530 BCE. Whole
vessel 2’ high;
detail 8 ½” high.
Musei Vaticani,
Rome.
The dramatic tension, adjustment of figures’ poses to the vase’s
shape, and intricacy of the engraved patterns of the cloaks are
hallmarks of Exekias, the greatest master of black figure
painting.
Andokides Painter, Achilles
and Ajax playing a dice
game (Athenian bilingual
amphora) from Orvieto, Italy,
ca. 525-520 BCE. 1’ 9” high.
Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston.
Around 530 BCE. The
Andokides Painter invented
the red figure techniques.
Some of his early vases are
“bilingual” that is, the same
scene appears on both sides.
Euphronios, Herakles
wrestling Antaios
(detail of Athenian
red-figure calyx
krater), from
Cerveteri, Italy, ca.
510 BCE. Whole
vessel 1’ 7” high
detail 7 ¾” high.
Louvre, Paris.
Euphronios rejected the age-old composite view for his depiction
of Herakles and the giant Antaios and instead attempted to
reproduce how the human body is seen from a particular
viewpoint.
Temple of
Aphaia,
Aegina,
Greece, ca.
500-490 BCE.
In this refined early-fifth-century BCE. Doric design. The columns
are more slender and widely spaced, and there are only 6
columns on the façade and 12 on the flanks.
Model of the
Temple of
Aphaia, Aegina,
Greece, ca. 500490 BCE,
showing internal
elevation,
Glyptothek,
Munich.
Later Doric architects also modified the plan of their temples.
The Aegina temple’s cella has two colonnades of two stories
each.
Guillaumeable
Blouet’s 1828
restored view
of façade of
the temple of
Aphaia,
Aegina,
Greece, ca.
500-490 BCE.
The restored view suggests how colorful the Greek temples were.
The designer solved the problem of composing figures in a
pediment by using the whole range of body postures from upright
to prostate.
Dying warrior, from the west pediment of the Temple of Aphia,
Aegina, Greece, ca. 490 BCE. Marble, 5’ 2 ½” long.
Glyptothek, Munich.
The statue of the west pediment of the early-fifth-century BCE
temple at Aegina exhibit Archaic features. This fallen warrior still
has a rigidly frontal torso and an Archaic smile on his face.
Dying warrior, from the east pediment of the temple of
Aphaia, Aegina, Greece, ca. 480 BCE. Marble 6’ 1” long.
Glyptothek, Munich.
The eastern dying warrior already belongs to the Classical era. His
posture is more natural, and he exhibits a new self-consciousness.
Concerned with his own pain, he does not have a face the viewer