During the Hellenic Age which is sometimes known as the classical period for the Greeks and is dated c.500-300 B.C. In this time period the Greek culture flourish philosophy developed, sculpturing became more sophisticated, and the greatest of them all was the birth of humanism. Humanism is described as being “any system or mode of thought or action in which human interests, values, and dignity predominate” (“Humanism n.pag.). Humanism meant making men superior over all things and that men were supreme even over the Gods. Humanism is greatly influenced the Greek culture. Greeks were the first humanist. Humanism can be found in and influenced countless things that are Greek from their art, literature, philosophy, music and a numerous of other things.
In Greek art humanism is extremely predominate, especially in the sculptures. The sculptors are no longer focusing on the Gods, the Gods are no longer the main subject of the sculpture; now humans are, human bodies. Even though the Greek still sculpted the Gods, the Gods now had more human physical characteristics. The sculptors are now starting to focus on the human physique and the human body. The sculptors are carefully sculpting sculptures to replicate the human body. Sculptures that express humanism are now nude and emphases on the beauty of a human body and of the human mind. “…. beautifully realized in great detail, right down to the veins on the back of the hand, reflects a higher mathematical order and embodies the ideal harmony between the natural world and the intellectual or spiritual realm” (Sayre 140). This is how Sayre describes a sculpture that is dated ca. 450-440 BCE. The sculptures also start to show emotion and have feeling rather than sculptures before humanism, n...
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...nk more and just not go on the “knowing” of things such as (religion or custom) but to question all things, they wanted to develop their knowledge. The Greeks also started to have morals, it started to matter when it came to what was deemed as right and or wrong. Philosophers begin to lean on human aspects of things rather than the divine aspects of things. The Greeks felt very strongly that every Greek held a responsibility to commit to public service and to serve a higher purpose to the community.
Works Cited
"AAMThe Renaissance Connection: Lesson Plans: Humanism in the Renaissance." AAMThe Renaissance Connection: Lesson Plans: Humanism in the Renaissance. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.
"Humanism." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
Sayre, Henry M. The Humanities: Culture, Continuity & Change. 2nd ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print
Greek artists showed value for the individual. All people were portrayed in Greek art, from the sagging old woman to the ideal athlete. Although early Greek art focused on the human ideal, their later art shows that the Greeks appreciated all forms, and found the human body in general to be a beautiful thing. Even the gods in Greek art showed how highly the Greeks valued humanity. The gods were depicted as humans, and were made to human scale; no huge overpowering deity was ever portrayed in their art. The Greeks appreciated themselves in their art as much as they appreciated the gods. Even on the most famous temple of all time, the Parthenon, humans were portrayed. The frieze that adorned the upper face of the Parthenon depicted the human procession in honour of the god Athena.
Greek art is iconic for their proportionality, balance and harmony. Greek art transitioned very drastically to a more realistic, human
Nauert, Charles G., Jr. Humanism and the Culture of Renaissance Europe. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1995. Print.
The subject of The School of Athens is humanistic in and of itself. The Textbook Defines humanism in the glossary as “A philosophy emphasizing the worth of the individual, the rational abilities of humankind, and the human potential for good. During the Italian Renaissance, humanism was part of a movement that encouraged study of the classical cultures of Greece and Rome.” In this fresco, Raphael represents the worth and achievements of individuals, as well as the greatness of classical culture. The School of Athen...
Sayre, Henry M. The Humanities Culture, Continuity, and Change. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc., 2008.
Preexisting ideas that the great artists of the time period were influenced by humanism are
1) An Introduction to Humanities, Resource Book 3. The Open University 1998 5th ed; The Bath Press, 2001
The Greek believed the human body was the measure of all things, therefore the artists created sculptures in a very detailed fashion which made them very life-like although the size of
The rise of the Greeks was a revolutionary step away from this system. Although Greek society was also greatly influenced by their polytheistic religion, they took an intellectual approach to the study of the man-nature relationship. Instead of acce...
During the renaissance, there was a renewed interest in the arts, and the traditional views of society came into question. People began to explore the power of the human mind. A term often used to describe the increasing interest in the powers of the human mind is humanism. Generally, humanism stresses the individual's creative, reasoning, and aesthetic powers. However, during the Renaissance, individual ideas about humanism differed.
Humanism’s influence on art was very obvious, it could be seen slowly infiltrating all art throughout the Renaissance. At the begging of the Renaissance, most art was very dark and dismal. The works portrayed people doing very menial labor, the people did not seem happy and their clothing was very plain. As the Renaissance progressed and humanism’s influence was more felt the paintings used lighter colors, the people in them were smiling and their clothing many times included gold trim or accents.
Sculpture is one of the most important parts of Greek art since it is almost the only art form that has survived in some quantity. The ancient Greeks were especially known for their sculpture because their sculptures were extremely life like and beautiful. It was important to the ancient Greeks to combine passion and reason in their sculpture. Greek sculptures were mostly of the human form since they looked at their gods as having a human form. All of the sculptures were nudes of males because society looked down upon female nudity until latter on in time when you started to see sculptures such as the Venus di Milo, which was modeled after Aphrodite (Wikpedia the free encyclopedia. Wikpedia.11 Nov 2004. 12 Nov 2004 http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Greek_art ). One of the most amazing sculptures is the colossus sculpture of Zeus in Olympia it was one of the 7 wonders of the ancient world. Ancient writers said that it stood 12.40 meters high, 6.65 meters long and 9.76 meters deep the body of Zeus was made of ivory followed by a robe made of gold topped with a silver olive wreath and his throne was decorated with mythological scenes painted by Panainos and Kolotis the statue itself was created by Phidos. Michael Lahanas. 25 Dec 2002. 11 Nov 2004 (http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Arts/ZeusStatue.htm). Another great sculpture is the colossus Athena Parthenos. This sculpture just like the colossus statue of Zeus was made of gold and ivory and had various mythological engravings in her shield, helmet and pedestal.
Humanism is a literary and linguistic movement cultivated during the Renaissance that was founded on revising classical Latin and Greek texts, styles, and values. Humanists encouraged looking to the past to discover what is good and how people should act including leaders. Many humanist wrote about how they believe a prince should act and what he should do to be successful in his rule. Most humanists believed that princes should be virtuous in order to be successful rulers as many ancient leaders were. However, Machiavelli in his work The Prince uses history as a part of his argument to undermine some humanist ideals such as being purely virtuous and morality being the key to good government but also uses it to promote humanist ideals such as looking to the past to discover how a leader should behave.
As mentioned earlier, Humanism is the exploration and the expansion of knowledge in order to achieve a level of excellence. The humanists believed that the Ancient Greek and Roman classics contained 1.) All the lessons one needed to lead a moral and effective life and 2.) The best models for the essential Latin style. In The Trinity, Masaccio utilizes this ideology along with elements of perspective (he was influenced by the studies of Brunellechi) to depict a 3-d space and one which elevates the religious themes and imagery of the
The primary focus of ancient Greek sculptures was that of the human body. Almost all Greek sculptures are of nude subjects. As the first society to focus on nude subjects, Greek sculptors attempted to "depict man in what they believed was the image of the gods and so would come to celebrate the body by striving for verisimilitude or true – likeness (realism and naturalism!)."(Riffert) Not only did the Greeks celebrate the human form in their art but also in everyday life. (Riffert) One of the favorite topics for sculptors was that of the athlete. In Greek culture athletes were described as "hero–athletes". (Riffert) This shows that athletes were revered and looked upon as heroes. The influence of athleticism is evident in many famous sculptures. I will attempt to show how the human form influenced Greek art. It is important to note that many of the Greek sculptures discussed do not exist in their original form but rather in Roman copies of the original bronze sculptures. (Riffert)