Transcript ancient greece - cloudfront.net

ANCIENT
GREECE
GARDINER CHAPTER 5-4
PP. 121-125
CLASSICAL SCULPTURE

CLASSICAL PERIOD in Greek art begins in 480 with the
defeat of the Persians

Early Classical sculptors break away from the rigid and
unnatural Egyptian-inspired pose of Archaic kouroi ->
replaced by contrapposto -> disappearance of the
Archaic smile
SEVERE or EARLY CLASSICAL: 480 B.C.E. -> 5th century
Artists: Kritios
Artworks: pedimental sculpture from the Temple of Artemis,
Temple of Aphaia, Kritios Boy
Descriptions: contrapposto, movement
KRITIOS BOY

From the Acropolis, Athens, 480BCE, marble, 2’10”
high

One of the most important works of Greek
sculpture

Originally thought to be sculpted by Kritios

Slight dip to the right hip, showing shifting of weight
onto his left leg

Right leg bent -> at ease

Head turns slightly to the right and tilts

CONTRAPPOSTO = counter-balance -> weight shift
-> this separates Classical from Archaic Greek
statuary
RIACE WARRIOR

Warrior from the sea off of Riace,
Italy 460-450 BCE

One of a pair of bronze statues ->
nearly intact missing only shield,
spear and helmet

Masterpiece of hollow casting

Inlaid eyes, silver teeth and
eyelashes, copper lips and nipples

Weight shift more pronounced
than Kritios Boy -> head turns right,
shoulders tilt, hips swing, arms
freed from body

NATURAL MOTION IN SPACE
HOLLOW-CASTING
LIFE-SIZE BRONZE
STATUES

Requires great skill

Large statues were hollow-cast by the CIRE PERDUE
(LOST-WAX) method

Cast in parts -> head, arms, torso
1.
Full-size clay model
2.
clay master mold made around model then removed in
sections
3.
pieces of master mold reassembled
4.
layer of bees wax applied to inside of each mold
5.
mold removed
6.
hollow wax model corrected and detailed
7.
final clay model applied to wax mold and interior of wax
mold filled with a liquid clay core
8.
pins driven in to connect inner core and outer mold
9.
Wax melted out and molten bronze poured in its place
10.
Outer mold and inner clay core removed
11.
Statue pieces soldered together, surface smoothed,
inlays added
CHARIOTEER OF DELPHI

Bronze statue from Delphi 470 BCE

Originally part of a group
representing a team of horse
pulling a chariot driven by this
charioteer

Dedicated by Polyzalos, a tyrant,
who wanted to commemorate a
chariot race victory at the games
at Delphi

Stands in almost Archaic pose ->
but, slightly turned head and
separated feet show the Severe
Style of Early Classical
 (2-additional/chapter 5) ARTEMISION ZUES
Early Classical
c. 460-450 B.C.E
Bronze

Early Classical bronze statue of
either Zeus hurling thunderbolt or
Poseidon with triton

Found off the coast of Greece at
Cape Artemision

460-450 BCE

Both arms boldly extended, right
heel raised off the ground
FLASHCARD
MYRON, DISKOBOLOS

Diskobolos (Discus Thrower) by
the Early Classical master
MYRON

Original bronze is lost -> only
Roman marble copies survive

Tree trunk added to copy to
support weight of stone

Vigorous action statue ->
composed in almost Archaic
manner w/profile limbs and
nearly frontal chest

In-between motion, mid swing

Expressionless face

Use of negative space
HIGH CLASSICAL PERIOD
450-400 B.C.E

Early Classical period 480-450 ->
began with the defeat of the
Persians -> all Greek city-states join
to defeat Xerxes
CLASSICAL: 450 B.C.E. -> 5th century
Artists: Phidias, Polykleitos, Myron

Athens emerges as the great
power -> forms the Delian League
Artworks: Riace Warrior,
Zeus/Poseidon, Doryphoros,
Diskobolos, Nike Adjusting her Sandal

Delian League morphs into an
Athenian empire -> finances the
Acropolis
Descriptions: idealization,
unemotional, perfection, selfcontained
POLYKLEITOS’S
PRESCRIPTION FOR
THE PERFECT STATUE

Greeks believed that beauty
resided in harmonious numerical
ratios

POLYKLEITOS = mid-5th century
sculptor who defined the heroic
form of Classical sculpture ->
recorded his principles and the
proportions is his lost treatise
Canon

Mathematical formula for
perfection -> the head should be
1/7th of the body, etc.
FLASHCARD
 (2-34) DORYPHOROS (SPEAR BEARER)
Polykleitos
Original 450-440 B.C.E.
Roman copy (marble) of Greek original (bronze)

Roman marble copy from Pompeii, after a bronze original,
450-440 BCE, 6’11”

Polykleitos’s vision of the ideal statue of a nude male athlete
or warrior

Culmination of the evolution of Greek statuary from the
Archaic kouros to the Kritios Boy to the Riace warrior

Pronounced contrapposto -> aim was to impose order on
human movement -> to make it beautiful and perfect it

System of cross balance for all parts of the body ->
alternating tense and relaxed elements of the body -> left
arm and right leg are relaxed, right arm and left leg are
tensed

Asymmetrical balance -> motion while at rest -> the harmony
of opposites = the Polykleitan style
1.
5.
3.
4.
2.