ANCIENT

GREECEGARDINER CHAPTER 5-4

PP. 121-125

CLASSICAL SCULPTURE

Early Classical sculptors break away from the rigid and unnatural Egyptian-inspired pose of Archaic kouroi

KRITIOS BOY

From the Acropolis, Athens, 480BCE, marble, 2’10” high

One of the most important works of Greek sculpture

Originally thought to be sculpted by Kritios

Slight dip to the right hip, showing shifting of weight onto his left leg

Right leg bent -> at ease

Head turns slightly to the right and tilts

CONTRAPPOSTO = counter-balance -> weight shift -> this separates Classical from Archaic Greek statuary

RIACE WARRIOR

Warrior from the sea off of Riace, Italy 460-450 BCE

One of a pair of bronze statues -> nearly intact missing only shield, spear and helmet

Masterpiece of hollow casting

Inlaid eyes, silver teeth and eyelashes, copper lips and nipples

Weight shift more pronounced than Kritios Boy -> head turns right, shoulders tilt, hips swing, arms freed from body

NATURAL MOTION IN SPACE

HOLLOW-CASTING LIFE-SIZE BRONZE

STATUES Requires great skill

Large statues were hollow-cast by the CIRE PERDUE (LOST-WAX) method

Cast in parts -> head, arms, torso

1. Full-size clay model

2. clay master mold made around model then removed in sections

3. pieces of master mold reassembled

4. layer of bees wax applied to inside of each mold

5. mold removed

6. hollow wax model corrected and detailed

7. final clay model applied to wax mold and interior of wax mold filled with a liquid clay core

8. pins driven in to connect inner core and outer mold

9. Wax melted out and molten bronze poured in its place

10. Outer mold and inner clay core removed

11. Statue pieces soldered together, surface smoothed, inlays added

CHARIOTEER OF DELPHI Bronze statue from Delphi 470

BCE

Originally part of a group representing a team of horse pulling a chariot driven by this charioteer

Dedicated by Polyzalos, a tyrant, who wanted to commemorate a chariot race victory at the games at Delphi

Stands in almost Archaic pose -> but, slightly turned head and separated feet show the Severe Style of Early Classical

ARTEMISION ZEUS

Early Classical bronze statue of either Zeus hurling thunderbolt or Poseidon with triton

Found off the coast of Greece at Cape Artemision

460-450 BCE

Both arms boldly extended, right heel raised off the ground

MYRON,

DISKOBOLOS Diskobolos (Discus Thrower) by the

Early Classical master MYRON

Original bronze is lost -> only Roman marble copies survive

Tree trunk added to copy to support weight of stone

Vigorous action statue -> composed in almost Archaic manner w/profile limbs and nearly frontal chest

In-between motion, mid swing

Expressionless face

Use of negative space

POLYKLEITOS’S PRESCRIPTION FOR THE PERFECT STATUE Greeks believed that beauty

resided in harmonious numerical ratios

POLYKLEITOS = mid-5th century sculptor who defined the heroic form of Classical sculpture -> recorded his principles and the proportions is his lost treatise Canon

Mathematical formula for perfection -> the head should be 1/7th of the body, etc.

POLYKLEITOS, DORYPHOROS(SPEAR BEARER)

Roman marble copy from Pompeii, after a bronze original, 450-440 BCE, 6’11”

Polykleitos’s vision of the ideal statue of a nude male athlete or warrior

Culmination of the evolution of Greek statuary from the Archaic kouros to the Kritios Boy to the Riace warrior

Pronounced contrapposto -> aim was to impose order on human movement -> to make it beautiful and perfect it

System of cross balance for all parts of the body -> alternating tense and relaxed elements of the body -> left arm and right leg are relaxed, right arm and left leg are tensed

Asymmetrical balance -> motion while at rest -> the harmony of opposites = the Polykleitan style