Ancient Greece and Etruscan

BIG IDEAS in GREECE

Figure - idealized naturalism (both idealized & naturalistic)

• look real BUT perfect

Military accomplishments

Known for paintings & bronze, but neither survive because they were destroyed by conquering cultures

• bronze taken and melted to create swords

Temple worship - gods live inside, sacrifice on porch

ARCHAIC PERIOD

800-480 BCE

City-States

Homer writes the Iliad and the Odyssey

Sudden BOOM in population and material goods

ART FOR AESTHETIC PURPOSES

VASE PAINTING TRADITIONS - ARCHAIC

Horizontal lines - registers

Narrative art

Black glazed human figures on red clay (problem b/c the figures are not as detailed and the people are white, not black)

Profile faces

“Athenian Agora” Archaic; 600 BCE

“Gather place” or “assembly”

Athletic, artistic, spiritual, and political events

Resources to build → shows power

Begin Doric Column usage

Stoa - Agora

Started this: Display paintings showing Greek military triumph BEHIND colonnades

Public space later copied by Romans in Forum of Trajan & House of Vettii

Greek Temple Plan:

look at notebook

Polytheistic - Zeus, Hera, Athena, etc.

Proscenium = porch

• front porch

• animal sacrifice

• pouring of libations

Greek Theater - also has proscenium and later influences design of COLOSSEUM

cella = location of where the statue of the god, visited, private worship

• believe statued = physcial connection to god (like Darshan & Lakshaman Temple)

“Anavysos Kouros” 530 BCE; Archaic Greek, Marble with paint

Kouros = young man

More naturalistic muscles, smoother transitions

Still stylized hair and archaic smile, even weight distribution

Archaic smile represents the transcendence into immortality

Inscribed at base - “Stay and mourn at the tomb of dead Kroisos, whom raging Ares destroyed one day as he fought in the foremost ranks”

• commemorates his bravery as a soldier

Grave marker for dead soldier

“Peplos Kore” 530 BCE; Archaic Greek; Marble with paint

Kore - statue of a young female, usually grave markers or temple votive figures

Peplos - style of dress

Stance is rigid, clothing is blocky

Naturalistic touch = characteristic of Archaic

Perhaps represents Athena or an acolyte to her, hand would’ve held a symbol to let us know

Classical Greece CONTEXT

480-323 BCE

510 BCE - Persian Invasion

City-States become rivals → Olympic Games become POPULAR

Polykleitos writes The Canon - mathematical proportions of perfect human figure using the pinky

Naked DUDES ARE ALL THE RAGE

“Bronze Doryphoros” 440 BC; Polykleitos; Classical Greece

Spear - Bearer → ideal warrior

CONTRAPPOSTO STANCE

Relaxed face, naturalistic idealized muscles

• no more Archaic smile

Insipient Movement

Mathematical Proportion (Polykleitos)

“Niobedes Krater” Classical Greece; 460 BCE; Clay; red-figure technique

NEW TECHNIQUE - red figure painting

• MORE FINE DETAIL AND NATURALISTIC

Three-quarter view of face, figures move around space (not stuck on register)

• more interactive space

Context - Apollo and Artemis shooting children of Niobe w/ arrows because Niobe bragged about being superior to gods; Hercules surrounded by Athena and heroes

Didactic artwork - teaches a lesso, specifically to not insult the gods

Influenced by paintings

Krater - mixes water and wine (shape of vase) for temple worship

“Acropolis” Athens, Classical Greece; 445 BCE; Marble

CONTEXT:

• Complex modelled after Agora

• Dedicated to Athena, but Poseidon fought for it (shows that they are so good that gods are fighting over them)

• Birthplace of LIMITED democracy, not equal

Wavy lines - located HIGH on a hill

• Overlooking city, seen from afar - shows power and dominance

• Separated from unimportant/low class

• Closer to Heaven

• Gods lived on Mount Olympus

Parthenon - Acropolis

Temple for Athena, housed a 40 ft high statue (home of Goddess, NOT for worship)

Doric temple, rectilinear

Emphasis on ideal proportions and mathematics - corrects flaws in our vision

• ENTASIS - buldge in columns (corrects flaws in our vision)

Sacred and secular (nonreligious) mixed - also housed treasure, stored valuables

Decorated with scenes of war and Athenian triumph

East Pediment - Parthenon

Narrative - Poseidon fighting Athena for sponsorship of Athens

Poseidon uses war tactics (triton) while Athena uses peace (olive branch)

• Duality of divine rule - JUST LIKE EGYPT (TUTANKHAMUN’S TOMB), NEAR EAST (STANDARD OF UR), AND NDOP OF KING MISHE

Human figure - idealized, naturalistically rendered, folds of drapery create shadows

Notice the sloped shape - created to fit into the triangular pediment

Cella - Parthenon Acropolis

40 ft high statue (of Athena), decorated in gold

2 storied columns - later used in Roman Forum of Trajan

Visited alone, not in gorups

Ritual located on porch (proscenium)

Plaque of the Ergastines - Frieze, Parthenon

Toga - later influences Buddhists

Different levels of relief (both high and low)

• overlapping = DEPTH

“Nike Adjusting Her Sandal” - Acropolis

Athena Nike = pose showing victory

Insipient movement, almost awkward

Wet drapery - erotic, but allows one to see both the human form and the drapery, showing that the creator/sculptor had the skill to create both the human form and the drapery

Originally had wings (created balance)

“Grave Stele of Hegeso” 410 BCE; Classical Greece; marble and paint

Servant handing Hegeso box of jewelry

Domestic setting - woman’s place

“Hegeso, Daughter of Proxenos” women defined by male relationships

Trianlge on top = pediment

Ionic columns

Special attention to drapery

Idealized naturalism (like Archaic)

Return to funerary markers, most sculptors were put to work on the Parthenon

Hellenistic Greece

323-31 BCE

AKA Antigonid Empire AKA Macedonian

“Hellas” Greek word for Greece

After Alexander the Great dies and right before Rome invades

Culture spreads through the Greek-speaking world

Three Power Dynasties - Persian, Egyptian, Antigonids (Hellenistic Greek)

Ruled by Kings - wealth put on display

“Winged Victory of Samothrace” Hellenistic Greece; 190 BCE; Marble

Formal analysis - wet drapery, VERY DRAMATIC STANCE & MOVEMENT

Athena

Believed to be part of a fountain honoring naval victory

Placed on coast (naval victory)

Interacts with environment - wind blowing drapery (ultimate naturalism)

“Seated Boxer” Hellenistic Greece; 100 BCE; Cast BRONZE

Found on display in Rome - Baths of Constantine

Monument to athlete victory - but NOT idealized - it was NATURALISTIC

• broken nose, cauliflower ear, cuts on face

Insipient movement (like Fang Byeri)

• captures the figure doing something and as if they are about to do something

Beard - hercules

likely held inset eyes - like Eshnunna Votive figures

Extensive wear on fingers and toes - ritual healing of athletes

“Great Altar of Zeus and Athena” Pergamon, Turkey; 175 BCE; Hellenistic Greek; Marble

Built by Greek King Eumenes II

• to display power

Altar in acropolis, next to library and palace, representing the truth and divine rule

Frieze depicts narrative of gigantomachy (Gods fighting Giants) - allegory for Greece fighting Persia

• enemis depicted strong in order to emphasize that the Greeks were stronger by winning

Gods = Greece

Titans = Persia

Triumph of civilization over Barbarism

Wide stairs like Audience Hall

Ionic columns

Frieze of Athena - Great Altar at Pergamon

Less about harmony and serenity, more about movement and strong feeling

Battle portrayed through swirling drapery, contorted bodies

• war = chaotic (like Night Attack)

Extremely high relief

Overlapping, dynamic use of space

Leadership is divine, power over enemies is absolute

Warning to those who may want to join enemy

Triumph over chaos

Estruscan Context

Etruria - Italy

600-200 BCE

Originally a GREEK territory, but won independence

Close to sea for trade, exchange culture/ideas/ ART

Foundation for Roman Empire

“Temple of Minerva” Veii, Italy; 500 BCE; Wood, mudbrick, rock

Greek influence - cella, proscenium, doric columns

New - THREE room cella (triple cella), no stylobate all around

• Rome going to like this idea

Minerva = Roman version of Athena

Sculpture on TOP - theater for gods AND community

• NOT inpediment

• Later influences Rome & Sistine Chapel

“Appolo” from Temple of Minerva; Vulca (artist); 500 BCE; Painted terracotta

Greek-like: archaic smile, somewhat rigid stance, stylized hair and drapery (like Anavysos Kouros)

BUT more MOTION than typical Archaic Greek art

Life size - likely acted out a mythic event

Probably fought Hercules with an audience of other sculptures

Context - audience = Gods & the people, placed on roof, backdrop of sky

“Tomb of the Triclinium” Tarquinia, Italy; 480 BCE; Volcanic Rock and Fresco

Ritual: 3 days you would have eaten with the dead, but after the body decomposes, you would then cremate the body and put the ashes into a sarcophagus. This process helps to ease the transition to the afterlife.

Necropolis (like Giza)

House for afterlife in necropolis

Fresco - painting on wet plaster - INNOVATION

• permanence; allowed for paintings to be more permanent

Checker ceiling - references ritual party tents - meal givien during funerary week

• afterlife is good, no more pain and responsibility

Dancers and Diners - Tomb of the Triclinium

Ancient Mediterranean - composite stance, registers

Elite - fine food, servants, fine robes

Gender - males painted darker (more outside), females painted lighter (stayed inside)

Convivial Atmosphere - cheerful, jolly, afterlife is a GREAT thing to enjoy

• people seen DANCING due to convivial atmosphere

“Sarcophagus of the spouses” Etruscan, 520 BCE, Terra Cotta

Archaic Smile - content with death

held cremated remains of high status individuals

Couple reclines on cushion like they would at banquet

Shows obvious affection/intimacy

• like Akhenaton and Family

Convivial - social sphere, positive

man darker, women lighter

Women enjoy more status

Rome - The Republic Period

509 - 27 BCE

Rome takes over the Etruscans, Greeks, and most of the Mediterranean

Governed by Divine Kings and Senate (limited democracy)

Assimilated Greek Gods (Zeus → Jupiter, Poseidon → Neptune, Athena → Minerva)

“Doryphoros (Spear Bearer)” Roman copy (marble) of a Greek original (bronze); 450 BCE

Rome conquers Greece and brings back and copies their art

THISI S THE ROMAN MARBLE COPY

• triumph over Greece, false sense of culture

Original design by Polykleitos in BRONZE

• Polykleitos wrote the Canon where he talked about the mathematical proportion of the perfect human figure in relation to the pinky

Contrapposto stance

“Alexander Mosaic” from the House of Faun, Pompeii; Rebublic Rome; 100 BCE; Mosaic

2 cultures fighting - Greek (Alexander the Great) and Persia (darius

Elite class wants to look both educated AND cultures

ITS A COPY based on Greek painting Philoxenes of Eretria

Tells a GREEK story - Alexander the Great (Greek) vs Darius (Persia)

Patron looks CULTURED - appreciation of Greek artwork

Patron looks educated - knowledge of current events and history

FORMAL ANALYSIS:

-Thousands of tiles (million and a half) - naturalism

Dynamic composition - movement in opposite directions

• Some go forward, some go backward, some turning

• Intense emotion - worry, fear, anger

CONTEXT:

Darius (Persia) retreats from battle with Alexander (Greece) in Battle of Issus

Calm leader against chaos

Alexander wears no armor and has no weapon

• divine approval

Climax of war, many casualties - emotion

“Hed of a Roman Patrician” Republic Roman; 75 BCE; Marble

Patrician = civil servant

Specific person - served in Senate

Virtues of public career - age, serious, stress of hard work

Veristic portrait - absurdly realistic, real life traits are exaggerated, emphasis on wrinkles and flaws (stress from wroking for gov’t

Deep respect for family, tradition, and ancestry - one of original citizen families

Given DURING LIFE after retirement and worshipped by family after death because it was a model for what the family members should be like

• like portrait of sin sukju

Imperial Rome

27 BCE - 96 BCE

Emperor Augustus brings stability, peace, and economic prosperity

Less republic/Senate, more DIVINE LEADER

Sophisticated civil engineering and architecture (architecture = display of power through control of resources and power)

System of law and government - much like Western World

Art is public and used as propaganda

“Augustus of Prima Porta” Imperial Roman, 1st Cent. CE; Marble

FUNCITON - POLITCAL PROPAGANDA

• controls image of ruler

“Forum of Trajan” Rome; Italy; 110 CE; Apollodorus of Damascus; Brick and concrete and marble

Trajan “the good Emperor” - built after his death, he is deified in the Temple by hadrian

City civic center - school, court of law, market, army drills, audience chambers, library

• Trajan markets - gathering of trade materials from conquered cultures

Contained exotic and imported stone - proceeds from military accomplishment, on display in Rome

• showed they are cultured

SUCCESS of IMPERIAL rule * after battle

Apollodorus of Damascus - context

Military engineer - bulit Danube river bridge that won a battle for Trajan

Basilica Ulpia - Forum of Trajan

Secular (non-religious) - civic and law

Apse: semi-circle section on either end

Two stored column interior - references Greek temples

Clerestory references Temple of Amun-Ra

Corinthian capitals

Will later influence Christian churches

Column of Trajan

Narrative art (Dacian Was) in relief sculpture using continuous registers

Both Trajan and enemy are strong

• shows that the Romans are STRONGER

Trajan in oratory stance (like Augustus), calm victor

Next to library - truth, righteousness

“House of Vettii” Pompeii; Imperial Roman; 2nd century BCE; Cut stone and fresco

Context: highly stratified society, both owners were former slaves (newly rich)

Focus of the homes is the atrium wiht garden

• show of wealth/status

Function - DOMESTIC, also receive clients for work

HOUSE OF VETTII FRESCOES:

Documented Greek and Roman mythology

Were considered modern or trendy for the time - noveau riche

The garden

Atrium - references the STOA from Agora in Athens, Greece

• Displays art (behind COLONNADE)

• Wealth - garden (plants bloom yaer round)

• Doric columns

• Want to appear WEALTHY to look successful to clients

“Colosseum” (og name = Flavian Amphitheater); Rome, Italy; Imperial Roman; 70 CE; Stone and CONCRETE

Built by Emperor Vespasian from stolen Jewish treasures

Sports events, plays, and political gatherings

• like Agora

Concrete - INNOVATION- lightweight building materials

Invention: Romn Barrel Arch AND the Keystone

Velarium = large awnings

CONTEXT:

• orginally named Flavian Amphitheater

• Given name Colosseum after Giant statue of Nero (Sun God) ‘The Colossus”

Top Columns: Corinthian - Rome is dominant

Middle Columns: Ionic columns

Bottom Columns: Doric (Tuscan) - Greek, historic foundation (starts w/ Greek culture and architecture → Roman

“Pantheon” Imperial Roman; 120 CE; Concrete

Temple to ALL Gods, later converted into a church

Central plan, proscenium

Columns imported from Egypt

INTERIOR:

Wanted to impress viewers w/ an unexpectadly large interior space

• concrete allows to have a large space without the need of hypostyle hall design because concrete is lightweight

Oculus - open window at top; allows light to shine on gods and emperors

Combined statues of emperors and gods - DIVINE RULE

28 sections of coffers - perfect #; also lessens weight of concrete dome

Later influence HAGIA SOPHIA

• Central space

• large interior

• dome on top

• Originally built as a Christian Church

“Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus” Imperial Roman; 250 CE; Marble

Purchased by Cardinal Ludovisi

Piling of figures and crowding of space - distancing from Classical Greece

Replace cremation with burial - Christianity

Reference to Persian God Mithras - light, truth and victory over death