Classic & Hellenistic Greek Art

ART 111C: SURVEY OF ART HISTORY 1

CLASSICAL GREECE

480- 323 BC

Classical Greece■ Classical Greece was a period of around 200 years (5th and 4th centuries

BC) in Greek culture.■ This Classical period saw the annexation of much of modern-day Greece

by the Persian Empire and its subsequent independence. ■ This century is essentially studied from the Athenian outlook because

Athens has left us more narratives, plays, and other written works than the other ancient Greek states.

■ Classical Greece had a powerful influence on the Roman Empire and on the foundations of western civilization.

■ Much of modern Western politics, artistic thought (architecture, sculpture), scientific thought, theatre, literature, and philosophy derives from this period of Greek history. In the context of the art, architecture, and culture of , the Classical period, sometimes called the Hellenic period.

SCULPTURE

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Classical art: emphasizes rational simplicity, order, and

restrained emotion.

Greater interest in anatomy and more relaxed poses

More naturalistic and began to show the body as alive and

capable of movement

Polykleitos, wrote a book on the perfect proportions of the

human form and created this statue as an example

Classical Style – Ancient Greek, (480 - 323 B.C.)

Kritios BoyMarble480BC

• He's a milestone in the history of art. For the first time, man had created an perfect imitation of life.

• He's carved from marble

• But his skin looks like its baring weight

• He's in a relaxed stance

• Greeks artists had created exactly what their society had urged them to a truly realistic human body.

• What is going to be the affect on the Greeks?

• Within a century the Greeks stopped making statues that looked liked this. *

Classical Style – Ancient Greek, (480 - 323 B.C.)

•Primeval instinct to exaggerate!•This instinct is hardwired in all people, even if in some cultures has been suppressed. •This is a universal propensity that can be overridden by culture•The Kritios boy was too realistic= boring. •They had to do interesting things with the image, in order to stimulate the body’s urge. •Preprogrammed to want more. •More human than human.

Classical Style – Ancient Greek, (480 - 323 B.C.)Classical Style – Ancient Greek, (480 - 323 B.C.)

Universal man

Natural contrapposto/weight shift pose with s-curve

Lifelike and naturalistic figures, but with idealized youth, beauty, and perfect

proportions

Active poses yet calm and controlled facial expressions

balance between the mind and the body

Zeus (or Poseidon?), from the sea off Cape Artemision, Greece. 460-450 BC. Bronze. 6’10”

Polykleitos■ he is considered one of the most important sculptors of classical antiquity■ Polykleitos created the Classical Greek style (none of his original works

survive)■ Contrapposto was a posture in his statues in which the weight was placed

on one leg, and was a source of his fame■ Polykleitos created a new approach to sculpture, writing a treatise (Kanon)

and designing a male nude (also known as Kanon) exemplifying his aesthetic theories of the mathematical bases of artistic perfection

■ Polykleitos' Kanon: precise symmetry of all the parts to one another + general aim was clarity, balance, and completeness + statue should be composed of clearly definable parts all related through mathematical proportions & balance (1:7)

■ his sole medium of communication the naked body of an athlete, standing poised between movement and repose

Polykleitos of ArgosDoryphoros440BC■ Doryphoros: Spear Bearer ■ Depicts an athlete who once held a spear on

his left shoulder■ Typical of classical art- the figure is in the

prime of his life and blemish-free■ -not a portrait but a vision of the ideal■ The angles of the body compliment each

other- captured an athlete poised for action. ■ Seeking to show something more human

than human- human perfection. ■ Contrapposto- pose where weight lies on

one leg. Gives a lifelike quality to figures at rest

MyronDiskobolos

“discus thrower”

The original Greek bronze is lost but the work is known through numerous Roman copies

Myron has created the enduring pattern of athletic energy

The moment thus captured in the statue is an example of rhythmos, harmony and balance

Myron is often credited with being the first sculptor to master this style

Naturally, as always in Greek athletics, the Discobolus is completely nude

Lysippos• Lysippos was successor in

contemporary repute to the famous sculptor Polykleitos

• personal sculptor to Alexander the Great

• new canon of proportion pioneered by Lysippos 1:8 proportion= smaller head + longer & thinner limbs

Skopas• Renowned for his 'pathetic' style

characterized by deep-set eyes and open mouth.

Praxiteles• He was the first to sculpt the nude

female form in a life-size statue

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Apoxyomenos (the "Scraper") is one of the conventional subjects of ancient Greek votive sculpture; it represents an athlete, caught in the familiar act of scraping sweat and dust from his body with the small curved instrument that the Romans called a strigil

The most renowned Apoxyomenos in Classical Antiquity was that of Lysippos of Sikyon, the court sculptor of Alexander the Great, made in 330 BC

The bronze original is lost

The sculpture, slightly larger than life-size, is characteristic of the new canon of proportion pioneered by Lysippos, with a slightly smaller head (1:8 of the total height, rather than the 1:7 of Polykleitos) and longer and thinner limbs.

Lysippos "used commonly to say" - that while other artists "made men as they really were, he made them as they appeared to be."

Lysippus poses his subject in a true contrapposto, with an arm outstretched to create a sense of movement and interest from a range of viewing angles

LysipposWeary Herakles (Farnese Herakles)320 BCRoman Copy

Colossal statue depicting a weary Herakles, the viewer must walk around it.

The original is lost

Is nearly twice life-size and was exhibited in the Baths of the Emperor Caracalla in Rome

Muscle-bound Greek hero provided inspiration for many Romans who came to the baths

Exaggerated muscular development of Herakles is poignantly ironic, for the sculptor depicted the strongman as so weary that he must lean on his club for support.

Lysippos rejected stability & balance as worthy goals for statuary

Herakles holds the apples of the Hesperides- same subject as Temple of Zeus- but here is not serene- he’s human!

SkopasBust of Meleager

Skopas was one of the great sculptors of his age, renowned especially for his depictions of gods.

His style was notable for its introduction of an intense depiction of human emotion into the previously more reserved psychology of Greek classicism.Typical of Skopas’s innovations are the slightly parted lips, the low forehead that protrudes over the bridge of the nose and eyes, and the heavy roll of flesh swelling over the outer corners of the eyes

PraxitelesAphrodite of KnidosThe statue became famous for its beauty, meant to be appreciated from every angle, and for being the first life-size representation of the nude female form.It was especially shocking as it was commissioned as the cult statue for a temple.It depicted the goddess Aphrodite as she prepared for the ritual bath that restored her purity (not virginity), discarding her drapery with one hand, while modestly shielding herself with the other.Her hands are placed in a motion that simultaneously shields her womanhood and draws attention to her nudity.the body bending in a contrapposto position

Riace Bronzes460-450 BC

■ Relatively unknown to the world at large- though debated as the best statues ever produced

■ Made 2,000 years before the Renaissance■ As realistic looking of the human body as possible.. Ideally.■ Not anatomically possible for a man to look like this.■ The division between top and bottom are exaggerated and more

defined than it ever could be■ The legs are artificially long to match the top of the body■ Implausibly deep groove between the chest■ The chest muscles are relaxed while the back are tense and defined■ The channel down the back are deeper than possible■ Missing a coccyx bone ■ This is why they’re so overwhelming! ■ The first civilization of realism used exaggeration to go

further.■ This still runs our world today! We humans do not like

reality.

Classical Style – Ancient Greek, (480 - 323 B.C.)

The wax parts were joined and finished, and fine iron wires were inserted to secure the core (F). Channels were added to the wax model to allow the molten bronze to be poured in and gases to escape (G). This assembly was then encased in a plaster mixture (H). The plaster mold was heated and dried. The wax was melted out, leaving a void in the shape of the model, and the plaster core suspended inside by the iron wires (I). Molten bronze was poured in, surrounding the core and filling every part of the mold (J). The channels and core pins were removed from the cast and the surface was cleaned, chased, and polished (K).

A casting method that produces multiple bronzes from a single model. A wax model was prepared in the form of the desired bronze figure (A). A plaster piece mold would be prepared around the model, then disassembled and the model removed (B). The mold was reassembled, tightly bound, and used to cast a wax copy in several parts. For solid parts, the mold was filled with hot wax (C). For hollow parts, the wax was swirled inside the mold and the excess poured out (D). The remaining wax shell was filled with a mixture of plaster and sand, forming a core, and the wax with its core was then removed from the mold (E).

CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

Purpose of Temples■ Temples served as the location of a cult image and as a storage place or

strong room for the treasury associated with the cult of the god in question, and as a place for devotees of the god to leave their votive offerings, such as statues, helmets and weapons.

■ Some Greek temples appear to have been oriented astronomically.■ The temple was generally part of a religious precinct known as the

acropolis.■ According to Aristotle, '"the site should be a spot seen far and wide,

which gives good elevation to virtue and towers over the neighborhood".■ Small circular temples, tholos were also constructed, as well as small

temple-like buildings that served as treasuries for specific groups of donors.

Temple of Zeus, Olympia470-457BCArchitect: Libon of ElisThe first great monument of Classicla art and architecture. Built at the site of the quadrennial Olympic Games

dedicated to the god Zeus.

fully developed classical Greek temple of the Doric order + peripteral form

An echo of the temple's original appearance can be seen in the Second Temple of Hera at Paestum, which closely followed its form, although it is ruined today.

The temple featured carved metopes and triglyph friezes, topped by pediments

68 feet x 95 feet x230 feet .

The temple housed the renowned statue of Zeus, which was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.

The gold and ivory statue was approximately 13 m (43 ft) high, and was made by the sculptor Phidias in his workshop on the site at Olympia.

The statue's completion took approximately 12 years and was one of Classical Greece's most revered artistic works.

Metopes

Pediment

East Pediment from the Temple of Zeus. Approx. 87’ wide

The pedimental statues (which faced toward the starting points of all Olympic chariot races) are, in fact, posed like actors on a stage. Zeus in the center, Oinomaos and his wife on one side, Pelops and Hippodameia on the other, and their respective chariots to each side. All are quiet; the horrible event known to every spectator have yet to occur.Only one man reacts- a seer, who knows the future. He is a remarkable figure!

Unlike the gods, heroes, and noble youths and maidens who are the almost exclusive subjects of Archaic and Classical Greek statuary, this seer is a real depiction of old age. He has a balding, wrinkled head and sagging musculature- and a horrified expression on his face! This is a true show of emotion, unlike the stereotypical “archaic smile”

Zeus Oinomaos &

wifePelops & Hippodameia

Seer

Athena, Herakles, and Atlas with the apples of the Hesperides Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece, 470-456 BC. Marble, 5′ 3″ high

The Twelve Labors of HerculesThe metopes of the Zeus temple are also thematically connected wit the site, for they depict the twelve labors of Herakles, the legendary founder of the Olympic Games. In this metope, Herakles holds up to the sky (with the aid of the goddess Athena- and a cushion) in place of Atlas, who had undertaken eh dangerous journey to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides for the hero. The load soon will be transferred back to Atlas, but now each of the very high relief figures in the metope stands quietly with the same serene dignity as the statues in the Olympia pediment. In both attitude & dress (Doric peplos for the women) all the Olympia figures display a severity that contrasts sharpy with the smiling and elaborately clad figures of the Archaic period

ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS

Acropolis

The Founding of AthensThe first king of Athens, King Cecrops set out to find a patron deity for his city

state; already a prosperous and vibrant city. He called on Athena and Poseidon because both in fact desired to be the patron of this beautiful city. Their rivalry was so intense that they almost went to war and just as they were about to attack each other, Athena, with her typical, wise approach suggested that they should hold a contest for the city. With King Cecrops the judge they set up the contest and decided that whoever presented the city with the best gift would be rewarded with the city itself as the grand prize.

In the midst of a huge crowd, with King Cecrops presiding over the contest they went up to the Acropolis to present their gifts to the city. Poseidon was to go first, and he lifted his massive trident (three pointed spear) and struck the earth with it. At the point where the spear struck, a frothy spring burst out producing a sea which is now called Erekhtheis. The people loved it but as they went closer to taste the water, to their dismay the water was salty. Don’t forget that Poseidon was ruler of the sea and the water sources he controlled were inevitably salty, just like the seas he ruled.

When it was Athena's turn her act was far less dramatic. She quietly knelt and buried something in the ground which in time grew into an olive tree. This turned out to be a much more useful gift, granting the Athenians, not only the olives themselves as sustenance, but also a source of oil for their lamps and for cooking their food as well as the wood from the olive tree to build their boasts and houses. Clearly Athena's gift was deemed by far the better by Cecrops and he declared her the winner, and the patron deity of Athens

Kekrops

was a mythical king of Athens who, according to Eusebius reigned for fifty yearsit is said that, born from the earth itself, he had his top half shaped like a man and the bottom half in serpent or fish-tail form.He was the founder and the first king of Athens itself,. Cecrops was a culture hero, teaching the Athenians marriage, reading and writing, and ceremonial burial.

ATHENS & THE ACROPOLIS •While Polykleitos was formulating his Canon in Argos, the Athenians, under leadership of Pericles, were at work on one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken:•the reconstruction of the Acropolis after the Persian sack of 480BC.•Athens, despite the damage it suffered at he hands of the army of Xerxes, emerged from the war with enormous power and prestige.•The Athenian commander Themistocles had decisively defeated the Persian navy off the island of the Salamis, southwest of Athens and forced it to retreat to Asia. •Athens formed an alliance for mutual protection against any threat known as the Delian League. •Some city-states provided furnished ships and others paid an annual tribute to the treasury.

■ In 454BC the Delian treasury was transferred to Athens. Tribute continued to be paid, but the surplus reserves were not expended for the common good of the allied Greek states.

■ Rather, they were expropriated to pay the enormous cost of executing Pericles’ grand plan to embellish the Acropolis of Athens

■ The reaction of the allies & the Athenians was predictable.

■ The Greeks felt victims of Athenian tyranny■ This is important to keep in mind when

examining those great and universally admired buildings erected on the Acropolis.

■ They are not, as some would wish people to believe, the glorious fruits of Athenian democracy but are instead the by-products of tyranny and the abuse of power.

Pericles

ACROPOLIS OF ATHENS• is a citadel located on an extremely rocky outcrop above the city of

• Purpose of Acropolis : to provide sacred grounds dedicated to Athena, the city's matron deity.• it was Pericles (c. 495 – 429 BC) in the fifth century BC who coordinated the construction of the site's most

important buildings including the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion and the Temple of Athena Nike.

• The Parthenon and the other buildings were seriously damaged during the 1687 siege by the Venetians in the Morean War when gunpowder being stored in the Parthenon was hit by a cannonball and exploded.

• Having concluded the Persian wars, Athens had become, by 447 B.C., the dominant power in what is now Greece, the center of a regional empire.

• Funds from the other city-states in the Delian League, initially formed to fight Persia, were used to build it.

• The Acropolis had initially housed kings in Athens’ earliest history, so the site resonated with temporal authority, making the choice to construct a temple to the city’s patroness especially significant in terms of the message such a site and such a building sent to Athens’ citizens, and to the city’s rivals.

Propylaea

is any monumental gateway in Greek architecture

Parthenon The main purpose of the Parthenon was as a

temple for Athena, virgin goddess and patron of Athens.

Temple for almost 900 years! Architects: Kallikrates & Iktines The building’s very name means “the virgin’s

place” in Greek the structure symbolizes the city itself at “the

height of its power.” The temple initially kept a colossal, ivory-and-

gold statue of Athena Behind the large temple chamber, a second,

smaller room housed a treasury, where donations and tithes were stored and counted.

Every four years, Athenians held a procession to honor the goddess; the Parthenon’s friezes depict one.

Just as the contemporary Doryphoros by Polykleios may be seen as the ideal proportions of the various human bodily parts, so, too, the Parthenon may be viewed as the ideal solution to the Greek architect’s quest for perfect proportions in Doric temple design.

Its well-spaced columns, with their slender shafts, and the capitals, with their straight-sided conical echinuses are the ultimate refinement of the bulging and squat Doric columns and compressed capitals of the Hera temples

Proportions Beautiful proportions resulted from strict adherence to harmonious numerical ratios!For the Parthenon, the controlling ratio was x=2y+1, where x is the larger number and y is the smaller number.Thus, for example, the temple’s short ends have 8 columns and the long sides have 17.17= (2 X 8) +1

If the stylobate is laid out on a level surface, it will appear to sag at the center- floor is convex!

524 ft long!

92 metopes- relief sculptures!

Doric + Ionic Temple Qualities

Pediment statues are life-size!

PhidiasAthena ParthenosToronto, Canada438BC

Destroyed long before the 19th century

We know about the statue from Roman

copies & Greek & Latin descriptions

Chryselphantine: statue made of gold &

ivory

Stood 38 feet tall The Parthenon was designed around it

Athena was armed with shield, spear & helmet

and held Nike (the winged female

personification of Victory)

Victory associated with defeat of the Persians

in 479 Bc

On the thick soles of Athena’s sandals was a

representation of a centauromachy.

Her shield’s exterior was emblazoned with high reliefs depicting the battle of Greeks &

Amazons

Each of these mythological contests was a metaphor for the triumpoh of order over chaos, of civilization over barbarism, and of Athens

over Persia

West Pediment:Contest Between Athena & Poseidon

The west pediment depicted the contest between Athena and Poseidon for Athens.Athena and Poseidon appear at the center of the composition, diverging from one another in strong diagonal forms, with the goddess holding the olive tree and the god of the sea raising his trident to strike the earth. Metaope below: amazonomachy Pediment no longer exists.

Reclining hero, perhaps the river-god Ilissos

East Pediment: Birth of AthenaPhidias is the sculptor for both pedimentsAthena emerges out of Zeus’s headReclining figure might be Apollofull free-standing sculpturesMetopes below: gigantomachyThe center of the pediment was damaged when the apse was added to the Parthenon at the time of its conversion into a church.What remains are the spectators to the left & right who witnessed Athena’s birth on Mount Olympus.

On the left: the head & arms of Helios (the Sun) and his chariot horses rising from the pediment floor

On the right: three goddesses, probably Hestia, Dione & Aphrodite

High Classical Drapery Style (wet style)

Drapery both reveals and conceals

Doric Metope

The best preserved metopes are those of the south side: which depicted the battle of Lapiths & Centaurs (Centauromachy)

The metopes of each side of the building (14 each on the eastern and western walls, 32 each on the northern and southern walls) had a different

They are famous examples of the Classical Greek high-relief.

Centauromachy

GIGANTOMACHY

Amazonomachy

Trojan WarViewing their battles as heroic as the grand mythology

Inside the Parthenon438-432BC

PANATHENAIC FESTIVAL• Depicted on frieze- combining ionic + doric temple type

• Shows a procession dedicated to Athena

• Represents the festival that took place every 4 years dedicated to Athena

• Women would carry the peplos garment through the city to the temple then place it on a wooden statue of Athena on the Acropolis (statue later moved to Erechtheion)

• Festival began outside of city walls in a region where the potters lived/worked- Keramicos

• Frieze symbolizes the city

• Phidias criticized for depicting humans and not gods! Humans on the scale of the gods!

• Of the 524 feet (160 m) of the original frieze, 420 feet (130 m) survives—some 80 percent.

• The rest is known only from the drawings attributed to French artist Jacques Carrey in 1674, thirteen years before the Venetian bombardment that ruined the temple.

• The Athenians judged themselves fit for inclusion in the temples' sculptural decoration.

• It is another example of the extraordinary high opinion the Athenians had of their own worth.

• The procession began in the agora (marketplace) and ended on the Acropolis, where a new peplos was placed on an ancient wooden statue of Athena.

• That Athena was housed in an Archaic temple destroyed by the Persians

• The entire procession is depicted on the frieze.

The Frieze vividly communicates the procession’s acceleration and deceleration.

On the north and south, the momentum picks up as the cavalcade moves from the lower town to the Acropolis, accompanied by chariots, musicians, jar carriers and animals destined for sacrifice.

ON THE EAST, SEATED GODS AND GODDESSES.

The invited guests , watch the procession slow almost to a halt- as it nears its goal at the shrine of Athena’s ancient wooden idol

Most remarkable of all is the role assigned to the Olympian deities.They do not take part in the festival or determine tis outcome but are merely spectators.

Aphrodite, extends her left arm to draw her son Eros’s attention to the Athenians- just like a parent would at a parade to point out important people.

The Athenian people were important!They were masters of an empire and here Athenians are elevated to the status of gods. The Parthenon celebrated the greatness of Athens & the Athenians as much as it honored Athena.

It is noteworthy that the upper part of the relief was higher than the lower part so that the more distant and more shaded upper zone was as legible from the ground as the lower part of the frieze.

Another instance of taking optical effects into consideration in the Parthenon’s design.

Head of Processionhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzZF1lP4Rbk

Other Architecture from the Acropolis

ERECHTHEION • Temple dedicated to Athena and Poseidon.

• Contained some of the most holy relics of the Athenians:

• the Palladion, ( a wooden effigy fallen from heaven - not man-made) of Athena (Protectress of the City)

• the marks of Poseidon's trident and the salt water well (the "salt sea") that resulted from Poseidon's strike

• the sacred olive tree that sprouted when Athena struck the rock with her spear in her successful rivalry with Poseidon for the city

• the supposed burial places of the mythical kings Kekrops and Erechtheus

The Porch of the Caryatids

TEMPLE OF ATHENA NIKE420BC

• named after the Greek goddess, Athena Nike

• the temple is the earliest fully Ionic temple on the Acropolis

• Nike means victory in Greek, and Athena was worshipped in this form, as goddess of victory in war and wisdom.

• The citizens worshipped the goddess in hope of a successful outcome in the long Peloponnesian War fought on land and sea against the Spartans and their allies

The famous frieze of Athena adjusting her sandal is an example of Wet drapery.

Wet drapery involves showing the form of the body but also concealing the body with the drapery of the clothing.

Some friezes are from the Persian and Peloponnesian wars.

The friezes contained a cavalry scene from the battle of Marathon and a Greek victory over the Persians at the battle of Plataea.

The battles represent Greek and Athenian dominance through military power and historical events.

THEATRE OF DIONYSUS

• built at the foot of the Athenian Acropolis

• Dedicated to Dionysus, the god of plays and wine

• The theatre could seat as many as 17,000 people with excellent acoustics, making it an ideal location for ancient Athens' biggest theatrical celebration, the Dionysia.

• It was the first stone theatre ever built, cut into the southern cliff face of the Acropolis, and supposedly birthplace of Greek tragedy.

• The remains of a restored and redesigned Roman version can still be seen at the site today.

ODEON OF HERODES ATTICUS 161 AD• stone theatre structure located on

the southwest slope of the Acropolis of Athens

• It was built by Herodes Atticus in memory of his wife, Aspasia Annia Regilla.

• It was originally a steep-sloped theater with a three-story stone front wall and a wooden roof

• It was used as a venue for music concerts with a capacity of 5,000.

• It lasted intact until it was destroyed and left in ruins by the Heruli in 267 AD.

THE THEATRE AND TEMPLE OF APOLLO DELPHI

OTHER CLASSICAL SCULPTURE

GRAVE STELAE• Ancient Greeks chose to depict their deceased and their importance

in the family and society by ways of a funerary stele.• stelae were fixed/permanent monuments, displayed outdoors for

public viewing, and are constructed by a family for a specific person, making them far more expensive and exclusive than pottery.[

• It is clear that the purpose of these monuments is to commemorate the deceased.

• the aspect of burial was an incredibly important part of death. • As seen in scenes from Homer’s Illiad in which Patroclus’ ghost begs

his cousin, Achilles, to bury him so that he may pass through the gates of Hades.

• The burial of the body was key to preserving the dignity of the body and of the deceased.

• In conjunction with the elaborate rituals performed at the burial or cremation of the deceased, the erection of a funerary monument was important in remembering the deceased and portraying them in an idealized form for the public to see.

• While the costs of erecting a funerary monument are unclear, we can assume that it was less likely that the poorer citizens of ancient Greece were able to afford the erection of a grandiose burial stele for their deceased

MARBLE GRAVE STELE OF A LITTLE GIRL450BC

•The gentle gravity of this child is beautifully expressed through her sweet farewell to her pet doves.

• Her peplos is unbelted and falls open at the side, while the folds of drapery clearly reveal her stance.

• Many of the most skillful stone carvers came from the Cycladic Islands, where marble was plentiful.

most likely sculpted by Callimachus

one of the best surviving examples of grave stelae. From around 450, Athenian funerary monuments increasingly depicted women, as their civic importance increased.

Shown is an Athenian woman (Hegeso), seated on a chair with her feet resting on a footstool. She holds an open a jewelry box, and in her right she holds a piece of (missing) jewelry that was originally painted

The maidservant is presenting the pyxis, on the knees of Hegeso

. The epitaph reads , ΗΓΗΣΩ ΠΡΟΞΕΝΟ, stating that the deceased is Hegeso, daughter of Proxenios.

Grave Stele of Hegeso

410–400 BC

Naiskos

MARBLE GRAVE STELE WITH A FAMILY GROUPDATE: 360 B.C.In the center of this grave stele, a bearded man with a mantle draped over his legs and lower torso sits in rigid profile on a diphos (backless chair); he holds a staff in his raised right hand.

Behind him stands a veiled woman who clasps the hand of a little girl.

The child, stares out at the viewer.

A female figure stands to the left of the group. With her left hand, she gently touches the arm of the seated man.

Both he and the veiled woman behind him stare straight ahead as if the young woman who gazes down at them were invisible.

The impression is that this young woman belongs to a world separate from that of the other three figures.

The name of the deceased would have been inscribed on the framing niche that originally surrounded this relief, but is now missing.

Without this inscription it is unclear if the man and his family members mourn a dead daughter that faces them, or if the veiled woman who stands behind the seated man is actually mourning her dead father.

HELLENISTIC PERIOD323-31 BC

• Hellenistic art is richly diverse in subject matter and in stylistic development.

• It was created during an age characterized by a strong sense of history.

• For the first time, there were museums and great libraries, such as those at Alexandria and Pergamon

• Greater variety in artistic depiction of: grotesques, children, elderly people and ethnic people especially Africans.

Hellenistic Style – Ancient Greek, (323 - 31 B.C.)

The Laocoön Group1st or 2nd century BC

Art became more dynamic and less idealized

Everyday activities, historical subjects, and portraiture become

more common subjects

More expressive and frequently shows exaggerated movement

Archaic Style – Ancient Greek, (600 - 480 B.C.)Hellenistic Style – Ancient Greek, (323 - 31 B.C.)

Hellenistic Style – Ancient Greek, (323 - 31 BC.)

Complex, twisted poses

Wrapped figures in billowing

fabric

Drama and emotion

Forms break into viewer’s space

The Hellenistic period introduced the accurate characterization of age.

Young children enjoyed great favor, whether in mythological form, as baby Herakles or Eros, playing with each other or with

pets.

This Eros, god of love, has been brought down to earth and

disarmed

One of the few bronze statues to have survived from antiquity, this figure of a plump baby in

relaxed pose conveys a sense of the immediacy and naturalistic

detail that the medium of bronze made possible.

He is clearly based on firsthand observation.

In the Roman period, statues of Sleeping Eros decorated villa

gardens and fountains.Bronze statue of Eros sleepingDate: 3rd–2nd century B.C

Boy with Thorn25-50BC

Homer2nd century BC

Drunken Old Woman2nd century BC

Boxer at Rest330- 50 BC

The work comes from a period in Greek art where there is a movement away from idealized heroic depictions of the body and youth, and an exploration of emotional themes and greater realism.

Gaul Killing Himself and His Wife & Dying Gaul230-220BC (Both Roman Copies)

Commissioned from Greek sculptors by Attalus I after his recent victories over the Gauls of Galatia.

Detail of the head of Odysseus

Sperlonga sculpturesBlinding of Polyphemus

former villa of the Emperor Tiberius at Sperlonga, Italy

NIKE OF SAMOTHRACE, SANCTUARY OF THE GREAT GODS, SAMOTHRACE, GREECE. 180 BC

NIKE OF SAMOTHRACE180BC8’ HIGH

Also known as Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Considered one of the masterpieces of

Hellenistic sculpture

one of a small number of Hellenistic statues

surviving in the original

It was created not only to honor the goddess, Nike, but also to honor a sea

battle.

It conveys a sense of action and triumph as

well as portraying artful flowing drapery, as

though the goddess were descending to alight

upon the prow of a ship.

Nike's right arm is believed to have been

raised, cupped round her mouth to deliver the

shout of Victory.

Great Altar at Pergamon, Turkey 175-150 BC

Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, Turkey, Hellenistic, 175-150 BCThe monument's west front has been reconstructed in Berlin

• is the most famous of all Hellenistic sculptural ensembles. • Ionic colonnade with projecting wings on each side of the broad central staircase • The altar was built during the reign of Greek King Eumenes II on one of the terraces of the

acropolis of the ancient Greek city of Pergamon in Asia Minor.• The structure is 35.64 meters wide and 33.4 meters deep; the front stairway alone is almost 20

meters wide. • The base is decorated with a frieze in high relief showing the battle between the Giants and the

Olympian gods known as the Gigantomachy• The frieze is almost 400 feet and is populated by some 100 larger-than-life figures. • King Attalos I (247-187BC) had successfully turned back an invasion by the Gauls. • The gigantomachy of the Altar of Zeus alluded to the Pergamene victory over those

barbarians. • The most important divine struggle in Greek mythology was the Gigantomachy, the battle

fought between the Giants and the Olympian gods for supremacy of the cosmos.

Great Altar of Zeus at Pergamon, Turkey, Hellenistic, 175-150 BC

Athena grabs the hair of the giant Alkyoneos as Nike flies in to crown her.

Athena Nike

Alkyoneos

East Pediment from the Parthenon

The battle rages everywhere, even up and down the very steps one must ascend to reach Zeus’s altar.

Violent movement, swirling draperies and vivid depictions of death and suffering are the norm.

RECONSTRUCTION OF THE MONUMENT OF ATTALOS I, PERGAMON, C. 220 BCE