ART IN CONTEXT: An Age of Empires€¦ · An Age of Empires . Part 1: The Classical West Ancient...
Transcript of ART IN CONTEXT: An Age of Empires€¦ · An Age of Empires . Part 1: The Classical West Ancient...
ART IN CONTEXT:
An Age of Empires
Part 1: The Classical West
Ancient Greece
Ancient Rome
Timeline:
Classical West
1200 BCE: Greek tribes survive
in Dark Age
776 BCE: First Olympic Games
432 BCE: Completion of Parthenon
509 BCE: Roman Republic
Established
490s to 323: Golden Age of Greece
265: Rome rules Italy
44 BCE: Caeasar slain; end of Roman
Republic
27 BCE-180 CE: Pax Romana
30: CE: Death of Jesus Christ
ANCIENT GREECE: Where the
celebration of the human intelligence,
creativity, and power begins.
Warrior,
from sea
near
Riace,
ca.450
BCE,
bronze
Copy after Praxiteles
Aprhodite of Knidos
ca. 350 BCE
"...we entered the temple. In the
midst thereof sits the goddess--
she's a most beautiful statue of
Parian marble--arrogantly smiling
a little as a grin parts her lips.
Draped by no garment, all her
beauty is uncovered and revealed,
except in so far as she
unobtrusively uses one hand to
hide her private parts…and so we
decided to see all of the
goddess…we were filled with an
immediate wonder for the beauty
we beheld.“
~Attributed to Lucian
Laocoön and his sons, Hellenistic Era,
marble, 1st century BCE.
With a double grip round his waist and his
neck, the scaly creatures
Embrace him, their heads and throats
powerfully poised above him.
All the while his hands are struggling to break
their knots,
His priestly headband is spattered with blood
and pitchy venom;
All the while, his appalling cries go up to
heaven -
A bellowing, such as you hear when a wounded
bull escapes from
The altar, after it's shrugged off an ill-aimed
blow at its neck.
~The Aeneid
Timeline:
Classical West
1200 BCE: Greek tribes survive
in Dark Age
776 BCE: First Olympic Games
432 BCE: Completion of Parthenon
509 BCE: Roman Republic
Established
490s to 323: Golden Age of Greece
265: Rome rules Italy
44 BCE: Caeasar slain; end of Roman
Republic
27 BCE-180 CE: Pax Romana
30: CE: Death of Jesus Christ
ANCIENT ROME: The greatest empire
in the west was promoted through Greek
art and Roman Engineering.
August of Primaporta, ca. 20 BCE. Perhaps a
marble copy of a bronze original.
August of Primaporta, ca. 20 BCE. Perhaps a
marble copy of a bronze original. Inset: Greek
statue of the Doryphoros by Polykleitos.
Trajan’s Column, attributed to Apollodorus, 113 CE.
Marble, original height of 128ft, length of frieze approx.
625 ft.
Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheater), Rome, travertine, ca. 72-80 CE.
Aerial view of the Colosseum as it appears today; Reconstruction of the Colosseum
showing seating as well as the many passages under the main arena floor.
Part 2:
The Beginning of Mighty Empires
Americas: The Olmec
China: The Qin and Han
Timeline: The
Beginnings of
Empire
1500 BCE: First trace of
people called Olmec
900-500: Colossal Olmec
art and architecture
623-543: Historical Buddha
lived in India
256-206 BCE: 1st Great
Wall of China
221 BCE: China untied
under Emperor Qin
206BCE – 220 CE: Han
Dynasty in China. A Golden
Age.
MESOAMERICA: The Olmec, ancestors
to the Maya, created huge earth
pyramids, celebrated their leaders and
gods through art.
Colossal Heads from San Lorenzo, Veracruz. 900-500 BCE
Timeline: The
Beginnings of
Empire
1500 BCE: First trace of
people called Olmec
900-500: Colossal Olmec
art and architecture
623-543: Historical Buddha
lived in India
256-206 BCE: 1st Great
Wall of China
221 BCE: China untied
under Emperor Qin
206BCE – 220 CE: Han
Dynasty in China. A Golden
Age.
CHINA: The name China comes from
Qin, the first man to unify the land
through harsh rule.
Lai Dai’s Flying Banner, Painted silk from
the tomb of Dai Hou Fu-ren, ca. 168
BCE.
Part 3: Applying What You
Learned
Look at the following images and decide what art historical
context they come from based on their forms. What can you
guess about their content?