In one of Aristotle quotes, he stated that "Art completes what nature leaves unfinished."
The start of the Renaissance saw growing enthusiasm for the revival of classical Greco-Roman art. With its origins in Florence, situated not far from many classical ruins, artists and their patrons became inspired once again to study and copy the great sculptors, painters, and architects of old. Greek and Roman culture, with its appreciation for combinations of beauty, philosophy, art, and literature, evokes a sense of awe over ancient cultures, causing those of us in the 21st century, thousands of years past the fall of their civilization, to speak of their society as advanced, in hushed tones of great respect. As such, the classical art tradition of
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The quote of Aristotle was uncannily appropriate to the naturalists of the Renaissance and Baroque artists. The human body with its movement and underlying muscle and bone were understood by Greco-Roman artists, and were used by 1400-1700s artists as ideals to gain understanding from, be inspired by, and to build on after learning new technical and scientific skills. The straight lines, smooth paint, and crisp ideal forms serve as an example of perfection to many artists (Boundless, 2015, para. 2), as they were once intended by the Greeks and Romans to illuminate the perfection of their gods. In fact, artists of the later time periods, such as Bernini, would choose to sculpt religious statues that immediately call Greek statues and gods to mind, and in fact often feature them, such as "Apollo and Daphne" (1622-25) as well as Christian subjects, such as the elegantly alive "Bust of Jesus Christ". With sculpture, contrapposto was also cherished by more modern artists as a way to bring a sculpture to life, and the used it and the more technically advanced "S pose" generously, such as seen in Alexandros of Antioch's Aphrodite of Milos. As well as sculpture and painting techniques, the beautiful architectural art in the form of towering, decorated columns …show more content…
"Classical art owes its lasting influence to its simplicity and reasonableness, its humanity, and its sheer beauty." (History World International, n.d., para. 1)
References:
BBC (2015, April 8). Classic good looks: Our debt to the ancient Greeks. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4QpWSzhyJh936LvXWTkcdNC/classic-good-looks-our-debt-to-the-ancient-greeks
Boundless (2015, July 21). Artistic Conventions in Painting. Retrieved from https://www.boundless.com/art-history/textbooks/boundless-art-history-textbook/europe-and-america-in-the-1700s-and-early-1800s-ce-34/neoclassicism-in-britain-208/artistic-conventions-in-painting-752-11033
History World International (n.d.). Greek and Roman Art. Retrieved from
As time kept passing, more and more magnificent sculptures were made by numerous artists. One of the most memorable sculpture was Aphrodite of Knidos, goddess of love and beauty. Back in the Late Classical Period, the civilians were only used to seeing ideal male nude bodies, but Praxiteles decided to make a different approach and sculpted the first female nude. Because he obviously had never seen a goddess before, he used his imagination and sculpted bathing Aphrodite as humanlike possible. He did not make it look idealistic, but instead made it beautiful with flaws.
At the start of the exhibition we are presented with various busts and sculptures of certain, and presumably famous, figures. It is when we see the sculpture of Aphrodite (see Fig. 1) that we start sensing the significance of the exhibition. These sculptures were the norm during the second century in the Bay of Naples, and by viewing the intricate details in each art piece we understand how worthy each work meant to each of the artists. The sculpture of Aphrodite portrayed a serene greeting to the exhibitors. She stood in the middle welcoming us with a soft and warm smile. Through this sculpture we view how the Pompeii artist was following the Greek perception of the human body such as what we see in Polykleitos’ sculpture, Doryphoros; Aphrodite stands with the weight shifted on to her left foot portraying the cross balance of the human body. Once we appreciate the first art room we are then presented with various pieces of the gardens that were found around the Bay of Naples.
Polykleitos of Argos, was a renowned Ancient Greek sculptor from 5th Century BC. He was considered by many as one of the most important sculptors of his time. During his century, Greece went through many wars (e.g. Persian War) and soon rose to become one of the world’s greatest powers. The Greeks recognised the naked male figure to represent strength, power and all that were important in the perfect Greek man. Many of Polykleitos' works reflect this idea of the male perfection and were therefore usually displayed in public areas to remind the Greek people of male perfection. His work Doryphorus, is shown as highly masculine and is correctly proportioned to further show the male perfection. Polykleitos' works, were however ahead of his time as he was one of the fathers of what is now recognised as the Classical Greek style. His works incorporated contropposto (the sculpture places one leg forward to portray movement) to try and emphasise the athleticism and strength of the male figure. Another of his works (Apollo of Mantua), reflects the beliefs of the Ancient Greek civilisation. Apollo, is in Greek mythology the messenger God, and is therefore sculpted to once again show, what the Greeks believed to be the male perfection. The sculptor is shown as fierce, well-built and...
Onians, John. Art and Thought in the Hellenistic Age: The Greek World View 350-50 B.C. London: Thames and Hudson, Ltd., 1979.
In this article Winckelmann states that the good taste in art that is present in contemporary works stems from the work of the ancient Greeks. The beauty in the modern works of artists like Raphael (especially his Madonna and child with St Sixtus and St Barbara) hold such beauty, complexity of emotion, and good taste because he draws on the ideas set up by the great ancient sculptures and society in which they lived and drew inspiration from. Winckelmann categorizes the ancients greatness into two main ideas that are necessary for contemporaries to draw from in order to reach greatness: Natural beauty and noble simplicity and quiet grandeur.
Doryphoros by Polykleitos was originally a Greek bronze made around 450-40B.C. The only way we can see it today is through the Roman marble copies (which is common of many Greek statues.) Some supports had to be added for the change in material, resulting in the addition of the form resembling a tree trunk, the support on the left foot, and the small bar bridging the gap between his right wrist and hip. Doryphoros was originally holding a spear in his left hand; appropriate, given that his name means, literally, “spear-bearer.” The sculpture is a well-known and early example of classical Greek contrapposto (the shifting of weight onto one leg and off-axis shoulders and arms.) One leg nearly appears to be lifting off the ground, giving the effect of movement. The perceived weight shift adds more dynamism to the piece, and contributes to the realism of the figure. The resulting slight “s-curve” of the figure is true to what we might see in life, and reflects an interest in proportion and anatomy, as seen with many Greek sculptures of the age. This is made particularly clear in the defined muscle groups of the figure and attention to details such as the structure of the knees, hands, and feet. Polykleitos sculpted many athletic male bodies in the nature of his personal aesthetic canon, which we can see exemplified here through the intense attention to the mathematics of the human body. The contours of the figure are visually interesting and although the figure does not hold much facial expression, his body language and presence speak volumes of his existence as the epitome of masculinity.
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 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)
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.
Ancient Greek sculptures were the mix of Egyptian and Syrian styles. In 800 to 300 B.C., Greek sculptures had a powerful inspiration throughout the centuries. The Greek sculpture was divided into seven periods: Mycenaean, Sub-Mycenaean or Dark Age, Proto-Geometric, Geometric, Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic (Collins 1). Greek sculptures were created by using marble, bronze, stone, and limestone, but bronze was in most demand. The most common production to make Greek sculpture is the lost-wax method. First, the sculptors would make clay inside the core, almost the size of a figure which was then coated in wax. Then, they would replace the melted wax with bronze. When the bronze became solid, the sculptors would remove the clay. Finally, the sculpture would be polished and added with other decorations. Most Greek sculptures were in a freestanding of a human form because Greeks saw beauty in human body form. Early Greek statues were rigid and straight, but later on, the Greek adopted more natural relaxed pose: knees and arm bent, and head turned. Greek artists captured the human pose in a way never seen before with concerns in proportion, pose, and perfection of the human body (Cartwright 1). Most of these statues are signed by artists, so there are six famous sculptors in Ancient Greece. The f...
Roman art was also deeply influenced by the art of the Hellenistic world, which had spread to southern Italy and Sicily through the Greek colonies there. The Etruscans and Babylonians can also be seen as inspirations. “With the founding of the Republic, the term Roman art was virtually synonymous with the art of the city of Rome, which still bore the stamp of its Etruscan art” (Honour and Fleming,1999). During the last two centuries, notably that of Greece, Roman art shook off its dependence on Etruscan art. In the last two centuries before Christ, a distinctive Roman manner of building, sculpting, and painting emerged. Indeed, because of the extraordinary geographical extent of the Roman Empire and the number of diverse populations encompassed within its boundaries, “the art and architecture of the Romans was always eclectic and is characterized by varying styles attributable to differing regional tastes and the...
The Renaissance was a time when people began to think and see things differently. It was a time for new innovations. People wanted to study the past and learn more about culture. People began to see important in human emotion, and they began to see that there was much more rather than just religion. Europe was facing many problems like the Black Death. But the problems caused a shift in the world view of people in 14th century Italy. During the early 1400’s, Europe witnessed a major rebirth of fine art painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture. Early Renaissance art had its birth of creativity and development in Florence, Italy, which eventually spread to Western Europe. Italy contained the status of being the richest trading nation with both Europe and the Orient, Italy was fortunate to be left with a huge repository of classical ruins and artifacts. In almost every town and city, examples of Roman architecture and sculpture, including copies of sculptures from Ancient Greece, had been familiar for centuries. The decline of Constantinople and the capital of the Byzantine Empire caused many Greek scholars to go to Italy, bringing knowl...
For over two thousand years, various philosophers have questioned the influence of art in our society. They have used abstract reasoning, human emotions, and logic to go beyond this world in the search for answers about arts' existence. For philosophers, art was not viewed for its own beauty, but rather for the question of how art and artists can help make our society more stable for the next generation. Plato, a Greek philosopher who lived during 420-348 B.C. in Athens, and Aristotle, Plato’s student who argued against his beliefs, have no exceptions to the steps they had to take in order to understand the purpose of art and artists. Though these two philosophers made marvelous discoveries about the existence of art, artists, and aesthetic experience, Plato has made his works more controversial than Aristotle.
Modern art runs a very important role in man’s life throughout history, because it that does not only give us inspiration but also the freedom to express ourselves through the use of different mediums.
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