Sculpture has been a very important part of art history throughout thousands of years. For the past few months I have viewed many different kinds of sculpture, including Greek archaic sculptures, Greek classical sculptures, Greek Hellenistic sculptures and Roman sculptures. All of the sculptures that I have seen and analyzed have very interesting characteristics, but the one that I have analyzed most recently was the most fascinating. Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos, by the artist Praxiteles, was sculpted circa 350 B.C., and the copy that I analyzed, circa second century B.C. This sculpture was from the Greek classical period and is originally from Greece. The original can be seen in the Olympia Museum in Greece, and the replica that I have viewed is in the Sojourner Truth Library on SUNY New Paltz campus.
The sculpture of Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos was a very interesting work of art to look at and analyze. I have viewed this sculpture by means of slides on a flat surface, but after seeing the actual sculpture, I was amazed. When I first approached it, its size was shocking. I was unaware that this figure stood so tall. Hermes and Dionysos together were approximately seven to seven and a half feet tall, and approximately three feet wide, including the base that Hermes was standing on.
As most of Praxiteles’ sculptures were, this sculpture was originally made of marble, but the copy viewed was made of plaster cast. Hermes posture was rather relaxed, with one arm reaching upward, and the other arm bent at the elbow, holding Dionysos. The clothing worn by Hermes and Dionysos was scarce. Both were nude, which was typical during this time period, and Praxiteles was actually the “inventor” of creating nude sculptures. Although the two figures are nude, Hermes is wearing sandals, and the drapery is partially covering Dionysos’ legs. Hermes hairstyle is short, curly and unfinished looking, while Dionysos’ hair is very vague.
Finally, the physical condition of the sculpture is remarkably decent-looking, considering it’s age. Hermes is missing pieces of his body, such as his right arm after his bicep, the left index finger and thumb, and his penis. Hermes’ big toe is chipped, and there are chips and scratches sporadically throughout his body that have been painted over. His left arm and hand see...
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...d the top of the head is in the shape of a triangle.
Another artist during the classical period, Scopas, sculpted something much different than that of Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos. The head that Scopas sculpted from The Temple of Athena Alea at Tegea has a feeling of stress and violent emotion, rather than relaxed emotion. The eyes are round and wide open, there is an upward gaze, an open mouth, and small nostrils. This just shows us how different sculptors’ techniques were during the same period of time.
Many sculptors had many different techniques during the classical period in Greece. Praxiteles, the great one, the “inventor” of nude sculptures, created an astonishing and fascinating sculpture Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos. And only after seeing this work of art in person, and analyzing it have I realized it’s truly a great work of art. With it’s dramatic eyes, fascinating stance, and change in line from painterly and smooth to linear and drastic, this work of art definitely shows why Praxiteles was considered so great in the early centuries. Hermes carrying the infant Dionysos was definitely enlightening to learn about and more interesting to look at and enjoy.
The marble Statuette of Youthful Dionysos stands about 30 inches tall. The arms, legs, nose, and
The Statue of a kouros represents a Greek male. With one foot forward, the statue at the same time, represents movement and is able to stand on it own. This also gives the over life size figure, visible weight. In this early figure, geometric forms seem to predominate, and anatomical details, such as the chest muscles and pelvic arch, are presented with somewhat of exaggerated lines. Although the exaggerated lines show where these muscles belong, the detail is still missing. Looking up and down this nude body, at this miss proportioned and lacking of detail body, the hair is what grabs my attention. The hair is carved with detail not noticeable in the rest of the body. As well, although the fists are clinched and still bonded to the body, the legs and elbows are separated. The ability to move around and inspect the statue makes a big difference than if it was up against a wall, or just looking at its picture. The legs, which support the weight of the statue, have a visible strength which is seen in the knees. The head is what carried the most detail, the ears although to far back, are intricately designed. It is the ability to walk around the entire statue that allows me to see the different aspects and places where attention to detail was placed. However, he does not expand into three dimensional space; he has a closed-off, column-like appearance
Dionysos, also known as Dionysus, is an Olympian god of many things such as festivity, pleasure, wine, and vegetation. Dionysos is the god of wilderness and one of his attributes are large cats, helping me recognize the statue of him wearing clothes made of animal skin. According to Metropolitan Museum, it stated that, Dionysos wore panther skin over his skirt like clothes and animal head shaped like a huge cat on his high sandals that look like boots” (MET). Also, despite being a male figure, Dionysos has a petite face and is often attractive or even beautiful because he represents youth. Looking at the statue, another attribute that I recognized was that his face looked pretty and had long hair, making him look very young and feminine while having a masculine body.
While visiting the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, I came across The Indian Triumph of Dionysus. Originating in Rome, it was created by a wealthy follower of Dionysus’s mystery cult in the late second century A.D. This worshiper evidently wanted to construct a sarcophagus in tribute of Dionysus’s accomplishments. Furthermore, Dionysus is surrounded by characters that are within the mystery cult because the creator wants the viewers to know with whom he is associated. With these two things combined, the patron hoped to shed light on a piece of history that they believed to be prominent during his life.
Viewing the Lansdowne Hermes with a naked eye and what you will see is a larger than life-size statue depicting a man with an ideal body leaning with the majority of his weight on his right foot. His right arm is resting on his right buttock in an almost effortless pose. The left side of his body tells a different story. His left foot has barely any weight on it, and his left arm is supporting a pretty large portion of cloth wrapped so it perfectly wraps around the shoulder and rests just above the wrist. It appears that he was at one time holding some sort of sword or stick. To the naked eye that is what this sculpture seems to be, accepting a sculpture as a piece of art. Glancing at the Lansdowne Hermes you can appreciate beauty of art for beauty of art. However the sculptor had much more in mind when he created this figure from a large unscathed piece of marble.
And just like the Greek the statue are both big and almost human size. A great example of this is the “Augustus of Primaporta, 1st century C.E. (Vatican Museums).” It truly shows the evolution of art sculpting. It is a full size very detailed sculpture of Augustus. It very detailed from his hair showing every curl and split to the small details in his armor that also depicts a story as well is shows the god of the sky looking down on him and the goddess of the earth looking up towards him as they watch the Parthians surrender to him and returning the standards shows the great power that Augustus has, and not just that but also the sculpture itself is a symbol for how Augustus wanted everyone to see him as, as god like. And it even has a little small cupid on the side which is also detailed which shows that Augusts is decedent from a
With works in every known medium, from every part of the world, throughout all points in history, exploring the vast collection of the Museum of Modern Art was an overwhelming experience. The objects in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts are an important historical collection, reflecting the development of a number of art forms in Western Europe. The department's holdings covered sculpture in many sizes, woodwork and furniture, ceramics and glass, jewelry, and tapestries. The gallery attracted my appreciation of the realistic qualities of the human body often portrayed in sculpture.
The works of art from the Archaic Period, Classical Period, and Hellenic Period developed physically and mentally, and the study of their aesthetic differences from period to period allow for a decided contrast and comparability. This interpretation has had a profound effect on the art world and that continues even in today’s world. The importance of Greek sculptures is evident in the storytelling of the gods, the people, and the culture. We use these sculptures as a tool to go back into the past of the Greek people, letting us admire how far mankind has truly come, whether it is in art or intelligence. Generation after generation has been and will continue to be able to see for themselves the society, culture and uniqueness of these periods through the wonderful sculptures that came out of ancient
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
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.
Not much is known today about the late classical Athenian sculptor named Praxiteles. His father, Cephisodotus and two of his sons, Cephisodotus and Timarchus, were also well known in Athens for their artwork and sculptures. Praxiteles work is a leading example of the work of sculptors from the Attic school from this period of Ancient Greece. He recognized many of the traditions and practices of his predecessors in Ancient Greek...
An analysis of Mycerinus and Kha-merer-nebty II and Augustus of Primaporta, reveals that there are many similarities, but also many differences between these two pieces of sculpture. These similarities and differences are found in the subject, style, and function of both works of art.
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)
Aphrodite leg is creating a V shape. Hera seems to be modeled after Aphrodite of Knidos, with her hand somewhat modestly place to cover the female part and her body shape is also quite similar too Aphrodite of Knidos. Athena on the other hand, is giving the audience her full back. Her body creates “s” shape with gives a sense of motion. All four females depicted in the painting have that ideal female body congruent with Greek ideal at that time, 0.7 waists to hip ratio, unfit, non-muscular body. Same can be said with all the males depicted in the painting, they all adhere to the male ideal body; they are all extremely muscular and ripped, ready to protect their town and women, even Eros, a child has an extremely muscular body. Paris is seen horizontally extending his arm towards to Aphrodite granting her the apple, show casing every arm muscle just like in Discus Thrower, as if the artist just capture the exact moment of motion. There is an implied line, directing the viewer’s eyes towards the focal point, Aphrodite and Paris. All the character’s eye direction in the painting is going towards Paris choice of giving the apple to Aphrodite instead of choosing to give it to Hera or Athena. Furthermore, a dog, next to Paris, is seen horizontally lying down on the floor, which according to Greek culture, dogs were the protectors, they are calm, loyal and devoted to their masters. The viewer based on location and proximity of the dog to Paris can conclude that he will protect Paris from harm, foreshadowing the Trojan War, which Paris escapes alive. There is also iconography in the painting such as Eros, to identify Aphrodite, a peacock to identify Hera, and armor for
Even the few sculptor’s names known to us, usually by chance, from the imperial period are Greek names and seem to confirm the assumption that these artists’ work should be regarded simply as a late phase of Greek art” (Hanfmann, 12). The Greeks were the first western culture to figure out how to accurately depict the human form which they did through the use of geometric ratios. It is also widely accepted that it was even Greek artists who first made marble portraits for the Romans as the Romans originally had no skill with the stone. “It was certainly at first Greek artists who were entrusted by eminent Romans with the execution of portraits of themselves and of important personalities in the Roman state, just as it was Greeks who depicted Aemilius Paulus victory at Pydna and later were largely responsible for the portraits of the emperors” (Kahler 16). The Romans mainly used terracotta for their sculptures and it was only when Augustus reigned that the marble quarries at Carrara were opened and marble was used on a large scale. The Romans inherited the use of realistic proportions, the sense of movement (contrapposto), and the overall beauty of Greek sculptures. A great example of Roman sculpture that was clearly carved by a Greek artist who was familiar with the Hellenistic styles of Greece, is the Relief of the Wedding of Amphitrite and Neptune. It “shows a mythological