Transcript ancient greece - Point Loma High School

ANCIENT
GREECE
GARDNER CHAPTER 5-6
PP. 134-140
Roman
marble copy
of Greek
bronze statue
of
Diadoumenos
by Polykleties
CLASSICAL PERIOD - PAINTING

Some of the greatest painters of the Classical period were the
painters of monumental wooden panels displayed in public
buildings -> these are all lost

THE WHITE-GROUND TECHNIQUE = vase painting technique that
takes its name from the chalky-white clay slip to provide the
background for painted figures

Method becomes popular in the mid 5th century
ACHILLES PAINTER

Warrior taking leave of his wife,
Athenian white-ground lekythos, 440
BCE, 1’5” high

Painter applied slip of white clay to
pot, outline the figures in black
glaze, colored the figures ->
additional polychrome colors
applied after firing ->
impermanence of expanded colors

White-ground technique not used
for everyday vessels -> mainly
lekythoi -> placed in graves as
offerings to the deceased

The shield with a large painted eye
NIOBID PAINTER

Artemis and Apollo slaying the
children of Niobe, Athenian redfigure krater, 450 BCE, 1’ 9” high

Niobe brags about having more
children than Leto, the mother of
Artemis and Apollo

Leto sends her children to slay
Niobe’s children -> lesson =
Niobe’s HUBRIS (arrogance) is
punished and no mortal is superior
to a god or goddess
PHIALE PAINTER

Hermes bringing the infant
Dionysos to
Papposilenos/grandpa-satyr

Athenian white-ground krater, 440435 BCE, 1’2” high

The Phiale painter used only colors
that could survive the heat of a
kiln -> reds, brown, purple, snowy
white

Diluted brown wash to color and
shade the rocks
TOMB OF THE DIVER, PAESTUM

Early example of Greek mural
painting

Youth diving, painted on the
ceiling of the Tomb of the Diver,
480 BCE, 3’4” high

The four walls of the small coffinlike tomb are decorated
w/banquet scenes

The youth diving symbolizes the
plunge from this life to the next
LATE CLASSICAL PERIOD

THE PELOPONNESIAN WAR 431-440
BCE -> Athens and Thebes
completely defeat Athens

No state successfully takes control of
Greece

Battle of Charonea in 338 BCE ->
Greeks cities suffer devastating loss
and are forced to give up their
independence to PHILIP OF
MACEDON

336 BCE Philip is assassinated his son
ALEXANDER THE GREAT succeeds
him

336-323 Alexander conquers the
Persian Empire, Egypt and even
reaches India
THE ATHENIAN LEAGUE
vs. THE SPARTAN
CONFEDERACY
LATE CLASSICAL SCULPTURE
The Ludovisi
Ares – 2nd
century
Roman
marble copy
of a late 4th
century
Greek bronze

4th century was a period of political
upheaval and chaos in Greece ->
profoundly impacted the psyche and art
of the Greeks

5th century Greeks believed that rational
humans could impose order on their
environment, create “perfect” statues like
the Canon of Polykleitos, and discover
the “correct” mathematical formulas for
constructing temples like the Parthenon

In 4th century there is a shift to focus on
the individual and real world
appearances not the ideal world of
perfect statues and perfect buildings
PRAXITELES

One of the master sculptors of the 4th
century

Praxiteles does not reject the themes
of the High Classical period -> still
superhuman beauty -> but lose
some of the solemn grandeur and
take on worldly sensuousness

APHRODITE OF KNIDOS, Roman
marble copy of a Greek marble,
350-340 BCE, 6’8” high

Caused a sensation -> a women
and goddess depicted nude ->
removed her garment and draped
over a hydria and is about to enter
the bath

Not openly erotic -> shields her pelvis
with her hand ->but it is sensuous
PRAXITELES – HERMES AND THE
INFANT DIONYSOS

Praxiteles? Found in the Temple of
Hera at Olympia, 340 BCE or 330-270
by a son or grandson, marble, 7’1”
high

Hermes has stopped to rest in the
forest on his way to entrust the
upbringing of Dionysos to grandpa
satyr and the nymphs

Hermes leans on tree trunk -> part of
the composition, not a later addition

Slender body forms a sinuous shallow
S curve

Dangle grapes to the infant ->
tender and very human interaction

Humanizing of the Olympic deities =
beautiful but not remote
SKOPAS

Distinctive individual styles emerge in the
Late Classical period of 4th century

Praxiteles = dreamy beautiful divinities

Skopas = intense
emotionalism/psychological tension

Grave stele of young hunter/the Ilissos
stele, 340-330 BCE, marble, 5’6” high

Male figure is the deceased hunter, small
boy openly sobbing, sad dog, old man is
father pondering irony of fate taking
young healthy son and preserved a frail
old man

Hunter looks out at viewer inviting
sympathy and forming an emotional
bridge between spectator and artwork
LYSIPPOS

3rd of the great Late Classical sculptors

New canon of proportions -> more
slender bodies and head 1/8 not 1/7 of
body

APOXYOMENOS (Scraper) = athlete
scraping oil from his body after exercising

Roman marble copy of bronze original
330 BCE, 6’9” high

Nervous energy -> athlete is about to
switch scraper to other hand and shift
weigh and reverse positions of legs

Breaks down the dominance of frontal
view -> encourages the viewer to look at
athlete from multiple angles

Arm thrust forward breaks out of
rectangular box of earlier statues
LYSIPPOS – WEARY
HERAKLES

The Farnese Herakles, 320 BCE,
almost twice life size 10’5” high

Exaggerated muscular
development of Herakles -> but,
strong man is so weary he must
lean on club

Depicted after getting the apples
of Hesperides -> compare with
Early Classical metope -> no
longer serene -> in this image he is
exhausted and pained

Late Classical sculpture =
humanizing of gods and heroes