Gardner’s Art Through the Ages,
12e
Chapter 5
Gods, Heroes, and Athletes:
The Art of Ancient Greece
pp. 120-164
1
Summary
Geometric statues & vases: Strong Asian influence, stylized
with geometric patterns.
Archaic Sculpture: Starts with, but moves away from
Egyptian influence.
Temples: Influenced by near east. Move from the simple
Cretan megaron, through Doric to Ionic.
.
Doric
Ionic
Severely plain
Highly ornamental
Echinus convex
Echinus small and supports
and cushionlike
bolster ending in scroll-like spirals
Frieze subdivided into
Frieze left open to provide
triglyphs and metopes
continuous field for relief
sculptures
Massive in appearance
Light and airy in appearance
2
The Greek World
3
TOPICS
•Early & High Classical Period
• Temple of Zeus, Olympia
• Statuary: The Perfect Statue
• The Athenian Acropolis:
• Parthenon
• Propylaia
• Erechtheion
• Temple of Nike
• Late Classical
• Hellentistic
4
Early & High Classical: Architectural Sculpture
East pediment Temple of Zeus, Olympia, ca 500-490 BCE
Represents the
chariot race
between Pelops
and King
Oinomaos, the
story told in
Aeschylus’
Oresteia.
5
Architectural Sculpture
The seer – who knows the future … is the only one who
reacts
• East pediment Temple
of Zeus, Olympia,
470-456 BCE
6
Architectural Sculpture
Labors of Herakles, metope TheTemple of Zeus, Olympia,
470-456 BCE
•The attitude (more human and
emotional) and dress (simple
Doric clothing) contrast with
the elaborately clothed, always
smiling Late Archaic style
statues.
•Contrapposto, the shifting of
weight to create counterbalance,
was a large step towards the
depiction of natural movement.
•Poses of the Late Archaic
period were inspired by
Egyptian rigidity and frontality
and did not accurately show
how real human beings stand.
7
Charioteer from Delphi, ca. 470 BCE
8
Hollow-casting life-size bronze sculpture
9
Sculpture
Zeus or Poseidon, ca.
460-450 BCE
10
Classical vs Archaic statuary
Riace Warrior, Italy ca. 460-450 BCE.
• Compare with Kritoi Boy
11
Dr Fisher’s Pictures: ATHENS
12
Roman Copies
• Made in marble ca. 450 BCE
• The discus thrower was part of a
search for an ideal form.
Beauty, Chrysippus feels,
resides not in the
commensurability
(symmetria) of the
constituents (i.e. of the
body), but in the
commensurability of
parts, such as the finger
to the finger, and of all
the fingers to the
metacarpus and the wrist
(carpus), and of these to
the forearm, and of the
the forearm to the arm, in
fact of everything to
everything, as it is written
13
in the Canon of
After Polykleitos
Doryphos [Roman Copy], Pompeii,
450-440 BCE
“Symmetria”
• He uses dynamic asymmetry rather
than static symmetry.
• Chiastic (cross) balance is motion
while at rest.
• Tense and relaxed limbs oppose
each other diagonally (the right leg
and the left arm are relaxed, and
the left leg and the right arm are
tensed).
14
Chrysippus onPolykleitos
Beauty, Chrysippus feels, resides not in the
commensurability (symmetria) of the
constituents (i.e. of the body), but in the
commensurability of parts, such as the finger
to the finger, and of all the fingers to the
metacarpus and the wrist (carpus), and of
these to the forearm, and of the forearm to
the arm, in fact of everything to everything,
as it is written in the Canon of Polyclitus. For
having taught us in that treatise all the
symmetriae of the body, Polyclitus supported
his treatise with a work, having made a statue
of a man according to the tenets of his
treatise, and having called the statue itself,
like the treatise, the Canon.
15
The Classical Period: Pericles
Kresilas, Pericles [Roman copy] ca. 429
• The “Delian League” – centered in
Delos
• The acropolis is not the fruits of
democracy, by of tyranny and abuse
of power.
16
The Acropolis -- Athens
17
The Acropolis -- Athens
18
The Parthenon
ca. 447-438 BCE
• The “Ideal” Temple
• Peripteral colonnade
largely standing
today.
Design the result of
blending math &
optics. Built
according to set
proportions.
19
The Parthenon
Doric with 2 Ionic elements.
• The back room had four tall and
slender Ionic columns as its sole
supports.
•The inner frieze that ran around the
top of the cella wall was Ionic.
Irregular elements:
• The stylobate curves upwards at the center on both the sides and
the façade, forming a shallow dome.
• The curvature of the shallow dome of the stylobate carries up
into the entabulature.
•The peristyle columns lean inward slightly.
20
Parthenon – inside the Cella
Reconstruction of Phidias, Athena Parthenos, 438 BCE
The Athena Parthenos was a
38-foot tall statue of Athena,
made of gold and ivory. She
was fully armed with a shield,
spear, and helmet, and she
held Nike, the winged female
personification of Victory. Her
sandals and shield bore
paintings and reliefs of battles.
21
The Acropolis
Lord Elgin:
• British ambassador to the
Ottoman court at Istanbul,
dismantled (with permission)
many of the Parthenon
sculptures and shipped them to
England between 1801 and 1803.
• He sold them to the British
government at great financial
loss.
• In modern times accused of
“stealing” Greece’s cultural
heritage, but also saved them
from certain ruin if they had
been left at the site.
Lapith vs centaur
Metope, Parthenon
22
The Acropolis
From the east pediment
of the Parthenon that
depicted the birth of
Athena.
• Helios & his horse
• Three goddesses.
ca. 438-432 BCE
23
The Acropolis -- Parthenon
The remains of the east pediment
24
The Acropolis -- Athens
A few of the Elgin
Marbles at the British
Museum [taken by Sally
Fowler]
25
The Acropolis -- Parthenon
The water-bearers from the Parthenon – now in the Acropolis
Museum.
Hydria
26
The Acropolis -- Parthenon
Festival procession
Gods & goddesses
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The Acropolis -- Parthenon
Maidens & elders
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The Acropolis -- Propylaia
Mnesikles, 437-432 BCE
• The entrance to the temple
complex.
29
Erechtheion
421-405 BCE
A multiple
shrine
30
Erechtheion
Better
proportioned
than the
Delphi ones.
31
Temple of Athena Nike
Ionic
Kallikrates,
427-424 BCE
• Worked with Iktinos
on Parthenon, which
may explain Ionic
elements in that
building.
• Stands on the site of a
former Mycenaean
bastion.
32
Temple of Athena Nike
Nike adjusting her sandal,
ca. 410 BCE
Stylistic features:
a. Clinging garments reveal
curves of the body
b. Intricate linear patterns of
folds create abstract design
c. Deep carving produces
pockets of shade to
contrast with the polished
marble
33
Grave Stele of Hegeso
Dipylon Cemetary
ca. 400 BCE
Same style as the
Temple of Athena
Nike.
34
Achilles Painter, ca 440 BCE.
• Polychromy & use of white ground
– variation on Red-figure painting
35
Niobid Painter
ca. 450 BCE
Artemis & Apollo
slaying the children
of Niobe. [because
she boasted to Leto
about having more
children than Leto]
36
Tomb of the Diver – Paestum, Italy, ca. 480 BCE
Possibly symbolizes the plunge from this life into the next.
37
Late Classical Period
Praxiteles – Aphrodite of
Knidos, Roman copy,
orig. 350-340 BCE
38
Late Classical Period
Praxiteles: Hermes &
the infant Dionysos,
324 BCE
39
Late Classical Period
Lysippos, ca 330 BCE
He introduced a new canon of
proportions, with the head oneeighth the height of the body
instead of one-seventh, for a more
slender figure. He also began to
break down the use of the
dominance of the frontal view of
sculptures and encouraged
viewers to look at the sculptures
from multiple angles.
40
Late Classical Period
Lysippos, Weary Herakles,
ca. 320 BCE
41
Late Classical Period: Architecture
42
Late Classical Period
Amphitheatre at
Epidauros, ca 350
BCE
43
Tholos, Delphi
44
Late Classical Period
The Greeks were slow to
adopt Corinthian capitals
– used at Delphi &
Epidauros only in the
interiors of sacred
buildings.
• The main advantage of a
Corinthian capital over an Ionic
capital was that
• All four sides have a similar
appearance, so corner
Corinthian capitals did not have
to be modified like Ionic capitals
to follow the rule of “triglyphs
at the corners of a frieze must
meet so that no space is left
over.”
• They also did not require the use
of metopes or triglyphs, because
an Ionic frieze could be used
instead.
45
Didyma
Hellenistic
Period
Begun 331 BCE
46
Hellenistic
Period: Priene
4th cen. BCE
47
The Acropolis – Athens
Stoa of Attalos II– ca 150 BCE
-- Now used as part of the
Acropolis Museum
48
Pergamon-Altar of Zeus
ca. 175 BCE
49
Pergamon-Altar of Zeus
ca. 175 BCE
50
Epigonis
Dying Gaul / Gallic chieftan killing himself & his wife
ca. 230-220 BCE [copies of orig. bronzes.]
51
Winged Victory of Samothrace
ca. 190 BCE – She’s alighting on a warship.
52
Winged Victory of Samothrace
a. The motion created through the
beating wings and the wind-swept
drapery.
b. The theatrical effect created by the
statue’s original setting, high atop a
fountain that featured water falling
down two tiers onto boulders.
c. The statue interacted with its
environment: it was reflected in the
water of the fountain, which
caused it to seem light and moving.
The sound of the water also
provided an aural element. It was
not an isolated work on a pedestal.
d. Its dynamic pose causes it to
appear living, breathing, and
emotional.
53
Venus de Milo
ca. 150-125 BCE
54
Aphrodite, Eros, Pan from Delos ca 100 BCE
Sleeping Satyr,
ca. 230-200 BCE
55
Seated Boxer ca. 100-50 BCE
56
Hellenistic
Polykeutos,
Demosthenes,
ca. BCE 280
Old Market Woman
ca. 150-100 BCE
57
Laocöon
Rome, Early First
Century CE.
The Trojan priest,
Laocöon, and his
sons were
strangled by sea
serpents while
they were
sacrificing at an
altar, a scene told
in the Aeneid.
58
Laocöon
Great emotion is showed by
Laocöon, who seems to give out a
huge cry of pain, which is
heightened by the writhing forms
of the serpents. Even his hair is
twisted and active. Motion is
created by dynamic poses and
every muscle of each figure is
tensed with drama.
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