Idealism In Ancient Greek Art

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Perhaps one of the most defining and easily identifiable aspects of the ancient Greek culture was the immortalization of humans and gods in sculpture. Sculpture had existed in the world for thousands of years before the ancient Greeks made their stake in the art, but the Greeks added an entirely new set of aspects to their sculptures. Unlike the Egyptian and Mesopotamian sculpture centuries earlier, the Greeks set forth not just to capture the image of a man but to capture that which made him a man. The Greeks set in place three base tenants to display the tone of a sculpture. Through the use of Humanism, Realism, and Idealism the ancient Greeks were able to capture humans and gods forever in marble. The basis of all ancient Greek sculpting …show more content…

The sculpture Kroisos demonstrates many good examples of how the ancient Greeks used Idealism in their works. Kroisos is a statue of a young warrior, by the same name, who died heroically in battle. The sculpture depicts the warrior standing up straight, shoulders broad with pride, with arms at his side suggesting military might, and his left foot forward with an authoritative gait. Much attention was given to the sheer size and definition of his muscles, specifically his thigh and calf muscles, further leading the viewer to the conclusion that Kroisos was a mighty …show more content…

a shift can be seen from idealized and nearly perfect sculptures to sculptures that had a natural and real feel to them. These newer statues were sculpted with the notion of Realism weighing more than the concept of Idealism. The subjects’ body was not in a state of military attention, they were placed in a more natural, yet still graceful position. Realistic sculptures also did not embellish the muscular physique of the subject; the muscle definition was displayed more subtly and naturally. The weight of Realistic statues is not distributed in a balanced, geometric fashion like the Ideal statues. The Realistic statues balance their weight just as a real person would in motion which gives the sculpture a more graceful and natural

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