ANCIENT GREECE GARDNER CHAPTER 5-6 PP. 134-140 Roman marble copy of Greek bronze statue of...
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Transcript of ANCIENT GREECE GARDNER CHAPTER 5-6 PP. 134-140 Roman marble copy of Greek bronze statue of...
ANCIENT GREECEGARDNER 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 red-figure 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, 440-435 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 coffin-like 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 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
The Ludovisi Ares – 2nd century Roman marble copy of a late 4th century Greek bronze
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