Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e

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Chapter 5Gods, Heroes, and Athletes:

The Art of Ancient Greecepp. 120-164

Gardner’s Art Through the Ages, 12e

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SummaryGeometric 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 IonicSeverely plain Highly ornamentalEchinus convex Echinus small and

supports and cushionlike bolster ending in scroll-

like spiralsFrieze subdivided into Frieze left open to

provide triglyphs and metopes continuous field for relief sculptures

Massive in appearance Light and airy in appearance

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The Greek World

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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

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Early & High Classical: Architectural SculptureEast pediment Temple of Zeus, Olympia, ca 500-

490 BCE

Represents the chariot race between Pelops and King Oinomaos, the story told in Aeschylus’ Oresteia.

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Architectural Sculpture

The seer – who knows the future … is the only one who reacts

• East pediment Temple of Zeus, Olympia,470-456 BCE

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Architectural SculptureLabors 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.

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Charioteer from Delphi, ca. 470 BCE

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Hollow-casting life-size bronze sculpture

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Sculpture

Zeus or Poseidon, ca. 460-450 BCE

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Classical vs Archaic statuary

Riace Warrior, Italy ca. 460-450 BCE.

• Compare with Kritoi Boy

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Dr Fisher’s Pictures: ATHENS

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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 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.

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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).

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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.

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The Classical Period: PericlesKresilas, 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.

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The Acropolis -- Athens

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The Acropolis -- Athens

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The Parthenonca. 447-438

BCE• The “Ideal”

Temple• Peripteral

colonnade largely standing today.

Design the result of blending math & optics. Built according to set proportions.

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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.

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Parthenon – inside the CellaReconstruction of Phidias, Athena

Parthenos, 438 BCEThe 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.

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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 centaurMetope, Parthenon

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The Acropolis

From the east pediment of the Parthenon that depicted the birth of Athena.

• Helios & his horse• Three goddesses.

ca. 438-432 BCE

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The Acropolis -- Parthenon

The remains of the east pediment

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The Acropolis -- Athens A few of the Elgin

Marbles at the British Museum [taken by Sally Fowler]

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The Acropolis -- ParthenonThe water-bearers from the Parthenon – now in

the Acropolis Museum.

Hydria

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The Acropolis -- ParthenonFestival procession

Gods & goddesses

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The Acropolis -- Parthenon

Maidens & elders

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The Acropolis -- PropylaiaMnesikles, 437-432

BCE• The entrance to the

temple complex.

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Erechtheion421-405

BCEA multiple

shrine

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Erechtheion Better

proportioned than the Delphi ones.

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Temple of Athena Nike IonicKallikrates,

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.

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Temple of Athena Nike

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

Nike adjusting her sandal, ca. 410 BCE

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Grave Stele of HegesoDipylon Cemetary

ca. 400 BCESame style as the

Temple of Athena Nike.

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Achilles Painter, ca 440 BCE.• Polychromy & use of white

ground– variation on Red-figure

painting

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Niobid Painterca. 450 BCE Artemis &

Apollo slaying the children of Niobe. [because she boasted to Leto about having more children than Leto]

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Tomb of the Diver – Paestum, Italy, ca. 480 BCEPossibly symbolizes the plunge from this life

into the next.

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Late Classical PeriodPraxiteles –

Aphrodite of Knidos, Roman copy, orig. 350-340 BCE

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Late Classical Period Praxiteles:

Hermes & the infant Dionysos, 324 BCE

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Late Classical PeriodLysippos, ca 330

BCEHe introduced a new canon of proportions, with the head one-eighth 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.

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Late Classical Period

Lysippos, Weary Herakles, ca. 320 BCE

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Late Classical Period: Architecture

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Late Classical Period Amphitheatre

at Epidauros, ca 350 BCE

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Tholos, Delphi

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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.

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Didyma Hellenistic Period

Begun 331 BCE

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Hellenistic Period: Priene4th cen. BCE

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The Acropolis – AthensStoa of Attalos II– ca 150 BCE

-- Now used as part of the Acropolis Museum

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Pergamon-Altar of Zeusca. 175 BCE

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Pergamon-Altar of Zeusca. 175 BCE

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EpigonisDying Gaul / Gallic chieftan killing himself

& his wifeca. 230-220 BCE [copies of orig. bronzes.]

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Winged Victory of Samothrace ca. 190 BCE – She’s alighting on a warship.

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Winged Victory of Samothracea. 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.

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Venus de Miloca. 150-125

BCE

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Aphrodite, Eros, Pan from Delos ca 100 BCE Sleeping Satyr, ca. 230-200 BCE

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Seated Boxer ca. 100-50 BCE

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HellenisticPolykeutos,

Demosthenes, ca. BCE 280

Old Market Woman

ca. 150-100 BCE

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LaocöonRome, 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.

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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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