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Ancient Greece

What was the impact of all of this Greek art and architecture?

Venus, 1773, Joseph Nollekens, English Neoclassical period

Statue of Venus (the Mazarin Venus), A.D. 100–200, unknown, Roman

Aphrodite of Knidos, Roman copy of a Greek marble, c. 350-340 BCE, Praxiteles

Bust of a Woman, Roman, about A.D. 130

Bust of Maria Cerri Capranica, about 1640, attributed to Alessandro Algardi, Italian Baroque period

Parthenon, 447-432 BCE, Greece

Colosseum, c. 70-80 CE, Rome

Monticello, 1770-1806 CE, Charlottesville, Virginia, United States Neoclassical period

Trevi Fountain, 1732-1762 CE, Rome, Italian Neoclassical period

Greece changes how sculptures are made

Agora,

Athens, Greece

600-50 BCE

An open plaza at the base of the Acropolis

Contained commercial, civic, religious and social buildings

Panathenaic Procession passed through

Surrounded by important buildings - see list below left

*See also the slide on architecture for more info on the buildings of the agora

Ikitinos and Kallikrates

The Parthenon

447-438 BCE

marble

Constructed on the rebuilt Acropolis, after the Persian sack

The centerpiece of the Periclean Acropolis

Dedicated to Athena

Construction of the Acropolis occupied the most important artists and architects of the Classical Period

The Parthenon became a church in the Byzantine Period, then a Roman Catholic church, then a mosque after the Ottomans took over

The Christians removed the center of the pediment to build an apse and also removed the large sculpture of Athena

The Ottomans added a minaret

The building was mostly destroyed when the Venetians blew up the ammunition stored inside by the Ottomans, then they tried to remove sculptures from the outside, damaging many

Thomas Bruce removed most of the remaining sculptures and sold them to England

Part of a larger work that filled the East pediment of the Parthenon

These works are also known as the Elgin Marbles - sold to England by Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin, controversial removal of artifacts

This pediment shows the birth of Athena from the head of Zeus, other deities watch

The West pediment shows the battle to become the patron deity of Athens, between Athena and Poseidon

The themes are especially appropriate for a building celebrating Athena

The center was removed when the Parthenon was turned into a church

Theme: Sculpture

Ancient Greek Art

Greek art is characterized by a pantheon of gods celebrated in large civic and religious buildings.

  • Greek art is studied chronologically according to changes in style.
  • Greek works are not studied according to dynastic rule, as in Egypt, but according to broad changes in stylistic patterns.
  • Greek art is most known for its idealization and harmonic proportions, both in sculpture and in architecture.
  • Greek art has had an important impact on European art, particularly in the 18th century.

Much ancient writing survives in the fields of literature, law politics, and business. These documents shed light on Greek civilization as a whole, and on Greek art in particular.

  • Greek writing contains some of the earliest contemporary accounts about art and artists.
  • Epics form the foundation of Greek writing. The texts were at first transmitted orally, but later were written down.

Dates:

Archaic 600-480 BCE

Classical 480-323 BCE

Hellenistic 323-30 BCE

There are three ways Greek sculpture stands as a departure from the civilizations that have preceded it:

1. Greek sculpture is unafraid of nudity.

Unlike the Egyptians, who felt that nudity was debasing, the Greeks gloried in the perfection of the human body. At first, only men are shown as nude; gradually women are also depicted, although there is a reluctance to fully accept female nudity, even at the end of the Greek period.

2. Large Greek marble sculptures are cut away from the stone behind them. Large-scale bronze works were particularly treasured; their lighter weight made compositional experiments more ambitious.

3. Greek art in the Classical and Hellenistic periods use contrapposto

A relaxed way of standing with knees bent and shoulders tilted. The immobile look of Egyptian art is replaced by a more informal and fluid stance, enabling the figures to appear to move.

Helios, Horses and Dionysos

c. 438-432

Marble

1. Parthenon

2. Propylaia - gateway

3. pinakotheke - picture gallery

4. Erechtheion - temple

5. Temple of Athena Nike - temple

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/sculpture-from-the-east-pediment-of-the-parthenon/

**this has Google imaging

Reconstruction drawing of agora

Read this: http://smarthistory.org/the-parthenon/

Athena Parthenos (the virgin), holds Nike in her hand

Read this: http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1883142_1883129_1883001,00.html

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/the-athenian-agora-and-the-experiment-in-democracy/

Theme: Public Spaces

Map view of Acropolis

http://smarthistory.org/tag/ancient-greece/

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/the-parthenon-athens/

Theme: Religious buildings

Classical Influence on Later Buildings

Archaic Period

Classical Period

Grave stele of Hegeso,

from the Dipylon Cemetery

c. 400 BCE

marble

Large tombstone depicting genre scene

Hegeso examines a jewelry box that her servant holds, appears living though the epitaph reveals she has died

Replaces the use of kraters or kouroi to mark graves

Theme: Funerary Art

Kallikrates

Temple of Athena Nike

c. 427-424

Ionic temple

At entrance to Acropolis

Unusual amphiprostyle building (columns along front

and back only, not on sides - opposite of peristyle)

Celebrates Athena as a bringer of victory, one frieze depicts Persian defeat at Marathon

Parapet was decorated with relief carvings of Nike in different positions (see Nike adjusting her sandal)

Theme: Commemoration

Also called "The Canon" and the "perfect statue" - created as a perfect representation of the human form and it's proportions

Pythagoras believed that harmonic proportions could be found in all of nature, beauty resides in harmonic ratios - the Greeks applied this to music and architecture, as well as art

Polykleitos applied this theory to his works which best represent Classical Greek art

Polykleitan style:

  • Contrapposto is heavily pronounced
  • Asymmetrical balance
  • Motion while at rest
  • Harmony of opposites

Theme: Human Figure, Realism or Classical Influence on Later Art

Nike (Victory) adjusting her sandal,

from south side of Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis

c. 410 BCE

marble

Theme of temple is victory

Dozens of depictions of Nike

Modeled in high relief

Garments appear almost transparent and cling to the body, reveal body and create a decorative linear pattern

Theme: Figures in Motion

Plaque of the Ergastines

c. 438-432

marble

Grave marker, replaces the use of large vases on graves - see image at right

Not a portrait, but a depiction of an ideal warrior

Similarities and differences to Egyptian style:

  • Rigid, frontal view - like Egyptian style
  • Mask like face - like Egyptian style
  • Nude - unlike Egyptian
  • Freestanding - unlike most Egyptian
  • Hair falls in a more naturalistic way - unlike Egyptian style
  • Body is more naturalistic - unlike Egyptian style
  • Not reserved for royalty - unlike Egyptian style

Some paint survives

Uses the "Archaic smile" - a convention of the Greeks in this era to indicate that the person depicted is shown alive

Theme: Idealization, Human Figure or Funerary Art

Located inside the Parthenon

From the Panathenaic Freize, depicting the Panathenaic Procession - held every four years to honor Athena

The procession started at the Dipylon Gate, passed through the agora and ended on the Acropolis where Athenians placed a new peplos on a statue of Athena

Upper part of frieze is in higher relief to see the heads better from below

Uses isocephalism, all heads are in line

The Ergastines were in charge of weaving Athena's peplos

Theme: Relief Sculpture

Anavysos Kouros

530 BCE

marble and paint

Dipylon Krater, earlier form of grave marker, from Geometric period

Map of procession

New York Kouros

Parapet with frieze

Polykleitos, or

Spear Bearer (Doryphoros)

c. 450-440

marble copy from bronze original

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/parthenon-frieze/

http://smarthistory.org/plaque-of-the-ergastines/

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/grave-stele-of-hegeso/

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/anavysos-kouros/

http://smarthistory.org/marble-statue-of- a-kouros-new-york-kouros/

Archaic smile

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/contrapposto/

http://smarthistory.org/polykleitos-doryphoros-spear-bearer/

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/nike-adjusting-her-sandal-temple-of-athena-nike-acropolis-athens/

Read this: http://smarthistory.org/temple-nike/

Hellenistic Period

Philoxenos of Eretria

Battle of Issus,

Roman copy (Alexander Mosaic), from the House of the Faun, Pompeii, Italy

c. 310 BCE (late 2nd or early 1st century BCE)

glass and stone tesserae

Seated boxer,

from Baths of Constantine, Quirinal Hill, Rome, Italy

c. 100-50 BCE

Bronze

Hellenistic approach to subject, compare to earlier statues of Classical period

Uses traditional subject of an athlete but depicts him as an older, defeated boxer with a broken nose and battered ears, bloody hands

This is a Hellenistic original, found in Rome, possibly part of a group

Inlaid copper gives appearance of blood

Emotional - What feelings and emotions does this figure evoke?

Altar of Zeus and Athena at Pergamon

c. 175 BCE

marble

Ionic (R)

Doric (L)

Temple plans

Altar placed on elevated platform, dramatic, high placement

Larger than life frieze wraps all the way around

Contains an altar dedicated to Zeus

Ionic columns

Narrative parallels

  • King Attalos I's victories over the Gauls,
  • Alexander the Great's defeat of Persians and the
  • gods' defeat over the giants in mythology

Detail of Athena depicts her battle with giants

  • Giants are dragged up the stairs to worship the gods
  • Dramatic, high relief carving
  • Twisting, tumultuous forms
  • At right, Nike crowns Athena
  • Gaia, earth goddess, looks on in horror at fate of her sons, the giants

Theme: Relief Sculpture

Made in the red-figure style (red figures on a black background, see also black-figure pottery)

One side depicts the massacre of the Niobids, 12 children of Niobe, a human

The children were killed because Niobe boasted that she was superior to Leto, because she had more children

The figures are placed in a landscape, they are in different positions and one is in 3/4 profile

Breaks from tradition of isocephalism

Other side depicts a story, possibly connected to Hercules

Theme: Ceramics

Stylistic "sister" of Anavysos Kouros

Originally named for what was thought to be the peplos garment, however, now it is understood to be four separate garments which would have been worn by a goddess

Drapery reveals the body form

Some surface paint survived

Women are always clothed in Archaic statuary

Left arm is missing, probably holding an identifying attribute

Theme: Human Figure, Idealization or Funerary Art

Hellenistic art is know for extreme realism and high drama

Large scale rendering of Nike (Victory) landing on a ship's prow to crown a naval victor

The wings are beating, the wind sweeps around her dramatically

Originally positioned in a fountain of water, enhancing the visual effect of the subject and pose

Theme: Dramatic Sculpture

Location

Caryatid column, from the Erechtheion

Left, restored view of Peplos Kore

Right, actual view

Artemis and Apollo side

A Roman copy (in mosaic) of a Greek painting - Why did Romans make copies?

Most Greek painting did not survive

Darius III, the Persian king, is defeated by a heroic Alexander

The style is groundbreaking and shows a window into later styles of the Renaissance

Psychological, dramatic, complex composition

Theme: Battle and Glory

Temple plan, peripteral

Peplos Kore

c. 530 BCE

marble and paint

Architectural features and styles

Theme: Athletes and Human Figure

Niobid Painter

Artemis and Apollo slaying the children of Niobe (Athenian red-figure calyx krater) from Orvieto, Italy

c. 450 BCE

clay

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/apollonius-boxer-at-rest/

Nike alighting on a warship, (Nike of Samothrace)

c. 190 BCE

marble

Tholos, round temple design

How did they cast bronze?

https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/getty-museum/getty-sculpture/v/de-vries-bronze-casting

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/alexander-mosaic-from-the-house-of-the-faun-pompeii/

Read this: https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/greek-art/beginners-guide-greece/a/introduction-to-greek-architecture

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/greek-architectural-orders/

http://smarthistory.org/caryatid-and-ionic-column-from-the-erechtheion/

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/niobid-krater/

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/peplos-kore/

Doric, Ionic and Corinthian capitals

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/the-pergamon-altar/

Watch this: http://smarthistory.org/nike-winged-victory-of-samothrace/

Comparison image: Laocoon and his sons

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