Greek Sculpture and Painting: Archaic to Hellenistic Periods
Greek Sculpture: From Archaic to Hellenistic Periods
Sculpture representation often focused on the human figure, reflecting a humanistic approach. There was a significant influence from Egyptian and Oriental art. The Greeks sought to sculpt noble bodies, mastering anatomy and spatial arrangement. They applied the laws of proportion and, after mastering these techniques, pursued abstract beauty.
Archaic Period (8th-6th Century BC)
- Characterized by hieratic figures (rigid, with arms close to the body), an archaic smile, geometric hair, and schematic anatomy.
- Korai: Sculptures of young aristocratic women, clothed, made of marble or limestone.
- Kouroi: Nude, deified athletes or Apollo figures.
Classical Period (5th Century BC)
- The archaic smile disappears, replaced by a more natural face (Greek profile) and a perfect oval.
- Personal objects are removed; sculptures are not portraits but rather an almost abstract naturalism.
- Sculpture transitions from the severe style, adopting a canon of seven heads.
- Contrapposto emerges, enhancing the sense of movement.
- Phidias: Known for his chryselephantine sculptures for temple cells and the Parthenon’s decoration. Notable for his “wet drapery” technique, achieving great naturalism.
- Myron: A bronze sculptor, known through Roman copies. His work, such as the Discobolus (Discus Thrower), reflects the internal tension of a body in action.
- Polyclitus: Aimed for perfection in the human figure, maintaining the classical canon. Achieved this in the Doryphoros (Spear-Bearer). Also notable for the Diadumenos and the division of the oval into three parts.
Post-Classical Period (4th Century BC)
- Sculptors enhanced the achievements of the Classical period with greater naturalism and precision.
- Representation of men in everyday situations.
- Praxiteles: Focused on expressing emotions in all their forms. Introduced the “Praxitelean curve” (S-shaped), a more slender canon of seven and a half heads. Worked in bronze. Notable works include Apollo Sauroktonos and Hermes with the Infant Dionysus. Explored feminine beauty in sculptures like the Aphrodite of Knidos.
- Lysippus: Pursued masculine beauty. Introduced the Hellenistic canon of eight heads. Abandoned ideal beauty for tangible beauty. The first Greek sculptor to portray Alexander the Great.
- Scopas: Sought to represent inner movement and sweeping emotions, evident in the “pathos” of his characters, with characteristics of Hellenistic sculpture.
Hellenistic Period (3rd-2nd Century BC)
- The Hellenistic canon, also called Mannerism, superseded the seven-head canon.
- Emphasis on representing emotions and expressive gestures (pathos).
- Contrapposto reaches its peak.
- Exaggerated movement and a Baroque style are present.
- Notable works include the Laocoön and His Sons and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
- The technique of bronze casting using the lost-wax method resulted in hollow bronze sculptures.
Greek Painting
Greek painting is primarily found on vases and pots, predominantly in black and red. Mosaics, an Eastern technique, were not unique to the Greeks but were also used in Rome. They utilized small, naturally colored marble pieces called tesserae, which could be made of marble, glass, or ceramic.