Key Terms in Free-Standing Sculpture of Ancient Greece

Himation

A cloak worn by both men and women consisting of heavy fabric, usually wool, draped diagonally over one shoulder and wrapped around the body.

Lost wax casting method

A sculptural technique where wax is employed to create a space between inner and outer clay moulds, allowing the casting of large-scale hollow bronze statues.

Orientalising

A transitional period of c.750-650 BC when Greek artists were heavily influenced by Near Eastern art.

Classical period

Middle period of ancient Greek history, c.490 to 323 BC.

Doryphoros

A spear-bearer.

Motion lines

Long, double-curving lines in drapery suggestive of movement.

Peplos

A rectangular piece of woollen clothing, without sleeves, worn by women, pinned at the shoulders, belted at the waist, and worn either alone or over a chiton.

Transparency or the wet drapery technique

Sculptural technique leaving ridges standing up to suggest forms are covered by a thin veil of drapery.

Archaic period

Early period of Greek history from 600 to 490/480 BC.

Apoxyomenos

A man scraping off oil from his body.

Canon

Title employed by the sculptor Polykleitos for his treatise on statue proportions.

Caryatid

Clothed female figures used to support architecture in place of columns.

Catenary

The curve that an idealized chain or cable forms when hanging freely from two fixed points. Used to describe 'U'-shaped folds in drapery.

Chiton

A rectangular piece of linen clothing, worn by both men and women, which is sewn and buttoned along the shoulders to make sleeves.

Contrapposto

Literally meaning 'counter-pose' in Italian, the figure's shoulders and hips are angled in different directions because its weight is on one foot.

Cult statue

A statue that embodied and depicted a specific deity, often situated within the main room of a temple.

Diskobolos

An athlete throwing a discus.

Egyptian grid block technique

A sculptural technique where a grid was drawn on a stone block to determine the figure's proportions. Adopted by Greek artists from Egypt in the mid-7th century BC.

Free-standing

Statues carved in the round and so detached from any background.

Frontal

A sculpture can be described as frontal when it has a definite orientation towards the prospective viewer.

Geometric style

An influential style from the 8th and 7th centuries where geometric motifs were employed in Greek art.

Iliac crest

The v-shaped crest of muscle that separates the groin from the hips, sometimes exaggerated within Greek sculpture.

In-the-round

A sculpture meant to be viewed from all sides, three-dimensional with all parts fully rendered.

Kore

A type of draped female sculpture from the Archaic period.

Kouros

A type of male sculpture from the Archaic period.

Modelling lines

Sculptural technique where ridges of stone in sweeping curves at right angles to a rounded surface model the forms.

Plinth

Slab-like bottom section of a marble statue immediately beneath its feet.

Planes (flat or rounded)

The area of a two-dimensional surface, which in sculpture can be flat or rounded.

Polychromy

The multicoloured painting of sculptures, with principal colors being blue and red.

Severe Style

The transitionary period between the Archaic and Classical periods, characterized by thick eyelids, heavy and simple drapery, and an increase in characterisation.

Tensile strength

The resistance of a material to sideways stress and its liability to break.

Torso

The trunk of the human body, which remains when the head and limbs are removed.

Volute

A spiral, scroll-like pattern often seen in the hair of Greek sculptures.