GREEK ART

Iktinos and Kallikrates, 447-432 BC. The Iktinos and Kallikrates, 447-432 BC. The Parthenon, Classical Period, Marble, Parthenon, Classical Period, Marble, 228 ft. X 104 ft., Columns 34 ft. H., 228 ft. X 104 ft., Columns 34 ft. H.,

AthensAthens

The Parthenon is one of the most famous pieces of architecture in the world. It is located on the Acropolis overlooking Athens.

In order to achieve the illusion of perfect proportion, some elements of this temple were slightly exaggerated to compensate for the effects of perspective and foreshortening.

The Parthenon housed a statue of the goddess Athena and was also the treasury for the city.

Nashville ParthenonCreated exactly as the original Parthenon in Greece.

Greek Architectural Features

• Pediment: a triangular gable at the top of a facade often filled with sculpture.

• Entablature: the upper section of a classical building resting on the columns consisting of the architrave, frieze, and cornice.

• Cornice: a horizontal molded projection.

• Frieze: the middle band of the entablature, usually decorated with sculpture in low relief.

• Architrave: the lowest part of an entablature that rests directly on top of a column.

• Cella: the inner room of the temple that housed a Greek god.

• Column: a supporting pillar consisting of a base, a shaft, and a capital.

• Capital: the head or top part of a column.

• Stylobate: the base or top step upon which a row of columns is set.

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The Doric column has a plain capital. The Ionic column has a scroll capital.

The Corinthian column has a decorate or leaf-like capital.

• Greek vase painting involved the creation of images in black on the red clay background.

• Details were scratched into the black revealing the red beneath.

• Dionysus is the King of Wine, sitting on a pirate ship with a mast sprouting a grape vine. The pirates, who jumped overboard, are the dolphins who balance the bunches of grapes in the design.

Exekias, "Dionysus in a Sailboat" c. 550-521 B.C., Munich.

"Youth Singing and Playing the Kithara" c. 490 B.C. MMA, NY.

Following the time of Exekias, artisans invented the red figure style, where the figures remained red while the background was painted black.

Polykleitos , Spear Bearer, c. 450 B.C., Roman Copy, Marble, 6 ft. 6 in. H,

Vatican, Rome.

• The Greeks invented the nude in art. The ideal proportions of their statues represented the perfection of both body (through athletic endeavour) and mind (through intellectual debate). Polykleitos developed the formula for this Classical ideal of human beauty ( 7 ½ heads high).

• The Spear Bearer is one of the first examples of contrapposto, a pose with one leg bent and the shoulders and hips inclined in opposite directions.

Alexandros of Antioch, VENUS DE MILO, C 130-100 BC, MARBLE, 6FT 8IN,

LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS.

• Venus de Milo, is one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture.

• Depict Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans) the Greek goddess of love and beauty.

• Its arms and original base have been lost.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, c. 220-190 BC, marble, 328 cm h,

Louvre, Paris

• She is also called Nike, the victory goddess because before she lost her arms, which have never been recovered, her arm was raised, cupped round her mouth to deliver the shout of Victory to her successful sea gods.

• The work is notable for its naturalistic pose and for the rendering of the figure's draped garments, depicted as if rippling in a strong sea breeze

• The Nike athletic wear company takes its name from the Greek goddess of victory.

Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus, The Laocoon Group, c. 125 B..C., Hellenistic Style, Marble, 8 ft. H,

Vatican, Rome.• The sculpture depicts

the fate of Laocoon, priest of Troy and his sons.

• The Hellenistic style links Greek ideal art and Roman realistic style through a mixture of proportion, drama and super-realism.