Gods, Heroes, and Athletes: The Art of Ancient Greece
  
       
  Greek Humanism :: The Geometric And Orientalizing Periods :: The Archaic Period :: The Early And High Classical Periods :: The Late Classical Period :: The Hellenistic Period :: Hellenistic Art Under Roman Patronage   Images courtesy of
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  THE EARLY AND HIGH CLASSICAL PERIODS

The change in artistic style from the Archaic to the Classical seems to have coincided with the Greek repulse of the Persians after their sack of the Athenian Acropolis in 480 BCE. The Early Classical style (ca. 480-450 BCE) is marked by radical changes in the approach to the human figure. During the High Classical period (ca. 450-400 BCE) artists and architects established canons of proportions for both the human figure and for temples. The Classical style profoundly influenced the subsequent development of Western art and culture.

The aftermath of war:

Art historians reckon the beginning of the Classical age from a historical event, the defeat of the Persian invaders of Greece by the allied Hellenic city-states.

Architecture and Architectural Sculpture:

Zeus's Olympian temple:

The first great monument of Classical art and architecture is the Temple of Zeus at Olympia, site of the quadrennial Olympic Games.		    
       
  5-29: Temple of Hera II, Paestum, Italy, ca. 460 BCE.
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Treachery and a curse:

The subject of the Temple of Zeus's east pediment had deep local significance: the chariot race between Pelops (from whom the Peloponnesos takes its name) and King Oinomaos.

5-30: East pediment from the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece, ca. 470-456 BCE. Marble, approx. 87' wide. Archaeological Museum, Olympia.
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5-31: Seer, from the east pediment of the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece, ca. 470-456 BCE. Marble, approx. 4' 6" high. Archaeological Museum, Olympia.
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The labors of Herakles:

The metopes of the Zeus temple are also thematically connected with the site, for they depict the twelve labors of Herakles, the legendary founder of the Olympic Games.

5-32: Athena, Herakles, and Atlas with the apples of the Hesperides, metope from the Temple of Zeus, Olympia, Greece, ca. 470-456 BCE. Marble, approx. 5' 3" high. Archaeological Museum, Olympia.
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Statuary

The single most important change from the Archaic to the Classical period is the introduction of the weight-shift, or contrapposto, stance in statues of standing figures making them appear more relaxed and natural-looking. The figures also achieve a more natural sense of motion in space through a dynamic asymmetrical "counterbalancing" of the parts of the body. At the same time, figures are also idealized.

A new way to stand:

Early Classical sculptures were the first to bee concerned with portraying how a human being actually stands. Humans shift their weight and the position of the main body parts around the vertical, but flexible, axis of the spine. When humans move, the body's elastic musculoskeletal structure dictates a harmonious, smooth motion of all its elements.		  
       
  5-33: Kritios Boy, from the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 480 BCE. Marble, approx. 2' 10" high. Acropolis Museum, Athens.
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Rescued from the sea:

The innovations of the Kritios Boy were carried even further in the bronze statue of a warrior found in the sea near Riace at the "toe" of the Italian "boot."

5-34: Warrior, from the sea off Riace, Italy, ca. 460-450 BCE. Bronze, approx. 6' 6" high. Archaeological Museum, Reggio Calabria.
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Victory at Delphi:

The high technical quality of the Riace warrior is equaled in another bronze statue set up a decade or two earlier to commemorate the victory of the tyrant Polyzalos of Gela (Sicily) in a chariot race at Delphi.		  
       
  5-35: Charioteer, from a group dedicated by Polyzalos of Gela in the Sanctuary of Apollo, Delphi, Greece, ca. 470 BCE. Bronze, approx. 5' 11" high. Archaeological Museum, Delphi.
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Zeus the thunderer:

The male human form in motion is the subject of an Early Classical bronze statue found in a shipwreck off the coast of Greece.		  
       
  5-36: Zeus (or Poseidon?), from the sea off Cape Artemision, Greece, ca. 460-450 BCE. Bronze, approx. 6' 10" high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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Greek statues in Roman copies:

A bronze statue similar to the Artemision Zeus was the renowned Diskobolos (Discus Thrower) by Myron, which is known only through marble copies made in Roman times.		  
       
 
 
       
       
  5-37: MYRON, Diskobolos (Discus Thrower). Roman marble copy after a bronze original of ca. 450 BCE, 5' 1" high. Museo Nazionale Romano-Palazzo Massimo alle Terme.
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The quest for ideal form:

One of the most frequently copied Greek statues was the Doryphoros (Spear Bearer) by Polykleitos, a work that epitomizes the intellectual rigor of Classical statuary design.		  
       
  5-38: POLYKLEITOS, Doryphoros (Spear Bearer). Roman marble copy from Pompeii, Italy, after a bronze original of ca. 450-440 BCE, 6' 11" high. Museo Nazionale, Naples.
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The Athenian Acropolis:

Following the destruction of the original temples by the Persians, the Acropolis of Athens was rebuilt during the Age of Pericles (c. 500-429 BCE) to celebrate the accomplishments of Athens. The building program included the construction and decoration of the Parthenon, the Propylaia, the Erechtheion, and the Temple of Athena Nike.

Alliance and tyranny:

While Polykleitos was formulating his Canon in Argos, the Athenians, under the leadership of Pericles, were at work on one of the most ambitious building projects ever undertaken, the reconstruction of the Acropolis after the Persian sack of 480 BCE.

The "Olympian Pericles":

A number of Roman copies of a famous bronze portrait statue of Pericles fashioned by Kresilas are preserved. Kresilas was born on Crete but worked in Athens.

5-39: KRESILAS, Pericles. Roman marble herm copy after a bronze original of ca. 429 BCE, approx. 6' high. Vatican Museums, Rome.
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Pericles's acropolis:

The centerpiece of Pericles's great building program on the Acropolis was the Parthenon, or the Temple of Athena Parthenos, erected in the remarkable short period between 447 and 438 BCE.

5-40: Aerial view of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece.
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5-41: Restored view of the Acropolis, Athens, Greece, seen from the northwest (G. P. Stevens).
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The Acropolis today:

In the Middle Ages, the Parthenon was converted into a Byzantine, and later a Catholic church and then, after the Ottoman conquest of Greece, into a mosque. Each time the building was remodeled for a different religion, it was modified structurally.

Parthenon:

Just as the contemporary Doryphoros by Polykleitos may be seen as the culmination of nearly two centuries of searching for the ideal proportions of the various human body parts, so, too, the Parthenon may be viewed as the ideal solution to the Greek architect's quest for the perfect proportions in Doric temple design.		  
       
  5-42: IKTINOS and KALLIKRATES, Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Parthenos (view from the northwest), Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 447-438 BCE.
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Mathematics and optics:

For the Parthenon, the controlling ratio for the symmetria of the parts may be expressed algebraically as x=2y + 1.

Mixing Doric and Ionic:

One of the ironies of the most famous of all Doric temples is that it is “contaminated" by Ionic elements.

5-43: Plan of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, with diagram of sculptural program (after A. Stewart), 447-432 BCE.
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Lord Elgin's marbles:

The costly decision to incorporate two sculptured friezes in the Parthenon's design is symptomatic.

Phidias's Athena:

One statue that even Elgin could not recover was Phidias's Athena Parthenos, the Virgin, which had been destroyed long before the 19th century.

5-44: PHIDIAS, Athena Parthenos, in the cella of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 438 BCE. Model of the lost statue, which was approx. 38' tall. Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.
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Centaurs and Persians:

These same themes were taken up again in the Parthenon's Doric metopes. The best-preserved metopes are those of the south side, which depicted the battle of Lapiths and centaurs, a combat in which Theseus of Athens played a major role.

5-45: Lapith versus centaur, metope from the south side of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 447-438 BCE. Marble, approx. 4' 8" high. British Museum, London.
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The birth of Athena:

The subjects of the two pediments were especially appropriate for a temple that celebrated not only Athena, but also the Athenians. Phidias, who designed the composition, allowed the bottom line of the awkward triangular frame to be the horizon line. The Phidian school also mastered the rendition of clothed forms.

5-46: Helios and his horses, and Dionysos (Herakles?), from the east pediment of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 438-432 BCE. Marble, greatest height approx. 4' 3". British Museum, London.
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5-47: Three goddesses (Hestia, Dione, and Aphrodite?), from the east pediment of the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 438-432 BCE. Marble, greatest height approx. 4' 5". British Museum, London.
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Athenians on the Parthenon:

In many ways the most remarkable part of the Parthenon's sculptural program is the inner Ionic frieze.		  
       
 
 
       
       
  5-48: Details of the Panathenaic Festival procession frieze, from the Parthenon, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 447-438 BCE. Marble, approx. 3' 6" high. Horsemen of north frieze (top), British Museum, London; seated gods and goddesses (Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, and Eros) of east frieze (center), Acropolis Museum, Athens; and elders and maidens of east frieze (bottom), Louvre, Paris.
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Propylaia:

Even before all the sculpture was in place on the Parthenon, work began on a new monumental entrance to the Acropolis, the Propylaia.		  
       
  5-49: MNESIKLES, Propylaia (view from the northeast), Acropolis, Athens, Greece, 437-432 BCE.
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Erechtheion:

In 421 BCE work finally began on the temple that was to replace the Archaic Athena temple the Persians had razed.		  
       
  5-50: Erechtheion (view from the southeast), Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 421-405 BCE.
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5-51: Plan of the Erechtheion, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 421-405 BCE.
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Classical Caryatids:

The temple's most striking and famous feature is its south porch where caryatids replaced Ionic columns.		  
       
  5-52: Caryatid from the south porch of the Erechtheion, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 421-405 BCE. Marble, 7' 7" high. British Museum, London.
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Athena, bringer of victory:

Another Ionic building on the Athenian Acropolis is the little Temple of Athena Nike, designed by Kallikrates, who worked with the Iktinos on the Parthenon (and perhaps was responsible for the Ionic elements of that Doric temple).
  

       
  5-53: KALLIKRATES, Temple of Athena Nike (view from the northeast), Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 427-424 BCE.
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  5-54: Nike adjusting her sandal, from the south side of the parapet of the Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens, Greece, ca. 410 BCE. Marble, approx. 3' 6" high. Acropolis Museum, Athens.
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Remembering the dead:

Although the decoration for the great building projects on the Acropolis must have occupied most of the finest sculptors of Athens in the second half of the fifth century BCE, other commissions were available in the city, notably in the Dipylon cemetery.		  
       
  5-55: Grave stele of Hegeso, from the Dipylon cemetery, Athens, Greece, ca. 400 BCE. Marble, 5' 2" high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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Painting

Polychromy in vase painting:

All the paintings on panels by major Greek artists are lost. The only surviving examples of Greek painting are the decorations on vases. Red-figure painting continued to be used, but during the fifth century a white-ground technique of vase painting became popular. The painter Polygnotos and his followers abandoned the single ground line in painting and placed figures at different levels.

5-56: ACHILLES PAINTER, Warrior taking leave of his wife (Attic white-ground lekythos), from Eretria, Greece, ca. 440 BCE. Approx. 1' 5" high. National Archaeological Museum, Athens.
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Polygnotos's revolution:

The leading painter of the first half of the fifth century BCE was Polygnotos of Thasos, whose works adorned important buildings both in Athens and Delphi.

Hubris and massacre:

On the following red-figure krater, the figures are disposed on several levels, ad they actively interact with their setting. The Niobid Painter also drew his face in a three-quarter view, something that even Euphronios and Euthymides had not attempted.

5-57: NIOBID PAINTER, Artemis and Apollo slaying the children of Niobe (Attic red-figure calyx krater), from Orvieto, Italy, ca. 450 BCE. Approx. 1' 9" high. Louvre, Paris.
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White-ground landscapes:

Further insight into the appearance of monumental panel painting of the fifth century BCE comes form a white-ground krater by the so-called Phiale Painter. Only colors that could survive the heat of the great kiln- reds, brown, purple, and a special snowy white reserved for the flesh of the nymphs and for such details as the hair, beard, and shaggy body of Papposilenos, were used.

5-58: PHIALE PAINTER, Hermes bringing the infant Dionysos to Papposilenos (Attic white-ground calyx krater), from Vulci, Italy, ca. 440-435 BCE. Approx. 1' 2" high. Vatican Museums, Rome.
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A plunge into the netherworld:

Although all of the panel paintings of the masters were lost long ago, some Greek mural paintings are preserved today.

5-59: Youth diving, painted ceiling of the Tomb of the Diver, Paestum, Italy, ca. 480 BCE. Approx. 3' 4" high. Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Paestum.
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  Greek Humanism :: The Geometric And Orientalizing Periods :: The Archaic Period :: The Early And High Classical Periods :: The Late Classical Period :: The Hellenistic Period :: Hellenistic Art Under Roman Patronage