Greek and Roman Art

What cultures were important precursors of Greek art?

The Aegean island cultures

What three major cultures flourished on the Aegean islands?

Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean cultures

From when did the Cycladic cultures flourish?

3200-2000 BCE

What art from the Cycladic culture is most appealing to modern sensibilities?

The simplified geometric female figures

What pottery did the Cycladic culture produce?

Decorated pieces of pottery as well as marble bowls and jars

What was Cycladic culture was supplanted by who?

The Minoans

Where did the Minoans develop?

On the island of Crete

When did the Minoans reach their pinnacle?

Second millenium BCE

What city did the Minoans center around?

Knossos

What legend is said to have taken place on Knossos?

The Minotaur

What does the art of the Minoans depict?

Sea life and statues of a female snake goddess

What characterized the Minoans works?

A naturalist and pictorial style

What two major forms did Minoan art take on?

Frescoes painted on palace walls, and pottery designs

How many palaces did the Minoans build?

4

What style were the Minoans 4 major palaces designed in?

In a light, flexible, and organic style

What did the collapse of the Minoan civilization coincide with?

The pinnacle of Mycenaean culture

What do many historians believe about the fall of the Minoans?

Many believe the Minoans were destroyed by the Mycenaeans

Where was Mycenaean culture centered around?

The city of Mycenae on the Greek mainland

What elaborate structures did the Mycenaeans build?

Tombs

The tombs built by the Mycenaeans allowed for what?

A large number of objects to be preserved

The best known objects from the Myceneans are made of what?

Gold, showing astonishing levels of mastery in goldsmithing

The Mycenaeans demonstrated much skill in their use of what kind of sculpture?

Releif sculpture

The Archaic Period lasted from when?

660-475 BCE

What was the Greeks art influenced by?

The stone sculptures of Egypt and Mesopotamia

Greeks made sculptures carved out of what materials?

Marble and limestone

The freestanding sculptures of the Greeks borrowed what from Egyptian art?

The frontal pose used in Egyptian art

How did the Greeks statues differ from the frontal pose used by Egyptians?

They were more dynamic and placed greater emphasis on depicting realistic human features

The temples built during the Archaic Period columns in what decorative styles?

Doric and Ionic

Vase painting in the Archaic Period portrayed what?

Black silhouetted figures

Case painting in Corinthian style set figures against what background?

A floral ornamented background

What color were the figures on Athenian-style vases?

Black

How did Athenian-style vases differ from other types of bases?

They were more linear and larger in scale

What color of vases were also common during the Archaic period?

Red figure vases with red figure standing out against a black background

Where is the best known ancient Greek art found?

The city-state of Athens

What period holds the best-known Greek art?

The Classical Period

What columns were Greek temples built with during the Early Classical Period?

Sturdy, Doric columns

While many Greek sculpture has not survived, what has provided us with information about ancient Greek works?

Roman copies

What was the sculpture of the Early Classical Period characterized by?

Solemnity, strength, and simplicity of form

The sculpture of the Early Classical Period was often focused more on what?

A figure or a scene either in the moment before, or the moment after an important action

During the Early Classical Period significant advances were made in what?

Sculptural techniques

What custom from the Archaic Period was abandoned and what was it replaced by?

The stiff frontal postures of the Archaic Period were abandoned in favor of more complex and life-like figures and positions

How did Greek statuary evolve?

From a stiff frontal presentation like that of Egyptians, to an increasingly natural figure

What is contrapposto?

A pose invented to show the body to its best advantage

Contrapposto is also known as what?

Counter positioning

How is a figure posed in contrapposto?

The standing figure is posed with its weight shifted onto one leg for a more relax, naturalistic appearance

Which following periods aspired to equal the perfection displayed by the Greek statues?

The Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical artists

The Middle Classical Period witnessed important advances in what?

Architechture

When was the Parthenon restored?

447 BCE

Who destroyed the Parthenon?

The Persians

When was the Parthenon destroyed?

480 BCE

The use of what in the Parthenon has become a principal of Western architecture for more than 2,000 years?

The use of columns

What types of columns exist?

Greek Doric, Ionic, Cornithian, Tuscan, Roman Doric, and Composite

What does a Column consist of?

A capital, shaft, and base

How are Doric Ionic and Corinthian columns differentiated?

By their degree of ornamentation

What period saw a decline in architecture?

The Late Classical Period

Why did architecture decline in the Late Classical Period?

Athens was defeated in the Peloponnesian War

While temples were still built using simple Doric columns, the Late Classical Period saw which other type of column becoming more popular?

Highly decorative Corinthian columns

The Hellenistic Period saw the Greeks blend with what culture?

Asia Minor

What are some notable works of the Hellenistic Period?

Venus de milo, and the Laocoon Group

Why was Venus de Milo and the Laocoon Group deisgned?

To present ideals of beauty

The Etruscan civilization is seen as a transition from the ideas of Greece to what?

The pragmatic concerns of the Romans

The Etruscan civilization arose where?

Present day Italy

When did the Etruscan civilization arise?

First millennium BCE

Why do no buildings remain from Etruscan buildings?

They were constructed of brick and wood

Ceramic models of Etruscan buildings depict what?

Tiled, garbled roofs supported by columns in the fashion of the Greeks

What do Etruscan artifacts include?

Sarcophagus lids, and other art forms made of baked clay

The Etruscans showed talent in what work?

Bronze work

Where were the only remaining Etruscan paintings found?

On the walls and ceilings of tombs

What were characteristic of the paintings on the ceilings of tombs?

Bright, flat colors

The paintings inside of Etruscan tombs depict what?

Figures playing music and dancing as part of funeral celebrations

Early Roman art was influenced by what?

Etruscan art

By the second century BCE Roman sculptures and artworks were variations of what works?

Greek works

The standards for idealized presentations of Roman rulers were based off of who?

The Greeks

The Romans made pioneering advancements in what?

Engineering

What Roman discovery was a major contribution to architecture

The equivalent of modern concrete

How did Roman concrete help architecture?

It helped fill the spaces between their stone walls with rocks and rubble bound together by the concrete mixture

What new construction were the Romans able to build with the concrete?

Huge domed buildings

Apart from concrete, Romans pioneered the use of what?

The curved arch

What did Romans use the curved arch for?

Bridges and aqueducts, and a paved road system

Which two buildings still remain in Rome as monuments to their engineering genius?

The Colosseum, and Pantheon

Triumphal arches would often be topped with what?

Relief sculptures portraying Roman emperors or Roman military victories

True or False, Romans created relief sculptures for funerary purposes

True

Roman tombs and sarcophagi were decorated with what?

Reliefs, some were decorative but many had narrative subject matter

True or False, Romans sculpted portraits

True

What was common for members of a funeral precession in Rome to carry?

Small carved images of the deceased family member

Statues of who were displayed in Roman public areas?

Great statesmen or noble figures

Rather than naturalistic depictions of their subjects, Romand favored what?

An idealistic style highlighting Roman ideals

The Romans had impacts on the art of what ages?

The Middle Age, Renaissance, and much of the art that followed